Guru Granth selections: Life of Guru Nanak and the Japji (The Sikh Religion vol. I)

The second schismatical body of the Sikhs were the Minas. Ram Das, the fourth Guru, had three sons, Prithi Chand, Mahadev, and Arjan. Prithi Chand proved unfilial and disobedient, Mahadev became a religious enthusiast, while Arjan, the youngest, followed in the steps of his father. To Arjan, therefore, he bequeathed the Guruship. Prithi Chand he stigmatized as Mina or deceitful, a name given to a robber tribe in Rajputana. Prithi Chand, however, succeeded in obtaining a following, whom he warned against association with the Sikhs of Guru Arjan. Consequently enmity between both sects has existed up to the present time. Miharban, the son of Prithi Chand, wrote a Janamsakhi of Guru Nanak in which he glorified his own father. Here there was ample opportunity for the manipulation of details. It is in this Janamsakhi of the Minas we first find mention of Bhai Bala. The Handalis, the third schismatic sect of the Sikhs, were the followers of Handal, a Jat of the Man j ha, who had been converted to the Sikh religion by Guru Amar Das, 1 There are now several sects of the religion of Guru Nanak. It appears from the testimony of St. Paul that the early Christian Church was similarly divided. ' For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided ? was Paul crucified for you ? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?' (i Cor. i. 11-13). Schisms appear to be the law of all religions. They began in Islam after the death of the Prophet's companions. Islam, it is said, now numbers seventythree different sects.

the third Sikh Guru. Bidhi Chand, a descendant of Handal, was a Sikh priest at Jandiala, in the Amritsar district. He took unto himself a Muhammadan woman, whom he attached to him rather by ties of love than of law, and upon this he was abandoned by his followers. He then devised a religion of his own, and compiled a Granth and a Janamsakhi to correspond. In both he sought to exalt to the rank of chief apostle his father Handal, and degrade Guru Nanak, the legitimate Sikh Guru. For this purpose creative fancy was largely employed. To serve the double object of debasing Guru Nanak and justify ing himself to men, he stated that Nanak had also taken unto himself a Muhammadan woman bound to him by no bonds save those of lucre and ephemeral affection. According to this biographer, Guru Nanak, on his journey to Sach Khand, the true region, or the Land of the Leal, met the Hindu saint Dhru. One day while on earth Dhru sat on his father's lap, and was removed by his step-mother. For this trivial slight he left his home and turned his thoughts to God. God accepted his worship, and in recognition thereof offered him the highest place in heaven. The pole, as not moving, is supposed to have the position of honour, and there Vishnu set him in the centre of the stars. Dhru began to converse with Guru Nanak, and told him that only one man, Kabir, had previously been able to visit that select and happy region. Here there was a covert depreciation of Guru Nanak. Kabir, a famous religious teacher, by caste a weaver, was his precursor, and the Handali's object was to show that Guru Nanak was a follower of Kabir and not an original thinker. Guru Nanak is then represented to have said that a third man, Handal, was approaching, and would be present in the twinkling of an eye.

Guru Nanak, proceeds the Handali writer, continued his journey to Sach Khand, and there found Kabir fanning God, who is represented as the four-armed Hindu deity Vishnu. A rude drawing in the Handali Janamsakhi represents God and Kabir in truly anthropomorphic fashion as a priest and his attendant disciple. Ixxxii THE SIKH RELIGION Nanak informed God that he had not fully carried out the orders he had obtained prior to his departure to earth and his human manifestation. He had only promulgated God's message in three directions. The western portion of the world remained still ignorant and un visited. He was there fore remanded by God to fully accomplish his mission. On his return to earth he met in one of the lower worlds a Jogi with whom, as was his wont, he entered into familiar conversation. The Jogi, in reply to Nanak's question, told him that he had been, in a previous state of existence in the Treta age, a servant of Raja Janak, King of Mithila, and father-in-law of the renowned deified hero Ram Chandar. Nanak is made to confess to him that he, too, had been a servant of Raja Janak, and that they had both served under the same roof in the same menial capacity. The Jogi then questioned Nanak as to his secular position in the Dwapar age. Nanak is represented as saying with the same unsuspecting frankness that he had been the son of a teli or oil-presser, a trade held to be offensive and degrading to Hindus. Thus was the depreciation of Guru Nanak complete.

Such were the fictitious narratives introduced into the Janamsakhis, and, the reins of fancy having once been let loose, it was difficult for the Handalis to know at what goal to pause. The result was a total transformation of the biographies of Guru Nanak which they had found in exis tence. This occurred about the year A. D. 1640. Bidhi Chand died in the year A.D. 1654. H*8 successor was Devi Das, whom his Musalman companion bore him. The Handali heresy was opportune for its followers. Zakaria Khan Bahadur, the Muhammadan Governor of the Panjab, about a century afterwards, set a price on the head of every Sikh. At first he offered twenty-five, then ten, and finally five rupees. The heads of Sikhs were supplied in abundance by both Musalmans and Hindus,1 1 It was, as we shall subsequently see, a Brahman who betrayed the sons of Guru Gobind Singh, and placed them at the disposal of the Muhammadan Governor of Sarhind, who barbarously murdered them. and the price offered was consequently reduced by degrees. The Handalis protested to the officials of Zakaria that they were not Sikhs of Nanak, but a totally different sect who merited not persecution ; and in proof of this they pointed to their Granth, and their Janamsakhi, and to the Musalman companion of Bidhi Chand. Notwithstanding these subter fuges, the Handalis were subsequently persecuted and deprived of their land by Maharaja Ran jit Singh, but they still exist as a small community, whose head quarters are at Jandiala, where the guardians of their temple enjoy a jagir or fief from the British Government. They are now known by the name of Niranjanie, or followers of the bright God (Niranjan).

In the present age, accustomed as we are to the use and multiplication of printed books, it is not at once easy to realize how records of every description could have been forged, altered, and destroyed in an age when manuscripts only existed. It must be remembered that books then were few, and that combinations among their possessors, especially if supported by political power or religious fanaticism, could easily be effected. The Handalis appar ently had sufficient influence to destroy nearly all the older accounts of the life of Guru Nanak. But, apart from this altogether, there is no doubt that there was a great destruction of Sikh manuscripts during the persecution of the Sikh faith by the Muhammadan authori ties. Sikh works or treatises preserved in shrines became special objects of attack. Their existence was known and could not be denied by the Sikh priests, and systematic raids were organized to take possession of them. It was only copies preserved by private individuals, living at a distance from the scenes of persecution, which had any chance of escape from the fury of the Moslems.1 1 This finds a parallel in the destruction of Christian writings by fanatical Romans prior to the time of the Emperor Constantine. The records of the Christian persecutions show that the Christian priests who surrendered their sacred writings subsequently received severe treatment at the hands of their co-religionists. Compare the manner

Ixxxiv THE SIKH RELIGION All the Handali and modern Janamsakhis give Kartik as the month in which Baba Nanak was born. In Mani Singh's and all the old Janamsakhis the Guru's natal month is given as Baisakh. The following is the manner in which Kartik began to be considered as the Guru's natal month : There lived in the time of Maharaja Ran jit Singh, at Amritsar, Bhai Sant Singh Gyani, who was held in high estimation by that monarch. Some five miles from Amritsar is an ancient tank called the Ram Tirath or place of pilgrim age of the Hindu god Ram. At that place a Hindu fair was and is still held at the time of the full moon in the month of Kartik. The spot is essentially Hindu, and it had the further demerit in the eyes of the Bhai of having been repaired by Lakhpat, the prime minister of Zakaria Khan Bahadur, the inhuman persecutor of the Sikhs. Bhai Sant Singh desired to establish an opposition fair in Amritsar on the same date, and thus prevent the Sikhs from making the Hindu pilgrimage to Ram Tirath. He gravely adopted the Handali date of Guru Nanak's birth, and proclaimed that his new fair at Amritsar at the full moon in the month of Kartik was in honour of the nativity of the founder of his religion.

There is no doubt that Guru Nanak was born in Baisakh. All the older Janamsakhis give that as Guru Nanak's natal month. As late as the Sambat year 1872 it was in Baisakh that the anniversary fair of Guru Nanak's birth was always celebrated at Nankana. And finally the Nanak Parkash, which gives the full moon in Kartik, Sambat 1526, as the time of Guru Nanak's birth and the tenth of the dark half of Assu, Sambat 1596, as the date of his death, states with strange inconsistency that he lived seventy years five months and seven days,1 a total which is irreconcilable with these dates, but it is very nearly reconcilable with the date of the Guru's birth given in the old Janamsakhi. in which the Gospel according to the Hebrews, the Memoirs of the Apostles, and other valuable Christian records used by the early fathers of the Church, have been destroyed and lost for ever to the world. 1 The usually accepted horoscopes and ages of the Gurus are given in a work called the Gur Parndli. How the month of Kartik was subsequently ratified by orthodox Sikhs as the month of Guru Nanak's nativity is also a curious instance of the manner in which religious anniversaries and observances can be prescribed and adopted. Bhai Harbhagat Singh, of Shahid Ganj in Lahore, was a Sikh of high consideration. He long debated in his own mind whether he would accept Baisakh or Kartik as the month of Guru Nanak's nativity. At last he submitted the matter to the arbitrament of chance. He wrote the word Baisakh on one slip of paper and Kartik on the other, placed both papers in front of the Granth Sahib, and sent an unlettered boy, who had previously performed religious ablution in the sacred tank, to take up one of them. The boy selected the one on which Kartik had been written.1

Other reasons, too, for the alterations of the date can easily be imagined. In the beginning of the month of Baisakh there have been large Hindu fairs held from time immemorial to celebrate the advent of spring. These fairs were visited by the early Sikhs as well as by their Hindu countrymen ; and it would on many accounts have been very inconvenient to make the birth of Guru Nanak synchronize with them. The comparatively small number of Sikh visitors at a special Sikh fair in the early days of the Sikh religion would have compared unfavourably with the large number of Hindu pilgrims at the Baisakhi fair, and furthermore, the selection of the month of October, when few Hindu fairs are held, and when the weather is more suitable for the distant journey to Nankana, would probably lead to a large gathering of Hindus at a Sikh shrine. One difference of opinion among the victims of priestcraft is apt to produce many. When the month of Kartik was adopted by the Handalis as Guru Nanak's birth time, a discussion arose as to whether it was the lunar or the solar 1 In the East sacred books are often employed in this way for purposes of divination. In the Middle Ages the Bible, and in earlier times the poems of Homer, Virgil, and others, were used for the same purpose.

Ixxxvi THE SIKH RELIGION Kartik, there being a considerable difference between these forms of chronology. The partisans of the lunar Kartik, however, prevailed, the lunar month being the earlier form of calculation, and consequently the most acceptable to all personswhosereligion is based on anyform of Hinduism. Generally the confusion of solar and lunar chronology is the cause of much perplexity and qualms of conscience to the pious.1 The last Janamsakhi which we shall notice was written by a Sikh called Sewa Das.2 Of this we have obtained several copies. One of them in our possession bears the date Sambat 1645 = A.D. 1588. It was therefore completed at least sixteen years before the compilation of the Granth Sahib by Guru Arjan, which is admitted to have taken place in A.D. 1604. Its language is that of Pothohar, the country between the Jihlam and the Indus, and its written character is unmistakably more ancient than that of any other Gurumukhi book now in existence. This Janamsakhi appears to have escaped the notice of both Gur Das and Mani Singh. Had Gur Das seen it, he would doubtless have given a fuller account of the life of Guru Nanak ; and, had it been known to Mani Singh, he would probably have referred to it or criticized its details. While persecutions of the Sikhs were raging south of Lahore, and the other detailed memoirs of Guru Nanak's life, including those of Bhai Mani Singh, were destroyed, this Janamsakhi was preserved in Pothohar, where Moslem bigotry was not then aggressively exercised.

In this biography there is no mention whatever of Bhai 1 The late Bhai Gurumukh Singh, who first gave the author these details, afterwards put himself at the head of a deputation to move the Government of the Panjab to declare the fictitious anniversary of Guru Nanak's birth a public holiday. That Government accord ingly added a second Sikh holiday to the already long list of Christian, Hindu, and Muhammadan holidays sanctioned in its calendar. The other special Sikh holiday is the Hola Mahalla, the day on which the tenth Guru held a mimic battle for the instruction of his troops. 2 The late Sir Atar Singh, Chief of Bhadaur, gave the author this information. Bala. There is, however, mention made of Mardana, who undoubtedly accompanied Baba Nanak as his minstrel in most, if not all, of his wanderings. This Janamsakhi again is deformed by mythological matter which Baba Nanak himself would have been the first to repudiate. Notwithstanding exaggerations, such as occur in all religions which deal with avatars or incarnations, the Janamsakhi now under consideration is beyond dispute the most trustworthy detailed record we possess of the life of Guru Nanak. It contains much less mythological matter than any other Gurumukhi life of the Guru, and is a much more rational, consistent, and satisfactory narrative. At the same time it is, of course, the product of legend and tradition, but these have, in at least one memorable instance, been thought more trustworthy than written records in such cases.1 We shall make this ancient Janamsakhi the basis of our own details of the life of Guru Nanak 2, supple menting it when necessary by cullings from the later lives of the Guru. At the same time we must premise that several of the details of this and of all the current Janamsakhis appear to us to be simply settings for the verses and sayings of Guru Nanak. His followers and admirers found dainty word-pictures in his compositions. They considered under what circumstances they could have been produced, and thus devised the framework of a biography in which to exhibit them to the populace.

