Hymns of the Gurus Read online

  With the pen of love

  Your mind the scribe

  And the guru to guide you

  Write down your thoughts.

  Write the Name of the Lord

  Write praises of the Lord

  Write that He is without end and without limit.

  Brother, if you learn to write all these things

  Yours will be the password at the place of reckoning.

  You will be acclaimed with honour.

  A joyous welcome you will receive,

  On your forehead will be the mark of approval

  If in the Name of the True One you truly believe.

  This is the gift of grace

  Idle prattle is all else.

  One comes, another goes;

  Some style themselves as sardars

  Others are destined to beg

  Yet others hold grand darbars.

  Man will know this truth when he dies

  That without the Name nothing avails

  (Without the Name all else is lies).

  Thy might strikes terror in my heart,

  My body wastes away in fear of Thee.

  Proud, titled Khans and Sultans have I seen

  Reduced to dust.

  O Nanak, many have I seen pack up and go

  I have seen the bonds of false love cut asunder.

  * * *

  Avauh bhainey gal milauh ank saheladeeah

  Come my sister

  Let us embrace!

  Come beloved friend

  Let us speak of love!

  Let us sit together

  And talk of our Husband

  Our perfect, powerful Lord.

  Lord, Thou art the Truth,

  Thou, the repository of goodness,

  We the repositories of evil,

  Thou art the Creator

  And all is within Thy power.

  By Thy One Name we abide

  When Thou art there

  Why need we think of anyone beside?

  Go ask the happy spouse,

  ‘What virtues earned you favour of the Lord?’

  (She will tell thee)

  ‘It’s the gentle path of sahaj, calmness of manner and sweetness of tongue.’

  If you hearken unto the guru’s word

  You will meet your Husband, the Lord of Love.

  Manifold is Thy nature, Great is Thy bounty

  Manifold Thy creatures who praise Thee day and night.

  Manifold Thy shapes and colours

  Manifold Thy races and castes.

  On meeting the true guru

  One gains knowledge of the truth

  Then one merges into the Truthful One.

  From the guru’s teaching we learn the fear of the Lord.

  From comprehension of the truth we gain honour.

  O Nanak! Truth is the king of kings

  He taketh us and uniteth us with Him.

  * * *

  Dhat milai phun dhat kau sifti sifat samai

  As pieces of metal of the same kind melt into one another,

  So a worshipper merges his personality in the object of his worship.

  Like the dark red of the poppy flower

  Is he dyed in the fast colours of truth.

  He who in repose and single-minded meditation

  Prays to the Truthful One

  Becomes one with the Lord.

  O brother! Be as the dust under the feet of saints.

  In the company of the saintly you’ll find

  Your guru and the gift of salvation,

  You will get Kamadhenu, the celestial cow,

  The giver of all things desired.

  High in the heavens

  In setting paradisal

  Stands the mansion of the Lord.

  A truthful life and good deeds done

  Earn us the right to human birth;

  By love we find our way

  To the gate of the Lord’s mansion.

  The saintly train their minds to ponder

  On the all-pervading soul in meditation.

  If we live by the threefold fruits of Karma

  (the good, the neutral and the bad)

  We shall be victims of hopes and anxieties.

  How can one escape the stranglehold of this triple noose?

  How find the gentle path of sahaj and peace

  Save by guidance of the guru?

  (Under the guidance of the guru)

  We know that in our own home

  Stands the mansion of the Lord.

  We can invoke His grace

  And be cleansed of our sins.

  Without the guru’s help we cannot wash off the dirt of the world,

  Without the Lord’s grace how can we our haven find?

  Abandon hope in other things

  On the Divine Word fix your mind.

  Sacrificed to that guru may Nanak’s life be

  Who having himself seen the Lord

  Shows others how to see.

  * * *

  Tan jal bal nati bhaia, man maya moh manoor

  My body is burnt to ashes and mingled with dust

  My mind is rusted with attachment to worldly things;

  Once again my sins pursue me

  And falsehood trumpets its victory.

  Without the Word we are caught in the wheel

  (Of birth, death and rebirth).

  Thus hath double-minded duality

  Been the undoing of multitudes.

  My soul, fix thy mind on the Word Divine

  The Word will take thee across the waters of life.

  Those who the guru’s teaching do not know

  Will die and be reborn, go and come, come and go.

  A person is pure

  If he enshrines the True Name within him.

  His body is imbued with the fear of the True One

  And his tongue loves the taste of truth.

  He, by God’s grace, is in a state of ecstasy

  His body is of passions free.

  The True One made the air,

  From air came water

  From the waters He made the three regions

  In every heart He lit His lamp.

  The Lord is Pure, He cannot be defiled.

  He who is dyed in the colours of the Lord

  Will be honoured (and remain unsullied).

