24 Infinite is Your glory, and infinite the ways to sing
Your praise,
Infinite are the deeds, and infinite the gifts,
Infinite is the seeing, and infinite the hearing,
And infinite are the workings of That Mind.
Infinite is the variety of forms,
Infinite are the edges of the universe.
And how many yearn to comprehend the limits?
Even their end is not to be found.
The end eludes all,
The more it is expressed, the farther it extends.
The Sovereign is great and high in station,
Yet higher still is the Name.
If we could ever reach that height,
Then only would we know the Highest of the high.
Expansive as It is, That One alone can know Itself.
Nanak says, we are graced with the gift of the Gaze.
25 Grace abounds beyond all reckoning,
Great is the Giver, with no trace of greed.
How many great heroes beg from You
And how many more, we cannot know.
Many exhaust themselves in vicious deeds,
Many receive but deny their Giver,
Many fools eat and eat,
Many are devoured by pain and greed,
Yet these are borne as Your blessings, Giver.
Your Will frees us from bondage,
No one here can intercede,
The fool who dares speak
Alone knows the blows on his face.
That One alone knows, That One alone gives,
But few acknowledge this.
The person gifted to praise and adore,
Nanak says, is truly monarch of monarchs.
26 Priceless are the virtues, priceless their trade,
Priceless are the dealers, priceless the treasures in store,
Priceless are they who come for this trade,
priceless what they take away,
Priceless is love, priceless those immersed in it,
Priceless is the law, and priceless the court,
Priceless are the scales, priceless the weights,
Priceless is the bounty, priceless the seal,
Priceless is the favour, priceless the command,
How priceless the Priceless One is, no one can say,
Those who try are lost in silence.
Vedas and Puranas have also sought to say,
Scholars say in their texts and discourses,
Brahmas say, Indras say,
Gopis and Krishnas say,
Shivas say, Siddhas say,
Innumerable Buddhas say,
The demons say, the gods say,
The virtuous, wise and devout say.
How many speak and begin to speak,
Many have spoken and gone,
And if their numbers were doubled again,
Still no one could say.
That One is as great as It chooses to be,
Nanak says, only the True One knows Itself.
That babbler who presumes to say
Is marked as the fool of fools.
27 What kind of a gate is it, what kind of a mansion
where You sit and support all creation?
Countless are the instruments and melodies,
countless the players singing Your praise,
Countless are the rags and their harmonies,
countless the singers.
Wind, water and fire sing Your praise,
at Your doorstep Dharmaraja sings Your praise,
His attendants, Chitra and Gupta, recording every deed
while he checks their records, sing Your praise,
Shiva, Brahma and the Goddess, radiant with splendour
bestowed by You, sing Your praise
Indra, seated upon his throne in a circle of gods,
sings Your praise.
Siddhas in their meditation and sages in contemplation
sing Your praise.
Celibates, saints and the serene sing Your praise,
invincible heroes sing Your praise.
Scholars and great seers with their texts in every age
sing Your praise.
Beautiful women, enchanting the mind in the celestial,
terrestrial and netherworlds, sing Your praise.
Jewels that come from You, sites made sacred by You,
sing Your praise.
Heroes and mighty warriors sing Your praise,
the four sources of life sing Your praise,
Continents, constellations, and universes upheld by You
sing Your praise.
Devotees who win Your affection, revelling in Your love,
sing Your praise.
How many other singers and players I cannot conceive.
Says Nanak, how then can I think of them?
That One, ever True Sovereign,
true is the praise of that True One.
That One is, ever will be,
and never will that Creator of the world not be.
Designer of this colourful diversity,
Creator of this variegated world,
You watch over and sustain Your creation,
all praise belongs to You.
Whatever You desire comes to pass,
none can challenge Your commands.
Nanak says, You are the Sovereign of sovereigns,
all abide by Your Will.
28 Wear contentment as your yogi earrings,
let honest actions be your pouch and begging bowl,
make inner contemplation your penitential ashes.
Death shall be the cloak you wear,
pure living your yogic discipline,
and faith the staff you lean upon.
Accept all humans as your equals,
and let them be your only sect.
Conquering ourselves, we conquer the world.
Salutations!
Salutations to That One who is primal, immaculate,
immortal, immutable, constant throughout the ages.
29 With knowledge as the banquet, compassion as the hostess,
let the sacred music resonate in every heart.