The deeds that have been done, the prophecies that have been uttered, and the instruction that has been imparted by that great procession of holy men, the Sikh Gurus, will be found described in the following pages. In the Gurus the East shook off the torpor of ages, and unburdened itself 1 Papias, a father of the Christian Church, who flourished about A. D. 130, wrote that he considered what he obtained from the living and abiding voice of men would profit him more in obtaining accurate details of the life of Christ than what was recorded in the gospels. 2 That accomplished Sikh scholar and saintly man, the late Bhai Dit Singh, has also made the Janamsakhi that we use the basis of his Gurumukhi life of Guru Nanak. Ixxxviii THE SIKH RELIGION of the heavy weight of ultra-conservatism which had para lysed the genius and intelligence of its people. Only those who know India by actual experience can adequately appreciate the difficulties the Gurus encountered in their efforts to reform and awaken the sleeping nation. Those who, secure in their own wisdom and infallibility, and dwelling apart from the Indian people spurn all know ledge of their theological systems, and thus deem Sikhism a heathen religion, and the spiritual happiness and loyalty of its followers negligeable items, are men whose triumph shall be short-lived and whose glory shall not descend with the accompaniment of minstrel raptures to future genera tions. I am not without hope that when enlightened rulers become acquainted with the merits of the Sikh religion they will not willingly let it perish in the great abyss in which so many creeds have been engulfed.

To recapitulate what has been more fully stated in the Introduction, Guru Nanak. the founder of the Sjkh religion, was born, according to all ancient Sikh rprords. in the early morningjpf the third day oL th£ light half of thp month of Raisakh (April-May) in the__y£Sr_ AiD._ 1469 ; but for convenience sake his anniversary is now observed by the Sikhs on the occasion of the full moon in the month of Kartik (October-November). F^ father, who was called Kalu, was accountant in the village of Talwandi in the prespTit-JLahor-ft. District of the Panjab, and his mother was Tripta. memorable in Sikh writings for her_devation to her son. The Sikh biographers recount in minute detail all the circumstances of the birth of Guru Nanak. Daulatan, a midwife, assisted on the occasion. When next morning interrogated by the astrologer Hardial, who came to write the child's horoscope, as to the nature of the voice uttered by him at birth, she said it was as the laughing voice of a wise man joining a social gathering ; and she expressed herself at her wits' end to comprehend the child's nature. The astrologer desired to see him, but his mother refused owing to the chillness of the weather. He pressed the matter, and the child was brought to him in his swaddling clothes. The astrologer on seeing the infant is said to have worshipped him with clasped hands. He declared the child should wear the umbrella, the symbol of regal or prophetic dignity in the East. At the same time he regretted that he should never live to see young Nanak's eminence, worshipped as he should be alike by Hindus and Musalmans, and not merely by Hindus

as in the previous human manifestations of the Creator. The child's name should resound both in earth and heaven. Inanimate nature should cry out ' Nanak, Nanak ! ' He should have power over matter so as to traverse unscathed the depths of the ocean. He should worship and acknowledge but one God, and the creature he should treat as a creature. In other words he should be a monotheist, not a worshipper of minor deities and idols. At the unripe age of five years Nanak is said to have begun to talk of divine subjects, and to have fully understood the meaning of his language. Great trust was reposed in him ; and both Hindus and Musalmans lavished on him their characteristic language of religious adulation. At Nankana 1 every place with which Nanak had any association is deemed sacred. On the spot where he used to play with children of his own age and subsequently spend nights in devotion, there was a small tank constructed by Rai Bular, the landlord of the village, in affectionate remembrance of the childhood of the Guru, at a time when his fame had extended far and wide. The tank was greatly enlarged by Kaura Mai, the Diwan or financial minister of Zakaria Khan, who was satrap of Lahore. Kaura Mai was an enthusiastic admirer of Guru Nanak, and lent his great material and political influence to the amelioration of the condition of the Sikhs. The spot is called Balkrira or the child's playground.

When Nanak was seven years of age, his father in the manner of Hindus asked the village astrologer to select an auspicious time for the commencement of the boy's education. The schoolmaster thought the time had arrived. The school appears to have been a humble one, and the tuition fees not exorbitant. Kalu's wife and not, as in modern times, the village money lender was the custodian of the wealth of the house. Kalu took from her a coin corresponding to three 1 By which name Talwandi is now known. farthings of English money, some betel-nut, and rice, and presented them to the schoolmaster with his son. In India wooden tablets painted black are employed in teaching children the letters of their language. The schoolmaster writes the letters with a kind of liquid chalk on the tablet ; and the children repeat their names aloud with much noise and energy. The schoolmaster wrote the alphabet for Nanak, and the latter copied it from memory after one day. It is said that on that occasion the young Guru made an acrostic on his alphabet. As in similar compositions in other languages, the letters were taken consecutively, and words whose initials they formed were employed to give metrical expression to the Guru's divine aspirations, his tenets, and his admiration of the attributes of the Creator.

The acrostic called the patti or tablet in the Rag l Asa is as follows : — S. The one Lord who created the world is the Lord of all. Fortunate is their advent into the world, whose hearts remain attached to God's service. O foolish man, why hast thou forgotten Him ? When thou adjustest thine account, my friend, thou shalt be deemed educated. I. The Primal Being is the Giver ; He alone is true. No account shall be due by the pious man who understandeth by means of these letters. 1 Indian writers enumerate six principal Rags or musical measures, namely, Sri Rag, Bhairav, Malkaus, Hindol, Dlpak, Megh. To these are allotted ' wives ' and * sons ', which are modifications of the principal airs, and are often sung differently in different provinces of India. The hymns of the Granth Sahib were composed to as many as thirtyone such musical measures, the names of which are as follows : — Sri Rag, Majh, Gauri, Asa, Gujari, Devgandhari, Bihagra, Wadhans, Sorath, Dhanasari, Jaitsari, Todi, Baiiari, Tilang, Suhi, Bilawal, Gaund, Ramkali, Nat, Maligaura, Maru, Tukhari, Kedara, Bhairo, Basant, Sarang, Malar, Kanra, Kalian, Prabhati, Jaijawanti. For further information see Raja Sir Surindra Mohan Tagore's learned works on Indian music. The Rags in European musical notation will be found at the end of the fifth volume of this work.

U. Praise Him whose limit cannot be found. They who practise truth and perform service shall N. He who knoweth divine knowledge is the learned pandit.1 He who knoweth the one God in all creatures would never say ' I exist by myself '. K. When the hair groweth white, it shineth without soap. King Death's hunters follow him who is bound by the chain of mammon.2 K1I. The Creator, Lord of the world, giveth sustenance to His slaves. All the world is bound in His bonds ; no other authority prevaileth. G. He who hath renounced the singing of God's word, is arrogant in his language. He who fashioned vessels made kilns in which He put them and burnt them. GH. The servant who performeth the Guru's3 work, who remaineth obedient to His commands, Who deemeth bad and good as the same, shall in this way be absorbed in Him. CH. He who made the four Veds,4 the four mines,5 and Hath been in every age a Jogi, a worldly man, or a learned pandit. 1 Pandit means a learned man, but the title is now appropriated by Brahmans versed in Sanskrit literature. 2 Maya. In the sacred writings of the Sikhs this word has two meanings — one is mammon, as the word is here translated ; the other is illusion or God's mystic power by which He created matter.

3 The word Guru means great. Here it stands for God. In a secondary sense it is applied to a great religious teacher. 4 They are the Rig, Sam, Yajur, and Atharv, composed in the most ancient form of the Sanskrit language. In Sikh literature they are named the white, the red, the yellow, and the black Veds. 5 In the East four sources of life are enumerated. It is there said that animals are born from eggs, wombs, the earth, and perspiration. 6 The Sat, Treta, Dwapar, and Kal, corresponding to the golden, silver, brass, and iron ages of Greece and Rome. CHH. God's shadow is over everything ; doubt is His O God, having created doubt, Thou Thyself leadest man astray. They whom Thou favourest meet the Guru. J. Thy slave, who wandered in the eighty-four lakhs1 of existences, beggeth and prayeth for divine knowledge. ^\ There is One who taketh, One who giveth ; I have heard of none other. JH. Why die of grief, O mortal ? What God hath to give He continueth to give. He giveth, beholdeth and issueth His orders how living things are to obtain sustenance. N. When I look carefully I see no other than God. ^ - The one God pervadeth all places ; the one God

dwelleth in the heart. T. 0 mortals, why practise deceit ? Ye shall have to depart in a ghari 2 or two. Lose not the play of your lives, run and fall under God's protection. TH. Comfort pervadeth the hearts of those whose minds are attached to God's feet. They whose minds are so attached are saved, 0 Lord, and obtain happiness by Thy favour. D. O mortal, why make display ? all that existeth is transitory. Serve Him who pervadeth all things, and thou shalt obtain happiness. DH. He Himself destroy eth and buildeth ; He acteth He beholdeth the work of His hands, issueth His orders, and saveth those on whom He looketh with favour. N. He in whose heart God dwelleth singeth His praises. 1 It is believed in the East that there are 8,400,000 species of animal life through which the soul may wander in transmigration. A lakh is one hundred thousand. 2 A ghari is a period of twenty-four minutes. The Creator blendeth men with Himself, and they are not born again. T. The terrible ocean1 is deep, and none findeth its end. We have no boat or raft ; we are drowning ; save

us, O Saviour King. TH. He who made all things is in every place. What do men call doubt ? What mammon ? That which pleaseth God is good. D. Impute not blame to any one, but rather to thine own karma.2 I have suffered the consequences of my acts ; I may blame no one else. DH. He who made things after their kinds holdeth the power in His own hands. All receive what He giveth under His most bounti ful order. N. The Master ever enjoyeth pleasure ; He cannot be seen or grasped. I am called a married woman, my sister, but in reality I have never met my Husband.3 P. The King, the Supreme God, made the play of the world to behold it. He seeth, understandeth, and knoweth everything ; y He is within and without His creation. PH. The whole world is entangled with a noose and bound by Death's chain. They who by the Guru's favour have run to God for protection, are saved. 1 In Sikh writings this world is likened to a terrible and stormy ocean which can only be traversed with difficulty, and in which man is ever liable to founder without spiritual guidance. The Guru supplies a boat for salvation.

2 Karma are acts which follow the soul in its transmigration and hinder its progress to Nirvan. 3 The Gurus speak of God as a husband and themselves as His wives ; and spiritual happiness they liken to connubial bliss. This belief has to some extent a parallel in Greek mythology. Psyche, the human soul, having forfeited the love of Eros, the divine soul, endured various sufferings to regain the affection of her lover. B. God began to play by making the four ages His chaupar board.1 He made men and lower animals His dice, and began to throw them Himself. BH. They who search and feel fear by the favour of the Guru obtain the fruit thereof. The perverse, fools that they are, wander and heed not, and so transmigrate in the eighty-four lakhs of animals. M. God destroy eth worldly love ; is it only at death man is to remember Him ? Other thoughts possess man and he forgetteth the letter M.2 Y. If man recognize the True One, he shall not be The holy man uttereth, the holy man understandeth, the holy man knoweth but the one God. R. God pervadeth all the creatures He hath made. Having created creatures He appointed them all to their duties ; they to whom He is kind take His name. L. He who appointed creatures to their duties, made

worldly love sweet. He giveth eating and drinking equally to all, and ordereth them as He pleaseth. W. The Supreme Being who created the vesture of the world to behold it, Seeth, tasteth, and knoweth everything ; He is contained within and without the world. R. Why quarrel, O mortal ? meditate on God, under whose order is creation. Meditate on Him ; be absorbed in the True One ; and be a sacrifice unto Him. H. There is no other Giver than He who created crea tures and gave them sustenance. Meditate on God's name ; be absorbed in God's 1 Chaupar is the Indian draughts. 2 The initial of Madhusudan, one of the names applied to God. It may also be the initial of the Arabic word maut, death. name, and thou shall night and day derive profit therefrom. A. What God who made the world hath to do He con- He acteth and causeth others to act ; He knoweth everything ; thus saith the poet Nanak. Nanak appears to have continued to attend school for some time. One day he was observed to remain silent, and not apply himself to his books. The schoolmaster asked him why he was not reading. Nanak inquired, ' Art thou sufficiently learned to teach me ? ' The schoolmaster replied that he had read everything. He knew the Veds and Shastars,1 and he had learned to cast up accounts, post ledgers and daybooks, and strike balances. Upon this Nanak said, ' To your accomplishments I prefer the study of divine knowledge '. He then composed the following hymn :—

Burn worldly love, grind its ashes and make it into ink ; 2 turn superior intellect into paper. Make divine love thy pen, and thy heart the writer ; ask thy guru and write his instruction. Write God's name, write His praises, write that He hath neither end nor limit. 0 master, learn to write this account, So that, whenever it is called for, a true mark may be found thereon. There3 greatness is obtained, everlasting joys, and ever lasting delights. They in whose hearts is the true Name, have the marks of it on their brows. 1 Sanskrit works on the six philosophical systems of the Hindus. They are — the Nyaya founded by Gautama, the Vaisheshika by Kanada, the Sankhya by Kapila, the Yoga by Patanjali, the Mimansa by Jaimini, the Vedant by Vyas. The six systems have been learnedly expounded by Max Miiller in his Indian Philosophy. 2 At that time in India ink was made from burnt almond-rind and gum. 3 Corresponding to e*ei in Greek, the next world. By God's mercy men obtain it and not by idle words. One man cometh, another goeth ; we give them great names.1 Some men God created to beg, and some to preside over great courts.

