Hymns of the Gurus

by Khushwant Singh

(Which are the real sustenance)

  Pecks at carrion

  So man forgets to sing hosannas to his God

  (Which are the real sustenance for his soul

  And turns instead to the fleshpots of the world).

  Cursed be the life thus wasted

  In stuffing food and increasing the paunch.

  The Name of the True One changes not; that much we know

  All else, sayeth Nanak, turns from friend to foe.

  * * *

  Deeva balai andhera jai, bed path mati papa khai

  When a lamp is lit, darkness is dispelled

  Where scriptures are read, evil thoughts are expelled.

  When the sun rises, the moon is not seen

  When knowledge comes, ignorance is dispelled.

  The reading of the Vedas is now a worldly trade

  O pandit! You read much, but without thought,

  Without understanding this reading is a loss.

  Says Nanak, only those the guru loves will go across.

  * * *

  Too sultan kaha hau miyan teri kavan vaddiaee

  Thou art the Sultan

  If I address Thee as the village headman

  Do I magnify Thy Name?

  Lord, I address thee as Thou hast empowered me

  I am foolish and know not the art of polite speech.

  As Thou instructest me so shall I word my praise

  Thy will shall be my way of life, in Thy truth shall I abide.

  All that comes to pass is at Thy bidding

  Everything that happens is within Thy knowing

  My Master, I know not Thy dimensions

  I have no means of knowing, I am blind.

  What shall I say? I tried to speak

  I learned that I could not speak of One

  Who is beyond description.

  I can only say as much as Thou willst me to say

  And that is but a tiny fragment of Thy real greatness.

  You are the shade in which we rest

  And the mansions we raise.

  None other besides You will I ever know, O Master,

  Forever shall I sing in praise of You.

  Men and beasts, all Your shelter seek

  You have to look after everyone.

  This is Nanak’s one prayer and only request

  That he look upon Your will as the best.

  * * *

  Bara Maha or the Twelve Months

  (The practise of composing lyrics according to the twelve months of the year, to highlight human emotions and make spiritual or moral messages accessible to people, was common among Indian poets. Guru Nanak’s Barah Mah, composed in Tukhari raga, is the most highly rated in the Punjabi language. It is believed to be among the last of the Guru’s compositions.)

  Chet (March-April)

  Chet basant bhala bhavar suhavre

  It is the month of Chet,

  It is spring. All is seemly—

  The humming bumble-bee

  And the woodland in flower—

  But there is a sorrow in my soul.

  The Lord, my Master is away.

  If the Husband comes not home, how can a wife

  Find peace of mind?

  Sorrows of separation waste away the body.

  The Koil calls in the mango grove,

  Its notes are full of joy.

  Why then the sorrow in my soul?

  The bumble-bee hovers about the blossoming bough,

  O mother of mine, it is like death to me,

  For there is a sorrow in my soul.

  Nanak says: When the Lord her Master comes home to her,

  Blessed is then the month of Chet.

  Vaisakh (April-May)

  Vaisakh bhala sakha ves kare

  In beauteous Vaisakh the bough adorns itself anew,

  The wife awaits the coming of her Lord,

  Her eyes fixed on the door.

  ’My Love, You alone can help me across

  The turbulent waters of life. Come home.

  Without You I am worthless as a broken shell.

  When You look upon me with favour, Love,

  And our eyes mingle;

  Then shall I become priceless beyond compare.’

  Nanak says: ‘Where seek you the Lord?

  Whom are you awaiting?

  You have not far to go to find Him.

  He is within you, you are His mansion.

  If your body and soul yearn for the Lord,

  The Lord shall love you and Vaisakh be beautiful.’

  Jeth (May-June)

  Mah jeth bhala pritam kiun bisrai

  Why forget the Beloved in the month of Jeth

  When the land shimmers in the summer’s heat?

  Grant me the Virtues, O Lord,

  As win favour in Your eyes.

  You are free from all attachment

  And live in Truth.

  And I am lowly, humble, helpless.

  How shall I approach You?

  How find the haven of peace?

  Says Nanak: She who knows the Lord

  Becomes like the Lord.

  She knows Him

  By treading the path of virtue.

  Asad (June-July)

  Asad bhala suraj gagan tape

  In Asad the Sun scorches.

  The sky is hot

  The earth burns like an oven,

  Waters give up their vapours.

  It burns and scorches relentlessly in the month of Asad.

  The Sun’s chariot passes the noon’s sky

  The wife watches the shadow creep across the courtyard.

  And the cicada calls from the glades.

  The beloved seeks the cool of the evening.

  If the comfort she seeks be in falsehood,

  There will be sorrow in store for her.

  If it be in truth,

  Hers will be a life of joy.

  Says Nanak: Life and life’s end are at the will of the Lord

  To Him have I surrendered my soul.

