Nanak

Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji (1469 - 1539) was born in 1469 in Talwandi, a village in the Sheikhupura district, 65 kms. west of Lahore. By all accounts, 1496 was the year of his enlightenment when he started on his mission. His first statement after his prophetic communion with God was "There is no Hindu, nor any Mussalman." This is an announcement of supreme significance it declared not only the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God, but also his clear and primary interest not in any metaphysical doctrine but only in man and his fate. It means love your neighbour as yourself. In addition, it emphasised, simultaneously the inalienable spirituo-moral combination of his message (from: http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/gurus/nanak1.html)

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Religions/gurus/GNanak.html

There is One Reality, the Unmanifest-Manifested;

Ever-Existent, He is Naam (Conscious Spirit),

The Creator; pervading all;

Without fear; without enmity;

The Timeless; the Unborn and the Self-existent;

Complete within Itself.

Through the favour of His true Servant, the Guru,

He may be realized.

He was when there was nothing;

He was before all ages began;

He existeth now, O Nanak,

And shall exist forevermore.

JJI-01

He can neither be established nor created;

The Formless One is limitless, complete in Himself.

Those who worship Him are honoured;

Nanak, ever sing of the Treasure-house of all virtues.

Let us sing of Him and hold communion with the Word, with

hearts full of loving devotion;

For then shall all sorrows end and we be led joyously

Homeward.

The Master is the Song Eternal or Word personified;

He is the Vedas, the scriptures;

He is saturated with the Divine.

He is Siva, He is Vishnu, and He is Brahma;

And their consorts Parvati, Lakshmi and Saraswati also.

The greatness of the Master, even if known, cannot be

described with mortal eloquence.

My Master has taught me one thing:

He is the Lord of everything, Him I may never forget.

JJI-03

True is the Lord, True His Holy Word;

His love has been described as infinite.

Men pray to him for gifts, which He grants untiringly.

When all is His:

What can we offer at His feet?

What can we say to win His love?

At the ambrosial hour of the early dawn,

Be you in communion with the Divine Word

And meditate on His Glory.

Our birth is the fruit of our actions;

But salvation comes only from His Grace.

O Nanak, know the True One as immanent in all.

JJI-02

    Make chastity your furnace, patience your smithy,
    The Master's word your anvil, and true knowledge your
      hammer.
    Make awe of God your bellows and with it kindle the fire
      of austerity,
    And in the crucible of love, melt the nectar Divine,
    Only in such a mint, can man be cast into the Word.
    But they alone who are favoured by Him, can take unto
      this Path,
    O Nanak, on whom He looks with Grace, He fills with
      Everlasting Peace.

                                 JJI-04

By communion with the Word,
   one becomes the abode of all virtues;

By communion with the Word,
   one becomes a Sheikh, A Pir and
   a true spiritual king;

By communion with the Word,
   the spiritually blind find their way
   to Realization;

By communion with the Word,
   one crosses beyond the Limitless Ocean
   of illusionary Matter;

O Nanak, His devotees live in perpetual ecstasy,
   for the Word washes away all sin and sorrow.

          JJI-05

JJI - The Jap Ji

The Message of Guru Nanak

Kirpal Singh, trans.

Ruhani Satsang, Sawan Ashram, Delhi 6, India

- 01 Prologue

- 02 Stanza IV

- 03 Stanza V

  - 04  Stanza XXXVIII

  - 05  Stanza XI