When they have departed, they shall know that without the Name 2 they are of no account. I greatly fear Thine anger ; 0 God, my body pineth and wasteth away. They who have been called kings and lords are beheld as ashes. Nanak,3 when man departeth all false affections are sundered.4 Upon this the schoolmaster became astonished, did Nanak homage as a perfect saint, and told him to do what he pleased. Nanak, having thus shown his scholastic profi ciency, left school and took to private study and meditation. He remained for long periods in the same attitude, whether sleeping or waking, and associated continually with religious men. The scholastic ignorance of the founders of great 1 Literally — we call them commanders. This refers to the custom of parents giving their sons high-sounding names. 2 In the Sikh writings the word Name is frequently used for God. A somewhat similar practice was known to the ancient Jews (Amos vi. 10). At a time too early to be traced the Jews abstained from pro nouncing the name Jehovah for fear of its irreverent use, and uttered instead Adonai or Lord. In connexion with this we may say that the repetition of God's name is one of the principal forms of Sikh wor ship. Set forms of prayer are apt to be repeated mechanically or ostentatiously; and it was believed that by the constant heartfelt repetition of God's name man should be eventually absorbed in Him, and thus obtain the supreme object of human birth after countless transmigrations.

3 In Oriental poetical works it is usual for the poet to insert his real or assumed name — /akhallus—'m the end of a composition or section of a composition. This practice is unknown to European poets except in the case of professed imitators of Oriental poetry. Were we there fore to omit the word c Nanak ' wherever it occurs, we should be consult ing the taste of European readers, but the Sikhs do not desire such an omission. 4 Sri Rag. io THE SIKH RELIGION religions has been made the subject of many a boast on the part of their followers. The object, of course, is that the acquirements and utterances of the religious teachers may be attributed solely to divine inspiration. We see no reason for ascribing a want of education to the founder of the Sikh religion ; and the manner in which his learning was acquired is not difficult to understand. Had he remained at the humble village school, there is no reason to suppose that he would have acquired any considerable knowledge, but in the dense forests around Talwandi were to be found ascetics and anchorets who sought the extreme retirement of the locality for the com bined objects of undisturbed prayer and escape from the persecution of bigoted Moslem rulers. All the Janamsakhis are unanimous in stating that Nanak courted the retirement of the forest and the society of the religious men who frequented it. Several of them were profoundly versed in the Indian religious literature of the age. They had also travelled far and wide within the limits of Hindustan, and met its renowned religious teachers. Nanak thus became acquainted with the latest teachings of Indian philosophers and reformers. The satisfaction which he derived from spiritual thought and religious association he thus expressed : — Let Jogis practise Jog,1 let gluttons practise gluttony, Let penitents practise penance, and rub and bathe them selves at places of pilgrimage ;

But let me listen to Thy songs, O Beloved, if any will sit and sing them to me. The names of the men with whom Nanak associ ated in the forest and who sang to him the songs of the Lord are all lost, and their excellences merged as connected with the Greek £uyov, originally meant the union of the soul with God, and may be compared with the etymo logical meaning of the word ' religion '. They who practised Jog were called Jogis. The word Jog is now applied to certain practices of the Jogis which are detailed in the Aphorisms of Patanjali. LIFE OF GURU NANAK u by a process of nirvan in the religious splendour of the founder of the Sikh religion. But more perhaps than learning from the lips of religious masters were his own undisturbed communings with nature, with his own soul, and with his Creator. The voice that had spoken to many a seer again became vocal in that wilderness, and raised Nanak's thoughts to the summit of religious exaltation. In summer's heat and winter's frost, in the glory of the firmament, in the changeful aspects of nature, as well as in the joys and sorrows of the inhabitants of his little natal vil lage, he read in bright characters and repeated with joyous iteration the name of the Formless Creator. The Name henceforth became the object of his continual worship and meditation and indeed one of the distinctive features of his creed.

As a man soweth so shall he reap ; as he earneth so shall he eat. No inquiry shall be made hereafter regarding the utterers of the Name. With banners flying shall they go to heaven.1 Men are judged according to their acts. The breath drawn without the thought of God is wasted in vain. I would sell this body if only I found a purchaser. Nanak, the body which is not filled with the true Name is of no account.2 There is also proof from the satisfactory internal evidence of his own compositions that Guru Nanak studied the Persian language. Kalu felt that the society of religious men was not likely to advance his son's secular interests. Rai Bular promised that if Nanak learned Persian, in which all state documents and accounts were then written, he would appoint him village accountant in succession to his father. Persian was never the tongue of Hindus, and was despised by them as the language of foreigners and conquerors 1 San nishanaijai. Also translated — if they bear Thy mark. and of impure Musalman literature ; 1 but Hindus in the age of Nanak applied themselves to it as they do now — for the simple purpose of obtaining a liveli hood. Nanak soon astonished his Persian as he had previously astonished his Hindu teacher. In reply to Rukn-ul-Din's injunctions he assumed the role of teacher in turn and composed the following acrostic on the letters of the Persian alphabet : —

ALIF. Remember God and banish neglect of Him from thy heart. Accursed the life of him in this world who breatheth without uttering the Name. BE. Renounce heresy and walk according to the Shariat.2 Be humble before every one, and call no one bad. TE. Repent with sincerity of heart lest thou afterwards grieve. Thy body shall perish : thy mouth shall be buried with it ; what canst thou do then ? SE. Praise God very much ; draw not thy breath with out doing so, Or thou shalt be offered for sale from shop to shop, and not an adh 3 shall be obtained for thee. JIM. Put together travelling expenses, and pack up where withal to go with thee : Without the Lord thou shalt trudge about wearily. HE. Embrace humility, renounce the pride of thy heart ; Restrain thy wandering mind, O Rukn-ul-Din, and every moment remember thy Creator. KHE. They were traitors who forgot their Creator ; 1 In the institutes of Parasar there is found an injunction not to speak the language of the inhabitants of Yavan — a word which originally meant Greece, but was afterwards applied to Arabia — even though it save life from issuing by the throat. Parasar possessed the Hindu abhorrence of strange countries and gave expression to it. His words are now understood by the Hindus to refer to the language of the Musalmans, though there were no Musalmans for centuries after his time.

3 About an eighth of a farthing of English money. Their minds were bent on the hoarding of wealth, and they bore loads of sin upon their heads. DAL. Be honest, O man, and sleep not during the eight watches of day and night. Awake for one watch and hold converse with God. ZAL. Remember God, O man, vacillate not an iota ; So shall hell fire not touch thee at all, and thy covet ousness and worldly love be at an end. RE. The advantage of faith thou shalt know when thou arrivest before God — Restrain the five evil passions,1 O Rukn-ul-Din, and apply thy heart to God. ZE. Practise humility, the Lord is independent ; He doeth what he pleaseth ; what certainty is there regarding His acts ? SIN. Search thy heart ; the Lord is in thee. The body is a vessel which He wrought, and into which He infused His workmanship and skill. SHIN. Thou shalt obtain martyrdom if thou die for the love of the dear One. O Rukn-ul-Din, this human body shall depart ; while in it pray to obtain God. SUAD. Let thy mind be contented when thou obtainest thine allotted food. God who gave thee the disease of hunger is thy

physician. ZUAD. God's splendour is lost for those who associate themselves with worldly affairs. Arise, look before thee, and regard not the play of the world. TOE. Embrace tariqat and enter upon marafat ; 2VX This body of thine shall become a heap of dust in the grave. ZOE. They were tyrants who heeded not the Name : 1 Lust, anger, covetousness, worldly love, and pride. v 2 There are four stages of Sufiism : Shariat, the law or external ceremonies ; Tariqat, walking in God's way ; Marafat, Divine know ledge ; Haqiqat, certainty or union with God. Many learned natives of India believe that the Sufi system is based on Vedant. How can man obtain peace without his Master ? . 'AIN. Practise good works to the best of thy power : Without good works and virtues man shall die full GHAIN. O Rukn-ul-Din, they are rich who know them selves— In this cage of the body God who hath neither mother FE. Have done with the world, and think it not thine own : If thou deem it to belong to God, thou shalt not be confounded. QAF. They in whose hearts the love of God hath arisen

shall have no rest till they find Him. The bodies of those who have met the Lord God have become refined gold. KAF. Remember thy creed ; in what else is there profit ? O Rukn-ul-Din, be not excessively addicted to sensuality. GAF. Man's mind is wanton ; if thou restrain it, Thou shalt plant thy feet firmly on the way to LAM. May curses rain on those who abandon their prayers ! They lose whatever little or much they have earned. MIM. Wilfulness is prohibited ; walk as thy religious guide directeth thee. The wealth of those, saith Nanak, who have not given alms shall slip away. NUN. Look to truth alone, and know that the world is false. They who think the world is true shall die con founded. WAW. They become saints who associate with the true. The more they remember God, the more they love HE. Be in fear of that day when God will judge thee What order will He pass in our case, O Rukn-ulDin ? LAM. They on whom He casteth His look of mercy have become worthy. What is desire for life if a man regulate not his own conduct ? ALIF. God is in thee ; why thinkest thou not on Him,

O ignorant man ? By service to the guru God is found, and deliverance obtained at last. YE. Love God whose empire is everlasting. He is unrivalled, O Nanak, and in need of no one.1 There are numerous Persian words and some Persian verses of the Guru found in the Granth Sahib, and it may be accepted as a fact that he became a fair Persian scholar. It is highly probable that his habit of free thought and toleration for other men's opinions were assisted by his perusal of the Muhammadan writings with which the Persian language abounds. It does not appear that even the acquisition of Persian tended to give Nanak's thoughts a more practical direction. His father thought him insane, and was sore distressed for his future. He, how ever, sent him to herd buffaloes in the adjoining forest. Matters progressed smoothly for one day, but the next day Nanak fell asleep, and his cattle trespassed on a neighbour's field. The owner remonstrated, but Nanak said that God would bless the field. The owner was not to be diverted by this unpractical defence. He complained to Rai Bular, and the latter, hearing that Nanak was insane, was not content to send for him, but also for his father to adjust the quarrel. Nanak said that no injury had befallen the field: it was blessed by God. Rai Bular sent his own messengers to inspect the spot. \ On their arrival they found that not one blade had been trampled on or eaten. The field where this ] miracle is said to have occurred is pointed out to '„ visitors. It is known as the Kiara Sahib, or the ^ parterre par excellence.

1 This composition is not found in the Granth Sahib. Some Sikhs deny that it is the composition of Guru Nanak.

When Nanak had attained the age of nine years, his father determined to have him invested with the janeu, or sacrificial thread of the Hindus. Until a boy is so invested, he is deemed almost an out cast. When the members and relations of the family, and all the neighbours, secular and religious, had assembled, and all preliminary rites had been duly performed, Hardial, the family priest, pro ceeded to put the sacred thread on Nanak's neck. The boy caught the thread with his hand, and asked the priest what he was doing, and what advantage it was to put a thread of that description on him. The priest then explained that the janeu was the basis of the Hindu religion, that without it a man would only be a Sudar,1 and that by putting it on greatness should be obtained in this world and happiness in the next. On hearing this the young Guru gave utterance to the following : — Make mercy thy cotton, contentment thy thread, con tinence its knot, truth its twist. That would make a janeu for the soul ; if thou have it, O Brahman, then put it on me. It will not break, or become soiled, or be burned, or lost.

Blest the man, O Nanak, who goeth with such a thread on his neck. Thou purchasest a janeu for four damris,2 and seated in a square puttest it on ; 1 There are four great varans or castes of Hindus — Brahmans, the priestly class ; Kshatris, the militant class ; Vaisyas, the trading class ; and Shudars, the working class, the lowest of all. Of these castes there are now many subdivisions. 2 Four damris is one paisa of Indian, or a farthing of English money. Thou whisperest instruction that the Brahman is the guru of the Hindus — Man dieth, the janeu falleth, and the soul departeth without it.1 The priest explained that the custom of wearing a janeu had descended from the Vedic ritual, and that no Hindu could be deemed religious without wearing it. The Brahman then familiarly addressed the Guru, ' Thou art but a child of yesterday, and are we not as wise as thou ? Unless thou wear this thread thou shalt be deemed a person without religion.' Guru Nanak replied :— Though men commit countless2 thefts, countless adul teries, utter countless falsehoods and countless words of abuse ; Though they commit countless robberies and villanies night and day against their fellow creatures ;

Yet the cotton thread is spun, and the Brahman cometh to twist it. For the ceremony they kill a goat and cook and eat it, and everybody then saith ' Put on the janeu '. When it becometh old, it is thrown away, and another is put on. Nanak, the string breaketh not if it be strong. The Brahman priest, on hearing this, became angry, and asked the Guru if everybody else was a fool, and he alone, who had abandoned the customs of his forefathers, was wise. He then called on the Guru to tell him what a proper janeu was. The Guru replied :— By adoring and praising the Name honour and a true thread are obtained. In this way a sacred thread shall be put on, which will not break, and which will be fit for entrance into God's court. 1 Asa ki War. This composition will subsequently be given in extenso, and the meaning of the word war explained. 2 Lakh. Here used for an indefinite number. i8 THE SIKH RELIGION The Guru then wound up his instruction on the subject as follows : — There is no string for the sexual organs, there is no string for women ;

There is no string for the impure acts which cause your beards to be daily spat upon ; There is no string for the feet, there is no string for the hands ; There is no string for the tongue, there is no string for the eyes. Without such strings the Brahman wandereth astray, Twisteth strings for the neck, and putteth them on others. He taketh hire for marrying ; He pulleth out a paper, and showeth the fate of the wedded pair. Hear and see, ye people, it is strange 7 That, while mentally blind, man is named wise.1 We have seen in the Introduction to this work that Sultanpur was then the capital of the JalandharDoab. At that time and up to the period of British occupa tion, land revenue was generally collected in kind.2 Surveyors and appraisers called Amils were dis patched from the capital to different districts. Amil Jai Ram was appointed to appraise the revenue demand of Talwandi. While one day surveying a corn-field, he observed Nanaki, sister of Nanak, draw ing water from a well, and saw that she was fair to look upon. A marriage between them was arranged through the kind offices of Rai Bular. The lady went and lived with her husband at Sultanpur.

