1 GURU NANAK. “949
2 ‘js called “Rori Sahib,” owing to its having been originally a heap of gravels
3 and stones, which Ndnak used as an altar, and before which he prayed. He
4 stood in the waters of the Bids, near Sultanpur, for three successive days,
5 neither eating nor drinking anything, and passing the whole time in prayer and
6 meditation. The tree under which he stood is called “ Ba&bdé ki ber,’ the
7 place where he used to perform his ablutions being known as “ Sant Ghat.”
8 In one of Baber’s expeditions into the Panjab, Nanak, with a number of his
9 followers, among whom was Mardand, was apprehended at Emnabad and
10 brought before the emperor. Baber, who was himself avery good Arabic and
11 Persian scholar, and also a poet, was much pleased with the conversation
12 which he held with Ndénak, and with the information given to him on many
13 interesting topics.
14 The Emperor ordered rich presents to be bestowed on the faqir, but
15 Nanak refused them, observing that his best reward was the inward pleasure
16 derived from the worshipping of the Creator, and that as his aim in life was to
17 please that Lord of Lords, he had no concern with the kings made by Him. A
18 drug, richly prepared, was brought to the emperor by hisslave. His majesty
19 partook of it, and ordered some to be given tothe faqir, but Ndnak request-
20 ed to be excused, saying: “On a man who is ever intoxicated with the recol-
21 lection of God, this drug can have no effect.” It is strange that Baber
22 makes no mention of the founder of the Sikh religion in his memoirs; but
23 this is probably due to the fact that Ndénak was not at that time a man of
24 sufficient note and importance to attract the attention of the emperor when
25 engaged in drawing up an account of his own life and exploits.
26 On one occasion Néuak saw a party of Brahmans who were pantomi-
27 mically going through the performance of baling out water from a river
28 with their hands, as if to irrigate their fields, their faces being turned to
29 the east. This ceremony was being performed in the superstitious belief
30 that the thirst of their dead co-religionists would, by virtue of the act,
31 be quenched. Ndnak, who was standing on the opposite bank, saw this,
32 and began to mimic their actions, but with his face turned to the west.
33 The Brahmans evidently considered Nénak, whom they took for a faqir, to
34 ‘ be out of his senses, and indignantly asked him the meaning of his insane
35 performance, informing him that all his labours were in vain, and that he
36 could not hope to relieve the thirst of the departed by such heretical
37 actions. Nanak replied: “I am not furnishing water to my dead, but irri-
38 gating my fields in Kartarpfr to prevent them drying up by the scorching
39 heat of the sun.” “Watering your fields in Kartdérpur! Such a long
40 distance? How can this handful of water benefit your fields which are such
41 a long way off?” rejoined the Brahmans in an excited and indignant tone.
42 “ How can, then, your waters,” replied the pious, but vexed, Nénak, “reach
43 the next world and quench the thirst of your dead? If the water cannot
44 benefit my crops, which are in this world, how can it benefit your dead in
45 another?” Nanak never thought that the office which he had created
46 would become hereditary. When he saw that his last end was approaching,
47 he named Lahnd, one of his faithful disciples, his successor. The sons and
48 other disciples envied him, but he gave proofs of his faith and devotion.
49 Seeing the dead body, of a man lying on the roadside, Ndnak said: “ Ye who
50 have.confidence in me partake of this food.” All shrunk back, including
51 the Guru’s son; but simple Lahnd, Ndnak’s most staunch ally and follower,
52 jumped over the dead body, and was about to devour the dead, when he was
53 embraced by Nénak, who declared that from that moment his own spirit
54 had gone into Lahnd’s body, and that he must be regarded as Ndnak himself.
55 His name he changed from Lahnd to “Angi Khud,” or “ Angad,” meanin
56 Nanak’s religious
57 penances,
58 Bis interview with
59 Baber, the Moghal
60 emperor.
61 Nanak and a party
62 of Brahmans,
63 He names Lahnat as
64 his successor.
65 Proof of Lahnf's
66 delity,
67 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ Ginail.com