Sikhism Quotes

“For each and every person, our Lord and Master provides sustenance. Why are you so afraid, O mind? The flamingos fly hundreds of miles, leaving their young ones behind. Who feeds them, and who teaches them to feed themselves? Have you ever thought of this in your mind?”
― Guru Nanak, Sri Guru Granth Sahib

“Even kings and emperors, with mountains of property and oceans of wealth - these are not even equal to an ant, who does not forget God.”
― Guru Nanak, Sri Guru Granth Sahib

“Your Mercy is my social status.”
― Guru Nanak, Sri Guru Granth Sahib

“What should the yogi have to fear? Trees, plants, and all that is inside and outside, is He Himself”
― Guru Nanak, Sri Guru Granth Sahib

“What you know can never be the beyond. Whatever you experience is not the beyond. If there is any beyond, this movement of 'you' is absent. The absence of this movement probably is the beyond, but the beyond can never be experienced by you; it is when the 'you' is not there. Why are you trying to experience a thing that cannot be experienced?”
― U.G. Krishnamurti, The Mystique of Enlightenment: The Radical Ideas of U.G. Krishnamurti

“He Himself makes the mortals anxious, and He Himself takes the anxiety away.”
― Guru Amar Das, Sri Guru Granth Sahib

“When there is incest, adultery, atheism, hatred of religion, no more dharma, and sin everywhere, the impossible Iron Age has come; in what way the world will be saved? For the helpless, the Lord Himself will manifest as the Supreme Purusha. He will be called the Kalki incarnation and will be glorious like a lion coming down from heaven.”
― Guru Gobind Singh

“One of these individuals, whose apparently divine subjective experience of transcendence led to the birth of one of the relatively modern religions of planet earth, was a man named Nanak. In an effort to diminish the contemporary conflicts between the Hindus and the Muslims, he ended up becoming the founding patriarch of yet another circle of religious ideologies – Sikhism – a child religion born from the wedlock between Hinduism and Islam.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurons, Oxygen & Nanak

“By forgetting the Supreme Lord, all the ailments cling to the man.”
― Guru Arjan Dev

“All these stories of Janamsakhi were like an artistic instrument that was yielded more to spread Nanak’s spiritual sovereignty as a mystical prophet than as an effective teacher in flesh and blood. In the midst of ignorance and mystical craving, they provided a simple method to guide people, or rather allure them to a newly formed religious path by sermonizing through stories of mystical non-sense.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurons, Oxygen & Nanak

“Nanak wanted to preach people that God loves both the Hindus and the Muslims the same way. Believing in his spiritual encounter, he wanted to eliminate the distance between the Hindus and the Muslims by teaching the words of equality and One God. But just like usual, he ended up forming yet another religion which became more and more hardcore with its own rituals and regulations in the hands of the subsequent nine Gurus.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The God Parasite: Revelation of Neuroscience

“My Sikh sisters and brothers proclaim with utter glory and faith “Jo Bole So Nihaal, Sat Sri Akaal”, I say ”Jo Anubhava So Nihaal, Sat Sri Akaal”. My translation of the former is “He who utters ‘Great Eternal Truth’ becomes joyous”, while the latter translates to “He who experiences ‘Great Eternal Truth’ becomes joyous”.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurons, Oxygen & Nanak

“The entire Granth Sahib, which is the central scripture of Sikhism, is basically an elaboration of the Mool Mantar.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurons, Oxygen & Nanak

“Sikhism emerged as a ray of hope for the people of India who were stuck in obscurity – who craved for a way out from the rigorous battle between Hindu and Muslim orthodoxy.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurons, Oxygen & Nanak

“All of his (Nanak's) progressive thinking attained absolution at the age of 30, when he had the transcendental experience, quite similar to that of Mohammed and Joan of Arc, that was about to rock the very foundation of orthodox Hinduism in India.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurons, Oxygen & Nanak

“Nanak’s encounter of God and God’s court was in fact a profound hallucinatory Near-Death Experience caused by drowning that strengthened his pre-conceived notion of a rational, compassionate and unorthodox society.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurons, Oxygen & Nanak

“To break another's bones, to take their life, is to forgo wonder: It is to cut off a part of ourselves that we do not yet know. I choose nonviolence because it is moral and strategic.”
― Valarie Kaur, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love

“The Vatican has been sending out missionaries across the world not to help the poor, but to convert the poor, in exchange for charity. In this respect, empirically speaking, the only religion that has been practicing the tradition of actual selfless service religiously, is Sikhism. Till this day Sikh langars or soup-kitchens across the world feed millions of people regularly, no matter their status, faith or ethnicity, without asking for anything in return. Religious charity in exchange for religious conversion is the most sacrilegious act of all. In the end, it has nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with service. Either serve or don't, there is no spreading the word. Spread good acts, not good news.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“Khalsa means freedom from hate, Khalistan means nationalizing hate.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth

