Guru Nanak Quotes

God is one, but he has innumerable forms. He is the creator of all and He himself takes the human form.

Do not wish evil for others. Do not speak ill of others. Do not obstruct anyones activities.

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.

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.

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.

As fragrance abides in the flower
As reflection is within the mirror,
So does your Lord abide within you,
Why search for him without?

Like the juggler, deceiving by his tricks, one is deluded by egotism, falsehood and illusion.

Truth is the highest virtue, but higher still is truthful living.

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 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.

False is the body, false are the clothes; false is beauty.

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.

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.

Conquer your mind and conquer the world.

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.

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

Be kind to all beings, this is more meritorious than bathing at the sixty-eight sacred shrines of pilgrimage and donating money.

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.

Speak only that which will bring you honor.

Alone let him constantly meditate in solitude on that which is salutary for his soul, for he who meditates in solitude attains supreme bliss.

I am in constant bliss, day and night, egotism has been dispelled from within me.

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.

Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God.

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.

Let God’s grace be the mosque, and devotion the prayer mat. Let the Quran be the good conduct.

I am not the born; how can there be either birth or death for me?

Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore.

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.

From its brilliancy everything is illuminated.

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.

Riches cannot be gathered without sin and evil means.

The world is a drama, staged in a dream

Dwell in peace in the home of your own being, and the Messenger of Death will not be able to touch you.

With your hands carve out your own destiny.

The highest religion is to rise to universal brother hood; aye to consider all creatures your equals.

Sing the songs of joy to the Lord, serve the Name of the Lord, and become the servant of His servants.

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.

Those who have loved are those that have found God

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.

One cannot comprehend Him through reason, even if one reasoned for ages.

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.

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.

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?