Nanak, it shall be bound by Death, and have to suffer transmigration again and again.

How many enemies shall it have on sea and land! the forests and glades shall cause it to suffer.

Every house shall bear it enmity; Nanak, the real thing is to meditate on the Eternal.

Death with the three bloodshot and terrible eyes shall lie in wait for the soul.

The whole world is Death's provender; merciless is the god of death.

He seizeth men, Nanak, and hurrieth them away in obedience to the Commander.

My body is before Thee; Thou art Master; Thou mayest preserve or destroy it.

There shall be no mother, father, kinsman, wife, or brother,

Son, or wealth to assist us; how shall we have consolation?

There shall be no quiver, or bow, or shield, or sword to protect us,

But a seething caldron day and night; consider this under the Guru's instruction.

Make honesty thy steed, truth thy saddle, continence thine equestrian armour;

The five virtues[1] thine arrows, and truth thy sword and shield.

Nanak, pious men who have truth in their hearts, shall obtain honour in God's court.

[1. Contentment, compassion, piety, patience, morality. The list of the five virtues is somewhat arbitrary. Truth is generally included in them, but here the Guru makes it a separate virtue.]

{p. 128}

Brahma who came into the world repeating the Veds cannot describe God.

What is poor Krishan who by God's order descended upon earth?

Shiv and countless gods and goddesses standing at Thy gate praise Thee.

He who turneth from God shall pine away and die; the True One is ever the Pardoner.[1]

Mian Mitha then spoke: 'What is that one Name which thou praisest so much?' The Guru replied, 'Hath any one ever known the worth of that Name?' Mian Mitha asked him to be good enough to explain it to him. The Guru then took his arm, led him aside, and said to him, 'Shaikh, hearest thou the Name of the one God?' While they were speaking, the name of the Prophet vanished amid the sounds of divine ecstasy, and when they looked again there appeared instead of it only a heap of ashes. Then came a voice from heaven which only repeated 'Allah', God's Arabic name. Upon this Shaikh Mitha got up and kissed the Guru's feet. The Guru then fell into a trance, and in that state gave utterance to the following:--

NASIHAT NAMA[2]

The present are favoured; the absent are not.

Faith is a friend, want of faith an infidel;

Pride is ruin, wrath is unlawful;

Concupiscence is Satan, conceit is infidelity;

The slanderer's face is black.

The man without faith is unclean; he who is tender-hearted is pure.

Knowledge is gentleness. The non-avaricious are holy the avaricious are impatient.

The honest man hath a bright, the ungrateful man a yellow face.