Nanak's marriage must have taken place soon after his sister's. It is related in the Janamsakhi which bears the name of Mani Singh, that Nanak was married at the age of fourteen. His marriage, as is usual in the East, was arranged for him as a matter of religious duty by his parents. He was 1 Asa ki War. 2 Under the Emperor Akbar it was often optional for the husbandman to pay either in money or in kind. Ain-i-Akbari, Book III, Ain 13. betrothed to Sulakhani, daughter of Mula, a resident of Batala1 in the present district of Gurdaspur. It would appear that, owing to the distance between Nankana and Batala, which hindered frequent visits and negotiations, the marriage followed very soon after the betrothal. Nanak's sister was present at the wedding, but her husband could not obtain per mission to attend. He sent word that he was another person's servant, an apology that was perfectly understood. Nanak appears to have been further trusted in the capacity of a herdsman. While one day herd ing his buffaloes, he lay down to sleep under a tree during the midday heat. Rai Bular passing by in the evening found him in that attitude, and observed that the protecting shadow of the tree had remained stationary over him, and not veered round like the < 5 shadows of the other trees with the sun's progress. .} On another occasion, as Nanak lay asleep in the S pasture ground, it was observed that a large cobra watched over him, and protected the youthful saint with its hood. Rai Bular acknowledged the mira culous powers of the boy, and congratulated Kalu on being the father of such a son. Kalu ought no longer to be displeased with him for his indifference to his worldly affairs. He was a very great man. A jal-tree,2 gnarled and maimed by the centuries, is still pointed out as the scene of the former miracle. It possesses a thick trunk, is still gratefully umbra geous, and its venerable branches depend to the earth in a fashion that suggests the pillared shade of the Indian fig-tree.

Nanak still persisted in doing no useful work, and his mother reproached him with his idleness. She counselled him to rise, work for his livelihood, and cease weaving unpractical discourses. She told him 1 Her place of birth in Batala is reverenced by the Sikhs. Maha raja Sher Singh erected a temple in her honour. 2 The Salvador a Oleoides. that he was popularly credited with madness; but he paid no heed to her admonitions further than to compose the following hymn on the occasion : — He who dieth in obstinacy shall not be accepted. Even though man wear a religious garb and apply much ashes to his body, Yet, if he forget the Name, he shall afterwards repent. 0 man, obey God and thou shalt be happy. If thou forget the Name, thou shalt have to endure Death's torture. They who apply distilled aloe-wood, sandal, and camphor to their bodies, Are immersed in worldly love, and far from the supreme dignity of salvation. They who forget the Name are the falsest of the false. They who are guarded by lances, for whom bands play, who sit on thrones, and are objects of salutation, Suffer from excessive avarice and lust.

Being without God they pray not for His service or His name. God is found not by argument or by pride. If man apply his mind he shall find the comforting Name. ' They who love mammon are painfully ignorant. Without money goods cannot be had from a shop ; Without a boat man cannot cross the sea ; So, without serving the Guru, there is complete loss. Hail, hail to him who showeth the road ! Hail, hail to him who communicateth the Word ! Hail, hail to him who blendeth us with God ! Hail, hail to Him to whom the soul belongeth ! Under the Guru's instruction separate the true from the false, and drink it as nectar. The greatness of the Name is bestowed according to Thy pleasure, 0 God. Without the Name how could I live, O mother ? Night and day 1 1 repeat it and remain, 0 Lord, under Thy protection. Nanak, he who is imbued with the Name obtaineth honour.2 1 Anudm, translated 'night and day' by the gyanis, is literally — every day. 2 Gauri Ashtapadi. After this Nanak lay down, remained in one posi tion for four days, and declined all physical exertion.

Nanak appears to have become unfitted for all secular occupation. His idleness became notorious, and a serious source of anxiety to his parents. His mother sought to lead him with mild admonitions to secular duty, but fortunately failed. His father then addressed himself to the task. He represented that he required assistance in the culti vation of his land, and Nanak was now of an age to turn his attention to agriculture. Nanak replied :— Make thy body the field, good works the seed, irrigate with God's name ; Make thy heart the cultivator ; God will germinate in thy heart, and thou shalt thus obtain the dignity of nirvan.1 His father and Rai Bular represented that that was not the way to become a husbandman, whose business ought to be manual labour, and whose object was to gain a livelihood. Upon this Nanak composed the following :— Become a husbandman, make good works thy soil, and the word of God thy seed ;2 ever irrigate with the water of truth. Faith shall germinate, and thus even a fool shall know the distinction between heaven and hell. Think not that thou shalt find the Lord by mere words. In the pride of wealth and the splendour of beauty life hath been wasted.

The sin of the body is a puddle, the mind is a toad therein, which valueth not at all the lotus. The bumble-bee is the teacher ,3who preacheth incessantly ; but can the guru cause a man to understand who will not understand ? 4 2 Also translated— Clear thy ground, make the Word thy seed. 3 That is, the Guru. 4 The body is compared to a puddle ; the mind to a toad which loves the puddle, but sets no value on the beautiful lotus of spiritual wisdom. The spiritual guide, like the bee, unceasingly hums his message. Preaching and listening are as the sough of the wind, when man's mind is tinctured by the illusions of the world. The Lord casteth a look of favour, and is well pleased with those who meditate on Him alone. Even though thou perform the thirty days' fast, and make the five prayers thy daily companions, yet he who is called Satan will cut the thread of thy thoughts.1 Nanak saith, man must depart ; why amass property and wealth ? 2 On the same occasion the Guru uttered the fol lowing : — Make thy mind the ploughman, good acts the cultiva tion, modesty the irrigating water, and thy body the field to till,

The Name the seed, contentment the harrow, and the garb of humility thy fence : By the work of love the seed will germinate ; thou mayest behold happy the homes of persons who thus act. 0 father, mammon accompanieth not man when he departeth : Mammon hath allured this world, and few there are who understand it. Then Nanak informed his father that he had sown his own field, and that its harvest was now ready. He had such confidence in his tillage, that, even after deduction of the portion paid in kind to the government as revenue, the full produce would still remain. ^Sons, daughters, beggars, brethren, and relations would all be profited thereby. He had done farming work for God, who had treated him as a lord does his tenants, and the day that he effected union with his Creator, his soul within him would be glad. 1 That is, make thy thoughts wander. For man in the old Panjabi life of the Guru the Granth Sahib has mat. The line may then be translated — Perform the thirty days' fast of the Musalmans, make their five daily prayers thy companions, and take care lest Satan destroy the effect of thy prayers. 2 Sri Rag.

On hearing this, his father told him to keep a shop, for a shop was as profitable as tillage. Nanak replied :— Make the knowledge that life is frail thy shop, the true Name thy stock-in-trade ; Make meditation and contemplation thy piles of vessels ; * put the true Name into them. Deal with the dealers of the true Name, and thou shalt gladly take home thy profits. Then again Kalu said, ' If thou desire not to be a shopkeeper, take horses and deal in them. Thy heart is sad ; but do something for thy livelihood, and visit foreign countries. We will say that thou hast gone to earn thy living, and that thou wilt soon return.' Upon this Nanak uttered a third stanza :— Make thy hearing of the sacred books thy merchandise, truth the horses thou takest to sell ; Tie up virtues as thy travelling expenses, and think not in thy heart of to-morrow. When thou arrivest in the land of God, thou shalt obtain happiness in His abode. Kalu in despair replied, ' Thou art lost to us ; go and take government service. Jai Ram, Daulat Khan's revenue officer, is thy brother-in-law ; go and take service with him ; perhaps thou wilt like that place ; we can dispense with thine earnings. If thou go elsewhere without any occupation, every body will say that my son hath become a faqir, and people will heap reproaches on me.' Upon this, Guru Nanak uttered a fourth stanza :—

Make attention thy service, faith in the Name thine occupa tion ; Make the restraint of evil thine effort, so shall men con gratulate thee. 1 In which the Indian petty shopkeeper keeps his goods. God will then look on thee, O Nanak, with an eye of favour, and thy complexion shall brighten fourfold.1 Nanak then informed his father that God had granted him the object of his prayers. The gains of commerce, of government service, and of banking, had all been imparted to him. The astonished father said he had never seen or heard of a God who granted so many favours. Nanak replied that his God was the object of praise to those who had seen Him :— As men have heard, 0 Lord, so all call Thee great ; But hath any one ever seen how great Thou art ? 2 Thy worth cannot be estimated or described ; They who seek to describe it are absorbed in Thee. 0 my great Lord, deep and profound, brimful of excel lences, None knoweth the extent of Thine outline. Though all meditative men were to meet and meditate upon Thee, Though all appraisers were to meet and appraise Thee —

They who possess divine and spiritual wisdom, priests, and high priests 3 — Yet could they not describe even a small portion of Thy greatness. All truth, all fervour, all goodness, The excellences of perfect men, Cannot be obtained in their perfection without Thee. If Thy grace be obtained none can be excluded ; Of what account is the helpless speaker ? Thy store-rooms are filled with Thy praises. Who can prevail against him to whom Thou givest ? Nanak, the True One arrangeth all.4 His father was not satisfied, but further remon- 2 Also translated— How great He is whoever hath seen Him could tell. 3 Gurhai, translated high priests, is really the Persian plural of guru. Compare the words Shaikh mashdtkh, so frequently found in the Granth Sahib. Mashaikh is, of course, the Arabic plural of shaikh. strated with Nanak. He enjoined him to abandon his whims and act like others, as no one could live without worldly occupation. Nanak was not con vinced, so his father in despair left him and went to attend to his ordinary business. Nanak's mother again attempted the worldly reformation of her son. She requested him to forget even for a few days his devotions and go abroad, so that the neighbours might be assured that Kalu's son had recovered his reason. Nanak then uttered the following verses in the Rag Asa :—

If I repeat the Name, I live ; if I forget it, I die ; 1 It is difficult to repeat the true Name. If a man hunger after the true Name, His pain shall depart when he satisfieth himself with it.2 Then how could I forget it, O my mother ? True is the Lord, true is His name ; Men have grown weary of uttering Even an iota of His greatness ; His worth they have not discovered. If all men were to join and try to describe Him, That would not add to or detract from His greatness. God dieth not, neither is there any mourning for Him ; He continueth to give us our daily bread which never faileth. His praise is — that there neither is, Nor was, nor shall be any one like unto Him. As great as Thou art Thyself, O God, so great is Thy gift. Thou who madest the day madest also the night. They who forget their Spouse 3 are bad characters ; 4 Nanak, without His name they are naught.5 1 Of course, spiritual life and death are meant. 2 Literally — the pain of that hungry man shall depart on eating the Name, that is, on receiving it as food. The verse is also translated — His pain shall depart ; all his desires shall be merged in his hunger for the Name.

1 The allusion here is to men forgetting God. 4 A colloquial meaning of the word kamjdt, which literally means inferior caste. 5 Sana/, a plural form of san, a year, or an age. The word was Then his mother arose and told the household of Nanak's state. Upon this the whole family and relations grew sad, and said it was a great pity that Kalu's son had become mad. His uncle Lalu among others exerted himself to console the young prophet. He represented to Nanak that all his relations had fixed on an occupa tion for him, but he had refused to adopt it. On the contrary, he would do nothing whatever, not even enjoy himself. Nanak then gave utterance to the following hymn, which, however, is not found in the Granth Sahib :— All men are bound by entanglements ; how can these be called good qualities ? Nay, O Lalu, listen to the following qualities : — Forgiveness is my mother, contentment my father, Truth by which I have subdued my heart my uncle, Love of God my brother, affection mine own begotten Patience my daughter — I am pleased with such relations — Peace my companion, wisdom my disciple — This is my family in whom I ever rejoice. The one God who adorned us all is my Lord. Nanak, he who forsaketh Him and clingeth to another shall

Guru Nanak then became silent, lay down, and ate and drank nothing. The whole family repre sented to Kalu that something ought to be done for his son. A physician ought to be called, and medicine prescribed. ' Who knows but that behind a straw there is a lakh ? ' that is, by a small expenditure Nanak may recover. Upon this, Kalu went and brought a physician. The physician came, and began to feel Nanak's pulse. He withdrew his arm, and, drawing in his feet, stood up and said, ' O applied to coin which had long circulated, and which had conse quently worn away and become worthless. physician, what art thou doing ? ' The physician said that he was diagnosing his disease. Upon this Nanak laughed, and then uttered the following verses :— The physician is sent for to prescribe a remedy ; he taketh my hand and feeleth my pulse. The ignorant physician knoweth not that it is in my mind the pain is.1 Physician, go home ; take not my curse with thee. I am imbued with my Lord; to whom givest thou medicine? When there is pain, the physician standeth ready with a store of medicine :

The body is weeping, the soul crieth out, ' Physician, give none of thy medicine.' Physician, go home, few know my malady. The Creator who gave me this pain, will remove it. The physician asked Nanak what he himself thought his illness was. Nanak replied :— I first feel the pain of separation from God, then a pang of hunger for contemplation on Him. I also fear the pain which Death's powerful myrmidons may inflict. I feel pain that my body shall perish by disease. 0 ignorant physician, give me no medicine. Such medicine as thou hast, my friend, removeth not The pain I feel or the continued suffering of my body. 1 forgot God and devoted myself to pleasure ; Then this bodily illness befell me. The wicked heart is punished. Ignorant physician, give me no medicine. As sandal is useful when it exhaleth perfume, As man is useful as long as he hath breath in his body, So when the breath departeth, the body crumbleth away and becometh useless : No one taketh medicine after that. 1 Malar ki War. When man shall possess the Name of the Bright and Radiant1 One, His body shall become like gold and his soul be made pure ;

All his pain and disease shall be dispelled, And he shall be saved, Nanak, by the true Name.2 The following was on the same subject :— Pain is arsenic, the name of God is the antidote. 0 ignorant man, take such medicines As shall cure thee of thy sins. Make contentment thy mortar, the gift of thy hands thy pestle : By ever using these the body pineth not away, Nor at the final hour shall Death pommel thee. Make enjoyments thy firewood, covetousness thy clarified butter and oil. Burn them with the oil of lust and anger in the fire 3 of divine knowledge. Burnt offerings, sacred feasts, and the reading of the Purans,4 If pleasing to God, are acceptable. Empire, wealth, and youth are all shadows ; So are carriages and imposing mansions. Hereafter neither man's name nor his caste shall be considered. There is day, here all is night. Let us make penitence the paper,5 Thy name, 0 Lord, the prescription. They for whom this priceless medicine is prescribed, 1 Also translated — When man possesseth even a portion of the name of the Bright One. 3 It was intended by his parents to make a horn sacrifice or burnt offering for Nanak's recovery. The Sanskrit word horn is interpreted to mean casting into the fire, and correctly represents the oblation of clarified butter, sesames, butter, &c., which forms part of the ceremonial.

