Page:The Sikh Religion, its gurus, sacred writings and authors Vol 1.djvu/258

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THE SIKH RELIGION

Where the cat fleeth at the sound of a mouse[1]
Nanak saith, is a Bairagi.


He is a Bairagi who embraceth contentment,
Who reverseth his breath and is absorbed in God,
Who subjecteth to himself the five senses—
Such a Bairagi shall rise higher than Shiv.
He who renounceth evil ways and fixeth his attention on the one God,
Nanak saith, is a Bairagi.

Upon this the followers of Gorakhnath pressed the Guru to adopt the style of a Jogi. The Guru asked them to describe a Jogi. They replied:—

A Jogi weareth earrings, a patched coat, carrieth a wallet, a staff,
And a deer’s horn which soundeth through the world.

The Jogis were proceeding to give a further description of their sect when the Guru interrupted and offered spiritual substitutes for all the externals of a Jogi:—

Put the Guru’s word into thy heart for the rings in thine ears; wear the patched coat of forbearance;
Whatever God doeth consider as good; in this way shalt thou easily obtain the treasure of jog.
O father, in this way the soul which hath been a pilgrim in every age, uniteth with the Supreme Essence.
He who obtaineth the ambrosial name of the Pure One, and maketh reflection his Jogi’s cup,
Divine knowledge his staff, and the Omnipresent the ashes he smeareth on his body, shall enjoy the great elixir of divine knowledge.
Make God’s praise thy prayer, the Guru’s instruction thy sect of Atits,[2]
The renunciation of desires and quarrels thy sitting in contemplation in God’s citadel[3]

  1. Where hypocrisy flees before humility.
  2. By Atīts here is meant a sect of Jogis who consider themselves liberated from worldly restraints.
  3. The brain.