When man hath shaved his mind he hath shaved his head;[1]

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]

[1. That is, has laid aside egotism.

2. This and the following hymns bearing on the jog philosophy express Guru Nânak's ideas on the subject. These hymns are not found in the Granth Sâhib.]

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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 bath 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. Nânak's Guru was God. See Sorath xi, Mahalla I, and Gur Dâs's Wâr, 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.]

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