places.’ The Guru composed the following on the occasion :—
The Ganges, the Jamna, the Godavari, and the Saraswati
make efforts to obtain the dust of the saints' feet.
They say ‘The filth of sin which falleth into us from
those who are full of it, is washed away by the dust of the
saints' feet.’
Bathe in the Name as in the sixty-eight places of pilgrimage.
When the dust of the saints feet riseth and falleth into
the eyes, it removeth all the filth of evil inclinations.
Bhagirath[1] by penance brought down the Ganges, and
Shiv established Kedarnath[2] and Banaras;
Krishan herded cows in Bindraban; but it was by producing
saints of God that all these places became famous.
All the places of pilgrimage which the gods established
long for the dust of the saints' feet, and say—
‘When we meet a saint of God and a holy man of the
Guru, we will apply the dust of his feet to our foreheads.’
O my Lord, all Thy creation longeth for the dust of the
saints' feet.
Nanak, God granteth the dust of the saints' feet to him
on whose forehead it hath been written, and saveth him.[3]
It is said the Tapa was convinced on hearing this hymn, and embraced the Sikh religion.
The Guru occupied most of his time in composing hymns breathing great devotional fervour and in receiving and addressing his Sikhs. Piles of wealth were offered him, but his thoughts turned not in that direction.
Among the Sikhs at Goindwal was a simple man called Handal, a native of Jandiala in the present
- ↑ Sagara was king of Ajudhia. Bhagīrath, a descendant of his, performed austerities which induced Shiv to allow the Ganges to descend to the earth for the purpose of bathing the ashes of Sagara's sons who had been consumed by the wrath of the sage Kapila.
- ↑ Kedārnāth, a place of pilgrimage in the Himālayas sacred to the god Shiv, who is there represented as a shapeless mass of rock.
- ↑ Malār.