4 Sacred books of the Hindus, eighteen in number. They are the principal authorities for the idolatry and superstition of the Hindus. 5 To write a prescription on. Are fortunate when they reach their final home. 0 Nanak, blessed are the mothers who bore them.1 Then the physician drew back, stood still, and said that Nanak was not ill. His relations and friends ought to feel no anxiety for him, for he was a great being. Upon this the physician worshipped him and took his leave. There is very little known regarding Nanak's married life excepting that he begot two sons, Sri Chand and Lakhmi Das. It was related that he used to retire to the desert, and pass his time under trees in religious contemplation. All the modern Janamsakhis make Nanak's mar riage long subsequent to this, and after his departure to Sultanpur. They say that it was Jai Ram who had him married, and that his wife was a native of Pakkho, a town not far from Sultanpur. We have followed Mani Singh and the old Janamsakhi. If Nanak had been left to his own discretion, and if his marriage had not been made for him by his parents, it is most probable that he would not have turned his attention to that part of a man's duties after entering the service of the government in Sultanpur. This will subsequently be understood when we come to consider his mode of life at that capital.

The Guru, on one occasion seeing his parents and relations standing around him to consider his condition, composed a hymn in the Rag Gauri Cheti * :- Since when have I a mother ? Since when a father ? Whence have we come ? 2 Gauri is a ragini or consort of Sri Rag, and has nine varieties one of which is the Cheti. 3o THE SIKH RELIGION From fire and bubbles of water are we sprung ; for what object were we created ? My Lord, who knoweth Thy merits ? My demerits cannot be numbered. How many shrubs and trees have we seen ! how many beasts created by Thee ! How many species of creeping things, and how many birds hast Thou caused to fly ! Men break through the shops and great houses of cities and stealing therefrom go homewards. They look before them, they look behind them, but where can they hide themselves from Thee ? The banks of streams of pilgrimage, the nine regions *• of the earth, shops, cities, and market-places have I seen. Becoming a shopkeeper I take a scale and try to weigh my actions in my heart. My sins are numerous as the waters of the seas and the ocean.

Bestow compassion, extend a little mercy, save me who am like a sinking stone. My soul is burning like fire ; it is as though shears were cutting my heart. Nanak humbly represent eth— he who obeyeth God's order is happy day and night.2 Kalu then desired that his son should embrace a mercantile life. He instructed him to go to Chuharkana in the present district of Gujranwala, and buy there salt, turmeric, and other articles to trade with. Nanak set out with a servant, and on the way met some holy men, whose vows obliged them to remain naked in all seasons. Nanak was struck with this peculiarity, and inquired of their headpriest Santren if they had no clothes to wear, or if, having clothes, they found it uncomfortable to L The ancient Indian Geographers divided the earth into nine regions or continents. 2 Gauri. wear them. Before he could receive an answer, Nanak was reminded by his servant of his more practical mission, and counselled to proceed to Chuharkana in obedience to his father's instructions. Nanak, however, was not to be thwarted in his object. He pressed the priest for an answer. The priest replied that his company required not clothes or food, except in so far as the latter was voluntarily bestowed on them. To avoid all luxury they dwelt in forests, and not in peopled towns and villages. Nanak thought he had found what he had sought for, and said to his servant that he had already obeyed his father's instructions, which were to spend his money to the best advantage. He therefore gave the holy men the money with which his father had provided him. Upon this they asked him his name, and he said that he was Nanak Nirankari, or Nanak the worshipper of the Formless One, that is, God. Nanak was prevailed upon to take the money to the nearest village to buy food jfor the holy men, who had not tasted any for some •days.

When the faqirs took their departure, Nanak was censured by his servant for his reckless prodigality. He then realized the nature of his act, and did not go home, but sat under a tree outside the village of Talwandi. He was there found by his father, who cuffed him for his dis obedience. The aged tree under which he sat is still preserved. A wall has been built around it for protection. Within the enclosure are found religious men in prayer and contemplation. The tree is known as the Thamb Sahib, or the holy trunk. Jai Ram, during his yearly visits to Talwandi at the close of the spring harvest, had ample oppor tunities of cultivating Nanak's acquaintance, and appreciating his good qualities. Rai Bular, too, was no apathetic advocate of Nanak. It was agreed between him and Jai Ram that Nanak was a saint ill-treated by his father ; and Jai Ram promised to cherish him and find him occupation in Sultanpur. Nanak's departure to his brother-in-law was pre cipitated by another act of worldly indiscretion. He had entered into companionship with a faqir who visited the village. Nanak told him, as he did the other faqirs, that his name was Nanak Nirankari ; and a friendly intimacy sprang up between them. The faqir was probably a swindler, and coveted a brass lota, or drinking vessel, and a gold wedding ring which Nanak wore, and asked that they might be presented to him. Nanak acceded to the request, to the further sorrow and indignation of his parents. After that it was not difficult to induce Kalu to allow his son to proceed to Sultanpur to join Jai Ram and Nanaki.

The other members of Nanak's family also unani mously approved of his decision. Nanak's wife alone, on seeing him make preparations for his journey, began to weep, and said, ' My life, even here thou hast not loved me ; when thou goest to a foreign country, how shalt thou return ? ' He answered, ' Simple woman, what have I been doing here ? ' Upon this she again entreated him, ' When thou satest down at home, I possessed in my estima tion the sovereignty of the whole earth ; now this world is of no avail to me.' Upon this he grew compassionate, and said, ' Be not anxious ; thy sovereignty shall ever abide.' She replied, ' My life, I will not remain behind ; take me with thee.' Then Nanak said, ' I am now going away. If I can earn my living, I will send for thee. Obey my order/ She then remained silent. When Nanak asked Rai Bular's permission to depart, the Rai gave him a banquet. The Rai then requested him to give him any order he pleased, that is, to state what favour he might grant him. Nanak replied : —

I give thee one order if thou wilt comply with it. When thine own might availeth not, clasp thy hands and worship God. Jai Ram introduced Nanak as an educated man \ to the Governor, Daulat Khan, who appointed him storekeeper and gave him a dress of honour / as a preliminary of service. Nanak began to apply himself to his duties, and so discharged them that everybody was gratified and congratulated him. He was also highly praised to the Governor, who was much pleased with his new servant. Out of the provisions which Guru Nanak was allowed, he devoted only a small portion to his own main tenance ; the rest he gave to the poor. He used continually to spend his nights singing hymns to his Creator. If Nanak, when weighing out provisions, went as far as the number thirteen — tera — he used to pause and several times repeat the word — which also means ' Thine,' that is, ' I am Thine, O Lord/- before he went on weighing. The minstrel Mardana subsequently came from Talwandi and became Nanak' s private servant. Mardana was of the tribe of Dums, who are minstrels by heredity. He used to accompany Nanak on the rabab, or rebeck.1 Other friends too followed. Nanak introduced them to the Khan and procured them employment. They all got a living by Nanak's favour, and were happy. At dinner-time they came and sat down with him, and every night there was continual singing. A watch before day, Nanak used to go to the neighbouring Bein river and perform his ablutions. When day dawned, he went to dis charge the duties of his office.

One day after bathing Nanak disappeared in the [ This instrument, which was of Arabian origin, has fallen into disuse in Northern India. It had from four to six strings of goat-gut with steel strings for resonance. forest, and was taken in a vision to God's presence. He was offered a cup of nectar, which he gratefully accepted. God said to him, ' I am with thee. I have made thee happy, and also those who shall take thy name. Go and repeat Mine, and cause others to do likewise. Abide uncontaminated by the world. Practise the repetition of My name, charity, ablutions, worship, and meditation. I have given thee this cup of nectar, a pledge of My regard/ The Guru stood up and made a prostration. He then sang the following verses to the accompaniment of the spontaneous music of heaven :— Were I to live for millions of years and drink the air for my nourishment ; Were I to dwell in a cave where I beheld not sun or moon, and could not even dream of sleeping,1 I should still not be able to express Thy worth ; how great shall I call Thy name ? 0 true Formless One, Thou art in Thine own place —

As I have often heard I tell my tale — If it please Thee, show Thy favour unto me. Were I to be felled and cut in pieces, were I to be ground in a mill ; Were I to be burned in a fire, and blended with its ashes, 1 should still not be able to express Thy worth ; how great shall I call Thy name ? Were I to become a bird and fly to a hundred heavens ; Were I to vanish from human gaze and neither eat nor drink, I should still not be able to express Thy worth ; how great shall I call Thy name ? Nanak, had I hundreds of thousands of tons of paper and a desire to write on it all after the deepest research ; Were ink never to fail me, and could I move my pen like the wind, [ That is, were I to lead even the most ascetic life possible. I should still not be able to express Thy worth ; how great shall I call Thy name ? l Hereupon a voice was heard, ' O Nanak, thou hast seen My sovereignty.' Then Nanak said, ' O Sire, what is anything that mortal can say, and what can be said or heard after what I have seen ? Even the lower animals sing Thy praises.' Upon this, the Guru uttered the preamble of the Japji :—

There is but one God whose name is True, the Creator, devoid of fear and enmity, immortal, unborn, self-existent, great, and bountiful.2 The True One was in the beginning ; The True One was in the primal age. The True One is, was, O Nanak, and the True One also shall be. When Nanak had finished, a voice was heard again : ' O Nanak, to him upon whom My look of kindness resteth, be thou merciful, as I too shall be merciful. My name is God, the primal Brahm, and thou art the divine Guru.' The Guru then uttered the following hymn :— Thou wise and omniscient, art an ocean ; how can I a fish obtain a knowledge of Thy limit ? Wherever I look, there art Thou ; if I am separated from Thee, I shall burst. I know neither Death the fisherman nor his net. When I am in sorrow, then I remember Thee. Thou art omnipresent though I thought Thee distant. What I do is patent unto Thee ; Thou beholdest mine acts, yet I deny them. I have not done Thy work or uttered Thy name ; Whatever Thou givest, that I eat. There is no other gate than Thine ; to whose gate shall I go ?

Nanak maketh one supplication — Soul and body are all in Thy power. 2 The ordinary translation of Gur par sad, 'By the Guru's favour,' does not seem appropriate here. Thou art near, Thou art distant, and Thou art midway. Thou seest and hearest ; by Thy power didst Thou create the world. Whatever order pleaseth Thee, saith Nanak, that is acceptable.1 After three days the Guru came forth from the forest. The people thought he had been drowned in the neighbouring river ; and how had he returned to life ? He then went home, and gave all that he had to the poor. A great crowd assembled, and Nawab Daulat Khan, the Governor, also came. He inquired what had happened to Nanak, but received no reply. Understanding, however, that the Guru's acts were the result of his abandonment of this world, the Governor felt sad, said it was a great pity, and went home. It was the general belief at this time that Nanak was possessed with an evil spirit, and a Mulla or Muhammadan priest was summoned to exorcise it. The Mulla began to write an amulet to hang round Nanak's neck. While the Mulla was writing Nanak uttered the following :—

When the field is spoiled where is the harvest heap ? Cursed are the lives of those who write God's name and sell it. The Mulla, paying no attention to Nanak's serious objurgation, continued the ceremony of exorcism and finally addressed the supposed evil spirit, ' Who art thou ? ' The following reply issued from Nanak's mouth :— Some say poor Nanak is a sprite, some say that he is a demon, Others again that he is a man. Those who were present then concluded that Nanak was not possessed, but had become insane. On hearing this Nanak ordered Mardana to play the rebeck and continued the stanza :— Simpleton Nanak hath become mad upon the Lord.1 And knoweth none other than God. When one is mad with the fear of God, And recognizeth none other than the one God, He is known as mad when he doeth this one thing — When he obeyeth the Master's order — in what else is there wisdom ? When man loveth the Lord and deemeth himself worthless, And the rest of the world good, he is called mad.2 After this, Guru Nanak donned a religious cos tume and associated constantly with religious men. He remained silent for one day, and the next he uttered the pregnant announcement, ' There is no Hindu and no Musalman.' The Sikhs interpret this to mean generally that both Hindus and Muhammadans had forgotten the precepts of their religions. On a complaint made by the Nawab's Qazi, or expounder of Muhammadan law, the Guru was summoned before Daulat Khan to give an explana tion of his words. He refused to go, saying, ' What have I to do with your Khan ? ' The Guru was again called a madman. His mind was full of his mission, and whenever he spoke he merely said, 'There is no Hindu and no Musalman.' The Qazi was not slow to make another representation to the Governor on the impropriety of Nanak's utter ance. Upon this the Governor sent for him. A footman went and told the Guru that the Governor had requested him to come to him. Then Guru Nanak stood up and went to the Governor. The Governor addressed him, ' Nanak, it is my misfor tune that such an officer as thou should have become a faqir.' The Governor then seated him beside him, and directed his Qazi to ask, now that Nanak was in conversational mood, the meaning of his utterance. The Qazi became thoughtful, and smiled. He then asked Nanak, 'What hath happened to thee, that

