The Divan-e-Goya of Bhai Nand Lal

Bhai Nand Lal 'Goya' was the beloved poet of Guru Gobind Singh's court, and this — the Divan-e-Goya — is his most treasured book: sixty-three short love-songs, called ghazals, and a set of four-line verses, first written in Persian. In them he sings the way a lover sings — aching for one glimpse of the Beloved, calling out across the night, giving away his whole self for a single look. The Beloved is God, and it is also the Guru, in whom he saw God's light; Goya almost never draws a line between them. Each poem takes one bright picture — a candle burning down, a moth at the flame, the wine of remembrance, a face like the moon — and turns it until it glows. Some poems are pure joy; some are a soft, honest cry of longing. His verses are so full of love that, together with Bhai Gurdas's, they are the only words by anyone who was not himself a Guru that a Sikh sangat may sing alongside the Gurus' own sacred word (which includes both the Guru Granth Sahib and the tenth Guru's Dasam Granth). Read a few of them slowly, and let them warm the heart.

1. 1 The Wine of Remembrance Seven ghazals on the longing that is the soul of the path — the thirst for devotion that alone makes a life worth living, the wine of love poured by the Cup-bearer, and the Beloved whose face, once sought, is seen in every place. 8 min read ›
2. 2 The Fire of Separation Seven ghazals of the wound — the cold glance that slays the lover, the smoke of sighs that darkens the sky, and the fire of separation in which not one heart but the whole world is set ablaze. 8 min read ›
3. 3 The Spring Has Come Seven ghazals of the crying-out — 'will someone save me?' — and of the dawn: the sleepy-eyed Beloved before whom the morning sun is shamed, the spring that arrives when the Guru comes, and the vow never again to sleep through the hour of remembrance. 7 min read ›
4. 4 Show Me Your Face Seven ghazals of the face — the mirror in which the devotee glimpses the Lord, the priceless life that has a morning and an evening, and the tender plea: what would You lose to lift the veil and show me Your face? 8 min read ›
5. 5 The Dust of the Door Seven ghazals on the dust of the door — the handful of dust that heals and makes a beggar a king, the crimson of Holi cast by the Beloved's own hands, and the sweetness of a Name that outshines every jewel in the jeweller's shop. 7 min read ›
6. 6 The Word of the Perfect Guru Seven ghazals on the life-giving glance — the spring smile that breathes life into the world, the beauty of growing old in the Beloved's company, and the nectar-talisman of the perfect Guru's word that revives the half-dead heart. 7 min read ›
7. 7 Come to the Garden Seven ghazals of invitation and cleansing — come to the garden with Your cypress stride; the candle that burns itself down waiting through the night; and the washing of the mind's five vices to find the real Self. 7 min read ›
8. 8 The Ways of Love Seven ghazals on the ways of love — the tale that ruins a worldly life yet is prized above all, the confession 'I do not know who I am, only that I am His,' and the vision in which, seek as one may, there is no one anywhere but the One. 8 min read ›
9. 9 A Man of Love Seven ghazals to close the Divan — 'I am a man of love; I know no barrier between You and me,' the eyes that will look on no one but the Friend, and the mad heart offered up for sale in the sure hope that the Guru will buy it. 7 min read ›
10. 10 The Quatrains The rubais — nineteen four-line verses and four short couplets that gather the Divan's whole teaching in miniature: the blind eye that never knew God, the heart made one with the Beloved, the men of God who come only to reveal Him, and the shade of the holy under which one attains God Himself. 7 min read ›