A poem for today from five hundred years ago.

I’m an old man thinking about the ways of the world. Watching our collective humanity being pushed “hither and thither” by the dictates of global agendas, seeing humanity cry in anguish as was foretold in the great scriptures of long ago. It brought me to think of this poem by the great Guru Nanak, which I’d written with fountain pen into a precious old diary during my years in India as a young man on the road.

Guru Nanak was the first guru of the Sikhs. Born in the Punjab, he walked as far as Arabia, some accounts say he went as far as Jerusalem. He returned to walk through much of India itself.

Written around 500 years ago by a saint who spent his life wandering and teaching.

Timeless words and true. I’ll leave them with you ..

It would be right to make a permanent abode,
And escape the pain of daily wandering,
If there were a permanent place,
And this world were unchanging.

What kind of place is this world?
Impermanent and transitory.
It is wise to cling to the light of the name,
And keep ready for the journey.

Yogis perform postures,
The Mullas dwell in holy places,
The pundits expound sacred books,
The Sidhs occupy the abode of the gods.

Demi-gods, Sidhs, Pirs and Sheikhs,
Heavenly Musicians and Munis,
Saints, sages and commanders,
Have all to depart.

Emperors, kings, princes and nobles,
Have all to march away.
Man has no abiding place on earth.
Understand, Oh Man! Thou too must go.

This truth has been repeatedly revealed,
Yet few pay heed to the truth.
Nanak humbly asserts,
The permanent pervades on earth and waters.

The Allah, the unseen, the inscrutable,
The omnipotent, the creator, the merciful,
Is alone permanent:
The whole is in a state of flux.

He alone is permanent,
Who is freed from the bondage of cause and effect;
The heavens and earth shall pass:
He the compassionate one is permanent.

The sun travelleth by day,
The moon by night,
Hundreds and thousands of stars are moving,
He alone is permanent, says Nanak.