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Sikhism

ADDITIONAL SLOKS

When Guru Nanak visited Ceylon he gave the following advice to its queen, who was proud of her beauty and her state:--

Hear, young woman with the gazelle eyes, hear my serious and weighty words.

First examine thy goods and make thy traffic.

Dismiss[1] the evil and welcome the good.

Consider, O young woman, what proclamation to give by which thou mayest find friends.

Give thy soul and body to thy friends, and thou shalt thus enjoy the utmost hilarity.

Love not that which is transitory

Nanak, I am a sacrifice to those who understand this.

In spiritual matters consult the holy:--

If thou art to cross the. water, consult those who have the skill to cross:

They are very wise and will keep clear of the whirlpool.

The dangers of the world:--

There are continual showers, squalls, and torrents hundreds of thousands of waves succeed one another.

[1. Dohi dichai. Literally-make a proclamation to depart.]

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Address the True Guru, and there shall be no fear that thy bark will founder.

Another of the Guru's reflections on the sinfulness of his age:--

Nanak, to what hath the world come?

No companion or friend remaineth.

Love hath ceased among brethren and kinsmen

Faith is lost on account of mammon.

The following was composed by Guru Nanak on seeing women mourning:--

They are saying 'Hai hai!' and 'Oh Oh!';

They beat their cheeks and pluck out the hairs of their heads;

They utter God's name[1] without meaning it: if they were absorbed in it,

Then would Nanak be a sacrifice unto them.

The Guru went to visit a man of reputed sanctity, but on finding him a hypocrite composed the following:--

The raven washeth and rubbeth itself in a small pool in the desert;

Its mind and body are full of demerits and its beak of filth.

The swan of the lake, not knowing that the raven was an evil bird, associated with him.

Such is affection for the infidel; O man of divine knowledge, understand the allusion.

Congratulate the congregation of the saints, and act like a holy man.

Pure is the ablution, O Nanak, when the Guru is deemed the river of pilgrimage.

The really holy are few:--

The saints are few, not many; deceit and wrangling Prevail in the world.[2]

[1. Oh hai. He is.

2. Also translated--They who act as become faqîrs are few in the world.]

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The following has reference to the concremation of widows:--

Nanak, the widow followeth her husband and dieth; she hath no power to live.

But she who dieth struck by the news of her husband's death is acceptable.

When the Allwise hath struck her with the arrow of love it cannot be extracted.