Your World Religions: Guru Nanak's Hymn: Sikhs

Sunday

Guru Nanak's Hymn: Sikhs

Guru Nanak 1469 - 1539

Guru Nanak and the Sikhs bravely integrated the Muslim call to unity with the call to unity in Hinduism. Sikh scripture says, EKAM SAT NAM: Worship the Truth as One. The Hindu Upanishads declare, EKAM SAT VIPRAH BAHUDHA VEDANTI: Truth is One, though the wise have called it by many names.

Is this not echoed in the central Jewish prayer, the Shema: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is ONE" ?

This is not to imply that Sikhism is simply an amalgam of faiths: it is an inspired and sublime revelation in its own right.

In a classic hymn, Guru Nanak sings: "If my single tongue becomes a hundred thousand, and this becomes twenty times more, with each tongue would I sing a hundred thousand times only the name of One Truth."

Here is the complete hymn...

    The lord is truth. truth is his name: Sat Nam! His praises are sung in endless ways.

    Oh yogi, assume the posture of contentment and modesty. Pick up the begging bowl of dignity and honor, and apply the sacred ash of meditation.

    If you must bow, bow to the One: he is the primal being, pure, without beginning or end. He is the unstruck sound, immutable through all time.

    Saint and sinner are no empty words: all our actions have been recorded; man sows and he himself reaps the harvest.

    If my single tongue becomes a hundred thousand, and this hundred thousand becomes twenty times more, with each tongue would I sing a hundred thousand times only Sat Nam, the name of One God, One Truth.

    If I have succeeded in attaining his pleasure, I have bathed in all the holy rivers, and if I fail to please him, why should I bathe and adorn myself in a robe?

    Remember the name of truth, Sat Nam. Meditate on its glory in the ambrosial hour. Through your actions you receive this body, and by his grace the door to salvation opens.

    However well I know him, he cannot be described. He cannot be expressed by words. The guru is the secret that solves the riddle. He is the benefactor of all. Let me never forget him.

~Guru Nanak

Holy Company, Yoga Vashistha

‘The blessings that flow from the company of holy saints are incom- parable to any other blessings. The holy man’s nature is cool and peaceful, his behavior and actions are pure. Therefore his company promotes peace and goodness in everyone who seeks it. In his company one loses fear. Sinfulness comes to an end and one grows in purity. Even the love and affection that the gods and angels possess are nothing compared to the limitless love that, flows from the holy ones.’
~Yoga Vashistha, VI . 2. 39

Quakers & 'the Inner Light'

"Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Centre, a speaking Voice, to which we may continually return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life." ~Thomas Kelly, 20th C. Quaker, 'Testament of Devotion'

Ancient text, 'Yogavashta,' and time lapse video (clik)

Ancient text, 'Yogavashta,' and time lapse video (clik)

❝There are beings in this universe whose winking is of the duration of an epoch. Space and time have no fixed span, both are appearances, both imagination. Because the substratum is real; space too appears very real. Giving illusions of separateness between elements within itself. Time too arose as a notion (another dimension). Time is threaded and animated by the power of this reality. It is the finite space of individual consciousness that creates the divisions in time. ❞ ~ Yoga Vashishta

Ajna Chakra, Forehead

Ajna Chakra, Forehead

"This is the two-petalled lotus. The petals are Shakti and Shiva. The yantra is between our two eyebrows. This chakra is opened by the Hrim seed mantra. The aura streams from this chakra to all the other chakras. That is why we put sandal paste, kum kum, and vibhuti to this place. It is such a powerful place! Through the Ajna chakra you experience your fourth body, a huge body, expanding from mother earth to the cosmos. We have three bodies, physical, mental and intellectual. But in our Ajna chakra we experience our fourth body, our eternal body. This is the immortal body. When this chakra opens you experience the light of lights, the divine consciousness, the whole cosmos opens to us. Then you don't just experience the light. You ARE the light." ~Sri Karunamayi

Ammaji: She is a living Indian Saint & Guru

Ammaji: She is a living Indian Saint & Guru

“God is compassion. God waits at the door of every heart. He is an uninvited guest everywhere, because whether you call or not, God is there. Whether you are a believer or a nonbeliever, God is within you uninvited. Behind every form, God is hiding. He beautifies things and makes them what they are. He is the hidden formula of life. But He won’t reveal Himself to you. You won’t feel God unless you call Him. Prayer is the invitation. You must invoke Him through prayer and meditation. Chanting, singing and repeating the mantra are invitations, asking God to reveal Himself.” ~ Amma

The Gift of Tears

The Gift of Tears

"The inner fruit ripens only with the shedding of tears. When you reach the place of tears, then know that your spirit has come out from the prison of the old world and has set foot upon the path to the new age. Then your spirit begins to breathe the wondrousl air which is there, and you shed tears. Now the moment for the birth of the spiritual child is at hand. The travail of childbirth becomes intense. Grace, the mother of us all, gives mystical birth to the soul, God's image. And when the time for this birth arrives, the intellect senses the other world as a faint perfume, or as the life-breath which a newborn child receives into its body. Hardly able to endure it, our flesh is overcome by a weeping mingled with joy." ~Isaac of Ninevah, 7th C. Orthodox Saint

Click to hear imam rauf

Click to hear imam rauf

"Once we define as evil those who counter us, we lose the moral high ground & begin to descend a slippery ethical slope. Sufis teach that we first must battle & destroy the evil in ourselves by shining upon it the Good within; & then we learn to battle the evil in others by helping their higher selves gain control of their lower selves. To battle the evil in others by responding in kind & exhibiting equally violent behavior is to flout the very ethic of our religious traditions." (Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Cordoba Project, NYC)

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is the opinion of many. Do not believe in anything because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." (Buddha, 'Dhammapada')

"Every single creature is full of God, and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God. If I spend enough time with the tiniest creature, even a caterpillar, I would never have to prepare a sermon, so full of God is every creature.” (Meister Eckhart, 14th C .Christian mystic)

"When you expand your vision and awareness, you see that you are a part of everybody. If people around you are suffering, you do not simply shut your eyes and say, 'I'll be really happy.' The subtler you go and the more refined you are, you feel for everyone in the world. You start feeling for trees, animals and plants as well. You begin to care for the environment." (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)

Unity

"Truth is One: the wise have called it by many names." (Hindu Vedas)

"Do not be confused because you hear many voices. Know that I am One and the same." (Jewish Talmud)

""The lamps are different but the light is the same: it comes from beyond." (Rumi, Islamic Sufi)

"There is only one religion, the religion of love. There is only one God, the light that shines in your heart." (Satya Sai Baba)

"I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, I am a Muslim, I am a Jew." (Gandhi)

"The heart of every religion is the religion of the heart." (Br. David Steindl-Rast)

Present Moment

"To God, nothing is future or past: all is now." (John Calvin)

"When we yield to discouragement it is usually because we give too much thought to the past and the future." (St. Theresa of Liseaux)

"God is creating the entire cosmos fully and totally in this present now." (Meister Eckhart)

"The ego can only be transcended by accessing the power of the present moment." (Eckhart Tolle)

"The past no longer has being; the future is but a dream. Give up dreaming of the past and worrying about the future. Dwell deeply, deeply in the present moment, just as it is, and you will attain the peace and unity of the ancient prophets." (Bedda Karata Sutra of the Buddha)

"Take no thought for tomorrow." (Jesus)