guru nanak life

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Guru Nanak His Life and Teachings

Kirpal Singh


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A K S A

G N B

G N

H L


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Guru Nanak


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Contents

Preace ..................................................................................................... 3Introduction ........................................................................................... 5Guru Nanak God-Intoxicated ........................................................ 14A Great Preacher o Peace and Harmony ......................................... 20An ideal Farmer .................................................................................... 28

Conduct o Lie ..................................................................................... 31Last Days ............................................................................................... 34


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Tose who have communed with the Word, their toils shallend. And their aces shall flame with Glory, not only shallTey have salvation, oh Nanak, but many more shall findreedom with Tem.

Jap Ji, Finale


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Preface

Tere is One Reality, the Unmanifest-Manifested; Ever-Existent, He is Naam (Conscious Spirit), the Creator;pervading all; without fear; without enmity; the imeless;the Unborn and the Sel-existent; complete within Itsel.Trough the favour of His rue Servant, the Guru, He

may be realised. He was when there was nothing. He wasbefore all ages began; He existeth now, oh Nanak, andshall exist orevermore.

Guru Nanak, by means of a prologue, attempts a definition ofthe nature o the Almighty, indefinable as He is; reerring to Histimelessness, His primacy, His being the Uncaused First Cause o

everything; and goes on to hint about the means by which He maybe reached. Te prologue is concerned with the nature o God andhints at the means to salvation.

Note: The above text is an excerpt from the book Jap Ji by Kirpal Singh

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Guru Nanak: His Life and Teachings

Introduction

Guru Nanak is not the sole monopoly of the Sikhs nor of India

alone. He belongs to all mankind. He belongs to the world andthe world belongs to Him. He bore witness to the Glory of one

God, one brotherhood, one law, the law o human ellowship andLove. He came to reconcile all religions and all aiths. He came toharmonise all the scriptures o the world. He came to announcethe ancient ruth in the common mans language, the one wisdomthat is so eloquent in the teachings o all the prophets, the apostles,the sages and the seers; and to show that one flame o Love shonein all the temples and shrines and sacraments o man.

Te Love o God and the Love o man were the very core o themessage o Guru Nanak. We need to learn to serve the poor gently,quietly, unostentatiously, and to have reverence or all the Saints othe past. Tis ist the first great teaching o the Guru. When He wentto Multan, the land o pirs and akirs, the latter sent Him a bowlbrimming over with milk, implying that the place was already ullo saintly souls and there was hardly any room or more. Nanak,Who knew the implication in the offer made, just took a jasmineflower and placing it on the surace o the milk returned the bowl,meaning thereby that He would float as lightly as the flower andgive ragrance to all o them. Te rue Saints, as a rule, have noquarrel with anybody. Tey talk gently and work quietly in the

service o God and man.

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He traveled ar and wide unlike any other prophet who trod the

earth beore Him. He undertook our long and arduous journeyson oot, each extending over a number o years: one, to the northinto and across the snow-capped Himalayas where He met theLamas, the Sidhas and the Nahts, the ibetans and the Chinese;the second, eastward into the modern states o United Provinces,Bengal and Burma; the third, to the South as ar as Sangla Dwip orthe modern Ceylon; and the orth, to the middle-east countries o

Baluchistan, Aganistan, Persia, Arabia as ar as Mecca, and Jerusa-lem, urkistan, Egypt, urkey; all these jouneys covering well nigh30 years in times when there were no satisactory communicationsand transport worth the name.

Guru Nanaks teachings revolutionised people in diverse ways. Histeachings are o great interest today as they were in His own time.

Te nascent Republic o India needs His inspiration in the task orebuilding the nation on a sound ooting, or India is still bristlingwith many problems and its reedom is yet ar rom complete.

Guru Nanak came at a crucial time in the history of India. Te

country, torn as it was by actional fights, was ast slipping into thehands o the Mughals. We get a glimpse o the chaotic conditions

prevailing at the time rom the words o no less an authority thanthe Guru Himsel:

Kings are butchers. Tey treat their subjects with gruesomecruelty. Te sense o duty has taken wings and vanished.Falsehood is rampant over the land as a thick veil of darkness,

darkness darker than the darkest night, hiding the ace o

the moon o ruth.


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Te Hindus and the Muslims were bitterly opposed to one another.

