Page:The Sikh Religion, its gurus, sacred writings and authors Vol 6.djvu/93

Rh used to make seven hundred protestations to God daily, often on the muddy road. A merchant once offered him a silken cloth to protect his knees. He declined the offer and told him to give it to a more needy person, as he himself would be satisfied with an old cloth instead. This the merchant granted him.

Parmanand defended the utterance of God's name as a devotional exercise by saying that prayers are often not felt, because while repeating them men's minds are apt to wander; but the continual utterance of God's name must ever result in heartfelt devotion.

In his hymns Parmanand called himself Sarang, by which he meant that he longed for God as the sarang or chatrik longs for its yearly raindrops.

Parmanand's writings are believed to excessively increase men's love for God. It is said to be impossible for one to read them without contemplating God or bearing an image of Him in the mind. A list of Parmanand's works is given in the Asht Chhap or the Eight Marks of the followers of Vishnu.

The following hymn of Parmanand's composition is found in the Granth Sahib.

O man, what hast thou done by hearing the Purans? Thou hast performed no steady worship, and not given alms to the hungry. Lust hast thou not forgotten, wrath hast thou not for gotten, covetousness hath not left thee; Slander hath not left thy lips, and fruitless hath been all thy devotion. O sinful man, by highway robbery and house-breaking hast thou filled thy belly. Thou hast committed the folly from which on thy departure to the next world infamy will result.