The greatness of the great God cannot be expressed;

He is the Creator, the Omnipotent, the Bounteous; He provideth His creatures with sustenance.

Man must do the work which God destined for him from the beginning.

Nānak, except in the one God alone there is no abiding place.

He doeth what He pleaseth.

From the Rahirās 1

(Recited by Sikhs at sunset.)

Guru Rām Dās

O servants of God and the true Guru, the true Being, offer this supplication unto Him,

We insects and worms seek Thy protection, O true Guru; mercifully enlighten us with the Name;

My friend and divine Guru, enlighten me with God's name.

Under the Guru's instruction, the Name is the helper of my soul; singing God's praises is my occupation.

Exceedingly fortunate are the men of God who have faith in Him and thirst for Him:

On obtaining the name of God, they are satisfied; when men meet the company of the saints, God's attributes are known.

They who obtain not the relish of God's name are unfortunate, and shall go to the god of death.

Curses on the lives, curses on the hopes of living, of those who enter not the true Guru's protection and society!

The saints who have obtained the society of

the true Guru are those on whose foreheads it was so written from the beginning.

Blest is that true society, Nānak, by meeting which the relish of God is obtained, and the Name manifested,

Guru Arjan

O my soul, why proposeth thou exertion when God Himself is engaged in effort for thee?

He even putteth their food before the insects which He created in rocks and stones.

O my God, they who meet the society of the saints are saved.

Through the favour of the Guru they obtain the highest rank; though they be as dry wood, they are made green.

No one can rely on mother, father, friends, children, or wives.

God provideth every one with his daily food; why, O man, art thou afraid?

The kulang flieth away hundreds of miles, leaving her young behind her.

Who feedeth them? Who giveth them morsels to peck at? Have you not considered this?

God holdeth in the palm of His hand all treasures and the eighteen supernatural powers.

Nānak is ever a sacrifice unto thee; O God, Thou hast no end or bounds.

Guru Rām Dās

That Being is pure, God is the pure Being, God is altogether inaccessible and illimitable.

All meditate on Thee; all meditate on Thee; O God, Thou art the true Creator.

All creatures are Thine; Thou providest for them all.

O saints, meditate on God who causeth all misery to be forgotten.

God Himself is the Lord, God Himself is the worshipper; Nānak, what a helpless creature is man!

Thou, O God, the one Supreme Being, art fully contained in every heart and pervadest everything.