Page:The Sikh Religion, its gurus, sacred writings and authors Vol 1.djvu/362

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THE SIKH RELIGION

Thou art a Mulla or a Qazi only when thou really knowest God's name.

Even if thou be very learned thou must depart; none may remain when his measure of life is full.

He is a Qazi who hath renounced pride, and made the name of God alone his support.

He is, was, and shall be: He was not born, neither shall He die; True is the Creator.[1]

Thou prayest five times a day, and readest thy Quran and holy books.

Nanak saith, when the grave calleth, man shall cease to drink and eat.

Ashtapadi

The following was composed in a devotional paroxysm. Some suppose that it was uttered at Makka in reply to Qazis who had asked the Guru to tell them of the God he adored:—

Persuade thy heart to sing God's name with every breath thou drawest.[2]

How great is He to whom one playeth and singeth, and where doth He dwell?

All Thy eulogists continue to praise Thee with affection.

Father, God is inaccessible and endless.

Pure is the Name; pure is the place of the true Cherisher.

How great Thy sovereignty is cannot be known; no one knoweth how to describe it.

If a hundred poets were to be found, they could not describe a particle of it, though they sang their utmost.[3]

Nobody hath found Thy worth; every one as he hath heard describeth Thy glory.

Priests, prophets, saints, faithful men, martyrs, Shaikhs, Strivers, Qazis, Mullas, Darweshes who have arrived at God's gate,

  1. True here apparently means abiding, eternal.
  2. Also translated—As far as it can fix its attention.
  3. Literally—even though they cried over it.