Hymns of Guru Nanak 9
RAG SUHI
Man ought to practise devotion at home:--
Man dwelleth not at home, but wandereth abroad.
Why doth he forsake ambrosia and eat poison?
Embrace such knowledge, O my soul,
As may make thee a servant of the True One.
Although every one speaketh of divine knowledge and meditation,
Yet the whole world wandereth bound by its own entanglements.
He who performeth service is a servant of Him
Who pervadeth the water, the dry land, the nether regions, and the firmament.
I am not good; there is nobody bad.
The representation of Nanak is--he who thinketh so is saved.
SUHI ASHTAPADI
The Guru depreciates himself, and utters a prayer to the Almighty --
In me are all demerits; I have not one merit
How shall I meet my Spouse?
No beauty or lustrous eyes are mine,
No family, no manners, or sweet speech.
The woman who cometh adorned with divine knowledge,
Shall be a happy wife if she please her Spouse.
O God, mercifully attach her to Thy feet
Who hath neither beauty nor good features,
Who remembereth not God at the last moment,
Who hath no wisdom, understanding, or cleverness.
The woman, who though very wise pleaseth not her Spouse,
Who attached to mammon is lost in superstition,
Shall, if she dismiss her pride, be absorbed in her Beloved,
And obtain Him who is her nine treasures.
I suffered through being separated from God in many births.
O Beloved Sovereign, take my hand.
Saith Nanak, the Lord is, was, and shall be.
The Beloved will enjoy her who is pleasing to Him.
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Miscellaneous instruction of the Guru:--
False and fleeting is the dye of the safflower, lasting for only four days.
Without the Name man wandereth in error; the evil passions[1] rob him, false that he is.
He who is tinctured with the True One shall not be born again.
How canst thou who art dyed with the love of God, be otherwise dyed?
Serve the Guru who giveth God's dye, and apply thy heart to the True One.
Even though man wander in every direction, he shall not obtain spiritual wealth without good fortune.
If robbed by vice thou wander in the forest like a huntsman, thou shalt not find shelter.
They whom the Guru protecteth are saved; their hearts are dyed with his instruction.
They who wear white clothes, but whose hearts are filthy and hard,
Never utter the Name, but like thieves become absorbed in mammon.
They who know not their own humble origin are beasts and cattle.
Man though ever and ever engaged in pleasures, ever and ever desireth more enjoyment.
He thinketh not of the Creator, so misery attacheth to him again and again.
How shall he in whose heart the Dispenser of weal and woe dwelleth, want for anything?
They whose accounts are not adjusted shall be summoned; the executioner shall smite them on their heads.
When the account is called for it must be given; it will be examined and considered.
Man shall be saved by his love for the True One; the Pardoner will pardon him.
If he make any one else than God his friend, he shall die and be blended with the dust.
[1. Literally--thags.]
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Man beholding various phases of life is led astray, and going astray suffereth transmigration;
But he shall be emancipated by a favouring glance from God and God will blend him with Himself.
O listless man who possessest not divine knowledge, search not for it without the Guru.
Man is ruined by allowing himself to be drawn in different directions; the effects of both evil and good acts remain with him.
The god of death spieth every one who is without the Word, and who feeleth not the fear of God.
He who made and sustained the world giveth support to all.
Why forget Him who is ever and ever the Benefactor?
May Nanak not forget the Name which is the support of the supportless!
SUHI CHHANT
The following is now sung by Sikhs at marriages and other festivities:--
Friends[1] have come to my house:
The True One hath caused me to meet them.
When it pleased God He caused me to meet them without Mine own effort; by meeting the elect happiness is found.
I have obtained what I set my heart on.
When I meet the saints my soul is happy; night and day my hearth and home look bright.
The unbeaten sound of the five musical instruments playeth since saints have come to my house.
Come, beloved friends,
Sing a song of rejoicing, O women.
Sing a true song of rejoicing; then shall you be pleasing to God and rejoice through the four ages.[2]
The Spouse hath come to my house, the place is adorned by Him. His instruction hath adjusted mine affairs.
I applied the great salve of divine knowledge to mine eyes, and saw God's form which filleth the three worlds.
[1. Saints are meant.
2. Also translated--Then shall you be pleasing to God to whom songs of rejoicing are sung through the four ages.]
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Meet me, O companions, sing with zest a song of rejoicing, since my Spouse hath come home to me.
My soul and body are bedewed with nectar,
And in my heart is the jewel of love:
In my heart is the precious jewel, and I ponder on the Primal Essence.
