Hymns of Guru Nanak 6
several sects assembled there. The following was composed after a discussion with them:--
He who meditateth on knowledge conferreth favour on others;
When he correcteth his evil passions he dwelleth at a place of pilgrimage;
The tinkling bells of ecstasy resound for him when he turneth his heart to God.
What can Death do to me in the next world?
When man hath abandoned desires he is a Sanyasi.
If a Jogi be continent, he enjoyeth his body.[1]
He who in his heart meditateth mercy, is a Digambar:[2]
He tortureth himself, but not others.
Thou, O Lord, art one, but many are Thy manifestations.
Nanak knoweth not Thy wonderful play.
As a wife fears that she is forgotten by her spouse, so the holy man fears that he is neglected by God:---
I am not possessed of one virtue to cleanse my polluted body.
My Lord awaketh; I sleep the livelong night.
How shall I thus become dear to my Spouse?
My Lord awaketh; 1 sleep the livelong night.
Even though I approach His couch smitten with desire,
I know -not if I shall then please Him or please Him not.
How know I what shall occur, O mother?
Without beholding God I cannot abide.
I have not tasted love; my thirst is not quenched
My youth hath fled, and I mourn for what is lost.
Even now I awake smitten with desire:
I have become sad, and remain without hope.
If woman adorn herself with the rejection of pride,
Her Spouse will enjoy her on the couch.
Then, Nanak, shall she please her Spouse's heart
She will abandon pride and be absorbed in Him.
[1. The ecstasy he feels from the practice of Jog is sufficient for him.
2. Who wanders naked.]
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It is necessary to fear as well as love God so as to keep His commandments:--
In this world woman is very silly.
I know not the worth of my Spouse;
He is one, there is none other.
If He cast a glance of favour on me, I shall meet Him.
In the next world woman shall know the truth,
And easily recognize her Beloved.
If she obtain such wisdom by the Guru's favour,
She shall please her Spouse's heart.
Saith Nanak, if she adorn herself with fear and love,
Her Spouse will ever enjoy her on the couch.
When man has parted with all worldly love, he has prepared himself for deliverance:--
No one hath a son, no one hath a mother.[1]
Through deceitful worldly love man wandereth in doubt.
O my Lord, I am Thy creation;
I utter Thy name when Thou givest it me.
Man may wail aloud for his many transgressions,
But he shall only be pardoned if it be God's will.
By the Guru's favour evil inclinations depart
Wherever I gaze there is only one God
Saith Nanak, if man attain such wisdom,
The True One will absorb that true one in Himself.
The following was addressed to a worldly-minded Raja:--
Thou mayest have lakhs of armies, lakhs of musical instruments and lances; lakhs of men may rise to do thee homage;
Thy dominion may extend over lakhs of miles; lakhs of men may rise to do thee honour
All that would be fruitless, wert thou not credited in God's account.
Without God's name the world is only trouble.
If the fool be never so much admonished, he remaineth the blindest of the blind.
[1. Everything is illusion.]
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Thou mayest earn lakhs of rupees; thou mayest amass and spend lakhs; lakhs may come and lakhs may go;
But, if thy soul obtain not credit in God's account, where else shall it obtain it?
Lakhs of Shastars may be explained to thee; lakhs of pandits may read the Purans for thee--
All would be unacceptable didst thou not obtain credit in God's account.
From the true Name--the kind Creator's name--honour is obtained.
If it dwell day and night in the heart, O Nanak, man shall be delivered by God's favouring glance.
The temptations to which man is exposed by his senses:--
The five evil passions dwell concealed within the heart;
Wherefore it remaineth not fixed, but wandereth like a pilgrim.
My mind remaineth not fixed on the Merciful One
Avaricious, deceitful, sinful, and hypocritical, it is excessively attached to worldly love.
When I meet my Beloved I will adorn myself,
And put on necklaces of flowers.
1 have five companions and one husband.[1]
It is ordained from the beginning that the soul depart.
The five senses shall weep in unison,
Saith Nanak, when the soul is arrested to give its account.
ASA ASHTAPADI
Guru Nanak expatiates on the advantage of the Guru's instruction and the repetition of God's name:--
Man may perform all. devotion, all penance, and resort to every expedient;
Yet he is as if he wandered in a wilderness, and could not find the way.
Without knowing God, no one is acceptable.
[1. This is the relation of the soul to the five senses or organs of perception.]
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Without the Name man is despised.[1]
The Lord is permanent; the world cometh and goeth.
Mortals shall be emancipated by being the holy man's slaves.
The world is bound by worldly love and many desires;
Yet some reject it under the Guru's instruction.
The lotuses of the hearts of those who have the Name within them bloom,
And they fear not Death
The world which loveth women is overcome by them.
