‘Alas! I have committed a great sin. I have eaten from the hands of a man who hath no guru. My ablutions in the Ganges are now of no avail. It was only when Narad and Shukdev[1] appointed gurus that they themselves became worthy of worship. I can now only be purified by returning to bathe again in the Ganges.’ Thus lamenting the monk departed. Amar Das then began seriously to consider how he could find a guru. Until he had found one, he had no heart to eat or perform his secular duties. He prayed, ‘O God, mercifully grant that I may meet such a guru as will possess the alchemic power of turning dross into gold.’ One morning before day, while engaged in such reflections on the upper parapet of his house, he heard the dulcet chanting of the Guru's hymns. The voice came from his brother's house where lived Bibi Amro, Guru Angad's daughter, recently married to his (Amar Das's) brother's son. It was Bibi Amro's practice to rise a watch before day, bathe, and recite the Japji and other hymns of Guru Nanak, and then make butter for the family. When over heard by Amar Das, she was singing the third hymn in the Maru measure, already given in the Life of Guru Nanak.
On hearing it, Amar Das became deeply absorbed in devotion. From the concluding lines in particular he derived the sublime consolation that he should be changed from dross into gold. He could not avoid asking the lady to sing the hymn again, and inquired where she had learnt it. She readily consented, and added that she had learned the composition from her father. Amar Das committed the hymn to memory, and prevailed on her to take
- ↑ A brief account of Nārad has already been given. Shukdev was a rikhi the son of Vyās, the author of the Mahābhārat and arranger of the Veds. As usual in his epoch, he desired to place himself under a guru. He succeeded in finding Rāja Janak, the father-in-law of Rām Chandar, who made him his disciple.
