Hymns of the Gurus Read online

  The Granth Sahib is the central object of Sikh worship and ritual. In all Gurdwaras, copies of the Granth are placed under a canopy. The book itself is draped in cloth, usually richly embroidered. It is opened with prayer and ceremonial each morning and similarly closed in the evening. Worshippers appear before it barefooted and with their heads covered. They make obeisance before it, and offerings of money or food are placed on the cloth draping the book. A ceremony of non-stop reading of the Granth Sahib by relays of worshippers, known as the Akhand Path, takes two days and nights and is performed on important religious festivals and private functions. Sikh children are named by being given a name beginning with the first letter appearing on the page at which the Granth may open. Sikh youths are baptised with recitation of prayers in front of the Granth. Sikh couples are married to the singing of hymns from the Granth, while they walk round it four times. On death, hymns are read aloud in the dying person’s ear, and on cremation, they are chanted as the flames consume the body.

  Despite all this, the Granth Sahib is not like an idol in a Hindu temple or a crucifix in a church. It is the source and not the object of prayer or worship. The Sikhs revere it because it contains the teachings of their Gurus. It is more a book of divine wisdom than the word of God.

  GURU NANAK (1469-1539)

  There are 974 hymns by Guru Nanak in the Adi Granth.

  Japji—the Morning Prayer

  (When he compiled the Adi Granth or Granth Sahib, the fifth Guru, Arjan Dev, gave Japji the first place in the sacred anthology. It remains the most important prayer of the Sikhs.)

  There is One God.

  He is the supreme truth.

  He, the Creator,

  Is without fear and without hate.

  He, the Omnipresent,

  Pervades the universe.

  He is not born,

  Nor does He die to be born again.

  By His grace shalt thou worship Him.

  Before time itself There was truth.

  When time began to run its course

  He was the truth.

  Even now, He is the truth

  And evermore shall truth prevail.

  1.

  Not by thought alone

  Can He be known,

  Though one think

  A hundred thousand times;

  Not in solemn silence

  Nor in deep meditation.

  Though fasting yields an abundance of virtue

  It cannot appease the hunger for truth.

  No, by none of these,

  Nor by a hundred thousand other devices,

  Can God be reached.

  How then shall the Truth be known?

  How the veil of false illusion torn?

  O Nanak, thus runneth the writ divine,

  The righteous path—let it be thine.

  2.

  By Him are all forms created,

  By Him infused with life and blessed,

  By Him are some to excellence elated,

  Others born lowly and depressed.

  By His writ some have pleasure, others pain;

  By His grace some are saved,

  Others doomed to die, relive, and die again.

  His will encompasseth all, there be none beside.

  O Nanak, he who knows, hath no ego and no pride.

  3.

  Who has the power to praise His might?

  Who has the measure of His bounty?

  Of His portents who has the sight?

  Who can value His virtue, His deeds, His charity?

  Who has the knowledge of His wisdom,

  Of His deep, impenetrable thought?

  How worship Him who creates life,

  Then destroys,

  And having destroyed doth recreate?

  How worship Him who appeareth far

  Yet is ever present and proximate?

  There is no end to His description,

  Though the speakers and their speeches be legion.

  He the Giver ever giveth,

  We who receive grow weary,

  On His bounty humanity liveth

  From primal age to posterity.

  4.

  God is the Master, God is Truth,

  His name spelleth love divine,

  His Creatures ever cry: ‘O give, O give,’

  He the bounteous doth never decline.

  What then in offering shall we bring

  That we may see His court above?

  What then shall we say in speech

  That hearing may evoke His love?

  In the ambrosial hours of fragrant dawn

  On truth and greatness ponder in meditation,

  Though action determine how thou be born,

  Through grace alone cometh salvation.

  O Nanak, this need we know alone,

  That God and Truth are two in one.

  5.

  He cannot be proved, for He is uncreated;

  He is without matter, self-existent.

  They that serve shall honoured be,

  O Nanak, the Lord is most excellent.

  Praise the Lord, hear them that do Him praise,

  In your hearts His name be graven,

  Sorrows from your soul erase

  And make your hearts a joyous haven.

  The Guru’s word has the sage’s wisdom,

  The Guru’s word is full of learning,

  For though it be the Guru’s word

  God Himself speaks therein.

  Thus run the words of the Guru:

  ‘God is the destroyer, preserver and creator,

  God is the Goddess too.

  Words to describe are hard to find,

  I would venture if I knew.’