To animals Thou art the opulent Giver[1]; Thou givest to every individual.
Thou art wise; Thou possessest divine knowledge; Thou art the searcher of hearts; Thou Thyself didst create the world.
Listen, my friends, the charming Bridegroom hath fascinated me, and my soul and body are bedewed with nectar,
O Supreme Spirit of the world,
True is Thy play:
True is Thy play, O Incomprehensible and Infinite One; who can cause us to understand but Thee?
Without Thee how many can call themselves Sidhs, Strivers, or wise?
The Guru hath stayed the soul which was maddened with the misery of death.
Nanak, he who removeth his demerits by the Word, obtaineth God through his aggregate of merits.
The Guru is waiting for God as a fond wife for her husband --
Come, my Friend, that I may behold Thee.
Standing at my door I am watching for Thee; in my heart is excessive longing;
In my heart is excessive longing; hear me, my Lord, I have reliance on Thee.
On beholding Thee I have become free from desire; the pain of birth and death is at an end.
In all things is Thy light; from it art Thou known, but Thou art found by love.
Nanak, I am a sacrifice to the Friend; the True One is found when my mind cometh home.
[1. Also translated--animals beg of Thee.]
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SUHI KI WAR
God will assay man's qualities:--
Nanak when a man bringeth and putteth money in his house he examineth it;
So in the Lord's court the counterfeit and the genuine shall be tested.
Bathing at places of pilgrimage only renders men more impure:--
Men of evil minds and thievish bodies go to bathe at places of pilgrimage.
One part of their filth departeth by bathing, but they contract double more.[1]
A gourd may be externally washed, but it containeth undiluted poison within.
Holy men are good without bathing; a thief is always a thief whether he bathe or not.
Men should traffic in God's name from their earliest years:--
There are two lamps for fourteen shops,[2]
And as many shopkeepers as souls:
When the. shops are opened, the traffic beginneth.
Every one who cometh into the world is transient.
Religion is the broker who putteth a mark on the goods.
Nanak, they who profit by the Name are acceptable.
For those who obtain the greatness of the true Name.
Gratulations resound on their arrival at their own homes.
In evil association there is no hope of amendment:--
It is the habit of thieves, adulterers, prostitutes, and pimps
To contract friendship with the irreligious and dine with them.
They take no thought for God's praises; the devil ever dwelleth in their hearts.
[1. Their bodily filth departs, but their mental filth and hypocrisy increase.
2. There are the sun and moon for the fourteen worlds.]
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If sandal be rubbed on a donkey, he will still roll in the dust.
Nanak, by spinning falsehood the web of falsehood is woven.
False is the cloth therefrom and its measurement; false the raiment and the pride thereof.
The repetition of God's name is superior to the call of the Muazzin[1] or the horn of the Jogi,
Whether the Muezzin repeateth the call to prayer or the Jogi bloweth horns, and the bards join the chorus,
Some are givers, others are beggars; to me Thy name alone is acceptable.
Nanak, I am a sacrifice to those who have heard and accepted it.
The following sloks in the Suhi ki War contain miscellaneous instruction and reflections of the Guru:--
I am a sacrifice to those whose words consist of God's praises.
Every night is for the married woman; let me who am separated from Thee, O God, obtain even one night.
They who have not obtained the sweets of love or the delights of the Bridegroom,
Are like the guest of an empty house who goeth as he cometh.
A curse on the lives of those who eat to distend their bellies
Nanak, without the true Name all love is turned into hate.
You say, O Pandits--'As darkness is dispelled when a lamp is lighted,
'So by reading the Veds sinful inclinations are destroyed.'
I say, 'When the sun riseth, the moon is not seen.
'Where divine knowledge appeareth mental ignorance is dispelled.
'You, O Pandits, read the Veds and study them,
But the reading of the Veds is a secular occupation.
Without understanding this every one shall be disgraced,
[1. Who calls to prayer from the top of a mosque.]
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'Nanak, the man who listeneth to the Guru's instruction shall be saved.
'They who delight not in the Word and who love not God's name,
'Speak offensively with their tongues, and shall ever be disgraced.
'Nanak, they act according to their destiny which none can erase.'
RAG BILAWAL
It would not redound to God's glory to call Him by the names of the Hindu incarnations.
Thou art an emperor; if I call Thee lord, how will that be to Thy greatness?
If Thou inspire me, I will praise Thee, O Lord; I am foolish myself and can say nothing.
Give me understanding to sing Thy praises,
That I may abide in truth according to Thy will.