  The mind is the true abode of peace

  Therein comes the grace of the Lord

  The five elements of his body

  Are tempered in the fear of the True One

  The light of Truth illumines his mind.

  O Nanak! his sins are forgiven

  And the guru preserves his honour.

  * * *

  Nanak bedi sach ki bhareeai gur veechar

  Sayeth Nanak: Launch the boat of truth with thoughts of the guru.

  One comes into the world, another goes

  Everyone full of self-esteem.

  A closed and stubborn mind will sink thy vessel,

  But truth of the guru’s teaching will take it across.

  Without the guru to guide me

  How can I cross over to the other shore?

  How can I reach the haven of peace?

  Lord, preserve me if so Thy pleasure be

  I have no other Protector save Thee.

  Facing me I see a forest on fire

  Behind me I see new life in green.

  (And I know thereby that) life begins as it ends

  (From God it’s born, into God it blends).

  Let Truth in every heart be instilled.

  He is the Uniter, He makes the union

  He takes us to His mansion.

  Let every breath I take breathe Thy Name

  Lord, let me never forget Thee.

  The more my Master possesses my mind

  The more I imbibe the nectar of my guru’s message.

  Lord, to Thee I surrender my body and my mind

  Thou art my Master.

  Lord, destroy Thou my self-esteem

  And
let me mingled be in Thee.

  He who created this world

  Created also the three regions.

  Men of God see the Divine Light

  They that turn their backs on God

  Stumble in darkness.

  In every heart shines the Light Eternal

  Through the guru’s guidance can it be discerned.

  Praise be to the saintly who know God

  They are blended with the True One

  Their true worth shines forth.

  O Nanak! His Name doth such peace bring

  For the body and soul are in His keeping.

  * * *

  Ik til pyara veesrai rog vadda man mah

  If I forget the Beloved even for a trice

  A serious sickness afflicts my soul.

  If Hari dwell not within my mind

  In His court no place of honour will I find.

  On meeting the guru we find peace

  Hunger’s fire is doused by the waters of virtue.

  O heart! Day and night sing praises of God.

  Rare in the world are people

  Who forget not the Name for even a moment.

  Blend your light with the Light Eternal

  Mingle your consciousness with His—and see

  Violence, selfhood, wanderings of the mind

  Anxiety and sorrow will cease to be.

  By the grace of the guru meet the saintly

  In whose hearts dwells Hari the Lord.

  If I offer my body as if it were a bride

  The Lord will take it as if He were the groom.

  Love not a mortal who you know

  Is here for a while as in a passing show.

  The saintly blend with the Lord

  The virtuous share His couch and become one with Him.

  With the sacred water given by the guru

  Quench the four fires (of cruelty and anger, of greed and love of worldly things).

  The lotus which is within thee will blossom

  And thy heart will fill with ambrosia.

  O Nanak! Make the true guru thy friend

  He will take thee to the court of the True One.

  * * *

  Hari Hari japaoh pyariah gurmat ley Hari bol

  Beloved friend, on thy lips ever be the Name of God!

  Heed the advice of the guru and call on Hari!

  Test thy mind with the touchstone of truth

  See that it is of perfect weight,

  The mind is a priceless gem

  No one has valued it.

  O Brother! The gem that is Hari

  Is in possession of the guru.

  By associating with men of God thou wilt find the true guru.

  And day and night thou wilt sing songs of praise.

  In the light of the guru’s teaching

  Truthful be thy trade

  Truthful too thy earnings.

  As fire is put out by water

  So will desire be subdued

  And become the slave of thy slave.

  The demon of death will not pursue thee

  Thou wilt swim across the fearful ocean of life.

  Men of God like not falsehood

  Being themselves true, they love the truthful.

  Those who worship mammon, love not the truth

  Falsehood’s mansion is raised on a false foundation.

  Those imbued with truth, meet the guru

  The truthful blend with the Truthful One.

  In our minds is embedded the gem, the ruby of the Name,

  It is a nugget, a diamond beyond all price.

  Truth be our investment and our merchandise

  The Name of the Lord the treasure we earn.

  In the depth of every heart dwells the Lord

  O Nanak! The saintly guru and guide we find

  If the priceless gem that is Hari be kind.

  * * *

  Bharmai bhah na vijhvai je bhave disantar des

  The fire of pride is not extinguished

  By wandering over distant lands.

  The dirt of the mind is not cleansed

  By wearing clean garments.

  Fie, the life of falsehood! Fie, the mask of divinity!

  Nothing will make thee a Bhakta true

  Save the teaching of the true guru.

  O mind! If thou seekest good and annihilate pride

  Let the guru’s word find a place in thine heart

  And the craving of the ego will be destroyed.

  The mind is a priceless pearl

  With it thou canst acquire an honoured place beside the Master.

  In the company of the pious seek the Lord

  For the Lord loves those on whose lips is His Name.