The One is supreme, the whole cosmos under Its sway,
why revere feats and miracles which lead you astray?
Meeting and parting are the rhythm of the universe,
to all is given what is written.
Salutations!
Salutations to That One Who is primal, immaculate, immortal, immutable, constant throughout the ages.
30 Our mother, the visible world, gave birth alone to three sons.
The Creator, the Sustainer and one who holds the Court.
But everything goes as That One decrees,
and all are under divine Command.
It watches over all, and, marvel of marvels,
remains invisible to all.
Salutations!
Salutations to That One who is primal, immaculate, immortal, immutable, constant throughout the ages.
31 Its dwelling is in every realm. So too Its treasures.
Whatever is there was placed once and for all time.
After making, the Maker regards Its creation.
Nanak says, the works of the True One are for ever true.
Salutations!
Salutations to That One who is primal, immaculate,
immortal, immutable, constant throughout the ages.
32 If one tongue became a hundred thousand tongues,
and each of these became twenty times more,
And all recited it a hundred thousand times,
the Owner of the world has but one Name.
The stairs to union are climbed without ego.
Hearing of those who reach these heights,
even the lowest are stirred to imitate.
Nanak says, the Gaze is received,
the boasting of the false is false.
33 It is not ours to speak or stay silent,
&nbs
p; It is not ours to ask or give,
It is not ours to live or die,
It is not ours to gain riches that rattle the mind,
It is not ours to have consciousness,
knowledge and reflection,
It is not ours to be liberated from the cycle of life and death.
The One, whose power it is, regards Its doing.
Nanak says, no one is high or low.
34 Amid nights and seasons, dates and days,
Amid air, water, fire and netherworlds,
The earth is placed, the place for righteous action.
In it are colourful beings and lifestyles,
Infinite are their names and infinite their forms.
We are judged on every action performed;
The One is true, Its verdicts truly just.
Those who are accepted become radiant,
They glow with the mark of grace.
The raw and the ripened,4
Nanak says, reaching there, become known.
35 Such is the order of the Realm of Duty,
Now tell us about the Realm of Knowledge.
How many airs, waters and fires,
how many Krishnas and Shivas!
How many Brahmas, and in what variety of forms, colours
and guises they are created!
How many earths and mountains to live and act in,
how many saints, like Dhru, and their sermons!
How many Indras, moons and suns,
how many continents and universes!
How many ascetics, enlightened ones and yogic masters,
how many goddesses!
How many gods, demons and sages,
how many jewels and oceans!
How many species, how many languages
and how many rulers and kings!
How many revelations, how many devotees!
Says Nanak, there is no end to their end.
36 In the Realm of Knowledge, knowledge blazes forth,
Here reign mystic melodies and myriad sports and joys.
Now the Realm of Beauty is beauty itself,
Here the faculties are honed in unmatched splendour.
Words fail to describe,
They who try lament their lack.
Here consciousness, wisdom, mind and discernment
are honed,
Awareness sharpened like that of the gods and mystics.
37 The Realm of Action is full of force,
Here is the One with no other.
Here heroes and mighty warriors dwell,
Inspired by Rama.
Here are Sita and women of her fame and virtue,
Their beauty beyond words.
They do not die, they are not beguiled,
For Rama is in their hearts.
Saints from many worlds live in this Realm of Action.
They know bliss, for the True One
is imprinted on their minds.
In the Realm of Truth, the Formless One is at home,
Gazing upon Its creation.
Here are continents, constellations, and universes
Whose limits cannot be told.
Here are creatures of various forms,
All acting according to the Will.
That One watches, rejoices
and contemplates Its own creation.
Nanak says, to describe this is as hard as iron.
38 Let continence be your smithy, and patience your goldsmith.
Let wisdom be your anvil, and knowledge your hammer.
Let awe be the bellows, and inner control the blazing fire.
In the crucible of love, let the ambrosia flow,
In this true mint, forge the Word,
Such fulfilment comes to those blessed with the Gaze.
Says Nanak, happy are they who are gazed upon.
EPILOGUE
Air is our Guru, water our father,
and the great earth our mother.
Day and night are the female and male nurses
in whose laps the whole universe plays.
Good and bad deeds are all disclosed
in the presence of Righteousness.
Our actions take us near or far.
Those who remember the Name earn true success.
Nanak says their faces shine,
and they take many with them to liberation.
