It is God who causeth man to perform good acts and maketh them steadfast in His service.

When man feareth God, the filth of his soul and body departeth, and God Himself giveth him divine knowledge:

Only he who hath tasted it, knoweth its flavour, as a dumb man enjoyeth sweets.[1]

How describe the Indescribable, my brethren? Ever walk according to His will.

If God cause man to meet the generous Guru, understanding is produced; he who hath no Guru hath no understanding.

Walk as God causeth you to walk, my brethren; what other device can man adopt?

Some are led astray in error, others love God's service; Thy play, O Lord, is incomprehensible.

Men obtain the result of what Thou hast applied them to; Thou leadest them by Thine order.

We can serve Thee if we have anything of our own; our souls and bodies are Thine.

God is merciful to him who hath met the true Guru; the ambrosial Name is his support.

He to whom the attributes of God, who dwelleth in heaven, become manifest, shall obtain divine knowledge and meditation from them.

God's name is pleasing to him; he uttereth it himself and causeth others to utter it; and he only speaketh of the Real Thing.

The Deep and Profound is obtained by the instruction of the Guru and priest; without such instruction the world would go mad.

Nanak, he whose heart is pleased with the True One is a perfect Bairagi, and naturally fortunate.

The following was the Guru's instruction to a Brahman:--

Hopes and desires are entanglements, my brother; thy religious ceremonies are also entanglements.

[1. The dumb man eating sweets enjoys a pleasure which is incommunicable.]

{p. 335}

Man, my brother, is born in the world as the result of bad and good acts;[1] he perisheth when he forgetteth the Name.

Maya bewitcheth the world, my brother; all thy religious ceremonies are worthless.

Hear me, thou Pandit with the religious ceremonies--

Meditation on the Supreme Being is the only religious ceremony, my brother, from which happiness is derived.

Thou standest chattering of the Shastars and Veds, my brother, and makest it a worldly affair.

The filth of sin which is within thee shall not be washed away by hypocrisy.

Like the hypocrite, the spider is ruined when her web is blown by the wind and she falleth headlong.

By evil inclinations many are ruined; by love of mammon they are lost.

Without the true Guru the Name is not obtained, and without the Name doubt departeth not.

My brother, serve the true Guru and thou shalt be happy, and released from transmigration.

True peace is obtained from the Guru. When the mind is pure, man shall be absorbed in the True One,

He who serveth the Guru knoweth the way; without the Guru it cannot be found.