Muhammadan persecutors, continued to communicate spiritual and ethical instruction to his Sikhs: ‘Do good to all, but be not proud thereof. Deem another's wife as a snake or a murderous elephant, and associate not with her. Avoid evil company; be not conceited, glorify not yourselves, and forswear slander and falsehood. Eat and work according to your ability. Practise not hypocrisy or ostentation. Meditate on the Guru's instruction. Give a tithe of your substance to God. Associate with the virtuous and wait upon the stranger. Invoke Wahguru before meals, and He will bless your repasts.’
His Sikhs put a question to the Guru: ‘Who are the greatest saints and worshippers of God ?’ The Guru replied, ‘They who have repeated the Name and renounced pride are the best. The saint who so acteth, and leaveth this filthy and loathsome body, shall obtain in its stead a celestial body of light. True saints are passionless, and afford shelter to men. He who restraineth his desires hath obtained salvation while alive. The saints are ever independent. What they do is ever beautiful and of good report. The true Guru and the saints are sent into the world to benefit it, though in reality they live apart and are not of it.’
Kingurinath, at the head of a company of Jogis, visited Guru Amar Das. They proclaimed that they were Jogis and holy men, and in proof of their statement pointed to the garbs and earrings they wore. The Guru denied that that was the way to become holy. He would tell them, and thereupon he uttered the following :—
Ramkali Ashtapadi
Put the rings of modesty in thine ears, O Jogi, and make
compassion thy patched coat.
Apply the fear of transmigration to thy body as ashes,
O Jogi, thus shalt thou conquer the three worlds.
O Jogi, play such a kinguri
