Excellent horses, elephants, lances, musical instruments,

Armies, mace-bearers, and attendants are worthless

And vain shows without the Lord of the world.

I may be called a Sidh, and I may summon wealth and supernatural power to me;

I may make for my head a crown, a regal hat, and an umbrella,

Yet how should I obtain real happiness without the Lord of the world?

I may be styled a lord, an emperor, or a king,

I may say 'Now then'[2] to inferiors; all this would be false display.

Without the Guru's instruction my business could not be adjusted.

Egotism and selfishness are forgotten under the Guru's instruction.

Through the Guru's instruction it is known that God is in the heart.

Nanak supplicateth, I seek Thy shelter, O God.

The Guru describes the condition of the holy and the means of salvation:--

He who serveth the one God knoweth not others

He layeth aside the bitter things deceit and evil.

By love and truth shalt thou meet the Truest of the True.

[1. For frontal marks and the parting of the hair.

2 Abe tabe in Panjabi is a much more contemptuous expression than 'now then'.]

{p. 298}

If there be any such saint of God,

His filth shall be washed away, and he shall meet God by singing His praises.

Reversed are the lotuses of all men's hearts

The fire of evil inclinations burneth away the world,

While those who meditate on the word of the Guru are saved.

The bumble-bee, the moth, the elephant, the fish,

And the deer[1] suffer the consequences of their acts and die.

Absorbed in worldly desires man knoweth not the Real Thing;

He thinketh of lust and love for woman,

Which with wrath ruin all sinners.

He who forgetteth the Name, loseth his honour and his senses.

The perverse being who alloweth his mind to covet another's house,

Hath a halter round his neck, and is entangled in difficulties;

While the pious shall be delivered by singing God's praises.

As a widow, who giveth her body to a stranger,

And through lust or money falleth into another's power,

Is never satisfied without a lover;

So man readeth books and reciteth the Simritis;

He also readeth, heareth, and expoundeth the Veds and the Purans;

But without being dyed with God's essence his mind is very unstable.

As the chatrik loveth and thirsteth for the rain-drops,

As the fish is delighted with the water,

So Nanak is satisfied quaffing God's essence.

There was a hill king called Amar Singh who