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LIFE OF GURU NANAK
169
Janameja[1] wept when he went astray;—
For one offence he was deemed a sinner—
Shaikhs, Disciples and Pirs[2] weep
For fear of suffering at the last moment;
Kings wept when their ears were torn,[3]
And they went to beg alms from door to door;
The miser wept at his departure from the wealth he had amassed;
The pandit wept when he had lost his learning;
The young girl who hath no husband weepethbr />
Nanak, the whole world is in misery.
He who revereth the Name is victorious;
The Guru, leaving Srinagar, penetrated the Himalaya mountains, and scaled numerous lofty peaks
- ↑ Janameja, king of Hastinapura, who listened to the long Sanskrit epic Mahābhārat in expiation of the sin of killing Brāhmans.
- ↑ Pīrs are Muhammadan saints.
- ↑ The reference is to Gopi Chand and Bharthari. Bharthari was king of Ujjain. In his stale there lived a Brāhman who by his austerities had obtained the fruit of immortality. Not deeming it useful to himself he presented it as a fitting offering to his monarch. He being in love with his queen presented it to her. She being in love with the head police officer of the state presented it to him. He being in love with a favourite courtesan presented it to her. She being in love with the king presented it to him. On being informed of the strange vicissitudes of the fruit of immortality, and pondering on the instability of love and friendship, Bharthari abdicated and became a religious mendicant.Gopi Chand was king of Bengāl, whose capital, according to legend, was then Doulagarh. His mother Menāwati was Rāja Bharthari's sister. One day as Gopi Chand was bathing, his mother, seated in an upper chamber, admired his beauty, but at the same time felt that he was not so handsome as his father, her late husband. Death had taken him, it would also take Gopi Chand. Gopi Chand as he bathed felt moisture falling on him, and was told in reply to his inquiries that it was his mother's tears. He tried to console her and said that death was the way of the world, and one must not endeavour to resist Nature s primordial law. On reflection she decided that Gopi Chand should become a faqīr under the spiritual guidance of Jalandharnāth. Gopi Chand abdicated, proceeded to him, and after many troubles received, it is said, instruction how to overcome death.
- ↑ Rāmkali ki Wār.
