Hymns of the Sikh Gurus
Page 9
the Drink of drinks,
Salutations to the Initiator of conflict,
the Harbinger of peace,
Salutations to the Deity of deities,
salutations to the timeless Treasure.
188 Immaculate One, Jewel amongst jewels,
Salutations to the Hope of hopes,
salutations to the Beauty of beauties.
Indestructible, formless, nameless,
Destroyer of the three worlds,
Existing in time past, present and future,
without form, without desire.
189 Invincible
Indomitable
Fearless
Immutable
190 Birthless
Eternal
Indestructible
All-pervasive
191 Invincible
Unyielding
Invisible
Unconsumed
192 Timeless
Compassionate
Ineffable
Formless
193 Nameless
Desireless
Unattainable
Ineradicable
194 Autonomous
Destroyer
Birth less
Not silent
195 Without attachment
Without colour
Without form
Without features
196 Beyond action
Beyond doubt
Beyond conquest
Beyond depiction
197 Salutations to the Revered One
who destroys us all,
Salutations to the invincible Nameless One
who exists everywhere,
Salutations to the desireless Treasure
who is manifest everywhere,
Salutations to the Destroyer of evil
who fosters goodness.
198 Forever truth, consciousness and bliss,
vanquishing enemies,
Abounding in gifts, You create us all,
You dwell in us all,
Of wondrous glory, furious against tyrants,
Our Destroyer, our Creator, full of benevolence,
full of compassion.
199 Present in all four directions,
rejoicing in all four directions,
Self-illumined, most beautiful, forever tied to each of us,
Freeing us from the pain of birth and death,
Compassion itself,
For ever by our side, Radiance eternal.
MORNING AND INITIATION
Savayye
SAVAYYE means quatrains. The ten Savayye that have been included in the Sikhs’ morning prayers are from Guru Gobind Singh’s Dasam Granth (see p. 1). They underscore devotion as the essence of religion. They reject all forms of external worship and cast Guru Nanak’s message of internal love in beautiful undulating rhythm. These Savayye are also recited during the administration of amrita, the initiation ceremony of the Khalsa (the Sikh order).
There is One Being. Victory to the wonderful Guru.
The composition of the Tenth Guru.
My wonderful Guru, I recite the Savayye by Your grace.
1 I have seen hosts of purists and ascetics,
I have visited the homes of yogis and celibates.
Heroes and demons, practitioners of purity
and drinkers of ambrosia, hosts of saints
from countless religions, I have seen them all.
I have seen religions from all countries,
but I have yet to see followers of the Creator.
Without love for the Almighty,
without grace from the Almighty,
all practices are without a grain of worth.
2 Drunken elephants draped in gold,
first among giants in blazing colours,
Herds of horses, sprinting like gazelles,
swifter than the wind,
The people bow their heads to strong-armed rulers,
But what if they be such mighty owners;
at the last, they depart barefoot from the world.
3 Conquerors of the world march triumphant
to the beat of kettledrums.
Their herds of handsome elephants trumpet,
their royal steeds lustily neigh.
These rulers of past, future and present
can never be counted.
Without worshipping the supreme Sovereign,
all end in the house of death.
4 Pilgrimage, ablutions and charities, self-restraint
and countless rituals,
Study of Vedas, Puranas, Kateb and Qur’an,
of all scriptures from all times and places,
Ascetics subsisting on air, practising celibacy;
countless such have I seen and considered.
Without remembering the One, without love for the One,
all rulers and actions go to naught.
5 Inured and invincible warriors in shining armour,
determined to crush the enemy,
Proudly think, mountains may grow wings and fly away,
but never us.
They can shatter their enemy, they can wring their foe,
they can crush legions of drunken elephants,
But without the grace of the One,
they too must depart this world.
6 Countless heroes and doughty warriors
who stand fast against the blows of iron,
Who conquer lands and enemies,
who crush the pride of drunken elephants,
Who raze sturdy castles, who gain the world by words,
They are all beggars at the divine Portal,
the almighty Ruler is the only Giver.
7 Gods, demons, serpents, and ghosts contemplate
Your Name in all time—past, present, and future.
All creatures of land and sea,
You instantly create and destroy.
Their virtuous deeds are heartily celebrated,
their piles of misdeeds utterly eradicated.
The devout go happily in this world,
their enemies sink in shame.
8 Rulers of mortals and mighty elephants,
leaders of the three worlds,
Performers of endless rituals and charities,
winners of brides in countless swayamvara rites,
Like Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu and Sachi’s husband,
they all end at last in death.
They who touch the feet of the Transcendent One,
they alone are freed from the cycle of birth and death.
9 How futile to sit in contemplation,
like a stork with both eyes closed.
While trying to bathe in the seven seas,
we lose this world and the next.
How futile to sink in misdeeds,
we only waste away our life.
I tell the truth, do listen to me,
they alone who love, find the Beloved.
10 Some worship stones, some bear them on their heads;
some wear phalluses around their necks.
Some claim to see the One in the south;
some bow their heads to the west.
Some worship idols, some images of animals;
some run to worship the dead and their graves.
The entire world is lost in false ritual;
none knows the mystery of the Almighty One.
EVENING
Rahiras
RAHIRAS is part of the evening service. It consists of hymns by Guru Nanak (including, with a slight variation, stanza 27, Sodar, from the Jap), Guru Ram Das and Guru Arjan. Guru Gobind Singh’s Chaupai Benati from the Dasam Granth also forms a part of this prayer. It concludes with pieces by Guru Amar Das including the first five stanzas and last stanza of his forty-stanza Anand (‘Bliss’), a rapturous hymn focussing on the bliss that results from the individual’s union with the Ultimate. In this abbreviated form, Anand is very popular. It is liturgically recited at the conclusion of all congregational service
s and joyful ceremonies such as weddings and name-giving. In Rahiras, the six stanzas of Anand are followed by Guru Arjan’s Mundavani (‘Seal’) which concludes the entire Guru Granth. This evening prayer ends with Shalok (‘Couplet’), also by Guru Arjan. A number of the hymns have a chorus which is placed after the first stanza in italics.
Year round, the Sikhs recite Rahiras just as day and night come together during the reflective period of dusk. Through the Rahiras, the Sikhs pay homage to the Transcendent Reality, they sing praise of the divine Magnificence, they seek the protection and succour of the omnipotent Creator, and they express their joy upon hearing the melodious Word within their inner self (Begins on p. 8 in Guru Granth).
Sodar Rag Asa Mahalla 1
What kind of gate leads to You? What kind of mansion
have You, 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.
Asa Mahalla 1
1 Hearing of Your greatness, we stumble to speak of You,
We could know Your measure, if only we could see You.
Your greatness cannot be valued, cannot be expressed,
Those who could speak of You remain absorbed in You.
My great Sovereign, deep and unfathomable,
You are an ocean of virtues.
None can know how vast You are.
2 Sages amass their intuitions,
Mathematicians amass their calculations,
Scholars, meditators and their leaders with their teachers,
But none can measure a grain of Your greatness.
3 All truth, all austerity and all good deeds,
All holy miracles.
No one achieves these powers without You.
We are granted all things by Your ever-flowing grace.
4 How can a feeble one like me describe
Your treasures brimming with virtues?
What are our resources, but Your gifts?
Nanak says, the True Enricher of all.
Asa Mahalla 1
1 I live to recite Your Name, if I did not, I should die,
To recite the True Name is so hard.
I hunger for the True Name;
My hunger eats away all sorrow.
My mother, how could I forget,
The True Sovereign, whose Name is Truth?
2 To tell one grain of the True Name’s greatness,
Many have tried without gain.
For all our praise altogether,
The One is no greater, no less.
3 That One never dies, we’ll have no cause for mourning.
That One ever gives, our supplies are never ending.
