As thirst is quenched when one findeth water; as the child is sustained by its mother's milk;

As the lotus cannot exist without water, and the fish would die without it,

So, Nanak, may I obtain divine happiness through the Guru's instruction and live singing God's praises!

Without the spiritual condition which is obtained by a repetition of the Name there is no salvation:--

I have become alarmed on seeing a terrible mountain in my Father's house.[1]

Steep is the mountain and difficult to ascend; there is no ladder which will reach it;

But under the Guru's instruction I have found the secret;[2] the Guru hath caused me to meet God and I am saved.

O my brethren, the ocean of the world is difficult and formidable.

If I have a satisfactory interview with the perfect true Guru, he will deliver me by granting me God's name.

If I say I am perishable, it will not avail me; but if I really know that I am perishable, it will.

Everything that came into this world shall depart; the Creator alone is immortal.

[1. Seeing the difficulties of this world.

2. That there is no mountain.]

{p. 277}

Be sure to praise the True One and love His abode.

Beautiful houses and palaces and thousands of strong holds,

Elephants, horses with their housings, and hundreds of thousands, yea, countless armed men

Will not depart with any one: Their masters pine away and die without gaining any advantage from them.

Thou mayest amass gold and silver, but wealth is an entangling net.

Man's authority may be proclaimed throughout the whole world, but without the Name death standeth over his head.

When the body falleth, the soul fleeth away; what shall be the condition of the evil doers?

The husband is delighted on beholding his sons and his wife on her couch;

He applieth distilled aloe wood and sandal he weareth fine clothes and decorateth himself;

Yet shall he leave his family and depart dust shall return to dust.

He may be styled a chief, an emperor, a king, a governor, or a lord;

He may be called the headman of a town or a governor; he may burn with pride

Yet by perversely forgetting the Name he shall be as a reed burnt in the fire.

Having come into the world, he shall depart however proud he be.

The whole world is a chamber of lampblack; the body and soul which enter it shall be tarnished.[1]

They who are preserved by the Guru are pure; the fire of their desires is extinguished by the Word.

Nanak, man obtaineth deliverance by the true name of the King of kings.

May I not forget God's name! may I purchase it as a jewel!

The perverse man perisheth in the terrible ocean of the

[1. Literally--shall become ashes.]

{p. 278}

world; the holy man crosseth it, unfathomable though it be.

GHAR III[1]