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