1 S. colloquialism. 2 Mam. thou sayest there is no Hindu and no Musalman ? ' The Guru, not being engaged in controversy with Hindus at the time, gave no answer to the first part of the question. In explanation of his statement that there was no Musalman he uttered the follow ing :- To be 1 a Musalman is difficult ; if one be really so, then one may be called a Musalman. Let one first love the religion of saints,2 and put aside pride and pelf 3 as the file removeth rust. Let him accept the religion of his pilots, and dismiss anxiety regarding death or life ; 4 Let him heartily obey the will of God, worship the Creator, and efface himself - When he is kind to all men, then Nanak, shall he be indeed a Musalman.5 The Qazi then put further questions to the Guru. The Guru called on Mardana to play the rebeck, and sang to it the following replies and instructions adapted for Muhammadans :— Make kindness thy mosque, sincerity thy prayer-carpet, what is just and lawful thy Quran, Modesty thy circumcision, civility thy fasting, so shalt thou be a Musalman ; Make right conduct thy Kaaba,6 truth thy spiritual guide, good works thy creed and thy prayer,

The will of God thy rosary, and God will preserve thine honour, O Nanak. 1 In the original, ' to be called a Musalman/ The same idiom is found in Greek. 2 Also translated — (a) Let him first of all make his religion agree able to men ; (£) let him first love his saints and his religion. 3 Also translated — (a) which bring trouble ; (6) to dispel pride and worldly love is to be filed or cleansed of impurities. 4 This verse is also translated— Being resigned to God, obedient . (din), and lowly (mahane), let man set aside all fear of birth and \ death — the transmigration which so exercises the oriental mind. 5 Majh ki War. 6 The great cube-like Muhammadan temple at Makka to which the . faithful make pilgrimages. Nanak, let others' goods l be to thee as swine to the Musalman and kine to the Hindu ;2 Hindu and Musalman spiritual teachers will go bail for thee if thou eat not carrion.3 Thou shalt not go to heaven by lip service ; it is by the practice of truth thou shalt be delivered. Unlawful food will not become lawful by putting spices 4 therein.

Nanak, from false words only falsehood can be ob tained. There are five prayers, five times for prayer, and five names for them 5— The first should be truth, the second what is right, the third charity in God's name, The fourth good intentions, the fifth the praise and glory of God. If thou make good works the creed thou repeatest, thou shalt be a Musalman. They who are false, O Nanak, shall only obtain what is altogether false. The Qazi became astonished at being thus lectured. Prayers had become to him a matter of idle liprepetition of Arabic texts, while his mind was occupied with his worldly affairs. It was now the time for afternoon prayer. The whole company, including Nanak, went to the mosque. Up rose the Qazi and began the service. The Guru looked towards him and laughed in his face. When prayer was over, the Qazi complained to the Nawab of Nanak's conduct. The Guru said he had laughed because the Qazi's prayer was not 1 Literally — rights, or what is due to thy neighbour. 2 The Musalmans abstain from the flesh of swine, and the Hindus from the flesh of kine. 3 What is not thine own.

4 This means that, if wealth be improperly obtained, a portion of it bestowed in alms will be no atonement. 5 Prayers, or rather texts from the Quran, are repeated by strict Musalmans at dawn, at midday, in the afternoon, in the evening, and before going to sleep at night. accepted of God. The Qazi asked Nanak to state the reason for his conclusion. The Guru replied that immediately before prayer the Qazi had unloosed a new-born filly. While he ostensibly performed divine service, he remembered there was a well in the enclosure, and his mind was filled with appre hension lest the filly should fall into it. His heart was therefore not in his devotions. The Guru in formed the Nawab also that while he was pretending to pray, he was thinking of purchasing horses in Kabul. Both admitted the truth of the Guru's statements, said he was favoured of God, and fell at his feet. The Guru then uttered the follow ing :- He is a Musalman who effaceth himself, Who maketh truth and contentment his holy creed, Who neither toucheth what is standing, nor eateth what hath fallen— Such a Musalman shall go to Paradise. The whole company of Musalmans at the capital — the descendants of the Prophet, the tribe of shaikhs,1 the qazi, the muftis,2 and the Nawab him self, were all amazed at Nanak's words. The Muhammadans then asked the Guru to tell them of the power and authority of his God, and how salvation could be obtained. Upon this the Guru addressed them as follows :—

At God's gate there dwell thousands of Muhammads, thousands of Brahmas, of Vishnus, and of Shivs ;3 Thousands upon thousands of exalted Rams,4 thousands of spiritual guides, thousands of religious garbs ; 1 Shaikhs are superiors of darweshes or Muhammadan monks, but the title has now in India a much more extended signification, and is very often adopted by Hindu converts to Islam. 3 Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv, form the Hindu trinity, and are respectively the gods of creation, preservation, and destruction. 4 Ram Chandar, king of Ayudhia, deified by the Hindus. He and his consort Slta will be found often mentioned. Thousands upon thousands of celibates, true men, and Sanyasis ; l Thousands upon thousands of Gorakhs,2 thousands upon thousands of superiors of Jogis ; Thousands upon thousands of men sitting in attitudes of contemplation, gurus, and their disciples who make suppli cations ; Thousands upon thousands of goddesses and gods, thou sands of demons ; Thousands upon thousands of Muhammadan priests, prophets, spiritual leaders, thousands upon thousands of qazis, mullas, and shaikhs— None of them obtaineth peace of mind without the instruc tion of the true guru. How many hundreds of thousands of sidhs 3 and strivers,4 yea, countless and endless !

All are impure without meditating on the word of the true guru. There is one Lord over all spiritual lords, the Creator whose name is true. Nanak, His worth cannot be ascertained ; He is endless and incalculable.5 It is said that Daulat Khan, the Musalman ruler, on hearing this sublime hymn, fell at Guru Nanak's feet. The people admitted that God was speaking through Nanak's mouth, and that it was useless to catechize him further. The Nawab, in an outburst 1 The Sanyasis are anchorets who have abandoned the world, and are popularly believed to have overcome nature. The word sanyas means renunciation. 2 Gorakh was a famous Jogi who lived many centuries ago. His followers slit their ears, and make Shiv the special object of their worship. The name Gorakh, meaning Supporter of the earth, is often used for God in the sacred writings of the Sikhs. 3 Sidhs, in Sanskrit Si<Mhst are persons who by the practice of Jog are popularly supposed to acquire extended life and miraculous powers. 4 Sadhik, persons aspiring to be Sidhs. 5 Banno's Granth Sahib. An account of Banno will be found in the life of Guru Arjan. of affectionate admiration, offered him a sacrifice of his authority and estate. Nanak, however, was in no need of temporal possessions, and went again into the society of religious men. They too offered him their homage, and averred that he was desirous of the truth and abode in its performance. Nanak replied :—

My beloved, this body, first steeped in the base of worldliness,1 hath taken the dye of avarice. My beloved, such robe 2 pleaseth not my Spouse ; How can woman thus dressed go to His couch ? I am a sacrifice, O Benign One, I am a sacrifice unto Thee. I am a sacrifice unto those who repeat Thy name. Unto those who repeat Thy name I am ever a sacrifice. Were this body, my beloved friends, to become a dyer's vat, the Name to be put into it as madder, And the Lord the Dyer to dye therewith, such colour had never been seen. 0 my beloved, the Bridegroom is with those whose robes are thus dyed. Nanak's prayer is that he may obtain the dust of such persons' feet. God Himself it is who decketh, it is He who dyeth, it is He who looketh with the eye of favour. Nanak, if the bride be pleasing to the Bridegroom, he will enjoy her of his own accord.3 Upon this the faqirs kissed the Guru's feet, the Governor also came, and all the people, both Hindu and Musalman, attended to salute and take final leave of him. Some complaints had been made of his extravagance as storekeeper; but, when the Governor made an investigation, he found the

1 A metaphor from the dyer's trade. Clothes before the process of dyeing are steeped in alum as a base or mordant the better to retain the dye. 2 Cholra, a coat which reaches to the knees ; choli, its diminutive, is a woman's bodice. ' That is, man will be happy if he by good works make himself acceptable to God. The hymn is from Tilang. storehouse full and all the Guru's accounts correct. Nay, it was discovered that money was due to him from the State. The Guru, however, refused to receive it and requested the Nawab to dispose of it in relieving the wants of the poor

After a short stay with the holy men with whom he had recently been consorting, the Guru, in company with Mardana, proceeded to Saiyidpur, the present city of Eminabad, in the Gujranwala district of the Panjab. Nanak and his companion took shelter in the house of Lalo, a carpenter. When dinner was ready, Lalo informed the Guru, and asked him to eat it within sacred lines.1 The Guru said, ' The whole earth is my sacred lines, and he who loveth truth is pure. Wherefore remove doubt from thy mind.' On this Lalo served dinner, and the Guru ate it where he was seated. After two days the Guru desired to take his departure, but was prevailed on by Lalo to make a longer stay. The Guru consented, but soon found himself an object of obloquy because he, the son of a Khatri, abode in the house of a Sudar. After a fortnight, Malik Bhago, steward of the Pathan who owned Saiyidpur, gave a great feast, to which Hindus of all four castes were invited. A Brahman went and told the Guru that, as all the four castes had been invited, he too should partake of Malik Bhago' s bounty. The Guru replied, ' I belong not to any of the four castes ; why am I invited ? ' The Brahman replied, ' It is on this account people call thee a heretic. Malik Bhago will be displeased with thee for refusing his hospitality.' On this the Brahman went away, and

1 Enclosures, generally smeared with cow-dung to make them holy, within which Hindus pray and cook their food. Malik Bhago fed his guests, but the Guru was not among them. When subsequently Malik Bhago heard of the Guru's absence from the feast, he ordered him to be produced. Bhago inquired why he had not responded to his invitation. The Guru replied, that he was a faqir who did not desire dainty food, but if his eating from the hands of Malik Bhago afforded that functionary any gratification, he would not be found wanting. Malik Bhago was not appeased, but charged the Guru, who was the son of a Khatri, while refusing to attend his feast, with dining with the low-caste Lalo. Upon this the Guru asked Malik Bhago for his share, and at the same time requested Lalo to bring him bread from his house. When both viands arrived, the Guru took Lalo's coarse bread in his right hand and Malik Bhago's dainty bread in his left, and squeezed them both. It is said that from Lalo's bread there issued milk, and from Malik Bhago's, blood. The meaning was that Lalo's bread had been obtained by honest labour and was pure, while Malik Bhago's had been obtained by bribery and oppression and was there fore impure. The Guru hesitated not to accept the former.

After this the Guru and Mardana proceeded to a solitary forest, nowhere entering a village or tarrying on the bank of a river. On the way they were overtaken by hunger, and Mardana complained. The Guru directed him to go straight on and enter a village where the Upal Khatris dwelt. He had only to stand in silence at the doors of their houses, when Hindus and Musalmans would come to do him homage, and not only supply him with food, but bring carpets and spread them before him to tread on. Mardana did as he had been directed, and succeeded in his errand. Mardana subsequently received an order to go to another village. He there also received great homage. The villagers came and fell at his feet, and offered him large presents of money1 and clothes. These he tied up in bundles and took to the Guru. On seeing them the Guru laughed, and asked Mardana what he had brought. He answered that the vil lagers had made him large presents of money and clothes, and he thought that he would bring them to his master. The Guru replied that they did not belong to either of them. Mardana inquired how he was to dispose of them. The Guru told him to throw them away, an order which he at once obeyed. The Guru explained to him the disastrous effects of offerings on laymen. ' Offerings are like poison and cannot be digested. They can only bring good by fervent adoration of God at all hours. When man performeth scant worship and dependeth on offerings for his subsistence, the effect on him is as if he had taken poison/

The Guru and Mardana are said to have visited a notorious robber called Shaikh Sajjan. With extreme impartiality he had built for his Hindu guests a temple, and for his Muhammadan guests a mosque ; and he otherwise ostensibly provided them with everything necessary for their comfort. His hospitality, however, was as false as that of the famous Greek robber, Procrustes. When night came on, Sajjan dismissed his guests to sleep. He then threw them into a well in which they perished. Next morning he took up a pilgrim's staff and rosary, and spread out a carpet to pray in the true spirit of an ancient Pharisee. Shaikh Sajjan, seeing the Guru, interpreted the look of spiritual satisfaction on his countenance into a consciousness of worldly wealth, and expected much profit from such a wind fall. He as usual invited his guests to go to sleep. The Guru asked permission to recite a hymn to God, and having obtained it, repeated the following :— 1 Literally — twenty-fives, because it used to be the Indian custom to count money in heaps of twenty-five each. Bronze is bright and shining, but, by rubbing, its sable blackness appeareth, Which cannot be removed even by washing a hundred times.

