Kalu, finding his arguments vain, appealed to his son on the score of his health and safety, and pointed
out how regardless of them he had been. The
following was the Guru s reply:
I have no anxiety regarding death, and I have no desire for life.
Thou, God, art the Cherisher of all living things ; our breathings[1] are taken into account.
Thou dwellest in the holy ; as it pleaseth Thee, so Thou decidest.
O my soul, by uttering God s name the heart is satisfied. Under the Guru s instruction divine knowledge is obtained, and the burning of the heart extinguished.[2]
The Guru again addressed his parents : Father dear, mother dear, I have returned home. I have been until now a hermit. Obey God s order and let me again depart. His mother replied : My son, how shall I console myself, seeing that thou hast only now returned after an absence of twelve years ? Then the Guru urged, Mother, agree to what I say ; con solation shall come to thee. 1 She then became silent, thinking it was useless to make further remonstrance.
CHAPTER IX
The Guru and Mardana again set out on their travels. It is said that they went to the west and crossed the rivers Ravi and Chanab, and, after a long circuitous route through a desert country, made their way again to Pak Pattan to pay another visit to Shaikh Brahm. They sat down to rest about four miles from the city. Shaikh Kamal, a pious and God-fearing disciple of Shaikh Brahm, who had gone
