Page:The Sikh Religion, its gurus, sacred writings and authors Vol 2.djvu/271

Rh the temper, whereas the pilgrimage of the Name requireth no exertion and causeth no exasperation. What is even the Tribeni—a place so holy in the estimation of the Hindus? The Tribeni of the Sikhs is to repeat God's name, sing His praises, and know Him present in every heart. Without intelligence and discrimination men go astray at pilgrimages. What pilgrimages did Kabir and Rav Das make? Yet they obtained salvation and are reverenced by the world. They each abode in a hut at the pilgrimage of the Name. The restraint of their desires they made the four walls of their lowly dwellings. Love and devotion were their roofs, and divine knowledge and meditation the beams on which they rested. They kept the love of God in their hearts to preserve them from the rain of bad company, the cold of superstition, and the heat of avarice. By dwelling in such huts men need not wander on pilgrimages, and may easily obtain deliverance from transmigration.’

Sri Chand, the elder son of Baba Nanak, wore long hair, wandered a naked hermit, and established the sect of the Udasis. He would not go to meet either Guru Angad or Guru Amar Das, but, now that a long time had elapsed since his father's death, and he had partially forgotten his imaginary grievances, he thought he would visit Guru Ram Das. When he arrived in the suburbs of Goindwal, the Guru went and took him, as the son of Guru Nanak, an offering of sweets and five hundred rupees in money. Sri Chand on beholding Guru Ram Das, thought him the very image of Guru Nanak. In the course of conversation Sri Chand remarked to him that he had grown a long beard. The Guru replied, ‘Yes, I have grown a long beard that I may wipe thy feet therewith’; whereupon the Guru proceeded to suit the action to the word. Sri Chand felt abashed, drew back his feet from the Guru, and said, ‘O great king, thou art senior, thou art in my

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