They are friends l who travel with me as I go along, And who are found standing ready whenever their accounts are called for. Houses, mansions, palaces painted on all sides, When hollow within, are as it were crumbled and use less. Herons arrayed in white dwell at places of pilgrimage ; Yet they rend and devour living things, and therefore should not be called white.2 My body is like the simmal tree ; 3 men beholding me mistake me.4 Its fruit is useless : such qualities my body possesseth. I am a blind man carrying a burden while the moun tainous 5 way is long. I want eyes which I cannot get ; how can I ascend and traverse the journey ? Of what avail are services, virtues, and cleverness ? Nanak, remember the Name, so mayest thou be released from thy shackles.6 Shaikh Sajjan, on hearing this warning and heartsearching hymn, came to his right understanding. He knew that all the faults were his own, which the Guru had attributed to himself. Upon this he made 1 The name Sajjan also means friend. There is here a pun on the word. ! The heron, though white, has a black heart.

3 The Bombax heptaphyllum. It bears no fruit in the true sense of the word. Its pods yield cotton, which is unfit for textile purposes. Its wood is very brittle, and almost useless for carpentry. 4 Like birds which peck at what they suppose to be the fruit of the simmal tree, but find none. The gyanis exercise their ingenuity on this line, and translate — The parrots (mat jan] looking at it make a mistake. 5 Dugar, thence the tribe of Dogras in the Kangra and adjacent districts. Dogra literally means hillman. him obeisance, kissed his feet, and prayed him to pardon his sins. Then the Guru said, ' Shaikh Sajjan, at the throne of God grace is obtained by two things, open confession and reparation for wrong/ Shaikh Sajjan asked him to perform for him those things by which sins were forgiven and grace ob tained. Then the Guru's heart was touched, and he asked him to truly state how many murders he had committed. Shaikh Sajjan admitted a long catalogue of the most heinous crimes. The Guru asked him to produce all the property of his victims that he had retained in his possession. The Shaikh did so, where upon the Guru told him to give it all to the poor. He obeyed the mandate, and became a follower of the Guru after receiving charanpahul.1 It is said that the first Sikh temple 2 was constructed on the spot where this conversation had been held.

The Guru, hearing of a religious fair at Kurkhetar 3 near Thanesar, in the present district of Ambala, on the occasion of a solar eclipse desired to visit it with the object of preaching to the assembled pil grims. Needing refreshment, he began to cook a deer which a disciple had presented to him. The Brahmans expressed their horror at his use of flesh, upon which he replied :— Man is first conceived in flesh, he dwelleth in flesh. When he quickeneth, he obtaineth a mouth of flesh ; his bone, skin, and body are made of flesh. 1 Also called charanamrit. This was a form of initiation by drink ing the water in which the Guru's feet had been washed. The pre amble of the Japji was read at the same time. The ceremony was inaugurated by Guru Nanak. 2 DharmsaL In modern times this word means a charitable rest-house where the Granth Sahib is kept and divine worship held, where travellers obtain free accommodation, and children receive religious instruction. A temple at a place visited by a Guru is now called Gurd \\ara. 3 The ancient Kurukshetra, the scene of the great battle between the Pandavs and Kauravs. In Hindu books it is called the Navel of the earth, and it is held that worldly beings were there created. Khuldsal-ul- Tawarikh.

When he is taken out of the womb, he seizeth teats of flesh. His mouth is of flesh, his tongue is of flesh, his breath is in flesh. When he groweth up he marrieth, and bringeth flesh home with him. Flesh is produced from flesh ; all man's relations are made from flesh. By meeting the true Guru and obeying God's order, everybody shall go right. // fhou suppose that man shall be saved by himself, he shall not ; Nanak, it is idle to say so. The following is also on the same subject : — Fools wrangle about flesh, but know not divine know ledge or meditation on God. They know not what is flesh, or what is vegetable, or in what sin consist eth. It was the custom of the gods to kill rhinoceroses, roast them and feast. They who forswear flesh and hold their noses when near it, devour men at night. They make pretences to the world, but they know not divine knowledge or meditation on God. Nanak, why talk to a fool ? He cannot reply or under stand what is said to him. He who acteth blindly is blind ; he hath no mental eyes.

Ye were produced from the blood of your parents, yet ye eat not fish or flesh. When man and woman meet at night and cohabit, A foetus is conceived from flesh ; we are vessels of flesh. O Brahman, thou knowest not divine knowledge or meditation on God, yet thou callest thyself clever. Thou considerest the flesh that cometh from abroad 1 bad, O my lord, and the flesh of thine own home good. All animals have sprung from flesh, and the soul taketh its abode in flesh. 1 The flesh of animals. They whose guru is blind, eat things that ought not to be eaten, and abstain from what ought to be eaten. In flesh we are conceived, from flesh we are born ; we are vessels of flesh. O Brahman, thou knowest not divine knowledge or meditation on God, yet thou callest thyself clever. Flesh is allowed in the Purans, flesh is allowed in the books of the Musalmans, flesh hath been used in the four ages. Flesh adorneth sacrifice and marriage functions ; flesh hath always been associated with them. Women, men, kings, and emperors spring from flesh. If they appear to you to be going to hell, then accept not their offerings.

See how wrong it would be that givers should go to hell and receivers to heaven. Thou understandest not thyself, yet thou instructest others ; O Pandit, thou art very wise ! ! 0 Pandit, thou knowest not from what flesh hath sprung. Corn, sugar-cane, and cotton are produced from water ; 2 from water the three worlds are deemed to have sprung. Water saith, ' I am good in many ways ' ; many are the modifications of water. If thou abandon the relish of such things, thou shalt be superhuman, saith Nanak deliberately.3 The Guru succeeded in making many converts at Kurkhetar. When departing, he thus addressed his Sikhs : ' Live in harmony, utter the Creator's name, and if any one salute you therewith, return his salute with the addition true, and say " Sat Kartar ", the True Creator, in reply. There are four ways by which, with the repetition of God's name, men may reach Him. The first is holy companionship, the second truth, the third contentment, and the fourth restraint of the senses. By whichsoever of these 2 Water assists the growth of vegetables, and on vegetables animals are fed. 3 Malar ki War.

doors a man entereth, whether he be a hermit or a householder, he shall find God/ The Guru next visited Hardwar in pursuance of his mission. A great crowd was assembled from the four cardinal points for the purpose of washing away their sins. The Guru saw that, while they were cleansing their bodies, their hearts remained filthy ; and none of them restrained the wanderings of his mind or performed his ablutions with love and devotion. While they were throwing water towards the east for the manes of their ancestors, the Guru went among them, and, putting his hands together so as to form a cup, began to throw water towards the west, and continued to do so until a large crowd had gathered round him. Men in their astonishment began to inquire what he was doing, and whether he was a Hindu or Muhammadan. If the latter, why had he come to a Hindu place of pilgrimage ? If he were a Hindu, why should he throw water towards the west instead of towards the rising sun ? And who had taught him to do so ? In reply, the Guru asked them why they threw water towards the east. To whom were they offering it, and who was to receive it ? They replied that they were offering libations to the manes of their ancestors. It would satisfy them, and be a source of happiness to themselves.

The Guru then asked how far distant their ances tors were. A learned man among them replied that their ancestors were thousands of miles distant. The Guru, upon this, again began to throw palmfuls of water towards the west. They reminded him that he had not answered their questions, or vouch safed any information regarding himself. He replied that, before he had set out from his home in the west, he had sown a field and left no one to irrigate it. He was therefore throwing water in its direction, that it might remain green and not dry up. His field was on a mound where rain-water would not rest, and he was obliged to have recourse to this form of irrigation. On hearing this, the spectators i thought he was crazed, and told him he was sprink- ; ling water in vain, for it would never reach his field. Where was his field and where was he, and how could the water ever reach it ? ' Thou art a great fool, thy field shall never become green by what thou art doing/ The Guru replied, ' Ye have forgotten God. Without love and devotion your minds have gone astray. My field, which you say this water cannot reach, is near, but your ancestors are very far away, so how can the water ye offer them ever reach them or profit them ? Ye call me a fool, but ye are greater fools yourselves/

The Guru after a little time again broke silence, and said, ' The Hindus are going to hell. Death will seize and mercilessly punish them/ A Brahman replied, ' How can they who repeat God's name go to hell ? Thou hast in the first place acted contrary to our custom, and now thou hast the audacity to tell us that we are going to hell/ The Guru replied, * It is true that, if ye repeat the Name with love, ye shall not be damned. But when ye take rosaries in your hands, and sit down counting your beads, ye never think of God, but allow your minds to wander thinking of worldly objects. Your rosaries are therefore only for show, and your counting your beads is only hypocrisy. One of you is thinking of his trade with Multan, another of his trade with Kabul, another of his trade with Dihli, and the gain that shall in each case accrue/ The people, on hearing the Guru thus accurately divine their thoughts, began to think him a god, and prayed him to pardon them and grant them salvation by making them his disciples. The Guru, requiring fire to cook his food, went into a Brahman's cooking-square for it. The Brahman charged him with having defiled his viands. The Guru replied that they had already

been denied. Upon this the following was com posed :— Evil mindedness is a low woman,1 cruelty a butcher's wife, a slanderous heart a sweeper woman, wrath which ruineth the world a pariah woman. What availeth thee to have drawn the lines of thy cooking place when these four are seated with thee ? Make truth, self-restraint, and good acts thy lines, and the utterance of the Name thine ablutions. Nanak, in the next world he is best who walketh not in the way of sin.2 While at Hardwar the Brahmans pressed the Guru to return to his allegiance to the Hindu religion. They pointed out the spiritual advantages of sacri fices and burnt-offerings, and of the worship of cremation-grounds, gods, and goddesses. The Guru replied that the sacrifices and burnt-offerings of this age consisted in giving food to those who repeated God's name and practised humility. And where the Guru's hymns were read, there was scant worship of places of burial or cremation, or of gods, god desses, and ignorant priests. As to the homage paid the latter, the Guru said that men were ruined thereby, as sweetmeats are spoiled by flies settling on them. Guru Nanak and Mardana departed thence, and proceeded to Panipat, a place famous in Indian history as the scene of three great decisive battles. At that time a successor of Shaikh Sharaf 3 was the

1 Dumni, the wife of a Dum. 2 Sri Rag Id War. 3 Shaikh Sharaf, whose patronymic was Abu Ali Qalandar, received instruction at the age of forty years from Khwaja Qutub-ul-Dm, who was also spiritual guide of Shaikh Farid and of the Emperor Shamsul-Din Altmish. Shaikh Sharaf says of himself, ' Learned men gave me a licence to teach and to pronounce judicial decisions, which offices I exercised for twenty years. Unexpectedly I received a call from God, and throwing all my learned books into the Jamna, I set out on travel. In Turkey I fell in with Shams-ul-dm Tabrezi and Maulana Jalal-ul-Din Rumi, who presented me with a robe and turban and with many books, which in their presence I threw into the river. Muhammadan priest of the place. A disciple called Tatihari went to fetch a pot of water for his spiritual guide from the well near which the Guru and Mardana had sat down to rest. The Guru wore a Persian hat and a nondescript costume, which Tatihari took for that of a Persian darwesh. He addressed the Guru with the Muhammadan salutation, ' Salam Alaikum ' (the peace of God be with you). Nanak replied, ' Salam Alekh ' (salutation to the Invisible). Tatihari was astonished, and said that until then nobody had distorted his salutation. He went and told his religious superior, the Shaikh, that he had met a darwesh who had taken the liberty of punning on the Muhammadan salutation. The Shaikh at once resolved to go himself to see the man who had saluted the Invisible One, and inquire what he knew regarding Him.

The Shaikh, on arriving, asked the Guru what religious denomination his head-dress denoted, and why he did not shave his head in orthodox fashion. The Guru replied :— When man hath shaved his mind he hath shaved his head j1 Without shaving his mind he findeth not the way. Let him cut off his head and place it before his guru. If he resign his own wisdom, he shall be saved by the wisdom of his guru. To become the dust of the feet of all is to shave the head. Such a hermit appreciateth the words of the guru ; That is the way in which the head is shaved, O brother. Few are there who shave their heads according to the instruction of their guru. Nanak having abandoned all pleasures, affections, and egotism, Hath put on a hat of this fashion.2 Subsequently I came to Panipat and there lived as a recluse.' His tomb is there. l That is, has laid aside egotism. 2 This and the following hymns bearing on the Jog philosophy express Guru Nanak's ideas on the subject. These hymns are not found in the Granth Sahib. The Shaikh then asked the Guru to what religious sect he belonged. The Guru replied : —

Under the instructions of my Guru 1 I remain His disciple. My stole and my hat consist in grasping the Word in my heart. I have turned the flowing river into a streak of sand.2 I sit there at mine ease and am happy.3 I have dispelled joy and sorrow. Having put on my stole I have killed all mine enemies ; 4 I have settled in the silent city and abide therein : There I learned how to wear this stole. Having forsaken my family I live alone — Nanak having put on this stole is happy. The Shaikh next inquired to what sect the Guru's loin-cloth belonged. The Guru replied : — By the word and instruction of the Guru my mind hath obtained peace ; I restrain my five senses and abide apart from the world ; I close mine eyes and my mind hath ceased to wander. I have locked up the ten gates 5 of my body, And I sit in contemplation in its sixty-eight chambers.6 With this loin-cloth I shall neither grow old nor die. Putting on a loin-cloth I dwell alone And drink from the waterfall 7 of the brain. I discard my low intelligence for the lofty wisdom of my Guru.

