When the tank and temple were completed there were great rejoicings. The enormous exertions and personal sacrifices made by Bhais Budha, Bhagtu, and Bahilo are specially mentioned. One day as they were all bathing, Guru Arjan shed tears on seeing the state of their bodies as the result of their labours. The Guru said with mournful voice, that, as the tank had been constructed by such devout and sincere Sikhs, all sins should be removed and all desires fulfilled by bathing in it and duly worshipping God.
He who batheth herein, having meditated on his God,
Shall be completely restored to health.
He who batheth in the tank of the saints
Shall obtain salvation.
He who meditateth on God’s name
Shall not die or suffer transmigration.
He to whom God is merciful
Is thoroughly acquainted with divine knowledge.
Guru Nanak hath entered God’s sanctuary ;
He hath removed all my cares and anxieties.
[ p. 14 ]
The following was composed by the Guru on the same occasion :—
God Himself hath given the support of His lotus feet.
He who entereth God’s asylum shall ever be renowned.
God is the Preserver, unequalled ; holy is His service.
The divine Guru hath made Ramdaspur God’s empire.
Ever and ever meditate on God, and no obstacle shall thwart you.
Nanak, by praising the Name the fear of enemies fleeth away.[1]
The Guru wrote the following on the completion of the Har Mandar.
By repeating God’s name I have made God’s temple: ye saints and worshippers, sing God’s praises.
Remember, remember the Lord your God, and ye shall be released from all your sins.
By singing God’s praises the supreme position is obtained ; His word is the best.
The savour of divine knowledge is very sweet when the tale of the Ineffable is told.
Good the juncture, true the time and moment when I had the immovable foundation laid.
O slave Nanak, when God was merciful everything was completed.
The instruments of joy continually play; the supreme Being hath taken His abode in my heart.
The performance of the work of the True One under the Guru’s instruction is best of all; by it false doubts and fears are dispelled.
The Guru hath spoken the divine Word ; on continually hearing it the mind and body are refreshed.
He whom God hath made His own, hath obtained all happiness ;
In his house are the nine treasures, his garners are filled with God’s name which he loveth.
Nanak, the servant who is fully fortunate shall never forget God. [ p. 15 ]
When God, the Lord of the umbrella,[2] affordeth shelter, all trouble departeth ;
The abode of sorrow and sin hath fallen and the work hath succeeded.
When the Lord God ordered it, misfortune was averted, and true religion and charity flourished.
Ever meditate on this God whether sleeping, sitting, or standing.
The Treasure of excellences, the Sea of happiness, the Lord is in sea and land, in the nether and upper regions.
O slave Nanak, there is no shelter except in God.
My house hath been constructed ; my garden and tank have been constructed ; may God enter therein !
My heart hath become glad; my friends and associates rejoice, and sing songs of praise and gladness to the Lord.
They have sung the true God’s praises, meditated on Him, and obtained all their desires.
They who are attached to the Guru’s feet are ever awake ; in their hearts resound God’s praises.
When the Lord who dwelleth in happiness casteth a look of favour, this world and the next are arranged.
Nanak representeth—ever repeat His namewho supporteth soul and body.[3]
The Emperor Akbar’s new prime minister, Raja Birbar, a learned and accomplished man, was on religious grounds hostile to the Guru and jealous of his daily increasing influence and popularity. The minister was a great favourite of the Emperor, who desired to have him always by his side. He is said to have been capable by the force of his intellect of telling the Emperor his secrets at any time. His energy blazed for a while, but it was only the expiring flicker of the lamp. On account of his hostility to the Guru evil days came upon him. On the failure of Zain Khan Kokah in his expedition [ p. 16 ] against the Yusufzais, Birbar was ordered to proceed to him with reinforcements. Before his departure he received a written permission from the Emperor to levy a tax of a rupee on the house of every Khatri on the way. He crossed the Bias and sent his agents to collect the tax in Amritsar. The Khatris there refused payment and complained to the Guru. He represented to the Prime Minister’s agents: ‘The tax is on Khatris. We are Sikhs and look for exemption. Up to the present the government hath never imposed forced labour or taxes on the Guru’s house. My kitchen is kept open by the offerings of Sikhs and saints. No one is refused access to it. Take as much corn and food as you require, but I have no money to give you. I live on confidence in God.’
The agents repeated this speech to the Prime Minister, who became furious on hearing it. He said: ‘I am a commander of many men; how dareth the Guru disobey me? Moreover I bear the Emperor’s order. Even if it be the Guru’s house, it is for Sikhs and not for me to reverence it… Upon this Birbar sent some soldiers to the Guru with the following message: ‘Thou art a Khatri, a subject, and in every way subordinate to the state. If thou come to meet me, it will be well; -otherwise I will sack the whole of thy city.’ The soldiers went, but were dumbfounded in the presence of the Guru. Divining their object he thus addressed them: “ My friends, I care not for any one, nor do I fear any one. Let Raja Birbar come and do what he pleaseth. The Creator will protect me.’ The soldiers, fearing the Guru’s words and also their master’s wrath, went and falsely told him that the Guru would come on the morrow. Raja Birbar said: ‘What mattereth it if he be a saint or an object of reverence, or even very old, if he have not fear of me? Well, if he come not to-morrow, I will sack Amritsar.’ That [ p. 17 ] night the Raja never slept through perturbation of mind.