Te very semblance o religion had degeneratet into ormalism, andthe spirit in man was stifled and suffocated by rites and rituals andby creeds and ceremonies. oo much importance was attached tothe outer husk and shell at the cost o the kernel within. Casteismand untouchability were waxing like anything. Te people werelosing aith in themselves. Te political and the social conditionsin the country had reached the lowest ebb. Te chaotic conditions

could not be more chaotic. In the blessed name o religion, all kindso atrocities were being perpetrated by those in power, swayed asthey were by incontinence, greed, lust and immorality. Mistrust

and hatred were the order o the day. Both the rulers and the ruledhad lost alle sense o shame and decorum.

In such a dark hour o history, Nanak appeared to set the house

in order and to shape the destiny o millions o Indians. He wentabout preaching in the name o God, asking nothing or himsel, butanxious only to serve the people and save them rom degradationand downright damnation.

Nanak saw the deep tragedy that was menacing the country. Hesaw the world caught in the pernicious web o suffering and woe.Moved by the piteous cries o the helpless and the afflicted peoplein their deep agony, He prayed or the Grace o God:

Oh Lord, the whole world is being consumed in the in-visible flames o fire. Oh save the world in this hour odarkness. Raise all unto Tee. Raise them in whatever and

however a way Tou mayest.

Introduction


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On coming in contact with Babar, the Mughal king requested the

Guru to ask or some avour. He politely and yet firmly declinedthe offer saying:

Hear, oh King! Foolish would be the akir who would bego kings, or God is the only giver munificent beyond allmeasure;

significantly adding:

Nanak hungers or God alone and he asks or naught.

Babar had great respect or all men o piety. Once, when he came toknow that Nanak had been put behind bars, he ordered His imme-diate release. On request rom the king, the Guru gave His advice,

called Nasihat Nama, in which He counseled the king to worshipGod everyday and to be just and kind to everyone. He told him thatthe Naam, the Sat Naam, the Holy Word o Godor the Kalma, wasa panacea or all ills o lie, here and in the hereafer. It was Kalam-e-kadim, the most ancient song o God, singing in the heart o all,and could be heard only by the pure ones.

Be pure,

said the Guru,

and ruth would reveal itsel to thee. Have Love o Goduppermost in thy heart and hurt not the eelings o His

creatures.


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Once, this Great Soul, great in humility and Love o God, asked a

school teacher:

Sir, what have you learned?

Te school teacher replied:

I am proficient in all branches o knowledge. I have read

the sacred lore o all the religions. I know quite a lot oeverything.

Ten Nanak humbly enquired o the school master what He hadactually gained thereby.

In a passage o exquisite beauty and wisdom, Nanak sang o the

secret o rue Education:

Burn worldly thoughts and their ashes rub, and o theseashes make thine ink, and let the paper on which ye write,be the paper o aith; and write thou the Name o God.

When put to school, He told Gopal Pandhe, His teacher

to make the heart your pen, and with the ink of Love writeagain and again the Name o the Lord.

Te current system o education in India ignores the vital injunc-tion

make the heart your pen, and make an ink o the worldly intellect.

Introduction


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Worldly attainments, o whatever type, are not sufficient in them-

selves, i one does not know God. We need a system o educationwhich includes in its curriculum the Eternal Values o lie. We haveinstead a commercialised course o cramming books and texts-made-easy, just or securing diplomas and degrees and getting jobs. Tenumber o schools, colleges and universities has increased in Indiaand elsewhere but the moral fiber o the so-called educated peoplehas not grown by a millimeter.

What does it profit a man i he gains possession o the whole worldand loses his own soul?

Democracies have failed, but a democracy can live, survive and

triumph when two conditions are ulfilled:

When sectarianism and anaticism perish; and

when States bow in reverence to a superior law, the law o ellow-ship and human sympathy, and above all to the Infinite WhoseVoice rings rom end to end

Children o the Earth, ye all are One!

Nanak came to proclaim this two-old truth.

Te real and lasting reedom cannot be achieved without aith insolidarity and reedom o humanity. How? By:

Faith more than mere knowledge o books;

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Solidarity more than schemes o reorm;

Service o humanity more than anything else.

Guru Nanak found the basic remedy for true solidarity and the

integration o man in the Love o God and in the Love and serviceo God in man. Once when He came out o a trance in the water,He explained:

Tere is no Hindu and no Musalman,

meaning thereby that there was no basic difference between thetwo.

