HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN
Sri Rag
Life is uncertain and man ought to repent betimes:—
Though only a guest for a ghari or two, man arrangeth his affairs.
He is absorbed in mammon and lust; and, fool that he is, knoweth not that he is but a guest.
He only repenteth after his departure, and so falleth into the power of Death the executioner.
O blind man, thou art sitting on a falling bank.
If thou art so fated from the beginning, then act according to the Guru's instruction.
The Owner[1] may gather the crop whether it be green, half-ripe, or ripe and fit to be cut.
The reapers[2] make preparations, bring sickles, and arrive on the ground.
They cut the crop as it is measured out to them when the Landlord giveth orders.
The first watch of night is gone in business; during the second man sleepeth his fill;
The third is passed in idle discourse; and at the fourth the morning dawneth.
He who gave soul and body never entereth into man's mind.
I sacrifice and devote my life to the society of the saints,
Through whom understanding entered my heart, and I met God the Omniscient.
Know that Nanak hath ever seen God who is the Searcher of hearts with him.
