Extracts from NANAK'S JAPJI
Creator, All-pervading He:
Devoid of hate and fear,
Unborn, undying, self-existent Lord.
He in the beginning did live,
He was before Time came to be,
He, verily, existeth now,
He shall exist for evermore.
How shall a man ...the True One know?
How shall he ...falsehood's barriers break?
He can, as Nanak foreordained,
By keeping His Divine commands.
What shall we offer in return
That we may ...in His Presence stand?
What shall we utter with our lips
Which, hearing, He may love us well?
At the ambrosial hour of morn
Let us with reverence meditate
Upon His True and Holy Name
And also on His Majesty.
Countless the Saints
Who contemplate
—Upon Thy attributes divine;
And countless they who love the truth
And they who practice charity.
Perchance polluted be one's clothes,
—They can with water be made clean,
But if the heart's defiled by sin,
It can be cleansed ...by only Him.
Who practiseth austerities,
Almsgiving too, and charity,
And who resorts to holy shrines,
Of honor ...but a fraction gains.
But he who hears Him and obeys,
And loves Him in his inmost heart,
Shall wash off his impurities
Within his own heart's sacred shrine.
Tis He the Lord
Who knows the needs of all
And gives accordingly:
Alas! how few are they
Who do this truth acknowledge or believe.
Priceless Thy dealings and Thy marks,
Priceless Thy dealers and Thy stores,
Priceless is all that comes from Thee,
And priceless that Thou tak'st away.
Let him who seeketh Him
Regard Contentment as his ear-ring:
Let modesty his wallet be,
His ashes, meditation deep.
Let him consider death his quilt,
And faith ...as his mainstay in life;
And let him keep his body pure
(Like to a virgin undefiled).
In this wise he shall gain indeed
The spirit of true tolerance.*
For by subjection of the mind
Is vict'ry gained o'er all the world.
"O Nanak, He is realized
Only through —His Own grace Divine:
Who boast of other ways and means
...They idle prattlers are and false.
O Nanak! He whose arm is strength,
He sees all things and wields all pow'r.
None in His sight is high or low
(For He regards all men alike).
Deeds —good and bad— before His throne
Are by the King of Death ...rehearsed:
By their own actions—some get near,
And some stay far away from Him.
Who meditate upon His name,
From labors freed ...repair to Him:
Their faces, Nanak, shine:
Through them —Salvation— other people gain.