God made man with the same privileges all the world over. All men

are born equal. Tey come into the world in the same way afer afixed period o gestation. All men have the same outer and innerconstruction in the matter o limbs and various instruments andorgans like hands and eet, lungs, liver and stomach and the like.Everyday the human machinery throws filth out o the body. Oneis first man and then takes on the outer badge o one or the otherspecific social order or ormation in which he is born and broughtup and these he accepts and adopts as his own Hinduism, Sikhism,Islam or Christianity; Buddhism or Jainism, or any other ism andtries to solve the mystery o lie, each in his own way.

A man is man first and man last, besides anything else in between.He belongs to Universal Religion o God with the hall mark o man

based on birth and surroundings. Te entire mankind consists o

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Introduction


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embodied beings like so many beads on the string o a rosary. All,

being equal in the sight o God, enjoy Gods gifs equally and reely.None is high or low by birth alone. Further, he is soul, a consciousentity which enlivens the whole body. Tis soul, a drop o the Oce-an o All-Consciousness, is o the same essence as that o God. Assuch we are all brothers and sisters in God, irrespective o our socialbadges. And then the same Power, the Naam or Word or Kalma,keeps in order the entirely disparate constituents o the body and

then the soul; the one material and the other ethereal.

On account o this Controlling Power, we cannot run out o thewonderul house o the body in which we live, however hard we maytry. Te outgoing breath is pushed back and cannot remain outsideor any length o time. Our body works as long as the Lie-Principleruns in the body. Tis process goes on as long as the Controlling

Power keeps the body and the Lie-Principle together. When thatis withdrawn, the spirit in us has perorce to leave the body. So thewhole machinery o the body is being run by the indwelling spiritthat we are.

I we could learn to withdraw at will rom the body, while remain-ing in the body, we can then know the nature o our Real Sel, theanimating Lie-Impulse in us. Tis has been the teachings o allthe rishis and munis o yore and the spiritual teachers o the Eastand the West. It is all a matter o practical sel-analysis. And it canbe experienced directly and immediately with the active help andguidance o an Adept or a Master o Para Vidya or the knowledge othe beyond the knowledge that lies beyond the senses, mind and

intellect. It is a regular science o soul, knowing which, everything


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Guru Nanak God-Intoxicated

From a very early age, Nanak was ond o meditation. He wouldgo to a orest and or long hours sit there in rapt silence. He wouldmeditate on the great mystery o lie a mystiying mystery indeed.Where does lie come rom? How does it work in us? How does theGreat Controlling Power sustain us rom day to day? Is it possible tocontact this Power? Tese were the vital questions that He posited

or Himsel. Nanaks ather tended to regard his son as insane. Oneday he called a physician to attend upon Him. As the latter elt thepulse Nanak said,

Oh physician! I am not mad. I am only smitten with thepangs o Love or God. Tey call me mad, but I am not. Iam simply God-intoxicated.

Nanak was overflowing with the Love and Glory o God. He radiatedLove o God to all who came in contact with Him. He was verilyWord made flesh and dwelt amongst us. He opened the Inner Eyeo those who came to Him and enabled them to witness the Lighto God within them. He was the Light o the world as long as Heremained in the world.

Te Light manifested itself in Him and He guided the totteringhumanity with that Light. Tis Light never vanishes but alwaysremains in each one o us. We have to break the stone walls o ourpassions and prejudices, o separateness and sectarianism, in orderto have a vision o the Divine Light in ull splendor.


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Te Guru, like all other Masters, adviced:

Kindle the Light which is within you. Ye are the childreno Light. Be ye lamps unto yourselves.

India and all other countries o the world need heavenss Light ortheir guidance. Tis was the universal call o Nanak to the wholehumanity.

He offered the Water o Lie and the Bread o Lie the Light andthe Nad as ood to the starving souls o the people, having which,nothing else remained to be had. God is Love, and Love is God, andthe Way back to God is also through Love. He was Love personified,and inspired Love in everyone.

He always sang:

each me how to live immersed in Ty meditation, day andnight. Grant, oh Lord, that I may never think of aught saveTee, and that I may sing o Tee ever and evermore.

Again:

Oh my heart! Love God as the lotus loves the water, themore it is beaten by the waves, the more its love enkindles;having received its lie rom water, it dies without water,oh my heart! Love God as the chatrik loves the rain drops,who even when ountains are ull and the land green, isnot satisfied as long as it cannot get a drop o rain.



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And again:

Whichever side I cast mine eyes, there Tou art! Partedrom Tee, I crack and die.

o reach God, teaches Guru Nanak, one must walk the way o Love.Love God alone, and i you love others your children and riendsand relatives, love them or His sake. Yearn or Him. Develop within

you an intense longing or Him. And when you eel restless or Him,know that it will not be long beore He will reveal Himsel to you.

