Page:The Sikh Religion, its gurus, sacred writings and authors Vol 1.djvu/224

Brahma who came into the world repeating the Veds cannot describe God.
What is poor Krishan who by God s order descended upon earth?
Shiv and countless gods and goddesses standing at Thy gate praise Thee.

He who turneth from God shall pine away and die; the True One is ever the Pardoner.^[1]

Mian Mitha then spoke: 'What is that one Name which thou praisest so much?' The Guru replied, 'Hath any one ever known the worth of that Name?' Mian Mitha asked him to be good enough to explain it to him. The Guru then took his arm, led him aside, and said to him, 'Shaikh, hearest thou the Name of the one God?' While they were speaking, the name of the Prophet vanished amid the sounds of divine ecstasy, and when they looked again there appeared instead of it only a heap of ashes. Then came a voice from heaven which only repeated 'Allah', God's Arabic name. Upon this Shaikh Mitha got up and kissed the Guru's feet. The Guru then fell into a trance, and in that state gave utterance to the following:—

Nashihat Nama^[2]

The present are favoured; the absent are not.
Faith is a friend, want of faith an infidel;
Pride is ruin, wrath is unlawful;
Concupiscence is Satan, conceit is infidelity;
The slanderer's face is black.
The man without faith is unclean; he who is tender-hearted is pure.
Knowledge is gentleness. The non-avaricious are holy; the avaricious are impatient.

The honest man hath a bright, the ungrateful man a yellow face.

1. Banno's Granth Sāhib. It must be noted that this hymn is not generally accepted by the Sikhs.
2. Instruction. This too is not found in the Granth Sāhib.