Meanwhile another order arrived from the Emperor telling the Raja to make haste and proceed with his troops by forced marches to unite with Zain Khan against the Yusufzais. The Raja was much disappointed on receiving this peremptory command, as_ it left him no time to wreak his vengeance on the Guru. He ordered his staff to remind him of the Guru on his return, and said that if he did not then get a rupee from each house in Amritsar, he would raze the city to its foundations. As the sacrificial: fire flames up when clarified butter is thrown on it, so did the Raja’s spirit burn at the recollection of the Guru’s language. When the Sikhs communicated to the Guru the Raja’s wrathful words he merely said, ‘If the Raja return he will give us trouble. Zain Khan the Commander-inChief and Raja Birbar held divided councils. They were attacked and defeated by the Yusufzais. Zain Khan escaped with difficulty, but Birbar was slain.[4]
Prithi Chand in alliance with Sulahi Khan found ample opportunities of annoying the Guru. Wazir Khan, the Emperor’s assistant Prime Minister, interposed on the Guru’s behalf and prevailed on Sulahi Khan to bring the contending brothers to a compromise. The reason why Wazir Khan espoused the Guru’s cause is said to have been the following : Once as he was lying ill in his house in Lahore, suffering from dropsy, a Sikh passed by singing the Guru’s Sukhmani.[5] As Wazir Khan listened his pain decreased. When the Sikh had gone beyond hearing, the pain appeared again. When he returned by the same route singing the same strain, Wazir Khan’s pain was again allayed. He called the Sikh and requested him to continue to sing the Sukhmani [ p. 18 ] for him. He then distributed sacred food in the Guru’s name, and was soon restored to perfect health. When he found an opportunity he visited the Guru, told him the whole circumstance, and became a devout follower of his. Wazir Khan until his death retained Sikhs in his service to sing the Guru’s hymns for him every morning before daybreak, a time which the Sikhs call the ambrosial hour. When Wazir Khan solicited the Guru to give him instruction the Guru addressed him the following :—
O servant of God the Inscrutable,
Cease to think of worldly occupations.
Become the dust of the feet of poor travellers ; thus shall the darwesh be accepted at God’s door.
Make truth thy prayer, faith thy prayer-carpet ;
Chasten desires and subdue thy feelings.
Make thy body the mosque, thy conscience the Mulla, and the very pure God thy creed.
Make thy shariat the practice of real sacred law.
Make thy tariqat the search for God and abandonment of the world ;
Make thy marifat, O devotee, the chastening of thy mind ; and thy haqikat the meeting of God, by which thou shalt not die again, |
Make the restraint of thine organs of action and perception from evil ways.
Thy hearty practice of the precepts of the Quran and sacred books.
Make subjugation of the five thieves thy sidaq,[6] charity thy saburi,[7] and thou shalt be accepted.
Make kindness thy Makka, humility thy fasting,
Implicit [8] obedience to the word of thy priest thy heaven,
The service of God thy huris, thy nur,[9] and thy perfume ; and God thy lofty hujra.[10] [ p. 19 ]
He who practiseth truth is a Qazi ;
He who chasteneth his heart is a Haji ;
He who banisheth Satan is a Mulla, and he who praiseth God is a darwesh.
At every time and on every occasion
Remember God, the Creator, in thy heart.
Make the subjection of thy ten organs the rosary by which God is remembered in thy heart ;
Good conduct and great restraint over thyself, thy circumcision.
Know in thy heart that everything is for the moment.
Sports, banquets, and sodalities are all entanglements.
Kings, rulers, and nobles are perishable ; God’s gate alone is the stable place.
Let first God’s praises, second patience,
Third mildness, fourth almsgiving,
Fifth the five evil passions restrained in one place be thy five most precious times of prayer.
Make the knowledge that God is everywhere thy daily worship ;
The abandonment of evil deeds the water-pot in thy hand ;
The knowledge that there is but one God thy call to prayer ; such a Muazzin shall have an excellent reward.
What is honestly obtained eat thou as thy food ;
Wash away thy filth in the river of thy heart.
He who recognizeth his Pir is the man for heaven ; Azrail will not keep him in hell.
Make good works thy body, faith thy spouse,
And obedience to God thy pleasures. and spectacles.
Purify what is impure, make God’s presence thy Hadis[11]; let a complete[12] body be the turban on thy head.
Let a Musalman be soft-hearted,
And wash away the filth of his heart.
Let not the pleasures of the world approach him ; and let him be pure as flowers, silk, clarified butter, or deer-skin.
He is the object of the kindness of the Kind One,
Who is a man, the manliest of men :[ p. 20 ]
He is a Shaikh, a chief of Shaikhs, and a Haji; the man on whom God’s look of favour falleth is His slave.
Power belongeth to the Omnipotent, kindness to the Kind One ;
The attributes and love of the Merciful are unfathomable.
Understand God’s order which is true, O Nanak, and thou shalt be released from thy prison.[13]
Bilawal. ↩︎
God who makes kings and emperors. ↩︎
Sihi Chhant. ↩︎
This episode, in defiance of chronology, is often included by the Sikh chroniclers in the Life of Guru Amar Das. ↩︎
A composition of Guru Arjan which will subsequently be given. ↩︎
Sincerity. ↩︎
Patience: ↩︎
Andaza. According to measure, neither more nor less than what the guru tells thee. ↩︎
Nur. Literally—light, then the sight of God. ↩︎
A small apartment or structure for private worship. ↩︎
The traditional sayings of the Prophet, which have the force of law among Moslems. ↩︎
That is, uncircumcised. ↩︎
Maru Solha. ↩︎