He was the Prophet of the Inner Life, and urged that the innershould be expressed, not in creeds and dogmas, rites and rituals,but in humble service o the poor and the lowly. And this servicemust be inspired by the Love o God and Naam the Spirit and

Power o God.

Nanak says:

Oh Man! How canst thou be free without Love? For theWord of God the Naam will reveal to thee the Lord withinthee, and grant thee the treasure o Love, Love-filled, letthe seeker become the Bridegrooms bride!

Filled with Bhakti, the disciple be dyed in the true colour ofLove. Such a bride shall never be a widow! For she abidethin the Satguru. On her ree head is the jewel o Love! Andexcept the Bridegroom she knoweth none. Awake! Awake,

oh seeker, awake!


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Renounce the little wisdom o the ego. Love-filled, think

ever o His Lotus Feet! Do as He biddeth thee to do, sur-render thy body and thy soul to Him!

Surrender thysel, so mayest thou meet thy Lord!

Guru Nanak was a rue Mystic, in communion with God, andperceiving His all-pervading munificent Grace. He exclaimed

Nanak sees the Lord in all His Glory.

Intoxicated with the Love o the Lord, He remained in a state operpetual ecstasy.

Once Babar offered Nanak a cup o Hemp. Te Guru politely de-

clined, saying:

Oh Emperor, the intoxication of this substance is just of anephemeral nature, but I am ever in a state of Divine Inebri-ation under the powerul influence o the Holy Naam.

For meditation, Nanak prescribed a regular course of SpiritualDiscipline or without it one could not progress on the Path. Tefirst is devotion to Naam.

In the opening lines o Jap Ji, the daily morning prayer o the Sikhs,the God-Power is termed as Sat Naam, or the Eternal ruth. It is inthe Name that the lie o religion is rooted.



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Sow the Name. Now is the season to throw away all doubts

and misgivings. Burn to ashes all your silk and velvet fine-ries, i they take you away rom the Name o the Lord.

Te Guru then sums up the qualities required o a devotee on theSpiritual Path. Purity o thought, speech and deed is the first prere-quisite or the dawn o Higher Lie.

Christ too said:

Blessed are the pure in heart, or they shall see God.

Purity is verily the key that unlocks the door o meditation, leadingto the mansion o the Lord.

Secondly, one must develop patience and perseverance to bearcheerully whatever good or evil may beall, as a reaction to ouractions.

Tirdly, one must have control over ones thoughts, casting awayall desires so as to ensure equilibrium o the mind.

Fourthly, a steady practice every day o the prescence o the LivingGod by communion with the Word in ull aith in the Master-Po-wer above.

Fifhly, one must live in Holy Awe o His presence, stimulating oneto untiring effort to achieve Ultimate Union with Him.


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And above all, one must love God with such an intensity as may

burn up all dross in us, leaving us ree to proceed unhampered toHis Kingdom.



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A Great Preacher of Peace and Harmony

One day, the Guru went into the river Ravi or a bath. A voice cameto Him rom the music o the waters saying,

Oh Nanak! I am with thee. I have given thee my Name.o this Name be thou dedicated. Repeat my Name SatNaam. Mingle thou with men uncontaminated by the

world. Worship my spirit and power. Meditate on myGlory. And serve the poor and the needy as thysel.

No sooner had He the call, He, like Buddha and Mahavira, lef Hishearth and home to bring men nearer to God so that they mightenjoy in ullness the ecstatic bliss lying untapped within. Peoplewondered why He was orsaking His wie and children.

o their taunts the Guru replied:

I am leaving them to the care o Him Who cares or allof us. Te world is in the grip of deadly flames, and Igo to extinguish the invisible fire which is enveloping allmankind.

I we look critically with the eye illumined by the Master, we willfind that we are living in the Holy Hill o God. All places o worshiphave been made on the pattern o the human body, the God-madetemple or our worship. Te Hindu temples are dome-shaped atthe top in the likeness o the human head. Te mosques besides

the central and side domes have arches in the shape o oreheads.


