Page:The Sikh Religion, its gurus, sacred writings and authors Vol 2.djvu/28

18 and asked for divine instruction that he might obtain salvation. The Guru bade him recite the Japji with attention every morning, and work gratuitously for the poor.

A barber named Dhinga remained with the Guru and performed ordinary menial offices for his Sikhs. One day he asked the Guru for spiritual consolation. The Guru replied, ‘The Guru is as it were a grave, and the Sikhs are as it were corpses. These are laid in the grave when life is extinct, and they cease to move. So when the Sikhs divest themselves of pride, they are fit to rest in the Guru's bosom. His Sikhs should therefore be humble and serve others. The saint Sain was of the same trade and caste as thou, yet he obtained salvation by serving his fellow-creatures. Thou shouldst therefore not despair of thy deliverance from transmigration during thy present birth.’

Paro of the Julka tribe asked the Guru the meaning of param hans—superior swan—as applied to holy men. The Guru replied: ‘In the first place, the holy accept good precepts from the Guru as the swan, according to the popular belief, feedeth on pearls in Lake Mansarowar; secondly, the holy renounce evil and do good as the swan by the peculiar structure of its bill separateth water from milk.’

A soldier named Malu Shah, orderly of a Mughal officer, sought for spiritual advice which would be profitable to him here and hereafter. The Guru counselled him, if ever the necessity of battle arose, to fight for his master, and not consider whether his side was in a numerical minority or not.

Kidaru asked the Guru how he should escape from the fire of the deadly sins which was consuming the world. The Guru replied, ‘As when a forest is burning the deer flee and cool themselves in the