Men attached to sons and wives forget God's name.
They waste in vain their human lives and lose their game.
To serve the true Guru is the best thing.
They who utter words of pride in public,
Never apply the unction of salvation to their hearts
They who burn worldly love under the Guru's instruction,
And ever meditate on the pure Name in their hearts,
Hold and restrain their wandering minds.
By God's favour the Guru associateth such persons with the congregation of the Sikhs.
Without a guru man forgetteth God and suffereth transmigration.
Him whom God regardeth favourably He blendeth with Himself.
If I speak of the beautiful One, I cannot describe Him.
If I discourse of the Ineffable, I cannot find His worth.
All pain and pleasure depend on Thy will, O God.
All pain shall be erased by the True Name,
And men shall hear instruments played without hands and anklets without feet.
If man understand the Word, he shall behold the True One.
When the True One is in the heart, all happiness is there also.
The Preserver preserveth men by His favouring glance.
He who effaceth himself knoweth the three worlds.
He who understandeth the Word, shall be absorbed in the True One.
[1. Literally---has ashes thrown on his head.]
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Nanak, the Creator will congratulate him
Who without respite meditateth on the Word.
How deliverance may be obtained:--
He who burneth his hopes and desires by the Word,
Who uttereth and causeth others to utter God's name,
Shall by means of the Guru find the way to God's own abode.
His body shall become gold by God's incomparable light,
And he shall behold God's form in the whole three worlds.
I possess God's true name as wealth which shall never fail.
God pervadeth the five elements, the three worlds, the nine regions, and the four quarters of the universe.
The Almighty supporteth the earth and the heavens.
The wandering mind He bringeth back.
Whoever is a fool seeth not with his eyes
His language giveth not pleasure, and he understandeth not what is told him.
Intoxicated with evil passions, he quarrelleth with the world;
While on the other hand a man becometh good by association with the good,
Pursueth virtue and purifieth himself from vice.
Without serving the Guru peace is not obtained.
The Name is diamonds, jewels, and rubies;
It is the pearl of the heart, God's own wealth.
Nanak, God assayeth man, and maketh him happy with a glance.
The following was addressed to a hypocritical Jogi:--
Men sing songs while meditating evil;
They intone measures and style themselves knowing.
Without the Name the heart is filthy and meditateth evil.
Whither goest thou? O man, remain at home.
The pious are satiated with God's name, and by searching easily find Him.
The bodily sins of lust, wrath, and worldly love are in the mind.;
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So are painful greed, avarice, and pride.
How can the mind be satisfied without God's name?
They who lave their hearts know the True One.
The holy man knoweth the condition of his heart.
The mind obtains composure by devotion:--
The apostate's mind is a furious elephant
Which wandereth distracted in the forest of worldly love.
Impelled by Death it rusheth here and there,
While the pious search and find God in their hearts.
Without the Guru's word the mind is not at rest.
Remember God's very pure name and relinquish bitter pride.
Say how shall this stupid mind be happy:
Without understanding, it shall suffer the torture of Death.
God will cause man to meet the true Guru, and will pardon him.
The True One will thrust aside the tortures of Death.
Wealth is perishable; devotion to God an abiding gain:--
When the body perisheth, whose shall be its wealth?
Without the Guru how shall God's name be obtained?
God's name is wealth which accompanieth and assisteth us.
Day and night he is pure who fixeth his attention on God.
What have we but God's name?
Treating pleasure and pain as the same I forsake not the Name: God will pardon and blend me with Himself.
The fool loveth gold and woman;
Attached to mammon he forgetteth the Name.
Him whom Thou, O God, pardonest Thou causest to repeat Thy name.
Death's myrmidons cannot overtake him who singeth Thy praises.
O Hari, who art God., the great Giver,
Mercifully preserve us as Thou pleasest.
Under the Guru's instruction God is pleasing to my mind
Disease is removed and pain averted.
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There is no other medicine, charm, or spell.
By remembering God, sin is destroyed.
As I behold creation I am amazed and astonished
God is contained in the hearts of demigods and men.
God who filleth every place, I hold in my heart.
There is none equal to Thee, O Lord.
He who loveth worship hath God's name in his mouth.
In the company of such saints and worshippers
Man breaketh his shackles and meditateth on God.
Pious men are emancipated by a knowledge of God through the Guru.
Death's myrmidons cannot inflict pain on him
Who awaketh in the love of God's name.
God to whom His saints are dear, abideth with them.
Nanak, salvation is obtained by bearing love to God.
The following on the disregard of worldly things was addressed to a selfish Brahman:--
He who serveth the Guru knoweth the Lord;
His pain is erased who recognizeth the True Word.
Repeat God's. name, my friends and companions.
