2. Agan. Literally--fire. This word is often used for wrath, but Guru Nanak has more often inveighed against avarice or covetousness than against wrath, and perhaps it is the former that is taken as a special attribute of this degenerate age.

3. Setambar. The Hans or Swan avatar.]

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And that then, Nanak, man obtaineth salvation.

The Yajur stateth that Kan Krishan, who was a Yadav, seduced Chandrawal;

That he brought the tree of life for a milkmaid, and amused himself in Bindraban.

The Atharv belongeth to the Kal age, when God's name was called Allah.

Men then wore blue clothes, and the Turks and Pathans exercised sway.

The four Veds are true according to the Hindus; but if they are read and studied there are found therein four different doctrines;

When man hath love and devotion and is himself lowly, it is then, O Nanak, he obtaineth salvation.

PAURI XIII

I am a sacrifice to the true Guru by meeting whom the Lord is remembered,

Who gave me the salve of divine instruction; with these eyes I then beheld God in the world.

The dealers who leave the Lord and attach themselves to mammon are wrecked.

The true Guru is a boat; few there are who consider this, And those who do he mercifully saveth.

SLOK XIV

Guru Nanak

The simmal-tree of the desert is very tall and very thick.

Why should the birds which go to it with hopes depart disappointed?

Because its fruit is insipid, its flowers unwholesome, and its leaves useless.

The tree which yieldeth sweet fruit is lowly, O Nanak,

but its qualities and virtues are exquisite.

Every one boweth to himself; no one boweth to another.

If anything be put into a scale and weighed, the side which descendeth is the heavier.[1]

[1. The man who is lowly is the most worthy.]

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The wicked man like a deer-stalker boweth twice more than any one else;

But what availeth bowing the head, if the heart be impure?

The following hymn was composed by Guru Nanak at Banaras on the occasion of a discussion with the local pandits who pressed him to dress in

the style of the Hindus:--

Guru Nanak

You read books, perform your twilight devotions, argue, worship stones, and sit like cranes;

You utter falsehoods as excellent jewels; you meditate on the Gayatri[1] three times a day;

You wear necklaces, put sacrificial marks on your foreheads, carry two dhotis, and put towels on your heads.

If you knew God's designs, you would know that yours is verily a vain religion.

Saith Nanak, verily reflect that without the true Guru you shall not find the way.

Some suppose that the following was addressed to Sultan Ibrahim Khan Lodi who it is believed at one

time sought to persecute the Guru:--

PAURI XIV