Welcome to our collection of quotes by Guru Nanak. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Guru Nanak
Gurū Nānak (Punjabi pronunciation: [gʊɾuː naːnəkᵊ], pronunciation; born as Nānak on 15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539), also referred to as Bābā Nānak ('father Nānak'), was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated worldwide as Guru Nanak Gurpurab on Katak Pooranmashi ('full-moon of Kattak'), i.e. October–November.
Nanak is said to have travelled far and wide across Asia teaching people the message of ik onkar (ੴ, 'one God'), who dwells in every one of his creations and constitutes the eternal Truth. With this concept, he would set up a unique spiritual, social, and political platform based on equality, fraternal love, goodness, and virtue.
Nanak's words are registered in the form of 974 poetic hymns, or shabda, in the holy text of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, with some of the major prayers being the Japji Sahib (jap, 'to recite'; ji and sahib are suffixes signifying respect); the Asa di Var ('ballad of hope'); and the Sidh Gosht ('discussion with the Siddhas'). It is part of Sikh religious belief that the spirit of Nanak's sanctity, divinity, and religious authority had descended upon each of the nine subsequent Gurus when the Guruship was devolved on to them.
He who, having lost his parents or being abandoned, by them without ,just cause, gives himself to a ,man , is called a son self given.
Emotional attachment to Maya is totally painful, this is a bad bargain.
Neither ancients nor moderns who were good men have done such ,a deed that, after promising ,a daughter to one man, they have her to another, Nor, indeed, have we heard, even in former creations, of such ,a thing as the covert sale of a daughter for a fixed price, called a nuptial fee.
I am in constant bliss, day and night, egotism has been dispelled from within me.
Let him avoid ,the acquisition of wealth and ,the gratification of his desires, if they are opposed to the sacred law, and even lawful acts which may cause pain in the future or are offensive to men.
Burn worldly love,
rub the ashes and make ink of it,
make the heart the pen,
the intellect the writer,
write that which has no end or limit.
As fragrance abides in the flower
As reflection is within the mirror,
So does your Lord abide within you,
Why search for him without?
Build the raft of meditation and self-discipline, to carry you across the river. There will be no ocean, and no rising tides to stop you; this is how comfortable your path shall be.
If one of the brothers, being able ,to maintain himself by his own occupation, does not desire ,a share of the family property, he may be made separate ,by the others receiving a trifle out of his share to live upon.
By twice born men a widow must not be appointed to ,cohabit with any other ,than her husband , for they who appoint ,her to another ,man , will violate the eternal law.
What should the yogi have to fear? Trees, plants, and all that is inside and outside, is He Himself.
Even kings and emperors, with mountains of property and oceans of wealth -- these are not even equal to an ant, who does not forget God.
There, where neither your children nor your spouse shall accompany you, the Name of the Lord shall emancipate you.
Yet in a kingdom containing seven constituent parts, which is upheld like the triple staff ,of an ascetic , there is no ,single part more important ,than the others , by reason of the importance of the qualities of each for the others.
When the purpose of the appointment to ,cohabit with the widow bas been attained in accordance with the law, those two shall behave towards each other like a father and a daughter in law.
An adopted son shall never take the family, name and the estate of his natural father, the funeral cake follows the family, name and the estate, the funeral offerings of him who gives ,his son in adoption cease, as far as that son is concerned.
Like the juggler, deceiving by his tricks, one is deluded by egotism, falsehood and illusion.
Those who have not obtained the Blessed Vision, the Blessed Vision of the Darshan of the True Guru, the Almighty Lord God they have fruitlessly, uselessly wasted their whole lives in vain.
The word is the Guru, The Guru is the Word, For all nectar is enshrined in the world Blessed is the word which reveal the Lord's name But more is the one who knows by the Guru's grace.
The widow cries out at the door, The light of my mind has gone out, O my mother, with his death. So cry out, O soul brides of the Husband Lord, and dwell on the Glorious Praises of the True Lord.
Giving no pain to any creature, let him slowly accumulate spiritual merit, for the sake ,of acquiring a companion to the next world, just as the white ant ,gradually raises its hill.
O my heart! Love God as the chatrik loves the rain drops, Who even when fountains are full and the land green, Is not satisfied as long as it cannot get a drop of rain.
If the widow of a man who died without leaving issue, raises up to him a son by a member of the family , she shall deliver to that ,son the whole property which belonged to the ,deceased .
No calamity happens to those who eagerly follow auspicious customs and the rule of good conduct, to those who are always careful of purity, and to those who mutter ,sacred texts and offer burnt oblations.
Be kind to all beings, this is more meritorious than bathing at the sixty-eight sacred shrines of pilgrimage and donating money.
If a woman abandoned by her husband, or a widow, of her own accord contracts a second marriage and bears ,a son , he is called the son of a re married woman .
Those who conquer their minds are beings of renunciation and detachment. They are beings of renunciation and detachment they are lovingly focused on the True One, they realize and understand themselves.