  Savan (July-August)

  Savan sars mana ghan varsai

  The season of rain has come.

  My heart is full of joy,

  My body and soul yearn for the Master.

  But He is away in foreign lands

  If He return not, I shall die pining for Him.

  The lightning strikes terror in my heart.

  I am alone in my courtyard

  In solitude and sorrow.

  O Mother of mine, I stand on the brink of death,

  Without the Lord I have no hunger nor sleep

  I cannot suffer the clothes on my body.

  Nanak says: She alone is blest

  Who becomes One with the Lord.

  Bhadon (August-September)

  Bhadon bharm bhuli bhar joban pachtani

  Lost in the maze of falsehood

  I waste my full-bloom youth.

  River and land are one expanse of water

  For it is the glad season of the rains.

  It rains.

  The nights are dark.

  There is no peace for me.

  Frogs croak in contentment.

  Peacocks cry with joy.

  The papeeha calls peeooh, peeooh.

  The fangs of serpents that crawl,

  The bite of mosquitoes that fly,

  Are full of venom.

  The seas have burst their bounds in the ecstasy of fulfilment.

  I alone am bereft of joy,

  Whither shall I go?

  How shall I find Him?

  Nanak says: Ask of the Guru the way

  He knows the path which leads to the Lord.

  Asan (September-October)

  Asun au pira sadhan jhur mui

  O Master come to me,

  I waste and will die.

  If the Master wills,

  I shall meet Him.

  If He wills not,

  I am lost utterly.

  I took the path of falsehood,

  And the Master forsook me,


  Age has greyed my locks

  I have lived many winters

  The fires of hell still lie ahead,

  And I am afraid.

  The bough remains ever green

  For the sap that moves within

  Night and day, renews life.

  If the Name of the Lord courses in your veins,

  Life and hope will for ever be green.

  Meditate calmly on the Name.

  That which ripens slowly ripens best.

  Nanak says: Come now, my Love,

  Even the Guru pleads for me.

  Katak (October-November)

  Katak kirat paiya jo prabh bhae

  What pleases the Lord

  Is all I merit.

  The lamp of wisdom burns steadily

  If the oil that feeds it

  Be reality.

  If the oil that feeds the lamp be Love

  The beloved will meet the Lord and find fulfilment.

  Full of faults, she is caught

  In the cycle of birth and death

  And finds no favour with the Lord.

  Good deeds alone will end her sorrow.

  Those who are granted the worship of Your Name

  Hope to meet You in Your mansion.

  Nanak says: O Lord till You grant us Your vision

  And break the bonds of superstition,

  One watch of day will drag like half a year.

  Maghar (November-December)

  Maghar mah bhala harigun ank smavai

  The month of Maghar is bliss

  To her who is lost in the Lord

  For she is the virtuous one

  And loves the Lord Eternal.

  He Who is eternal, omniscient, wise is also the Master of destiny.

  The world is in turmoil without faith.

  She who has knowledge and contemplates on Him

  Loses herself in Him.

  By His grace she loves the Lord.

  Proclaim the name of Rama in song and dance and verse,

  And sorrow will flee away.

  Nanak says: Only she is loved

  Who prays to her Lord With her heart.

  Pokh (December-January)

  Pokh tukhar pare van trin ras sokhai

  As the winter snow

  Freezes the sap in tree and bush,

  The absence of the Lord

  Blights the body and the soul.

  O Lord why do You not come?

  He who gives life to the world

  Him do I praise through the Guru’s word.

  His light is in all life born

  Of the egg or womb or sweat or seed.

  O Merciful Master, O Bounteous You

  Grant me Your vision

  That I may find salvation.

  Nanak says: She who is in love with the Lord

  Is infused with grace.

  Magh (January-February)

  Magh punit bhai tirath antar jania

  The Lord has entered my being.

  I make pilgrimage within myself and am purified.

  I met Him.

  He found me good

  And let me lose myself in Him.

  ’Beloved! If you find me fair

  My pilgrimage is made,

  I am cleansed.

  More than the sacred waters of Ganga, Yamuna and Tribeni mingled at the Sangam;

  More than the seven seas,

  More than charity, almsgiving and prayer

  Is the knowledge of Eternity that is the Lord.’

  Nanak says: He who has worshipped the Great Giver of life

  Has earned more merit than those who bathe at the sixty and eight places of pilgrimage.

  Phalgun (February-March)

  Phalgun man rehsi prem subhae

  She whose heart is full of love

  Is ever in full bloom.

  Joy is hers for she has no love of self.

  Only those who love You

  Conquer love of self.

  Come, Lord, and abide in me.

  Many a garment did I wear,

  The Master willed not and

  His palace was barred to me.

  When He wanted me, I went

  With garlands and strings of jewels and raiment of finery.

