Raiment and pleasing beauty man must leave on earth and depart.

Man shall obtain the fruit of the bad or good deeds he hath done:

He may have exercised sovereignty to his heart's content, yet must he proceed by the narrow road.

He shall be sent naked to hell, which will then appear very formidable to him;

And he shall regret the sins he committed.

The following slok, addressed by Guru Nanak to pandit Hardial, his family priest, when he came to invest him with a janeu, the sacrificial thread of the upper classes of Hindus, has already been given:--

[1. Traipâl is understood to be for tripada, the gâyatri or spell of the Hindus.]

{p. 238}

SLOK XV

Make mercy thy cotton, contentment thy thread, continence its knot, truth its twist.

That would make a janeu for the soul; if thou have it, O Brahman, then put it on me.

It will not break, or become soiled, or be burned, or lost.

Blest the man, O Nanak, who goeth with such a thread on his neck.

Thou purchasest a janeu for four damris, and seated in a square puttest it on;

Thou whisperest instruction that the Brahman is the guru of the Hindus--

Man dieth, the janeu falleth, and the soul departeth with out it.

Guru Nanak

Though men commit countless thefts, countless adulteries, litter countless falsehoods and countless words of abuse;

Though they commit countless robberies and villanies night and day against their fellow creatures;

Yet the cotton thread is spun, and the Brahman cometh to twist it.

For the ceremony they kill a goat and cook and eat it, and everybody then saith 'Put on the janeu '.

When it becometh old, it is thrown away and another is put on.

Nanak, the string breaketh not if it be strong.

Guru Nanak

By adoring and praising. the Name honour and a true thread are obtained.

In this way a sacred thread shall be put on, which will not break, and which will be fit for entrance into God's court.

Guru Nanak

There is no string for the sexual organs, there is no string for women;

There is no string for the impure acts which cause your beards to be daily spat upon.

There is no string for the feet, there is no string for the hands,

{p. 239}

There is no string for the tongue, there is no string for the eyes.

Without such strings the Brahman wandereth astray,

Twisteth strings for the neck, and putteth them on others.

He taketh hire for marrying;

He pulleth out a paper, and showeth the fate of the wedded pair.[1]

Hear and see, ye people, it is strange

That, while mentally blind, man is named wise.

PAURI XV

He to whom the Lord is compassionate and merciful will do the Master's work.

That worshipper whom God causeth to abide by His order, will worship Him.