The True One was there from time immemorial.
He is there today and ever there you will find.
He never died nor will he ever die. ...
Look within, you will see Him there enshrined.
Dwell in peace in the home of your own being, and the Messenger of Death will not be able to touch you.
Far from wife and son am 1, far from land and wealth and other notions of that kind. I am the Witness, the Eternal, the Inner Self.
The ignorant soul bride wanders in delusion, in the love of duality, she sits like a widow. She sits like a widow, in the love of duality, infatuated with Maya, she suffers in pain. She grows old, and her body withers away.
Blessed, blessed is the True Guru, the Immaculate, Almighty Lord God, meeting Him, I meditate on the Name of the Lord.
But for disloyalty to her husband a wife is censured among men, and ,in her next life she is born in the womb of a jackal and tormented by diseases, the punishment of her sin.
By singing the Guru's hymns, I, the minstrel spread the Lord's glory. Nanak, by praising the True Name, I have obtained the perfect Lord.
May liberal men abound with us! May our knowledge of the Vedas and our progeny increase! May faith not forsake us! May we have much to give to the needy.
For each and every person, our Lord and Master provides sustenance. Why are you so afraid, O mind? The flamingos fly hundreds of miles, leaving their young ones behind. Who feeds them, and who teaches them to feed themselves? Have you ever thought of this in your mind?
As a father ,supports his sons, so let the eldest support his younger brothers, and let them also in accordance with the law behave towards their eldest brother as sons ,behave.
God is one, but he has innumerable forms. He is the creator of all and He himself takes the human form.
See the brotherhood of all mankind as the highest order of Yogis; conquer your own mind, and conquer the world.
The highest religion is to rise to universal brother hood; aye to consider all creatures your equals.
As with cows, mares, female camels, slave girls, buffalo cows, she goats, and ewes, it is not the begetter ,or his owner who obtains the offspring, even thus ,it is with the wives of others.
Only fools argue whether to eat meat or not. They don't understand truth nor do they meditate on it. Who can define what is meat and what is plant Who knows where the sin lies, being a vegetarian or a non vegetarian.
Only fools argue whether to eat meat or not. They don't understand truth, nor do they meditate on it. Who can define what is meat and what is plant? Who knows where the sin lies, being a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian?
Alone let him constantly meditate in solitude on that which is salutary for his soul, for he who meditates in solitude attains supreme bliss.
Asceticism doesn't lie in ascetic robes or in walking staff nor in the ashes. Asceticism doesn't lie in the earring nor in the shaven head nor blowing a conch. Asceticism lies in remaining pure amidst impurities.
Let God's grace be the mosque, and devotion the prayer mat. Let the Quran be the good conduct.
Longer Version:
Let God's grace be the mosque, and devotion the prayer mat. Let the Quran be the good conduct. Let modesty be compassion, good manners fasting, you should be a Muslim the like of this. Let good deeds be your Kaaba and truth be your mentor. Your Kalma be your creed and prayer, God would then vindicate your honour.
Owing to ignorance of the rope the rope appears to be a snake; owing to ignorance of the Self the transient state arises of the individualized, limited, phenomenal aspect of the Self.
If the people use the wealth bestowed on them by God for themselves alone or for treasuring it, it is like a corpse. But if they decide to share it with others, it becomes sacred food.
Sing the songs of joy to the Lord, serve the Name of the Lord, and become the servant of His servants.
The production of children, the nurture of those born, and the daily life of men, of these matters woman is visibly the cause.
Thou has a thousand eyes and yet not one eye; Thou host a thousand forms and yet not one form.
That one plant should be sown and another be produced cannot happen; whatever seed is sown, a plant of that kind even comes forth.
Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore.
One cannot comprehend Him through reason, even if one reasoned for ages.
I am neither a child, a young man, nor an ancient; nor am I of any caste.
Whatever kind of seed is sown in a field, prepared in due season, a plant of that same kind, marked with the peculiar qualities of the seed, springs up in it.
Offspring, the due performance on religious rites, faithful service, highest conjugal happiness and heavenly bliss for the ancestors and oneself, depend on one's wife alone.
I bow at His Feet constantly, and pray to Him, the Guru, the True Guru, has shown me the Way.
Through shallow intellect, the mind becomes shallow, and one eats the fly, along with the sweets.
Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God.
If there is one God, then there is only His way to attain Him, not another. One must follow that way and reject the other. Worship not him who is born only to die, but Him who is eternal and is contained in the whole universe.
Asceticism doesn't lie in mere words; He is an ascetic who treats everyone alike. Asceticism doesn't lie in visiting burial places; it lies not in wandering about nor in bathing at places of pilgrimage. Asceticism is to remain pure amidst impurities.
Whatever be the qualities of the man with whom a woman is united according to the law, such qualities even she assumes, like a river, united with the ocean.