On serving the true Guru ye shall behold God with your eyes.
Entanglements are mother, father, and the whole world
Entanglements are sons, daughters, and women;
Entanglements are religious ceremonies performed through ostentation;
Entanglements are sons, wives, and worldly love in the mind;
An entanglement is the tillage done by the tiller--
He suffereth for his selfishness when the King demandeth revenue--
An entanglement is traffic without meditating on God.
Man is never satisfied; worldly love is everywhere, diffused.[1]
An entanglement is the perishable wealth which merchants amass.
[1. Also translated--Man is not satisfied with the extension of his wealth.]
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Without devotion to God man findeth no place.
Entanglements are Veds, religious discussions, and pride.
By the entanglements of worldly love and sin man perisheth--
Nanak taketh shelter in God's name--
He whom the true Guru preserveth is freed from his entanglements.
The following was addressed to a mixed assembly of professedly religious men:--
I have searched in every direction, but found no friend.
If it please Thee, O Lord, Thou art mine and I am Thine.
I have no other gate than Thine; whom shall I salute?
I possess Thee alone, O Lord; Thy true name is in my mouth.
The Sidhs strive for supernatural power; Pirs also desire wealth and supernatural power.
May I not forget the one Name under the true Guru's instruction 1
Why do the Jogis, the Bhogis,[1] and the Kaprias wander in foreign lands?
They heed not the Guru's instruction or the Real Thing that is within them.
Pandits, preceptors, and astrologers ever read the Purans,
But know not the Thing within them--God who is concealed within the heart.
Some anchorets perform austerities in forests, others ever dwell at places of pilgrimages.
Those benighted people know not themselves; why have they become ascetics?
Some who are called Jatis try to restrain their seed:
Without the word of the Guru they shall not be saved, but shall wander in transmigration.
Different persons are family men, worshippers, penitents; but it is only they who are attached to the Guru's instructions,
Who hold fast the Name, charity, -and ablutions, and who awake in God's service.
[1. A sect of Indian Sybarites.]
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Through the Guru the gate of Thy house, O Lord, is known; when men go there they recognize it.
Saith Nanak, may I not forget Thy name, and may my heart be reconciled with the True One!
Precepts for salvation:--
By restraining his mental desires man shall assuredly cross the terrible ocean.
Thou, O Lord, wast in the beginning and in the primal age; Thou art the Merciful; I have entered Thine asylum.
Thou art the Giver; we are Thy beggars; O God, grant us a sight of Thee.
O man, meditate on the Name under the Guru's instruction, and thou shalt be happy in the temple of thy heart.
Renounce falsehood and avarice; and then shalt thou recognize the True One.
Be absorbed in the Guru's instruction, and thou shalt know what is best for thee.
This mind is a grasping tyrant enamoured of greed:
Under the Guru's instruction greed is removed, and man arriveth at an understanding with God.
If man sow a barren field, how shall he obtain profit?
The obstinate man is not pleased with the truth; he is buried in falsehood.
Renounce avarice, ye blind; it bringeth great unhappiness.
If the true Lord dwell in the heart, the poison of pride shall be removed.
Forsake the evil way of mammon, my brethren, or ye shall be plundered.
Day and night praise the Name under the protection of the true Guru.
The mind of the perverse is a stone or a rock; accursed and vain is his life.
However much a stone be put into the water, it is dry at the core.
God's name is wealth, the true Guru hath given it.
Nanak, he who forgetteth not God's name drinketh, distilled nectar.
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The advantage of domestic devotion:--
Why should I go searching in the wood? My heart is a verdant forest.
The true Word hath come quickly to my heart and abideth there.
Wherever I look there is God; no one else is seen,
Whosoever doeth the Guru's work shall find God's court.
The True One blendeth with Himself him who is pleasing to His mind;
He. blendeth with Himself him who ever walketh according to His will.
If the true Lord dwell in the heart, it becometh fixed.
God then granteth greatness in which naught is wanting.
How shall one reach God's court by occasional service?
He who embarketh in a boat of stone shall be drowned with his cargo.[1]
An inculcation of devotion regardless of worldly opinion:--
He whose mind is imbued with God's name discourseth of the True One.
What care I for men if I please Thee?
As long as there are life and soul, meditate on the True One.
The profit of singing God's praises is that man obtaineth happiness.
True is Thy work; grant it me, Thou Merciful One.
I live by praising Thee; Thou art my prop and my support.
I am the servant and the porter at Thy gate; Thou knowest my pain.
I am astounded at Thy service which hath removed my pain.
Holy men through Thy name shall reach Thy court and Thy presence.[2]
[1. Also translated--in the ocean.
2. Also translated--They who know the Name under the Guru's instruction shall reach God's court.]
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