n. _Truth_ is the great abstraction of the
Sikh creeds; and the extent to which it is at once intolerant and
eclectic may be seen from the following extracts.[48] They certainly
present the doctrine in a favourable light.

I.

The true name is God; without fear, without enmity; the Being
without death; the Giver of salvation; the Gooroo and
Grace.
Remember the primal truth; truth which was before the world began.
Truth which is, and truth, O Nanuk! which will remain.
By reflection it cannot be attained, how much soever the attention
be fixed.
A hundred wisdoms, even a hundred thousand, not one accompanies the
dead.
How can truth be told, how can falsehood be unravelled?
O Nanuk! by following the will of God, as by Him ordained.

II.

Time is the only God; the First and the Last, the Endless Being; the
Creator, the Destroyer; He who can make and unmake.
God who created angels and demons, who created the East and the
West, the North and the South; How can He be expressed by
words?

III.

Numerous Mahomets have there been, and multitudes of Bruhmas,
Vishnoos, and Sivas.
Thousands of Peers and Prophets, and tens of thousands of saints and
holy men:
But the chief of Lords is the one Lord, the true name of God.
O Nanuk! of God, His qualities, without end, beyond reckoning, who
can understand?

IV.

Many Bruhmas wearied themselves with the study of the Veds, but
found not the value of an oil seed.
Holy men and saints are sought about anxiously, but they were
deceived by Maya.
There have been, and there have passed away, ten regent Owtars, and
the wondrous Muhadeo.
Even they, wearied with the application of ashes, could not find
Thee.

V.

He who speaks of me as the Lord, him will I sink into the pit of
hell!
Consider me as the slave of God; of that have no doubt in thy mind.
I am but the slave of the Lord, come to behold the wonders of
creation.

VI.

Dwell thou in flames uninjured,
Remain unharmed amid ice eternal,
Make blocks of stone thy daily food,
Spurn the earth before thee with thy foot,
Weigh the heavens in a balance,
And then ask of me