All that there is cometh from Thee; Thou lovest all.
I know not Thy limit, O my Lord; what skill have 1, a blind man?
What shall I say? while talking I see that I cannot describe the Indescribable.
I speak as it pleaseth Thee; and this is only in the smallest degree for Thy greatness.
Among so many dogs I, a strange dog, bark for my belly's sake.
Even though Nanak perform no service, he will still bear his Master's name.
The Guru's faith in God.
My body I have clothed with a Qalandar's dress, I have turned my heart into a temple, and I bathe in that place of pilgrimage.
The one word dwelleth in my heart, and I shall not be born again.
My soul is pierced by the Compassionate One; O my mother,
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Who knoweth another's pain?
I think of no one but God.
O inaccessible, imperceptible, unseen, and boundless God, take thought for me.
Thou fillest sea and land, the upper and lower regions Thy light is in every heart.
My faculty of learning and my understanding are all Thine; I have built my heart as a temple to Thee.
I know none but Thee, O my Lord; I ever sing Thy praises.
Men and lower animals all seek Thy protection; all anxiety for them resteth with Thee.
What pleaseth Thee is good; this is Nanak's sole representation.
LUNAR DAYS
The Guru counsels disregard of mammon:--
What name shall I repeat except that of the Lord of the world?
Under the Guru's instruction God's court is seen in one's own home.
They who are attached to mammon shall regret it
They shall go in fetters to Death's gate and suffer transmigration.
What have they brought, and what shall they take away?
They shall receive blows from the god of death on the head.
No one can be emancipated without the Guru's instruction.
No one can be saved by the practice of hypocrisy.
Heartfelt devotion is superior to all offerings and ablutions:--
On the tenth day of the lunar month repeat the Name as your offerings and ablutions.
Night and day lave yourselves in the attributes and knowledge of the True One.
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When doubts and fears have fled, impurity shall not cling to the true heart.
A frail cord will soon snap
Know that the world is as the cord.
Fix thy mind firmly on the True One and thou shalt be happy.
RAMKALI
In his devotional enthusiasm the Guru indulges in self-depreciation:--
Some read the Veds,[1] some the Purans
Some repeat names[2] on their rosaries and meditate on them.
I know not and never knew anything; 1 recognize only Thy name.
I know not, O God, what my lot shall be.
I am ignorant and devoid of divine knowledge; O Lord, I seek Thy protection, mercifully preserve my self-respect and honour.
The mind sometimes riseth and sometimes falleth to the nether regions.[3]
The greedy mind remaineth not still; it searcheth for mammon in all directions.
Man entered the world doomed to die; yet he amasseth wealth for long life.
While others depart, O Lord, we see the burning fire approaching us also.
No one hath a friend, no one hath a brother, no one hath a father or mother.
Nanak representeth, if Thou give Thy name, it will assist me at the last hour.
After the death of a Hindu a lamp is kept burning for several days to light the soul of the departed to the next world. It is then floated on water. Guru Nanak indites the following homily on the custom:--
[1. Literally--Sanskrit.
2. Some invoke gods and goddesses.
3. Sometimes man is elated and sometimes depressed.]
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Adore God[1] in the following way--
Make thy body into a raft[2] by which thou mayest cross over.
Put on it the fire of thy heart,
And the lamp shall burn untiringly day and night.
Float such a lamp on the water
As shall procure thee all knowledge.
The knowledge of God is a good material;
God will accept a lamp made out of it.
Make good deeds thy wheel, and mould thy lamp on it;
It will accompany thee in this world and the next.
When God looketh on him with an eye of favour,
Some rare pious man knoweth how to make this lamp.
This lamp shall be permanent in his heart,
And shall not be extinguished when he dieth.
Float such a lamp on the water As shall not be shaken or put out by the wind,
And by whose light God's throne may be seen.
Khatris, Brahmans, Sudars, and Vaisyas
Find not such a lamp by thousands of researches and calculations;
But if any of them light such a lamp as I have described,
He shall, O Nanak, obtain deliverance.
The following was addressed to a Jogi:--
The Jogi runneth about begging for clothes and food
He burneth with the pangs of hunger, and he shall also have misery hereafter.
He who hath not received the Guru's instruction, loseth his honour by his own stupidity.
Some rare man obtaineth God's service by the Guru's teaching.
The Jogi who knoweth the way dwelleth in a peaceful home.
He who is satisfied with the alms of love and the Word beholdeth all men with an equal eye.
[1. Literally--fix thine attention on God.
2. The little raft on which the lamp is placed.]
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