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Te churches and synagogues have steeples, tapering upward in

the ormation o a nose. Again, the aithul in the various religionsbelieve that God is Light and Sound. Te symbols of this InnerLight and Sound adorn all our places o worship in imitiation othe Reality within. But the rue Worship lies in opening the In-ward Eye, the Single Eyeor Shiv Netrato see the Divine Light andin unstopping, the Inner Earsto hear the Divine Music, theAkashBani or the Bang-e-Ilahi. Te outer perormances, without having

a glimpse o the Spirit and Power o God the Light and SoundPrinciple , are just like a blind man saying, God is Light, thoughhe has never known what Light is. Te maniestation o theJyotiorNoorwithin is a vision o God, or having a darshan, as it is called.All this and much more comes through the Grace o a CompetentMaster. With this right perception and right understanding thereollow right speech and right actions all on their own. Te Kingdom

o God or which we so ervently pray, day in and day out, will thenactually come on the earth-plane.

It comes not by observation, lo! it is within thee,

say all the Sages and Seers.

Guru Nanak wanted to reorm religion to lif it rom the ormaland conventional to the simple and the practical Etymologically theterm religioncomes rom the roots, re back and ligioor ligareto bind. Religion then is something that binds and unites the soulto Oversoul or God. When Masters come, those who meet Temand come into Teir close contact, derive the maximum benefit o

getting their souls linked with the maniested Light and Sound o



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God. Te social religions come into being afer the Masters pass

away. Tey are made, no doubt, with a noble purpose, the purposeo keeping the teachings o their Founders alive. As long as practicalmen remain in the social orders, the ollowers continue to get thebenefit as beore. Later on, or want o such practical men, thesesocial orders acquire rigid ormations and the very institutions setup with the noblest intentions and the best of motives, becomeiron-clad prison houses and begin to stagnate and stink with hair-

splitting polemics in which the spirit gets lost under the mass odead verbiage.

Te purpose o religious education is to draw out the best in manand make him an integrated whole, physically, emotionally, in-tellectually and spiritually. Tat religion is best which turns outmore and more ideal persons with a harmonious development in

all their parts.

Te highest objective of Sikh religion is to turn out Khalsas. AKhalsa is One Who witnesses within Him the Pooran Jyoti thesupreme Light o God in ull effulgence. Similarly, a Hindu is onewho makes maniest in him theJyoti o Ishvaraand listens to theUnending and Unstruck Music o the soul Anhadand Anahat

Nad, the symbols o which he adores and worships outside inhis temples and shrines by lighting candles and striking bells. Arue Muslim is one who sees the Noor o Allahor the Light o Godand hears the Kalam-e-Kadim the Voice o God, the most ancientmusic or song ceaselessly going on within him. A rue Christianlikewise is one who bears testimony to the Light o Godand hearsthe Sound o Godwhich transorms him into an awakened spirit at

the mount o transfiguration.


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Nanak put great emphasis on direct experience o the Divinity that

lies within us; or mere reading o the scriptures and observing therites and rituals o worship, cannot take the place o the Reality.Tese are the elementary steps but not enough in themselves. Nanakwas a Poet-Saint and a bard o the open secret, a preacher o theSpirit and Power o God enlivening the humankind. He went romplace to place, chanting the Sacred Name and preaching the Love oGod. He visited Hindu places o pilgrimages, the Muslim shrines,

and other holy places.

Closer is He than the very lie-breath and nearer than the handsand eet.

As Laotse said:

Without going out of doors, we may yet know (the essence)o the world.

Tis essence is called the Naam, the Sat Naam, the Eternal Word.His lie was dedicated to preaching the practice o the Holy Word.He taught the people that in the Holy Word was hidden a greathealing power which healed all the ills o lie.

He loved the Hindus and the Muslims alike. Speaking to theHindus, He said:

Praise and gloriy God five times, as the Muslims offerprayers to Allah five times a day.



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Speaking to the Muslims He said:

Make the will of Allah your rosary. Be ye a Real Musalmanafer renouncing your little sel.

At this, quite a ew Muslims involuntarily cried aloud:

God is speaking to us in Nanak.

Even when in Mecca He taught the doctrine o strict monism orthe Unity of Godhead. Interpreting the wisdom of the Prophet,He uttered the nameAllahwith the same reverence as He did thename o Hari. On seeing him, Shaikh Farid greeted Nanak withthe words:

Allah Huor Tou art Allah.

Te Guru replied:

Allah is the only aim of my life. Oh Farid! Allah is the veryessence o my being.

All call on the One God by different names, may be Ram, Rahim,Allah, Wah-i-guru and the like.

Tere are many lovers o God, and He is the lie-giving orce to allo them. Although bearing the badge o different religions, all havethe same ideal beore them to worship the indwelling spirit called

by so many names.


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Tere is no caste,

said the Guru,

or we claim brotherhood with all.

