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.
— Guru Nanak
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.
Let God's grace be the mosque, and devotion the prayer mat. Let the Quran be the good conduct.
Me, the bard out of work, the Lord has applied to His service. In the very beginning, He gave me the order to sing His praises night and day. The Master summoned the minstrel to His True Court. He clothed me with the robe of His true honour and eulogy. Since then, the True Name had become my ambrosial food.
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.
Alone let him constantly meditate in solitude on that which is salutary for his soul, for he who meditates in solitude attains supreme bliss.
Through shallow intellect, the mind becomes shallow, and one eats the fly, along with the sweets.
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.
I am not the born; how can there be either birth or death for me?
One cannot comprehend Him through reason, even if one reasoned for ages.
There are worlds and more worlds below them, and there are a hundred thousand skies over them. No one has been able to find the limits and boundaries of God. If there be any account of God, then alone the mortal can write the same; but God's account does not finish, and the mortal himself dies while still writing.
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.
There is but One God. His name is Truth; He is the Creator. He fears none; he is without hate. He never dies; He is beyond the cycle of births and death. He is self-illuminated. He is realized by the kindness of the True Guru. He was True in the beginning; He was True when the ages commenced and has ever been True. He is also True now.
Riches cannot be gathered without sin and evil means.
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.
The production of children, the nurture of those born, and the daily life of men, of these matters woman is visibly the cause.
Sing the songs of joy to the Lord, serve the Name of the Lord, and become the servant of His servants.
From its brilliancy everything is illuminated.
Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore.
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.
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?
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.
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.
That one plant should be sown and another be produced cannot happen; whatever seed is sown, a plant of that kind even comes forth.
I bow at His Feet constantly, and pray to Him, the Guru, the True Guru, has shown me the Way.
Thou has a thousand eyes and yet not one eye; Thou host a thousand forms and yet not one form.
Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God.
I am neither a child, a young man, nor an ancient; nor am I of any caste.