In this way Nanak weareth a loin-cloth. 1 Nanak's Guru was God. See Sorath xi, Mahalla I, and Gur Das's War, xiii, 25. 2 My brain is in a state of repose. 3 The wanderings of the mind hither and thither have ceased. 4 Dusht, literally, ill-wishers, then man's evil passions. 5 The apertures or openings of the body frequently mentioned in Oriental medical and theological sciences. Nine of them can be easily enumerated, the tenth is the brain. 6 In Jog philosophy the breath is supposed to wander in sixty-eight chambers of the body. 7 Jogis believe that nectar falls or trickles from the brain in a state of exaltation. Then again the Shaikh desired to know what sect the Guru's slippers denoted. The Guru replied :— By associating with those who go the right way I have obtained all knowledge. I have reduced my mind to the caste of fire and wind ; l I abide in the manner of the earth or a tree ; I can endure the cutting and digging of my heart ; 2 1 desire to be as a river or sandal Which whether pleased or displeased conferreth advantage on all. Having churned the churn 3 of this world I am exalted,

And having abandoned evil I appear before my God. To those, who put on their slippers while meditating on Him, O Nanak, mortal sin shall not attach. Again the Shaikh said, ' Explain to me what a darwesh is.' The Guru, ordering Mardana to play the rebeck, composed the following hymn :— He who while he liveth is dead, while he waketh is asleep,4 who knowingly alloweth himself to be plundered,5 And who having abandoned everything meeteth his Creator, is a darwesh. Few servants of Thine, 0 God, are darweshes at heart, Who feel not joy, sorrow, anger, wrath, pride, or avarice ; Who look on gold as dross, and consider what is right to be lawful ; Who obey the summons of God and heed none other ; Who seated in a contemplative attitude in the firma ment 6 play spontaneous music — Saith Nanak, neither the Veds nor the Quran know the praises of such holy men. [ That is — I have no more caste than fire and wind. 2 Cutting, as applied to a tree, and digging to earth. That is — I can endure every form of torture. 3 Having extracted all pleasures from this world,

4 Who takes no heed of the world. 5 That is, who effaces himself. 0 That is, in the brain in a state of exaltation. The Shaikh finally said, ' Well done ! why make a further examination of him who beareth witness to God ? Even to behold him is sufficient.' Then he shook hands with the Guru, kissed his feet and departed. Guru Nanak journeyed on and arrived in Dihli. An elephant belonging to the reigning sovereign Ibrahim Lodi had just died; and the keepers, regretting the loss of the animal whose service had afforded them maintenance, were bewailing its death. The Guru inquired whose the elephant was. They replied in Oriental fashion, that it was the Emperor's, but that all things belonged to God. The Guru said that the elephant was alive, and bade them go and rub its forehead with their hands, and say at the same time, ' Wah Guru ' — hail to the Guru ! 1 It is said that the elephant stood up to the astonish ment of all. The Emperor, having received informa tion of the miracle, sent for the animal, mounted it, and went to the Guru, and asked if it was he who had restored it to life. The Guru replied, ' God is the only Destroyer and Re-animater. Prayers are for faqirs, and mercy for Him.' The monarch then asked, if the elephant were killed would the Guru again restore it. The Guru, not wishing to be treated as an itinerant showman, replied :—

It is He (pointing on high) who destroyeth and destroying re-animateth ; Nanak, there is none but the one God. The animal then died, the inference of the chroni clers being that it died at the will of the Guru, as it had been previously called to life by him. The Emperor ordered him to again revivify it. The Guru replied, ' Hail to your Majesty ! Iron when heated in the fire becometh red, and cannot be held for a moment in the hand. In the same way faqirs 1 Wahguru generally means God. We here merely give its apparent meaning. become red in the heat of God's love, and cannot be constrained.' The Monarch, it is said, was pleased at this reply, and requested the Guru to accept a present from him. The Guru replied :— Nanak is hungry for God, and careth for naught besides. I ask for God, I ask for nothing else. The king returned to his palace, and the Guru continued his wanderings. The Guru next proceeded to Bindraban, where he saw enacted the play called Krishanlila, in which the exploits of Krishan * are represented. Krishan appears making love to milkmaids, stealing their clothes while they were bathing, and killing his uncle Kans. The Guru expressed his dissatisfaction with the subject of the performance :—

The disciples play, the gurus dance, Shake their feet, and roll their heads. Dust flieth and falleth on their hair ; The audience seeing it laugh and go home. For the sake of food the performers beat time, And dash themselves on the ground. The milkmaids sing, Krishans sing, Sitas and royal Rams sing. Fearless is the Formless One, whose name is true, And whose creation is the whole world. The worshippers on whom God bestoweth kindness worship Him ; Pleasant is the night for those who long for Him in their hearts. By the Guru's instruction to his disciples this knowledge is obtained, 1 Krishan son of Vasudev, by his wife Devaki, was born, according to Indian tradition, 3185 B.C. Cattle-grazing was the original calling of the family, and Krishan is celebrated for his adventures among the milkmaids of Mathura. In the Bhagavat Glta, an episode of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharat, he declared himself to be God, the supreme Soul, the Creator of the world, and its Destroyer; and he has been accepted as such by Hindus, who deem him an in carnation of Vishnu. vXThat the Kind One saveth those on whom He looketh with favour. Oil-presses, spinning-wheels, hand-mills, potters' wheels,

Plates,1 whirlwinds, many and endless, Birds tumble and take no breath. Men put animals on stakes and swing them round. 0 Nanak, the tumblers are innumerable and endless. In the same way men bound in entanglements are swung Every one danceth according to his own acts— They who dance and laugh shall weep on their departure, They cannot fly or obtain supernatural power. Leaping and dancing are mental recreations ; Nanak, they who have the fear of God in their hearts

The Guru set out towards the east, having arrayed himself in a strange motley of Hindu and Muhammadan religious habiliments. He put on a mangocoloured jacket, over which he threw a white safa or sheet. On his head he carried the hat of a Musalman Qalandar,3 while he wore a necklace of bones, and imprinted a saffron mark on his forehead in the style of Hindus. This was an earnest of his desire to found a religion which should be acceptable both to Hindus and Muhammadans without conforming to either faith . As the Guru and his attendant proceeded, they met a Muhammadan notable called Shaikh Waj id. The Shaikh alighted under a tree, and his bearers began to shampoo and fan him. This afforded matter for contemplation to Mardana, and he asked the Guru whether there was not one God for the rich and another for the poor. The Guru replied that there 1 Thai, plates poised on a stick and spun round. 2 Asa ki War. 3 A Muhammadan anchoret who abandons all worldly ties and possessions. He corresponds to the Indian Sanyasi. was only one God. Mardana then put his question in another form : ' Who created this man who rideth in a sedan of ease while the bearers have no shoes to their feet ? Their legs are naked while they shampoo and fan him.' The Guru replied with the following verses : —

They who performed austerities in their former lives, are f now kings and receive tribute on earth. They who were then wearied, are now shampooed by others. The Guru continued in prose : ' O Mardana, whoever is born hath come naked from his mother's womb, and joy or misery is the result of actions in previous states of existence.' Upon this, Mardana fell at the Guru's feet. As Guru Nanak and Mardana journeyed on, they arrived at Gorakhmata, or temple of Gorakh, some twenty miles north of Pilibhit, in the United Provinces of India.1 There they observed a pipal-tree 2 of many a religious reminiscence. Years previously it had withered from age, but it is related that when the holy man sat beneath it, it suddenly became green. The biographer of the Guru states that Sidhs came on that occasion and addressed him : ' O youth, whose disciple art thou, and from whom hast thou obtained instruction ? ' Guru Nanak, in reply, composed the following hymn :— What is the scale ? What the weights ? What weighman 3 shall I call for Thee ? Who is the guru from whom I should receive instruction, and by whom I should appraise Thy worth ?

0 my Beloved, I know not Thy limit. Thou fillest sea and land, the nether and upper regions ; it is Thou Thyself who art contained in everything. 1 The place is now known as Nanakmata, in memory of the Guru's visit. 2 The Ficus religiosa. 3 This line appears to mean that God cannot be weighed or estimated. My heart is the scale, my understanding the weight, Thy service the weighman I employ. I weigh the Lord in my heart, and thus I fix my attention. Thou Thyself art the tongue of the balance, the weight, and the scales ; Thou Thyself art the weighman ; Thou Thyself beholdest, Thou Thyself understandest, Thou Thyself art the dealer with Thee}- A blind man, a low-born person, and a stranger come but for a moment, and in a moment depart. In such companionship Nanak abideth ; how can he, fool that he is, obtain Thee ? 2 Then the Sidhs said, ' O youth, become a Jogi, and adopt the dress of our order, so shalt thou find the true way and obtain the merits of religion.' The Guru replied with the following hymn :— Religion consisteth not in a patched coat, or in a Jogi's staff, or in ashes smeared over the body ;

Religion consisteth not in earrings worn, or a shaven head, or in the blowing of horns.3 . Abide pure amid the impurities of the world ; thus shalt thou find the way of religion. Religion consisteth not in mere words ; He who looketh on all men as equal is religious. Religion consisteth not in wandering to tombs 4 or places of cremation, or sitting in attitudes of contemplation ; 5 Religion consisteth not in wandering in foreign countries, or in bathing at places of pilgrimages. Abide pure amid the impurities of the world ; thus shalt thou find the way of religion. On meeting a true guru doubt is dispelled and the wander ings of the mind restrained. It raineth nectar, slow ecstatic music is heard, and man is happy within himself. 1 In the Granth Sahib God is the wholesale merchant from whom all grace and good gifts proceed, and men are the dealers who receive from Him. 2 SQhi> 3 The jogis blow deers> hornSt 4 Marhi, a structure raised over the ashes of the dead. ' Tari lagdna is to sit cross-legged in contemplative attitude as Buddha is represented. Abide pure amid the impurities of the world ; thus shalt thou find the way of religion.

Nanak, in the midst of life be in death ; practise such religion. When thy horn soundeth without being blown, thou shalt obtain the fearless dignity — Abide pure amid the impurities of the world, thus shalt thou find the way of religion.1 On hearing this the Sidhs made Guru Nanak obeisance. The Guru, having infused sap into the pipal-tree by sitting under it, necessarily became a great being in their estimation. The Guru and his musical attendant proceeded to Banaras,2 the head quarters of the Hindu religion, and the birthplace of the renowned Kabir, then dead but not forgotten. The Guru and Mardana sat down in a public square of the city. At that time the chief Brahman of the holy city was Pandit Chatur Das. On going to bathe he saw the Guru and made the Hindu salutation, ' Ram Ram ! ' On observing the Guru's dress, he twitted him with possessing no salagram 3 though he called himself a faqir, with wearing no necklace of sacred basil and no rosary. ' What saintship hast thou obtained ? ' The Guru replied :— 0 Brahman, thou worshippest and propitiatest the salagram, and deemest it a good act to wear a necklace of sweet basil.4

Why irrigate barren land and waste thy life ? Why apply plaster to a frail tottering wall ? Repeating God's name, form a raft for thy salvation ; may the Merciful have mercy on thee ! 2 Banaras, in Sanskrit Baranasi, is derived from Barna and Asi, two tributary streams of the Ganges. 3 A quartzose stone bearing the impression of ammonites and believed by the Hindus to represent Vishnu petrified by a curse of Brinda for possessing her in the guise of her spouse. Salagrams are found in the Gandaka and Son rivers. 4 Thereby denoting that he was dedicated to the god Vishnu. Chatur Das replied : ' O saint, the salagram and the necklace of sweet basil may indeed be useless as the irrigation of barren land, but tell me by what means the ground may be prepared and God found.' The Guru replied :— Make God the well, string His name for the necklace of waterpots, and yoke thy mind as an ox thereto. Irrigate with nectar and fill the parterres therewith ; thus shalt thou belong to the Gardener. The Pandit inquired : ' The soil is irrigated, but how can it yield produce until it hath been dug up and prepared for the seed ? ' The Guru explained how this was to be done : —

Beat both thy lust and anger into a spade, with which dig up the earth, O brother : The more thou diggest, the happier shalt thou be : such work shall not be effaced in vain. The Pandit replied : ' I am the crane, and thou art the primal swan of God. My understanding is overcome by my senses/ The Guru replied : — If thou, O Merciful One, show mercy, a crane shall change into a swan. v/Nanak, slave of slaves, supplicateth, O Merciful One have mercy.1 The Pandit then admitted that the Guru was a saint of God, and asked him to bless the city and sing its praises. The Guru inquired in what the specialty of the city consisted. The Pandit said it was learning, by which wealth was acquired. ' The world admireth the ground on which the possessor of wealth treadeth. By applying the mind to learning, thou shalt become a high priest.' The Guru replied in a series of metaphors : — The city 2 is frail, the king 3 is a boy and loveth the wicked ; He is said to have two mothers 4 and two fathers 5 ; O Pandit, think upon this.

1 Basant. * The body. 3 The heart. 4 Hope and desire. 5 Love and hate. O, sir Pandit, instruct me How I am to obtain the Lord of life. ^Within me is the fire,1 the garden 2 is in bloom, and I have an ocean 3 within my body. The moon and sun 4 are both in my heart ; thou hast not obtained such knowledge ? He who subdueth mammon knoweth that God is every where diffused ; He may be known by this mark that he storeth con tentment as his wealth.5 The king dwelleth with those who listen not to advice, and who are not grateful for what they receive. Nanak, slave of slaves, representeth, 0 God, in one moment makest the small great and the great small.6 Chatur Das requested further information. ' Sir, shall the name of God be to any extent obtained by what we teach the people and what we learn ourselves ? ' The Guru inquired in return : ' O reli gious teacher, what hast thou read ? What teachest thou the people, and what knowledge dost thou communicate to thy disciples ? ' The Pandit replied : ' By the will of God I teach the people the fourteen sciences — reading, swimming, medicine, alchemy, astrology, singing the six rags and their raginis, the science of sexual enjoyment, grammar, music, horsemanship, dancing, archery, theology, and states manship/ The Guru replied that better than all these was knowledge of God. Upon this he repeated the long composition called the Oamkar in the Rag