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Main Index
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is born. If the heart overpowers the head, the realm of art is entered: poetry, music, song, painting, sculpture. But if head and heart are united, you enter into Omkar.
A religious person stands above the greatest scientist; he looks down on the greatest artist, because his search contains the essentials of both. Science and art are dualities; religion is the synthesis.
Nanak says:
"Ek Omkar Satnam.
He is one.
He is Omkar, the supreme truth.
He is the creator..."
To take them literally limits your understanding of Nanak's words. It will be a mistake.
One difficulty of the sage lies in the need to use words in general usage. He has to talk to you and so he must speak your language, but what he means to say is beyond words. Your language cannot contain it; it is very limited, whereas truth is very vast. It is just as if someone were trying to compress all the sky into his house, or to gather all the light within his palm. Yet he has to use your language.
It is because of words, because of language, that there are so many sects. For instance, Buddha was born two thousand years before Nanak and used the language of his time. Krishna was born yet another two thousand years before Buddha. His was quite a different kind of language because he belonged to a different country, a different climate, a different culture, and so it was with Mahavira and Jesus. The difference is one of language alone, and languages differ because of people; otherwise there is no real point of difference between the enlightened ones. Nanak made use of the language prevailing during his lifetime.
Nanak says, "He is the creator." But at once the thought arises: "If He is the creator, and we are the created, that establishes a difference between the two," but Nanak has denied duality in the very beginning, saying that "God is one." It is language that is responsible for all the obstacles, and these will increase as we proceed further into Nanak's words.
The first words uttered by Nanak after samadhi were: "Ek Omkar Satnam."
Now the fact is that the entire Sikh religion is contained in those three words. Everything
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