Each one o His ollowers was lovingly addressed as a Bhai or abrother. All are Bhais brethren , whether kings or slaves, the

rich or the poor.

No caste and creed counts in the court o the Lord. Hewho worships Him is dear unto Him,

said the Guru.

He mingled reely with the poor, the down-trodden, the outcasteand the neglected. He accepted the invitations rom the poor, inpreerence to those o the rich, who, He knew, invited Him or sel-glorification, and whose earnings were anything but righteous.

He considered that there was no sin greater than the spirit o sepa-rateness which went against the solidarity o lie in the brotherhoodo man and worked or disruption in society. Tis prophet o unityand oneness saw the higher harmony in all the aiths in the Reli-gion o Man the worship o God and the service o God in man.He wanted the ollowers o all aiths to sit together as seekers aferruth, seeking communion with the Almighty. Te highest religionteaches us to reverently study and experience in ull consciousness

the living presence o God, as like-minded students in a class.



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When questioned at Mecca as to whether He was a Hindu or a

Muslim, He frankly and fearlessly declared that was neither theone nor the other in particular because He discerned the spirit oGod in both.

When asked which o the two religions, Hinduism or Islam, wassuperior, He said:

Without good acts, the professors of both the religionsshall perish.

In one o His hymns, He says:

o him whose delusion o the mind is gone, Hindu andMuslim are alike.

At Baghdad, the people questioned Him as to which sect He be-longed; He replied,

I have renounced all sects. I only know the one rue God,the Supreme Being Who is on the earth, in the Heavenand in between, and in all directions.

On being urther pressed as to Who He actually was, He replied:

Tis body, compounded as it is of the five elements, isbeing illumined by the Light o God and is just addressedas Nanak.


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Again and again, He warned His disciples against the sin o sepa-

rateness. In a beautiul passage He declared:

Numberless are Ty worshippers and numberless Ty lovers,numberless Ty Bhaktas and Saints, Who lovingly fix Teirthoughts on Tee. Numberless the musical instrumentsand the sound thereo and so are Ty musicians.

In the course o His travels, He had with Him two attendants, onea Hindu and the other a Muslim: Bhai Bala and Bhai Mardana. Hepoured His Love to all, setting at naught all conventions, creeds,castes, and colour bars. He was a brother o the poor, the criminaland the persecuted. His socialism was vibrant with Love born oGod and not atheistic in character. Growing out o a vision o GodsLove, it flowed into the hearts o men as brothers in God.

A new Indian nation can be built even now, but not in blind imita-tion o the West. We must accept the vital message o the Seers, theProphets and the Saints o the East Who are well conversant withthe conditions of our society, and have a rich Spiritual Heritage

behind Tem.



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An Ideal Farmer

A lover o reedom, Guru Nanak spent His early days in the reedomo the arm and the open air o the countryside. As He grew olderHe travelled ar and wide, exhorting the people to ree their mindso conventional thoughts and convivialities o lie.

On His return rom His ar flung travels, He settled down at Kartarpur

as a farmer. He was a true son of the soil, a passionate peasantWho had cultivated much harder things than earth the mindand intellect, etc. Afer man-makingand man-service, He engagedHimsel in land-service, or to grow a blade o grass and to raise astalk bearing an ear o grain was to Him much better than the worko a mere priest or a preacher. He set an example o hard labour bybringing under cultivation the barren lands o Kartarpur or eeding

the poor and the needy on the produce thereo.

He also set up at Kartarpur the institution o langaror a system oree community eeding, where both bread and broth were distri-buted reely to all according to the needs o each.

Bread was the Lord, the Guru declared, and the bread which the Lordgave was His parshad God-given. Bread and water belong to theGuru, echoed the ollowers. And the Guru said that the Belovedwas in the people.

His disciples came rom ar-off places like Baluchistan, Aghanistanand Central Asia and included, among others, the Brahmins and

the Sufis, the high-caste Kshatriyas and the low-caste Chandalas,


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the Sidhas and the Naths. Tus His ollowing was a conglomeration

o all sorts o people, knit together in the bonds o loving devotionto the Holy Cause and vying with each other in the labour o Loveor the allen and the downtrodden.

Nanak, their Spiritual Father, now advanced in age, moved on ootevery day, labouring in the arms and singing hymns o Naam andbreathing the benediction o Love. Te Guru was a picture o hu-

mility, and His ollowers in a spirit o dedication worked as humbleservants o the Lord, worshipping God without any pomp and show,in the stillness o nature.

