and said to the Guru 'No Hindu hath ever yet gone to Makka. Travel not with me; either go before or after.' The Guru told the pilgrim to precede him. When the pilgrim turned round to see where his companion was, it is said he could see neither him nor the cloud. The pilgrim then began to wring his hands, and said, 'It was God who was with me, but I could not endure the sight of Him. He worked illusion on me.'

When the Guru arrived, weary and footsore, in Makka, he went and sat in the great mosque where pilgrims were engaged in their devotions. His disregard of Moslem customs soon involved him in difficulties. When he lay down to sleep at night he turned his feet towards the Kaaba. An Arab priest kicked him and said, 'Who is this sleeping infidel? Why hast thou, O sinner, turned thy feet towards God?' The Guru replied, 'Turn my feet in a direction in which God is not.'[1] Upon this the priest seized the Guru's feet and dragged them in the opposite direction, whereupon, it is said, the temple turned round, and followed the revolution of his body. Some understand this in a spiritual sense, and say it means that Guru Nanak made all Makka turn to his teaching. Those who witnessed this miracle were astonished and saluted the Guru as a supernatural being.

The Qazis and the Mullas crowded round the Guru, and interrogated him on the subject of his religion. They admitted that he had accomplished a great feat, but the source of his power was not apparent. They opened his book, and seeing that it was on religious subjects, inquired which was

[1. Curious it is to find the same expression in an Italian operatic writer of the eighteenth century.

E se, dov' ei dimora,

Non intendesti ancora,

Confondimi, se puoi;

Dimmi dov' ei non è.

(Metastasio.)

]

{p. 176}

superior, the Hindu or the Muhammadan religion. The Guru replied, 'Without good acts the professors of both religions shall suffer. Neither the Hindus nor the Muhammadans shall obtain entrance into God's court. All their devotions shall vanish like the fleeting dye of safflower. Both sects are jealous of each other. The Hindus insist on saying Ram and the Moslems Rahim, but they know not the one God. Satan hath led them both along his own flowery way.' On that occasion the Guru uttered the following hymn in the Tilang measure:--

Thy fasting and worship shall be acceptable

When thou, O man, keepest watch over the ten apertures of thy body, hatest the world,

Chastenest thy mind, restrainest thy sight, and fleest worldly desires and wranglings.

Every day of the month offer thy love to the Lord thus shalt thou be recognized as pure and gentle.

Keep the fast of meditation, and let the renunciation of pleasure be thy dance;

Keep watch over thy heart, so shalt thou be a really learned man;