LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 75
The Brahman
Hear, O my daughter, thou understandest not. Thou thinkest that he whom we call Shiv is a stone. All people bow their heads to Brahmans, and apply to their foreheads the water in which they have washed their feet. The whole world worshippeth them, while thou, O foolish girl, slan- derest them. This salagram is the primal and ancient Brahm and is prized even by monarchs.
The Princess
Hear, O foolish Brahman, thou knowest nothing. Thou recognizest a stone as the Primal Light of the world. Thou thinkest it holdeth the Supreme Being. Thou hast taken leave of thy senses. Deceive me not, but take what thou desirest to take. Tell me not that a stone is God. While telling fools so, thou plunderest them to thy heart's content. Thou sendest men to rivers of pilgrimage to drown them in superstition. Thou makest unnumbered efforts to strip them of their wealth and not allow them to take a paisa home. Thou pretendest to find a number of inauspicious circumstances connected with a rich man, so that he may give thee feasts to bribe thee to intercede for him. When thou knowest that a man hath spent all his wealth, thou never lookest at him. Brahmans hover over money like ravens, and quarrel like kites over a fish or dogs over a bone. In public thou expoundest the Veds, but in thy heart is worship of money. Thou findest not God, thy money soon departeth, and vain is all thy service. Thou paradest thy learning, but knowest not how to unite men with God. Thou callest thyself wise and me a fool. What if thou, O idiot, eat not bhang, even still thou art not in thy senses. Everybody can see this for himself. Brave men taking bhang fight and draw elephant's teeth, and grasping the scimitar and lance fearlessly smite their enemies. Say, O tyrant, what couldst thou do even wert thou to take bhang? Thou wouldst even then, if engaged in combat, fall on thy face like a corpse through fright.