MORNING
Shabad Hazare
SHABAD HAZARE, literally ‘Thousand Words’, is recited in the morning, along with the Jap. It is a combination of poetic pieces from different Gurus in different rags or melodic frameworks, which are therefore found in different sections of the Guru Granth. The rag to which each piece is set and the Guru who composed it are indicated in its title (for further details of the organization and reference system of the Guru Granth,
see pp. 25–6).
Through feminine thoughts and feelings, the hymn expresses the yearning for the One, and tells us how to unite with That One. The male Gurus who composed these verses identify with the female and use her acts of dressing and putting on perfume for her lover to fully develop the nuance of intimacy and passion in the human relationship with the Divine.
Majh Mahalla 5
1 My mind pines for a vision of the Guru,
It wails like the chatrik bird.
My thirst is unquenched, and I find no peace
without sight of the beloved saint.
May I offer myself again and again
for a vision of the beloved and holy Guru.
2 Your face is beautiful, and the music of Your sweet
Word brings peace within.
It has been so long since I caught a glimpse of You,
I yearn for You as a soaring bird for water.
Blessed is the land where You dwell,
my good and beloved Friend.
May I offer myself again and again,
my Guru, my good and beloved Friend.
3 A moment without sight of You passes painfully
as a long dark age.
When shall I see you now, my blessed Beloved?
My nights are a torment, I cannot sleep a wink
without a glimpse of the Court.
May I offer myself again and again
to the True One’s Court.
4 By good fortune I have met the holy Guru,
And I have found the Immortal in my own house.
May I always serve You,
never parting for a minute
or moment, Nanak is Your humble slave.
May I offer myself again and again,
Nanak is Your humble slave.
Dhanasri Mahalla 1
1 My heart trembles, whom shall I call?
I should devote myself to the Healer of suffering,
the One who is ever and ever the Giver.
My Sovereign is always fresh,
and ever and ever the Giver.
2 Night and day, we must serve the Sovereign,
the One who will liberate us at last.
Hearing the Word, my sisters,
we reach the other shore.
Compassionate One, by contemplating Your Name,
we swim to the shore of liberation.
I offer myself to You a hundred times.
3 The True One is everywhere,
there is no other.
They serve, on whom the Gaze falls.
How can I live without You, my Beloved?
Grant me the honour of living in Your Name,
There is no other to whom I can turn, my Dearest.
4 Let me devote myself to You, my Sovereign,
and look to no other.
Nanak says, I am That One’s slave,
at every moment I offer myself, every bit of me.
To Your Name, my Sovereign,
at every moment I offer myself, every bit of me.
Tilang Mahalla 1
1 This body of mine is steeped in illusion,
the clothes I wear are dyed with greed.
&n
bsp; My Beloved does not like my dress,
how then can this bride enter the nuptial bed?
I offer myself to You, Compassionate One,
I offer myself to You.
I offer myself even to those who remember Your Name.
To those who remember Your Name,
I offer myself a hundred times.
2 If my body were a vat, and the crimson of the Name
were poured into it,
And if the dyer were my Sovereign,
such a brilliant colour would never have been seen.
3 Those who wear clothes so dyed,
have the Beloved ever close to them.
This is Nanak’s plea,
may I receive the dust of their feet.
4 That One creates, That One colours,
That One bestows the loving Gaze.
Nanak says, if a woman pleases the Husband
then the Beloved makes love to her.
Tilang Mahalla 1
1 My naive one, why are you so vain?
Why not celebrate the colours within your own house?
The Bridegroom is very close to you,
so, my silly girl, why search outside?
If you paint your eyes with the eyeliners of fear,
and adorn yourself with love,
Then you will be the true bride
with whom the Groom will stay in love.
2 Silly girl!
What can she do if the Groom does not love her?
She may despair and lament in many ways
but she will not be admitted to the Mansion.
Without good deeds we gain nothing
however hard we run.
Drunk with avarice, greed and arrogance,
and drowned in illusion,
You will never reach the Bridegroom so, my naive woman.
3 Go now to the true brides,
ask them the way to reach the Bridegroom.
‘Whatever the One does, accept as good,
and cast aside all other attitudes and loyalties.
Whichever love brings us to the Object,
to that we cling.
Do whatever the Groom asks of you,
wear the fragrance of devotion in body and spirit.’
The true brides say,
Hymns of the Sikh Gurus Page 6
