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Main Index
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gives birth to a child, and they are separate; the father is always distinct from the child. But God is not distinct from His creation; He is contained in it. It would be more accurate to say: the creator is the creation, or the creator is nothing but creativity.
Discarding all idea of separateness Nanak says there is no need to renounce or run away from the world. Wherever you are, He is. Nanak has given birth to a unique religion in which householder and sannyasin are one. He alone is entitled to call himself a Sikh who, being a householder is yet a sannyasin; who, being a sannyasin is still a householder.
You cannot become a Sikh merely by growing your hair or wearing a turban. It is difficult to be a Sikh. It is easy to be a householder or to be a sannyasin, but to be a Sikh you have to be both. You have to remain in the house -- but as if you are not there, as if you are in the Himalayas. Keep running the shop, but maintain the remembrance of His name ever throbbing within; you can count your cash but take His name along with it.
Before attaining samadhi, Nanak had many small glimpses of God -- what we call satori. The first occurred when Nanak was working in a grain shop where his job was to weigh wheat and other grains for the customers. One day as he measured, "One, two, three..." he reached the number thirteen. Now the number thirteen is tera in the Punjabi language. "Tera" also means "yours." When Nanak reached thirteen, tera, he lost all consciousness of the outside world because he was reminded of his beloved lord.
He would fill a measure and repeat "tera, thine, thou." Again and again he filled it..."tera" -- as if all numbers ended at tera. Tera became his mantra. The destination was reached; everything ended at tera for Nanak. People thought him mad and tried to stop him, but Nanak was in a different world altogether: "Tera! Tera! Tera!" He could not move past tera. There was nothing beyond it.
There are really only two halting places; one is I and the other is you. You start with I and finish at you.
Nanak is not against the mundane world. In fact he is in love with it, because to him the world and its creator
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