The virtue is this: there is no other,
There never has been, nor will there ever be.
4 Great as You are, so too Your gifts,
You created day for night to follow.
Those who forget the Husband are the most lowly,
Nanak says, without the Name, we are truly low-born.
Rag Gujri Mahalla 4
1 Devotees, True Guru, True Creator, I beseech You,
Like worms we seek shelter in the True Guru,
Have compassion, and grant us the radiance of the Name.
My Enlightening Friend, grant me the radiance
of the divine Name.
The Name taught by the Guru is the breath of my life,
To praise the One is my daily custom.
2 Fortunate are the devotees, wrapped in faith, thirsty
for the Divine.
Hearing the Name, their thirst is quenched,
Meeting with the faithful, their virtues sparkle.
3 They who do not taste the elixir of the Name
Are unfortunate, they are with the god of death.
They who do not seek the lap of the True Guru,
nor the company of the pious, are accursed in this life,
accursed in their life to come.
4 The foreheads of the devotees who seek the Truth Guru
glow with fortune written from the dawn of time.
Blessed, blessed is the true company
in which the elixir is tasted.
Nanak says, in such company, the Name is revealed.
Rag Gujri Mahalla 5
1 My mind, why this fretting and fussing,
does the Divine not sustain you?
Were beings not created among the rocks and mountains
with their food laid out before?
Husband of the World, the truly faithful are liberated,
By the grace of the Guru, we win the highest station,
Hearts, dry as wood, blossom lush green.
2 Our mothers who bore us, our fathers, neighbours,
sons and wives—no one is anyone’s support;
The Creator cherishes each and every being;
why then should you fear, my mind?
3 The crane flies high, travels hundreds of miles,
leaving her young ones behind.
Who feeds them? Who teaches them to peck?
My mind, have you ever considered this?
4 The nine treasures and the eighteen powers are held
in the palm of the Ruler’s hand.
Says Nanak the slave, I offer myself, again and again,
I offer myself. Your limits cannot be encompassed.
Rag Asa Mahalla 4
1 The Divine Being is immaculate, the Purest of the pure.
Unfathomable! Infinite!
Everyone meditates, meditates on You,
the True Creator of all.
All beings belong to You, You are their Provider.
Pious people, contemplate that One
who dispels all suffering.
The Divine is Itself the Ruler, Itself the Servant.
Nanak says, I am a mere mortal.
2 You are in every being, in all without distinct
ion,
the One Divine Being suffuses all.
Some are givers, some are beggars,
this is part of Your enchanting sport.
You Yourself are the Giver, You Yourself are the Savourer.
I know no one but You.
You are the Transcendent. Infinite! Totally infinite!
Which of Your virtues could I describe?
They who serve You, who serve You,
says Nanak the slave, I offer myself to them.
3 They who reflect, who reflect upon You,
they live peacefully in this world.
They are freed, they are freed who remember the Divine,
their snare of death is cut.
They who remember the Fearless One, the Fearless One,
all their fears are dispelled.
They who serve, who serve my Beloved,
they merge with the Divine Form.
Blessed, blessed are they who remember the Divine.
Says Nanak the slave, I offer myself to them.
4 Infinite One, the treasures of devotion to You,
of devotion to you, are overflowing and infinite.
Endless One, Your devotees, Your devotees praise you,
countless are their adorations.
Infinite One, countless, countless are Your worshippers,
serving in penance and meditation.
My Infinite One, many, many are they who read scriptures
and perform rituals and ceremonies.
Says Nanak the slave, the devotees, the devotees
are they who please my Almighty.
5 You are the Primal Being, You are the transcendent Creator,
no one is as great as You.
Throughout the ages You alone exist.
Ever and ever, You are the Absolute One,
You are the immutable Creator.
Whatever You will, that comes to be.
Whatever You begin, that is accomplished.
You Yourself brought the universe into being,
You Yourself will dissolve it into nothingness.