From Kartarpur spread the fire o the Love o God and Love o man,all over the Punjab. Guru Nanaks ace shone with the simplicity andserenity born o the saintliness in Him. He was a labourer, a tiller

o the soil, a servant o the poor and lowly. Te lie at Kartarpurwas a blend o willing work and worship, Love and labour, silenceand song.

On being asked by His ather as to what was Real Farming, Nanakreplied:

Te body is the field, the mind is the ploughshare, andmodesty is the lie-giving water or the field.

I sow the seed o the Divine Name in the field o the body,leveled and urrowed by contentment, afer pulverizingthe encrusted clods o pride into rue Humility.

An Ideal Farmer


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In a soil prepared like this, the seed o Love will prosper

and, seated in the abode o ruth, I behold the Glory oGod in the rich harvest beore me.

Oh Father!

Mammon accompanies no man. Te world is just deludedby the glamour o riches. It is just a ew who escape the

delusion with the aid o discrimination wisdom.

Guru Nank had a deep-rooted penchant or silence. He requentlymerged Himsel in the silence o God, the Sat Naam, the EternalWord; in the silence o Nature, the silence that shines in the starrysky and dwells in the lonely hillside and murmurs in the flowingwaters; and in the silence o Sangat sewa or unostentatious service

o the community o the aithul and o the sewaks servers alike,who stayed with the Guru and whom He always addressed as Bhais brothers.


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Conduct of Life

He prescribed a methodology or achieving success in lie. Absorbedin the Lord o Love the disciple grows in the sewa o Sat Sangat,the selfless and loving service o all. In such supreme and selflessservice, many a Koda Rakhshas and Sajjan thug were redeemed

during His ministry.

He exhorted the people to earn their living through honest and airmeans. Tis was a rule not or the disciples and the laity only, buteven or real teachers and preachers.

He went to the length o saying:

Bow not unto him who, claiming to be a Godman, lives

on the charity o others. He Who earns His living withthe sweat o His brow and shares it with all, can knowthe Way to God.

Tat which belongs to another is not to be wished and craved or,much less grabbed, or it is as odious and noxious as pork is to aMuslim and bee to a Hindu.

He forbade people from encroaching upon the rights of others.Tose who thrive on ill-gotten gains can never have a pure heart.

ime and again He stressed the puritiy o heart through virtuousdeeds perormed in the Love o the Lord. It is only the deeds that

count and not the religious hallmarks that one may bear.



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Te chanting o the Name o the Lord was a necessity but with a

pure heart and a clean tongue for without these all our prayers,however loud and long, would never bear any ruit.

It is the deeds alone that are weighed in the Divine Scalesand determine ones place in relation to God.

It is with the alchemy o Gods Love that one can transorm hardened

criminals into men o piety.

Nanak never advocated ostentatious renunciation as a means of

God-Realisation. He taught that salvation was possible or a house-holder, as or any other person, through proper rendering o hisduties and obligations with aith in God. He believed in the efficacyo prayers not only or all mankind but or animals, birds and all

other creatures. He Himsel always prayed or peace unto all theworld under the Divine Will.

Nanak emphasised developing the life of the Spirit for all rueMen and Women. Such persons live not or themselves alone butor others.

o live or others is the highest norm, he alone liveth wholiveth or others.

He defined a truly Great Man as one who renounced all his desiresand cared not or the ruits o his actions.


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Te seeker afer God was enjoined to cultivate purity o heart above

anything else.

He who is so much identified with the body and is engrossed headand ears in the lusts o the flesh, could never be picked up by theLord as His own.

He who blesses others is blessed in return. A seeker afer happiness

must make others happy.

Te Guru stressed the need o prayer. Where all human efforts ail,there prayer succeeds. Sit in silence each day and pray to God, orGod maniested in man, to draw you nearer to Him rom day today and grant you the company1o those who are dear to Him.

1

When scientifically observed facts drawn from practice and experiment areexplained verbally to a gathering by a Master-Saint, it is called Satsang (ex-ternal). This Satsang constitutes the theoretical side of the teachings,

whereas the actual demonstration given to develop and achieve Inner

Advancement is the practical part, called meditation or Satsang (internal).

Conscientious practice brings fruit within days or weeks and it is not nec-

essary to wait for years for results, though progress also depends, to some

extent, on ones past background. A True Master gives a first-hand Inner

Experience at the very first sitting. (Source: Man, know thyself Chapter V:Satsang, by Kirpal Singh, 1894 1974)

Conduct of Life


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Last Days

Te day came when Nanak was about to depart. In humility andLove Nanak bowed to His devoted disciple Angad, who had by nowbecome a very part o His being, as the name indicates. Te latterwas one in spirit with his Master and the two were blended togetherin Him. Te Guru then asked or his blessings and he sang a songo vijay or victory at the hour o His departure, asking all who were

around him to join him in the chorus.

