SALOK SAHASKRITĪ, title of a composition comprising seventy-one verses incorporated in the Gurū Granth Sāhib. The term 'Sahaskritī' denotes the language form, a mixture of Sanskrit, Pāli and Prākrit, in which these ślokas have been written. 'Gāthā' is another word used for 'Sahaskritī'. Of the seventy-one verses collected under the title Salok Sahaskritī, sixty-seven are of the composition of Gurū Arjan and the remaining four of Gurū Nānak. Terse and cryptic in style and the favourites of classical scholars such as the Nirmalās, these verses denounce ritualism and hypocritical religious behaviour and present loving devotion and absorption in the Divine Name as the true ideal. They call attention to the futility of formal practices and ceremonial, and impress upon man constantly to meditate upon His name, for this is the only 'treasure' which will last and which will procure him release from bondage. The grace of God and help of the Gurū are necessary prerequisites for this. It is the succour of the Gurū and company of the holy that drive away sins and evils which nullify man's spirituality. God is the only Reality : He is most beautiful, He is eternal, perfect, full of virtues, sustainer of all, sublime, high, all-knowing, beyond comprehension, illimitable, beloved of the devotees and their protector. He banishes darkness, destroys evil and sins; He places those who are at the tail in the front, raises hope in the hopeless, makes the penniless wealthy, cures all maladies; He is the fountain-head of mercy, guide of the world, protector of the helpless. The holy man, the perfect saint is he who meditates on Him, takes woe and weal alike and whose life is pure and without rancour; who is compassionate to all and has rid himself of all the five deadly sins; who subsists on God's praises and who abides in the world untouched by it as lotus in the water.