The Source Book On Sikhism

Readings from Akal Ustat

I seek safety in Him!

I seek safety in Him Who is the Steel of the Blood of centuries!

I seek safety in Him, Who is the Heart of all ages!

I seek everlasting safety in Him Who is the Iron of life.

I bow down to Him Whose form is the Eternal Unity.

The one that meets us everywhere on land and in water!

The one dwelling above Time and Space, whose Aura is all the teeming life that is filling the fourteen Regions of the created worlds;

I bow down to the Divine Life that is manifest in the moving little ant and the elephant alike, and blesses the poor and the rich alike;

The Inscrutable One who is the Knower in the life-throb of every heart,

The one that is Himself transcends all expressions, and is undescribed by all descriptions.

I bow down to Him from whom the floods of the life rolling come, and into whom all go and rest again;

Where the past, the present, and the future are mere fiction.

And one little moment of devotion spent with Him is a whole Eternity.

I bow to him who is awakened consciousness, and who is the whole unconscious Self that sleeps without waking;

Here He giveth without limit, and there He taketh away!

Here He putteth His hands out asking as a beggar for alms and there He standeth at every door as the indefatigable Giver with His hands full to give away His all;

Here He follows the rulings of the Vedas, and there He disobeys them entirely; here He is the Infinite Appearance, and there He is All-silence - indistinguishable from Nothing; and the Ever-Unknown, the Unknowable!

I bow to Him

Whom I see here as a warrior fully armed, and there a scholar seeking pure knowledge;

Who eats wind and fire here, Who fettered in the love of woman there!

Who is the gods and goddesses,

Who is both the Black and the White;

The Dweller in the fortress of Dharma Who goes forth and is everywhere!

He is the Vow of celibacy, and He is the amorous Passion.

Nath (Lord)!

Thou art the Hindu, the Moslem, the Turk, and the Feringhi!

Thou art the Persian, the Sanskritan, the Arabian;

Thou art the poet, the skilled dancer. The Songster Supreme.

Thou art the Speech; and Thou art the Avdhuta the Adept.

Thou art the Warrior clad in shining armour, and thou art the peace Supreme!

Thou art man, woman, child and God!

Thou art the Flute-player, the Herdsman that goes grazing His dumb cows!

Thou bestowest love, and Thou givest Thyself to all!

Thou art the protector of life and the giver of all prosperity.

Thou art the cure of sorrows and suffering;

Thou art the net of charms of youth, and high summit of all fulfilment!

Thou art the form of a beautiful Princess and thou art the emaciated form of the Brahmachari with the wooden beads hanging from his neck!

Thou art the Muezzin that cries from the roof of the Mosque, the Yogi that lies wrapt in silence of deep thought, unthinking in the soul-lit caves.

The Verdes art Thou, and the Quran!

In all shapes and everywhere, Thou art dear to me; in every form Thou art Thyself!

Thou art my vow; my Dharma; my beginning, and my end!