  Thy pride shall vanish, and thine be the bliss

  Of a wave mingling back into the waters.

  Those that have not brought the thought of Hari to their minds

  Shall be caught in the cycle of birth and death.

  Those that come not to the True One, the Supreme Being,

  Shall be ruined and like flotsam drift.

  On the turbulent waters of life

  Human life which is priceless beyond compare

  Will thus be bartered away for a worthless shell.

  Those to whom the true guru tells the secret,

  Acquire complete wisdom.

  The guru takes them across the waters

  And they are received with honour.

  O Nanak! Their faces are radiant

  And in their hearts is joy,

  Born of the music of His Word.

  * * *

  Dhan joban ar phulda natheedai din char

  Wealth, youth and flowers

  Are short-lived—as guests for four brief days.

  As leaves of a water-hyacinth taken out of water wither

  So wither they.

  Dear friend! Make merry while the sap of youth courses in your veins

  Your days shorten and weariness will overtake your ageing body.

  My friend once so gay

  Has gone to sleep in his grave;

  A wretched outcaste that I am,

  I too will follow him

  Wailing in my feeble voice.

  My soul! My fair one! Didst thou not hear

  With thine own ear

  Not forever is the bliss of the parental home?

  For thy groom (death) awaits thee there?

  O Nanak! In her father’s home she slept

  So carefree as if the night were endless;

  In broad daylight was she robbed

  Her dowry of goodness was thus lost

  And her sack filled with sin.

  * * *

  Tu daryao dana bina mai machali kaisey ant lahah

  Lord, Thou art the mighty river,

  Thou knowest and seest all things.

  How can I, a poor fish know

  Thy depth and Thy expanse?

  Whichever way I turn,

  There art Thou and no other.

  Taken away from Thine waters,

  I suffocate and die.

  I know not the fisherman

  I see not his net.

  But when I am caught in it

  In my black agony

  It is to Thee I turn.

  Lord, Thou who art present everywhere,

  In my folly I believed Thou wert far from me.

  Whatever I do is known to Thee

  When Thou seest all

  How can I deny my deeds?

  I am not worthy to serve Thee,

  I cannot glorify Thy Name.

  Whatever Thou givest

  That will I eat;

  I beg at no other door but Thine.

  Nanak hath but one petition

  Let his body and soul be in Thine keeping.

  He is near, He is far.

  He is midway between the two;

  All that He has created in the world

  He watches and He hears.

  O Nanak! What He wills

  Comes to pass.
r />   * * *

  Achal chalai na chalai

  He deprives of delusion

  The things that delude;

  He blunts the edge of the dagger

  And it does not wound.

  Man’s mind wavers for it is full of craving;

  He is safe only in the Lord’s keeping.

  How then light the lamp when there is no oil?

  Let your body be the lamp,

  From the holy books take wisdom

  And use it as oil.

  Let knowledge of His presence be the wick

  And with the tinder of truth

  Strike the spark.

  Thus light you the oil-lamp

  And in its light meet your Lord.

  When the recording Angel claims your body

  And catalogues your deeds,

  Your good acts will save you from the cycle of birth and death.

  If in life you have served others

  Your reward shall be a place in His court.

  Says Nanak: You will raise your arms in joy.

  * * *

  Akh akh man vavana jeo jeo japai vai

  Let your heart sing of God with every breath you draw;

  How great is He whom we serenade? Where does He live?

  All those that sang Thy praise are now in deep meditation.

  Brother! Allah is beyond our reach and beyond limit

  Pure is His Name; pure His abode, He is in truth our Preserver.

  How great is Thy dominion cannot be known; no one knows how to write of it:

  A hundred bards singing in chorus could not describe a fraction of Thy greatness.

  Nobody hath found Thy worth; everyone repeats what he has heard another say.

  Saints, prophets, guides (who show the way to God),

  Men of faith, men of God and martyrs

  Preachers, seekers and law-givers

  Guardians of mosques and the Darvesh who are welcomed at God’s gate,

  Gain greater blessing.

  Their lives are like the additional prayer when worship is over.

  He asks no one when He builds; He asks no one when He destroys;

  He asks no one when He gives or takes.

  He knows His own creation; He acts and causes others to act.

  He extends His grace to everyone; and favours those who please Him.

  We know not His dwelling; we know not His Name.

  We know not how great His Name is among other names.

  How great is the place where lives my Lord, the king of kings?

  None can reach it; of whom shall I ask the way?

  When God raises one caste above others,

  Those not raised do not like it.

  Greatness is in the hands of the Great One; He gifts to whom He pleases.

  He sees that His rule obtains everywhere; He brooks no delay.

  Everyone cries for more hoping thereby to increase his share.

  How great is Thy bounty, Thou giver of countless gifts !

  Nanak, from age to age, never does His storehouse diminish.

  * * *

  Sabhe kant maheliya saglia karah seegar