  This alone my teacher taught,

  There is but one Lord of all creation,

  Forget Him not.

  6.

  If it please the Lord

  In holy waters would I bathe,

  If it pleases Him not,

  Worthless is that pilgrimage.

  This is the law of all creation,

  That nothing’s gained save by action.

  Thy mind, wherein buried lie

  Precious stones, jewels, gems,

  Shall opened be if thou but try

  And hearken to the Guru’s word.

  This the Guru my teacher taught,

  There is but one Lord of all creation,

  Forget Him not.

  7.

  Were life’s span extended to the four ages

  And ten times more,

  Were one known over the nine continents

  Ever in humanity’s fore,

  Were one to achieve greatness

  With a name noised over the earth,

  If one found not favour with the Lord

  What would it all be worth?

  Among the worms be as vermin,

  By sinners be accused of sin.

  O Nanak, the Lord fills the vicious with virtue,

  The virtuous maketh more true.

  Knowest thou of any other

  Who in turn could the Lord thus favour?

  8.

  By hearing the word

  Men achieve wisdom, saintliness, courage, and contentment.

  By hearing the word

  Men learn of the earth, the power that supports it, and the firmament.

  By hearing the word

  Men learn of the upper and nether regions, of islands and continents.

  By hearing the word

  Men conquer fear of death and the elements.

  O Nanak, the word hath such magic for the worshippers,

  Those that hear, death do not fear,

  Their sorrows end and sins disappear.

  9.

  By hearing the word

  Mortals are to godliness raised.

  By hearing the word

  The foul-mouthed are filled with pious praise.

  By hearing the word

  Are revealed the secrets of the body and of nature.

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  Is acquired the wisdom of all the scriptures.

  O Nanak, the word hath such magic for the worshippers,

  Those that hear, death do not fear,

  Their sorrows end and sins disappear.

  10.

  By hearing the word

  One learns of truth, contentment, and is wise.

  By hearing the word

  The need for pilgrimages does not arise.

  By hearing the word

  The student achieves scholastic distinction.

  By hearing the word

  The mind is easily led to meditation.

  O Nanak, the word hath such magic for the worshippers,

  Those that hear, death do not fear,

  Their sorrows end and sins disappear.

  11.

  By hearing the word

  One sounds the depths of virtue’s sea.

  By hearing the word

  One acquires learning, holiness, and royalty.

  By hearing the word

  The blind see and their paths are visible.

  By hearing the word

  The fathomless becomes fordable.

  O Nanak, the word hath such magic for the worshippers,

  Those that hear, death do not fear,

  Their sorrows end and sins disappear.

  12.

  The believer’s bliss one cannot describe,

  He who endeavours regrets in the end,

  There is no paper, pen, nor any scribe

  Who can the believer’s state comprehend.

  The name of the Lord is immaculate.

  He who would know must have faith.

  13.

  The believer hath wisdom and understanding;

  The believer hath knowledge of all the spheres;

  The believer shall not stumble in ignorance,

  Nor of death have any fears.

  The name of the Lord is immaculate,

  He who would know must have faith.

  14.

  The believer’s way is of obstructions free;

  The believer is honoured in the presence sublime;

  The believer’s path is not lost in futility,

  For faith hath taught him law divine.

  The name of the Lord is immaculate,

  He who would know must have faith.

  15.

  The believer reaches the gate of salvation;

  His kith and kin he also saves.

  The believer beckons the congregation,

  Their souls are saved from transmigration.

  The name of the Lord is immaculate,

  He who would know must have faith.

  16.

  Thus are chosen the leaders of men,

  Thus honoured in God’s estimation;

  Though they grace the courts of kings,

  Their minds are fixed in holy meditation.

  Their words are weighed with reason,

  They know that God’s works are legion.

  Law which like the fabled bull supports the earth

  Is of compassion born;

  Though it bind the world in harmony,

  Its strands are thin and worn.

  He who the truth would learn

  Must know of the bull and the load it bore,

  For there are worlds besides our own

  And beyond them many more.

  Who is it that bears these burdens?

  What power bears him that beareth them?

  Of creatures of diverse kinds and colours

  The ever-flowing pen hath made record.

  Can anyone write what it hath writ

  Or say how great a task was it?

  How describe His beauty and His might?

  His bounty how estimate?

  How speak of Him who with one word

  Did the whole universe create,

  And made a thousand rivers flow therein?

