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:--

O 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!

[1. Sûhi.

2. Banaras, in Sanskrit Bârânasi, 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. Sâlagrams are found in the Gandika and Son rivers.

4. Thereby denoting that he was dedicated to the god Vishnu.]

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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.

Nanak, slave of slaves, supplicateth. O Merciful One have mercy.'