The Marriage Hymn
by Guru Ram Das
Stanza – I
By the first nuptial cycling the Lord shows you His instruction for the daily duties of wedded life:
The words of the Guru are the words of the Lord; learn the right way through them, and the errors of the past will be washed away.
Hold fast to righteousness, contemplate the Naam as the scriptures prescribe. Devote yourself to the Sant Satguru, and your sins and errors will go. By great fortune the mind is filled with bliss and imbued with the sweetness of Naam; then comes happiness without effort.
Nanak the slave proclaims:
In the first circling, the marriage rite has begun.
Stanza – II
In the second nuptial circling the Lord brings you to the Satguru.
The fear in your hearts has gone; the filth of ego is washed from your minds; fearing God and singing His praises,
You see His presence before you – the Lord, the Master, the Soul of the Universe – there is nowhere that He is not. Within and without, there is God only; His song of joy is heard in the company of the Saints.
Nanak the slave proclaims:
That in the second circling Divine Music is heard.
Stanza – III
In the third circling comes the longing for the Lord and detachment from the world. By great fortune we meet Him in the company of the Saints. The Immaculate Lord is found in His purity through the blessed Holy Word. By great fortune we find the company of the Saints and hear the Ineffable Story from Their Holy Lips.
The Naam resounds in our hearts, its echoes absorb us within; It is written on our foreheads from ages back:
Nanak the slaves proclaims:
That in the third circling the Love of God has been awakened in the heart.
Stanza – IV
In the fourth circling the mind grasps the Divine Knowledge, and God is realised within. Through the Grace of the Guru we have reached the Lord with ease; body and soul alike are filled with the sweetness of the Beloved. Dear, dear, very dear, is He to us, and dear we are to Him.
Night and day our minds are filled with Him. By putting Him first we have reached Him. That which we wanted we received;
The Beloved has finished His work. The Bridge takes her delight in her Beloved’s Name And blessings fill our minds. The Naam rings in our hearts and the Lord is united with His Holy Bride. Her heart blooms in response to the Naam;
Nanak the slave proclaims:
That in the fourth circling we have found the Eternal Lord.