  What might have I to praise Thy might?

  I have not power to give it praise.

  Whatever be Thy wish, I say Amen.

  Mayst Thou endure, O Formless One.

  17.

  There is no count of those who pray,

  Nor of those who Thee adore;

  There is no count of those who worship,

  Nor of those who by penance set store.

  There is no count of those who read the holy books aloud

  Nor of those who think of the world’s sorrows and lament.

  There is no count of sages immersed in thought and reason,

  Nor of those who love humanity and are benevolent.

  There is no count of warriors who match their strength with steel,

  Nor of those who contemplate in peace and are silent.

  What might have I to praise Thy might?

  I have not power to give it praise.

  Whatever be Thy wish, I say Amen.

  Mayst Thou endure, O Formless One.

  18.

  There is no count of fools who will not see,

  Nor of thieves who live by fraud,

  There is no count of despots practising tyranny,

  Nor of those whose hands are soiled with blood.

  There is no count of those who sin and go free,

  Nor of liars caught in the web of falsehood,

  There is no count of the polluted who live on filth,

  Nor of the evil-tongued weighed down with calumny.

  Of such degradation, O Nanak, also think.

  What might have I to praise Thy might?

  I have not power to give it praise.

  Whatever be Thy wish, I say Amen.

  Mayst Thou endure, O Formless One.

  19.

  Though there is no count of Thy names and habitations,

  Nor of Thy regions uncomprehended,

  Yet many there have been with reason perverted

  Who to Thy knowledge have pretended.

  Though by words alone we give Thee name and praise,

  And by words, reason, worship, and Thy virtue compute;

  Though by words alone we write and speak

  And by words our ties with Thee constitute;

  The word does not its Creator bind,

  What Thou ordainest we receive,

  Thy creations magnify Thee,

  Thy name in all places find.

  What might have I to praise Thy might?

  I have not power to give it praise.

  Whatever be Thy wish, I say Amen.

  Mayst Thou endure, O Formless One.

  20.

  As hands or feet besmirched with slime,

  Water washes white;

  As garments dark with grime

  Rinsed with soap are made light;

  So when sin soils the soul

  Prayer alone shall make it whole.

  Words do not the saint or sinner make,

  Action alone is written in the book of fate,

  What we sow that alone we take;

  O Nanak, be saved or forever transmigrate.

  21.

  Pilgrimage, austerity, mercy, almsgiving, and charity

  Bring merit, be it as little as the mustard seed;

  But he who hears, believes, and cherishes the word,

  An inner pilgrimage and cleansing is his meed.

  All virtue is Thine, for I have none,

  Virtue follows a good act done.

  Blessed Thou the Creator, the Prayer, the Primal

  Truth and beauty and longing eternal.

  What was the time, what day of the week,

  What the month, what season of the year,

  When Thou didst create the earthly sphere?

  The Pandit knows it not, nor is it writ in his Puran;

  The Qadi knows it not, though he read and copy the Koran.

  The Yogi knows not the date nor the day of the week,

  He knows not the month or even the season.

  Only Thou who made it all can speak,

  For knowledge is Thine alone.
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br />   How then shall I know Thee, how describe, praise, and name?

  O Nanak, many there be who pretend to know, each bolder in his claim.

  All I say is: ‘Great is the Lord, great His name;

  What He ordains comes to be,’

  O Nanak, he who sayeth more shall hereafter regret his stupidity.

  22.

  Numerous worlds there be in regions beyond the skies and below,

  But the research-weary scholars say, we do not know.

  The Hindu and the Muslim books are full of theories; the answer is but one.

  If it could be writ, it would have been, but the writer thereof be none.

  O Nanak, say but this, the Lord is great, in His knowledge He is alone.

  23.

  Worshippers who praise the Lord know not His greatness,

  As rivers and rivulets that flow into the sea know not its vastness.

  Mighty kings with domains vaster than the ocean,

  With wealth piled high in a mountainous heap

  Are less than the little ant

  That the Lord’s name in its heart doth keep.

  24.

  Infinite His goodness, and the ways of exaltation;

  Infinite His creation and His benefaction;

  Infinite the sights and sounds, infinite His great design;

  Infinite its execution, infinite without confine.

  Many there be that cried in pain to seek the end of all ending,

  Their cries were all in vain, for the end is past understanding.

  It is the end of which no one knoweth,

  The more one says the more it groweth.

  The Lord is of great eminence, exalted is His name.