Page:The Sikh Religion, its gurus, sacred writings and authors Vol 2.djvu/273

Rh obtained; until God is obtained salvation is impossible; and until salvation is obtained the soul shall wander through the eighty-four lakhs of existences. O Guru, how can thy Sikhs obtain salvation? What advantage do they gain by serving thee?’

The Guru replied: ‘As the teats on a goat's neck yield no milk, so Jog without piety yieldeth no advantage. My Sikhs are family men, and may obtain salvation in that condition of life. It would be impossible for them to practise Jog. The best means of practising Jog is the repetition of the Name. The Name is implanted in the hearts of my Sikhs, and they repeat it day and night. All persons in whose hearts there are love and devotion, shall undoubtedly obtain deliverance from transmigration. Wealth or supernatural power may strive to lead them astray, but will not succeed. Profit or loss, joy or sorrow, praise or blame never cause them to waver. At every breath they repeat the Name of Sri Wahguru, the immortal God. They never incline to mammon or worldly advantages, since they know that all such things are perishable and delusive like a mirage. He who hath not divine knowledge, is like a man in a lonely forest in the heat of the year, who searcheth for water but findeth only a sandy waste. The sun above him burneth his head, the sand beneath him his feet, and he findeth no respite from his sufferings. He who on the contrary hath divine knowledge, knoweth that it is not water, but a sea of sand that is before him, that everything is false and that God alone is true. Without love and devotion to God all other means of obtaining salvation are unprofitable. O Jogis, it is very difficult even for yourselves to practise Jog in this age, and you can never obtain perfection by it. Even if you obtain supernatural power, it is very difficult to fix your attention on God, for the mind wandereth in every direction, and is not at

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