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After his sojourn with the Sidhs the Guru returned to the plains of the Panjab and travelled in a north westerly dire…
There abode on a small hillock a bigoted and selfish priest known as Bawa Wali of Kandhar. The Guru and his minstrel …
After a brief residence in Hasan Abdal the Guru proceeded to Gorakh-Hatari, a quarter of the city of Peshawar on the …
What callest thou that gate at which thou sittest ? Who can see the gate within it ? Let some one come and describe t…
On uttering this hymn the Guru was pressed to adopt the style and religion of a Jogi. The principles of the Jogis sec…
The Word is my meditation, divine instruction the music of my horn for men to hear ;
Honour is my begging-wallet, and uttering the Name my alms.
Father, Gorakh awaketh.
Gorakh is He who lifted the earth and fashioned it without delay ; Who enclosed water, breath, and life in the body, …
Who gave us the earth as our abode, but whose many favours we have forgotten.
Sidhs, Strivers, Jogis, Jangams, and Pirs are many.
If I obtain the Name from them, I will sing their praises, and serve them heartily—
Paper and salt melt not in clarified butter; the lotus remaineth unaffected by water
What can Death say to them, O Nanak, who meet such saints?
After his successful discussion with the Jogis the Guru decided to visit Makka, the pole star of Muhammadan devotion.…
As they proceeded on the road to Makka, it is said, a cloud they saw over their heads accompanied them. The pilgrim b…
When the Guru arrived, weary and footsore, in Makka, he went and sat in the great mosque where pilgrims were engaged …
The Qazis and the Mullas crowded round the Guru, and interrogated him on the subject of his religion. They admitted t…
1 Curious it is to find the same expression in an Italian operatic writer of the eighteenth century. E se, dov ei dim…
Thy fasting and worship shall be acceptable
When thou, O man, keepest watch over the ten apertures of thy body, hatest the world,
Chastenest thy mind, restrainest thy sight, and fleest worldly desires and wr anglings.
Every day of the month offer thy love to the Lord; thus shalt thou be recognized as pure and gentle.
Keep the fast of meditation, and let the renunciation of pleasure be thy dance;
Keep watch over thy heart, so shalt thou be a really learned man;
Abandon delights, ease, evil speaking, mental anxiety, and vexation;
Treasure kindness in thy heart, and renounce the devices of infidelity; Extinguish the fire of lust in thy heart, and…
Saith Nanak, thus practise fasting, and thy faith shall be perfect.
When the Guru had finished, the Qazi said, Well done! I have to-day for the first time seen a real saint of God.’ The…
The high priest asked Nanak if the Hindus who read the Veds, and the Musalmans who read the Quran, should or should n…
O brethren, the Veds and the Quran are false, and free not the mind from anxiety.
If for a moment thou restrain thy mind, God will appear before thee.
O man, search thy heart daily, that thou mayest not again fall into despair.
This world is a magic show which hath no reality.
Men are pleased when they read falsehood, and quarrel over what they do not understand.
The truth is, the Creator is contained in the creation ;
He is not of a blue colour in the guise of Vishnu.
Thou shouldst have bathed in the river which floweth in heaven. 1
Take heed ; ever fix thine eyes on Him who is every where present. 2
God is the purest of the pure ; shall I doubt whether there is another equal to Him ? 3
Kabir, he to whom the Merciful hath shown mercy, knoweth Him.
The high priest then asked how God might be obtained by men. The Guru replied that it was by humility and prayer. He …
I make one supplication before Thee ; lend Thine ear, O Creator.
1 In the brain instead of the Ganges and other sacred streams of the Hindus.
2 Also translated Embrace perpetual poverty, fix thy mental eyes on God, and thou shalt behold Him everywhere present.
3 Also translated If there be another like Him, then entertain doubt. God, Thou art great and merciful ; Thou art the…
The world is a perishable abode ; O my heart, know this as the truth.
Azrail l seizeth me by the hair of my head ; yet thou knowest it not, O my heart.
There shall be no wife, no son, no father, no brother, no one to take my hand.
There shall be no one to hinder my falling at last when my fate 2 cometh.
1 have passed my nights and days in vanity, and my thoughts have been evil.
I have never done a good act this is my condition ; I am unfortunate, I am also miserly and negligent ; I see not, an…
Nanak saith, I am Thy slave, and the dust of the feet of Thy servants. 3
The high priest then asked the Guru to tell him the composition of matter, the nature of the God he adored, how He wa…
Even though a bird fly, it cannot compete in endurance with the torrent and the wind which move by God’s will.
How great shall I call God ? to whom shall I go to in quire regarding Him ?
1 Azrall is frequently mentioned in the Sikh sacred writings. In the Muhammadan dispensation he is the minister of De…
1 Takbir is understood to be for the Arabic taqdir, destiny.
3 Tilang. 4 Akash, or ether, being the fifth. He is the greatest of the great, and great is His world ; men depart in…
I have consulted the four Veds, but these writings find not God s limits.
I have consulted the four books of the Muhammadans, but God s worth is not described in them. I have consulted the ni…
Upon this the Guru began to repeat the Japji.
As the high priest listened to its doctrines he said,
This is a very impious faqir. He is working
1 Banno s Granth Sahib.
2 It is certain that the Guru omitted the words Muhammad ar rasul Allah of the creed, and substituted Arabic words of…
The Guru having accomplished his mission in the West resolved to return to his own country. When he arrived in Multan…
The Guru, after a brief sojourn in Multan, set out for Kartarpur. His reputation daily increased in the world, and me…
In due time the Guru and his minstrel arrived at Kartarpur on the right bank of the river Ravi, opposite the present …
During Guru Nanak s stay at Kartarpur he con tinued to compose hymns which diffused spiritual light and dispelled men…
At Kartarpur, Mardana, the Guru s faithful minstrel, advanced in years and wearied with his long wanderings and physi…
The Guru bade Shahzada remain with him in the same capacity as his father, and he would be held in equal honour. Acco…
In the Granth Sahib are found three sloks of the Guru, dedicated to Mardana, against the use of wine. The following, …
The barmaid is misery, wine is lust; man is the drinker.
The cup filled with worldly love is wrath, and it is served by pride.
The company is false and covetous, and is ruined by excess of drink.
Instead of such wine make good conduct thy yeast, truth thy molasses, God s name thy wine;
Make merits thy cakes, good conduct thy clarified butter, and modesty thy meat to eat.
Such things, O Nanak, are obtained by the Guru s favour; by partaking of them sins depart.