Sing ye my comrades! Sing ye all! Sing now my wedding song. Singye the song o His praise. May I be a sacrifice to Him the Beloved.Te blessed day hath dawned, the hour o consummation drawethnigh. Come ye, my comrades, come! And consecrate me with yourblessings. Behold ye the Bride uniting with the Bridegroom.

Many o the disciples shed bitter tears o sorrow and grie. Withdeep agony in their hearts, they inquired:

Leaving us, You go! What rites should we perorm? Shallwe light the customary earthen lamp when You depart?Should we cast Your ashes and charred bones in the sa-cred waters o the Ganges, according to the prevailingcustom?

o all these queries, the Guru characteristically replied:

Yes, light ye the lamp! Te Lamp o the Name o God. Let

my uneral rites be the remembrance o the Name o God.


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Know ye that He, the Lord above, is my support, here and

in the hereafer. Sing ye the Name o God! Tat shall bemy Ganga and my Kashi. Let my soul bathe in the watero His Name! For that alone is the rue Bath. And offerunto me the Grace o God, and sing ye the Glory o God,night and day.

Te Hindu disciples asked:

Shall we cremate Your body?

And the Muslim disciples:

Shall we bury Your body?

Te Guru replied,

Quarrel not over my remains. Let Hindus and Muslimsbring flowers and place them on each side of my body. Andthen let each do what they like. But see that the flowersremain resh and green.

Te Guru was indifferent to ceremonial disposal o the body eitherby cremation or burial. He only asked that the flowers should remainresh and ragrant. What then were these flowers? Te flowers oaith and Love.

It is in vain that the people look or the Guru in a tomb or on the

cremation ground. Te Living Guru is ever in the hearts o those

Last Days


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who keep the flowers o aith and Love resh and ragrant. He came

or all. He lived or all. His teachings remain or all.

He ounded no new sect. He revered all religions. He respected thesaints o all times and places. He taught no new creed. He preachedLove, aith and noble deeds. For Him all the people were o God. Inthe Hindus and in the Muslims, He saw the Vision o God in Man.In all the nations o the world, He beheld an endless procession o

the race o man. o all countries and to all people, He sang the songo Naam or the Holy Word.

Nanak was the Prophet o peace and good will, harmony and unity.He was the Prophet o Light and gave Light to all or seventy longyears (1469 1539). His work o loving service to humankind, asmaniestation o the Unmaniest, was carried on vigorously by His

successors. Guru Arjan, the fifh in the line o succession to Nanak,compiled the sayings o the Gurus in the Holy Granth, the Bible othe Sikhs; including therein the sayings o several other Saints oother religions as well as could easily be collected or the purpose.Tus in the Holy Book, He laid the oundation o a great banquethall and offered therein choice and dainty dishes o Divine Wisdomcoming down through the ages. Tis in a way serves as a model orthe World Fellowship o Religions.

Love knows no reward. It is a reward in itsel. Service and sacrificecharacterise Love. Te last two Gurus Guru eg Bahadur and

Guru Gobind Singh sacrificed there all in the service o mankindor the Love o God.


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Te Highest Aim of all religions is to see God, and that can

be done only in the man-body, nowhere else.

It is a matter o seeing, not o sensation, emotions or othe conclusions, which we draw, because all that is subjectto error. Seeing is above all. We are blessed to have theman-body.

For the purpose, to see God, we joined so many schools othought, but where do we stand? Tat is the point.

So we have to make the best use of the man-body, whichwe have got by the Grace of God. If an animal, whose headwas directed downward by God, engages itsel in lowerpleasures, that is all right. However, since you are human

beings look up.

Kirpal Singh

Last Days


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Kirpal Singh



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Naam is available for all those truly longing to reach God.With the Grace of the one God and the God working throughour Master Kirpal Singh, initiation into Sant Mat, theSurat Shabd Yoga, is still nowadays given as a ree gif.

So, whoever believes in the gospel of the Unity of Man,

may ask or initiation!



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First Edition 2000Second Edition 2006Tird Edition 2010

Layout and Setting : Medienlogistik R-M DomainPrinted in Leipzig or the service o mankind

For urther inormation see:www.santmat-thetruth.de

Reprint permitted


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