Address the True Guru, and there shall be no fear that thy bark will founder.
Another of the Guru's reflections on the sinfulness of his age:—
Nanak, to what hath the world come?
No companion or friend remaineth.
Love hath ceased among brethren and kinsmen;
Faith is lost on account of mammon.
The following was composed by Guru Nanak on seeing women mourning:—
They are saying 'Hai hai!' and 'Oh Oh!';
They beat their cheeks and pluck out the hairs of their heads;
They utter God's name[1] without meaning it: if they were absorbed in it,
Then would Nanak be a sacrifice unto them.
The Guru went to visit a man of reputed sanctity, but on finding him a hypocrite composed the following:—
The raven washeth and rubbeth itself in a small pool in the desert;
Its mind and body are full of demerits and its beak of filth.
The swan of the lake, not knowing that the raven was an evil bird, associated with him.
Such is affection for the infidel; O man of divine knowledge, understand the allusion.
Congratulate the congregation of the saints, and act like a holy man.
Pure is the ablution, O Nanak, when the Guru is deemed the river of pilgrimage.
The really holy are few:—
The saints are few, not many; deceit and wrangling prevail in the world.[2]
