74 THE SIKH RELIGION
callest thyself a prophet and pretendest to know the future, but yet thou knowest not even the past. Thou thinkest thyself very handsome and able, and claimest to be con- tinent and physically strong. Thou sayest that Shiv is certainly in the stone, but, O great fool, thou knowest nothing. O clever man, consider in what part of the stone Parbati's lord is. Say what spiritual perfection thou attain- est by bowing thy head to clay? He whom the world cannot please will not be pleased by thy offerings of rice. Thou burnest incense, blowest shells, and rainest a shower of flowers. Thou growest weary in thine endeavours, but findest not God in a stone. To those who accept not thine incantations and spells thou recitest songs and verses. In broad daylight thou stealest wealth from men's houses. Thieves, pickpockets, and robbers seeing thy cleverness are ashamed of their ignorance. Thou payest no heed to the magistrate or the judge. Thou livest by cheating thy disciples.
Rich people are like flowers, clever men like thee are the bumble-bees which, unmindful of their homes, continue to buzz over them. Every one is at last in Death's power, and yet men have departed without resigning the craving for wealth. There are no bounds to this desire. It is the only thing in this world that surviveth.
You shave the heads of some, you send others to places of pilgrimages, and at the same time ask for all they possess. Those thou seest wealthy thou entanglest in the narrow door[1] and leviest a tax at so much per head on them. Thou then lettest them pass. It is thirst for money not
love of God that actuateth Brahmans.
- ↑ In Gaya, Kāmaksha, and other places of Hindu pilgrimage there is an aperture in a wall through which pilgrims are bidden to pass with the object of securing deliverance. When the pilgrim is a rich man, he is by some secret mechanism caught in the aperture and told that he cannot pass on account of his many sins and enormities. He is then obliged to vow to perform certain penances and make certain presents to the Brāhmans. He is only allowed to pass through the aperture when the promised money has been paid down.Thag Lila, p. 34.
