The mouth which ever praiseth Him[2] is fortunate and beautiful.

Nanak, that face shall be bright in the court of the True One.

PAURI XIX

Every one calleth Thee his own, O Lord; those who do not so call Thee Thou puttest away.

Every one must bear the result of his own acts, and adjust his own account.

Since ye are not to remain in this world, why practise ye pride?

Call no one bad; know this by reading these words.

Dispute not with a fool.

SLOK XX

Nanak, the mind and body of him who talketh evil are evil:

He is most evil, and most evil is his reputation.

The evil person is rejected in God's court; his face is spat upon.

The evil person is a fool, and receiveth shoe-beatings as punishment.

[1. Woman is meant.' The Greeks sometimes used the word {Greek skeu^os} in the same sense.

2. Some suppose that woman is the missing word here, as the preceding part of the slok is a defence of women, not a eulogy of God.]

{p. 245}

Guru Nanak

If a man, foul within and fair without, Puff himself up in the world,

His filth will not depart even though he bathe at the sixty-eight places of pilgrimage.

They who wear silk within and rags without, are good in this world.

They have conceived love for God and contemplate beholding Him.

In God's love they weep, in God's love they laugh, or are even silent.

They care not for anything except the true Master.

They beg for food at God's door, and only eat when He giveth it to them.

For them there is but one court as there is but one pen;[1] we and you shall meet for justice.

The accounts of the wicked shall be examined in God's court, and they shall be pressed, O Nanak, like oil in a mill.[2]

PAURI XX

Thou Thyself didst create the world, and Thou Thyself didst infuse power into it.

Thou beholdest Thine own work, the losing and winning dice[3] upon earth.

Whatever hath come shall depart; his turn shall come to every one.

Why forget that Lord who owneth life and soul

With thine own hands arrange thine own affairs.

[1. That is, there is no mediator between God and man. It is God Himself who decides man's fate.

2 This with half the last line is also translated-They who confound meum and tuum shall have their accounts examined in God's court, and shall be pressed, O Nanak, like oil in a mill.

3 That is, the sinners and the virtuous. The game of chausar or chaupar is played with sixteen pieces, called sâris, and three dice, called pâsâ. The sâris while being moved round the board, like creatures in transmigration, are called kachi, unripe: when they reach their goal, they are called pakki, or ripe.]

{p. 246}

SLOK XXI

Guru Angad

What love is that which attacheth itself to worldly things?