  Nanak says: A bride welcomed in the Master’s mansion

  Has found her true Love.

  GURU ANGAD DEV (1504-1552)

  There are sixty-two hymns by Guru Angad in the Adi Granth.

  Jo sir saune na nivai so sir deejai daar

  Cut off the head, O Nanak,

  That bows not to the Lord;

  Burn the wretched flesh

  That feels not the pain of separation.

  * * *

  Akhin bajhon vekhna bin kana sunana

  To see without eyes,

  Without ears, hear,

  To walk without feet,

  Without hands, work,

  To speak without a tongue—

  Thus living, yet detached from life.

  O Nanak, if you follow the word of your Master

  You shall surely meet Him.

  * * *

  Ihu jagu sachche ki hai kothari

  All the world is His dwelling place; the True One among us resides.

  Whom He wills He makes one with Himself, whom He wills He destroys;

  By His will is one rid of illusion, by His will another ensnared.

  And which one of us can know who shall receive his grace?

  Says Nanak, he alone finds the Supreme Guru, whose mind He illumines.

  GURU AMAR DAS (1479-1574)

  There are 907 hymns by Guru Amar Das in the Adi Granth.

  Manmukh lok samjhayiai kadon samjhaya jae

  If you preach to the wicked

  Can you turn them from their wicked ways?

  They will not mingle with the good however much you try

  But will tread their own wayward paths

  For such is their desert.

  There are two ways:

  Love of the Lord and love of gold.

  By His ordinance alone one finds the right path.

  The good conquer their sinfulness

  And the touchstone of the Guru’s word

  Declares them pure.

  It is with the mind we must battle,

  With the mind we must come to terms

  And with the mind make peace.

  The mind gets what it wills

  By the power of Truth and love of the word.

  Drink deep of the nectar that is the Name

  And let your deeds be righteous.

  If your battles are not with your own mind

  But with others

  You will have wasted your life.

  The wicked surrender to their wilful minds

  Their ways are false, their reward evil.

  The good win their battles over their minds

  For they have their thoughts fixed on God.

  Nanak says: The good through Truth attain salvation

  The wicked escape not the cycle of birth and death.

  * * *

  Maya kis no akhiai, kya maya karm kamae?

  What is maya? What acts spring from it?

  The snare of joy and sorrow in which our lives are caught,

  The thought of self that moves us to action.

  Without the word there is no wisdom,

  Nothing to tear apart maya’s veil of illusion,

  Nothing to exorcise the ego.

  Without love you cannot be a devotee,

  Without the word, you will find no rest.

  It is the word alone that conquers self

  And destroys illusion.

  The pious receive the gift of the Name

  By gentle ways and good conduct.

  Without the Guru one cannot tell

  The good from the bad.

  Without goodness, prayer has no meaning.

  If God is in the heart

  He can be met face to face.

  He comes as gently as comes sleep.
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  O Nanak, raise your voice in praise of the Guru

  By His grace you shall attain salvation.

  * * *

  Kajal phul tambol ras

  She put black in her eyes, flowers in her hair,

  With betel leaves sweetened her breath and her lips stained;

  But the Lord came not to her bed

  All her adornments were in vain.

  Woman and man who just live together, speak not of them as truly wed,

  When in two bodies a single light burns, then are man and woman truly wed.

  Without the fear of the Lord

  One cannot be a true devotee

  For one has no love of the Name.

  Love is born on meeting the true Guru.

  Fear and love together give the proper hue

  They kill the hunger of the ego

  And with His Name, body and soul imbue.

  Body and Soul thus cleansed, made of beauty rare

  Give to the Lord, the Destroyer of Evil.

  Both fear and love to him the Lord does give

  Who in this world do truthfully live.

  * * *

  Anandu bhaiya meri mayi

  Mother, my heart is full of joy

  For I have found my true guru;

  I found the true guru following the gentle path of sahaj

  My heart resounds with cries of felicitation

  Jewel-like ragas and their families of fairy-like houris

  Have come to sing hymns of praise;

  They within whom Hari resides, divine hymns sing

  Says Nanak, I have attained bliss because the true guru I did find.

  * * *

  Ae man meriya tun sadaa rahe Hari naale

  My heart, ever abide with the Lord Hari

  Abide with the Lord and forget all your misery;

  Gathering you within Himself

  He will sort out all your affairs.

  In every way He is your master

  Why then let Him out of your mind?

  Says Nanak, my mind, forever with the Hari abide.

  * * *

  Sache sahiba kiya nahi dhari tere

  Master true, what is it that is not in Your house?

  There is everything there

  Only those You choose to give find it.

  Lord grant me the gift of ever singing Your praise

  So Your name gets imprinted on my mind.

  The hearts of those wherein dwells the name

  Always resound with hymns of praise