“You have seen the world and read many books, but take it from me that a snake can cast its slough but not its poison”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“The last to learn gossip are the parties concerned.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Chattri ko poot ho, Baman ko naheen kayee tap aavat ha jo karon; Ar aur janjaar jito greh ko tohe tyaag, kahan chit taan mai dharon, Ab reejh ke deh vahey humko jo-oo, hau binti kar jor karoon ; Jab aao ki audh nidaan bane, att hi ran main tab jujh maroon.
(I am the son of a Chhatri (Khatri), not of a Brahmin and I will live according to my Dharma. All other complications of life are meaningless for me, and I set my heart on the path of righteousness. I humbly beseech thee God Almighty that when the time comes for me to fulfill my Dharma, may I die with honour in the field of battle)”
― Guru Gobind Singh

“In Punjab, the great Guru Nanak (1469–1539 CE), who founded the Sikh faith, was greatly influenced by the Bhakti movement. Sikhism, under Nanak, and the nine Gurus who followed him, the last being Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708 CE), created a remarkably sublime and powerful monotheistic faith of nirguna bhakti. In clear Vedantic tones, its mul mantar or fundamental prayer—Ik Onkar: There is only one Supreme Being—made a powerful call of universal spiritual appeal. Like Brahman, the Sikh Absolute is nirankar (formless), akal (timeless), karta purakh (the Creator), agam agochar (incomprehensible and invisible) and is Waheguru (wonderous Teacher). The religion emphasised the non-duality of divinity—Ek noor te sab jag upja: From one luminous light the entire universe arose. In this one statement, it pole-vaulted above conventional religious orthodoxies.
Of great importance in the Sikh faith is mehar, kirpa, karam or the Grace of God. Guru Nanak taught that to obtain this, the most important form of worship is bhakti. Guru Arjan, in the Sukhmani Sahib, recommended that true religion is one of loving devotion to God. Selfless devotion and service can lead to Sach Khand or the Realm of Truth, which is the final union with the spirit of God, akin to the Advaita notion of brahmanubhav. Thus, Sikhism considers simran (the meditative remembrance) of God, and japna (chanting or kirtan of God’s name) to be an essential part of religious practice. The singing of the Guru’s hymns as contained in the Guru Granth Sahib—the only divine symbol of worship recognised by Sikhism—is practised through the shabad kirtans. The passages of the Guru Granth Sahib were poetically composed in rhyme, and lent themselves easily to exceptionally soulful musical compositions based on thirty-one ragas of classical music.”
― Pavan K. Varma, The Great Hindu Civilisation: Achievement, Neglect, Bias and the Way Forward

“Defending all persecuted is true act of khalsa.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“I Don't Have Time to Explain
(Sonnet 2466-2467)

I don't have time to explain basic science,
I don't have time to explain
why vaccines are crucial,
why the earth is not flat.

I don't have time to explain basic theology,
I don't have time to explain why
no religion is truer than another,
and why belief as coping mechanism is okay,
but belief mustn't be confused with truth.

For example, if you wanna talk facts,
most scientific religion is buddhism,
for much of buddhist literature is basic psychology,
sure, all religious meanderings occasionally
align with modern science, but no theology
is more aligned with modern science than buddhism -

likewise, most nonviolent religion is jainism,
to harm even a fly is sin in jainism -
and most charitable religion is sikhism,
nobody goes hungry where there is a sikh langar,
that too without being converted into a sikh.

There are two kinds of divinity in the world,
doctrinal divinity and human divinity -
doctrinal divinity is less holy, more prejudice,
whereas human divinity prioritizes humanity.

There are two kinds of truth in the world,
empirical truth and human truth -
empirical truth is all about facts,
human truth is more than facts -
human truth applies facts wisely among other
instruments to uplift human condition.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Langar and the Laboratory
(Sonnet 2835-2837)

In this world nothing is straightforward,
so you must never accept anything at face value.
To elaborate this let me bring up my
two fundamental inklings - science and faith,
but when I say faith, I'm talking about a human spirit
beyond your puny heaven-centered christian theology.

Faith oughta be synonymous with service, and
I'm not talking about transactional christian charity,
because christian charity comes with strings attached,
I'm talking about actual selfless, rewardless service.

In that respect, the only religion I can think of
is sikhism - in a neighborhood that has a sikh langar
nobody goes hungry, that too without Nanak being
shoved down the throat as the only way to salvation.

Theologically, Jainism is the religion of nonviolence,
while in practice, Sikhism is the religion of service.
But that's not what I started out to elaborate,
what I wanted to point out is this -

in a neighborhood with a langar and a laboratory,
where do you think, can a hungry person find a warm meal -
not in the laboratory, but at the langar,
so now tell me, which one is more honorable,
science or faith?

But then again, if a new strain of virus suddenly
breaks out, langar or laboratory,
from where do you think,
will come the vaccine?

So you see, nothing is straightforward,
science and faith both have their place,
but if you ask a fish to fly or a bird to swim,
you only end up with a world full of frustrated fish
and frustrated birds, that can neither fly nor swim.

One langar prevents a hundred prisons.
One laboratory prevents a hundred quarantine zones.
One classroom prevents a hundred warzones.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“One langar prevents a hundred prisons.
One laboratory prevents a hundred quarantine zones.
One classroom prevents a hundred warzones.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Theologically, Jainism is the religion of nonviolence, while in practice, Sikhism is the religion of service.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth