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The Guru proceeded to the river Ravi and thence to Lahore. The Lahore territory was then farmed from the Emperor by a…
The Guru, on seeing several flags over Duni Chand's door, asked what they were. It was explained that each flag denot…
False are kings, false their subjects, false the whole world ;
False are mansions, false palaces, false those who dwell therein ;
False is gold, false silver, false he who weareth them ;
False the body, false raiment, false peerless beauty ;
False husbands, false wives ; they pine away and become dust. 1
Man who is false loveth what is false, and forgetteth the Creator.
1 Instead of chhar, dust, the Granth Sahib has khwdr, despised. With whom contract friendship ? The whole world passe…
False is sweetness, false honey, in falsehood shiploads are drowned
Nanak humbly asserteth Except Thee, God, everything is thoroughly false. 1
The Guru went in a north-east direction, and took up his post on the bank of the Ravi. His arrival there caused great…
Falsehood is at an end ; Nanak, truth at last prevaileth. 2
There was only the one Name mentioned in the Guru s dwelling, and he became the object of great popular admiration.
A millionaire official who dwelt in a neighbouring village began to depreciate the Guru. He said, Who is this person …
1 Asa ki War.
2 Ramkali ki War I. mounted his horse, intending this time to go and supplicate the Guru, but immediately fell down. …
One day a fanatical Brahman came to the Guru and begged for alms. The Guru, who was at his break fast, invited the Br…
was pleased to gratify him, and then composed the following : Cooking places of gold, vessels of gold, Lines of silve…
The Guru initiated the practice of singing hymns in the end of the night. A boy seven years of age used to come to li…
In the briny unfathomable ocean the fish did not recognize the net. 1
Why did the very clever and beautiful fish have so much confidence ?
It was caught through its own doing ; death cannot be averted,
O my brethren ; know that in like manner death hangeth over your heads.
Man is like the fish upon which the net falleth unawares.
The whole world is bound by death ; without the Guru death cannot be destroyed.
They who are imbued with the True One, and have abandoned worthless mammon, are saved.
I am a sacrifice unto those who are found true at the gate of the True One.
Death is like the hawk among the birds, or the huntsman with the noose in his hands.
They whom the Guru preserved have been saved ; all others have been entrapped by the bait.
They who possess not God s name shall be rejected ; no one will assist them.
God is the truest of the true, and His place is the truest of the true.
They who obey the True One meditate on Him in their hearts.
Even the perverse who obtain divine knowledge under the Guru s instruction are pure.
Make supplication to the true Guru to unite thee with the Friend.
When man meeteth the Friend he obtaineth happiness, and the myrmidons of death poison themselves.
1 The worldly man does not remember death. I abide in the Name, and the Name abideth in my heart.
Without the Guru all is darkness ; without the Word nothing can be known.
By the Guru s instruction light shineth, and man con- tinueth to love the True One.
Death entereth not where the soul s light is blended with God s.
Thou, God, art the Friend ; Thou art wise ; it is Thou who unitest men with Thee.
Under the Guru s instruction, O man, praise Him who hath no end or limit.
Death entereth not where there is the incomparable Word of the Guru.
By God s order all sentient beings were produced ; by God s order they perform their functions.
By God s order they are in the power of death ; by God s order they are absorbed in the True One.
Nanak, what pleaseth God shall happen ; there is nothing whatever in the power of His creatures. 1
The boy to whom the above hymn was addressed was subsequently known as Bhai Budha on account of the complimentary exp…
Kalu with all his people proceeded to where his son the Guru had fixed his habitation. Sikh societies then began to b…
1 Sri Rag, Ashtapadi. At Kartarpur, a watch before day, the Japji and the Asa ki War were repeated. Then followed rea…
The Guru when not engaged in prayer occupied himself during the day in Kartarpur in giving instruction to all who sou…
The Guru thus expressed himself on the subject of the devotional exercises of the Sikhs : To recall the wandering min…
The Guru replied to a man called Kalu who had asked him for a definition of a holy man : 'Recognize him as holy in wh…
Two Sikhs, called Bhagta and Ohri, asked Guru Nanak how rest was to be obtained, and transmigration avoided. The Guru…
The Guru was asked why the words Sat Nam—the True Name—were always written as an introduction to his hymns. He replie…
It was here the Guru composed his poem on the Twelve Months of the year. The description is of course suited to the c…
Hear Thou, O God—according to men s acts in previous states of existence The weal or woe which Thougivest to each ind…
Nanak, the woman is waiting for Thee; hear Thou, O Omnipresent Spirit.
The chatrik crieth ‘Prio!’ and the kokil also singeth its lays. The woman who is embraced by her Spouse enjoyeth ever…
O God, filled with delight, my Beloved, hear Thou me. Thou art contained in my soul and body; I forget Thee not for a…
It raineth a torrent of nectar, whose drops are delightful, When the friend, the kindly Guru meeteth one, and love is…
In every house the spouse enjoyeth his happy wife; why hath my Spouse forgotten me? Lowering clouds have overspread t…
In Chet agreeable is the spring; the bumble-bee is pleasing. In the Bar the forests are flowering; may my Beloved ret…
The month of Baisakh is pleasant; the trees are in blossom; The woman is waiting for God at her gate, saying, ‘Come, …
The month of Jeth is pleasant; why should the Beloved be forgotten? The land is burning like a furnace; woman is maki…
Woman is making supplication and praising His qualities: ‘I shall be pleasing to the Lord if I utter His praises. ‘Th…
The month of Har is sultry; the sun is burning in the sky; The earth is suffering; it is parched and heated like fire…
In Sawan be happy, O my soul; it is the season of clouds and rain. ‘I love my Spouse with my soul and body, but the D…
Nanak, she is the happy wife who is embraced by her beloved Spouse.
In the month of Bhadon woman in the bloom of youth is led astray by doubt, but afterwards repenteth. The lakes and th…
In Assu come, O Beloved; the wife is pining and dying for Thee. Man can meet the Lord when He granteth him an intervi…
In Kartik what pleaseth God is recorded in man’s destiny. The lamp which is lit by divine knowledge easily burneth. L…
‘Meet us, O God, and open the doors of our understanding; otherwise one hour shall be as six months.’
The month of Maghar is pleasant for those who are blended with God’s person by singing His praises. The virtuous woma…
In Poh it freezeth; the moisture of the forest and of the grass drieth up. Why comest Thou not? Thou dwellest in my b…
In Magh woman becometh pure when she knoweth the place of Pilgrimage within her. I have easily met the Friend, and, b…
The Ganges, the Jamna, the meeting of the three rivers at Tribeni Priyag, the seven oceans, Alms, charity, and worshi…
In Phagan the hearts of those to whom God’s love is pleasing are happy. Night and day are pleasant to him who effacet…
The twelve months, the seasons, the lunar days, and the week days, The gharis, the mahurats, the moments, are all ple…
When the dear Lord is obtained, everything is arranged; the Creator knoweth everything. I am dear to Him who decorate…
At that time there was a man in very straitened domestic circumstances who had a daughter to marry. He appealed to Gu…
When the shopkeeper returned to Lahore, he sent for merchants and bankers and sold them everything he had in his shop…
After bathing, the shopkeeper used to repeat the Japji and read the Guru’s hymns. He was wont to take breakfast at da…
The shopkeeper loaded his ship with the products of Ceylon, and returned to India. Raja Shivnabh remained at home, th…