One of the great interfaith declarations in Gurbani. It moves from keeping neither Hindu fasts nor Muslim Ramadan, to the one Lord of Hindu and Muslim alike, to needing neither Mecca nor Hindu shrine, to the Formless One taken into the heart, to "neither Hindu nor Muslim," and finally to meeting the One through the Guru-Pir.
Key Vocabulary
Gusaaee / Allah — the Lord of the world, named in both a Hindu and a Muslim word.
Hindoo / Turak — Hindu and Muslim, held as equals under the One.
Kaaba / tirath — a Muslim pilgrimage site and Hindu sacred shrines, named side by side.
Nirankaar — the Formless One, taken into the heart.
Guru-Pir — spiritual teacher; a term drawn from both traditions.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The great interfaith unity; shared humanity beneath labels; inward devotion over outward form. Foregrounds the creed-leveling heart of Ik Onkar. Connects to Guru Arjan's formless-One in Shabad 37 and to the caste- and creed-leveling spirit throughout the project.
For Raag Bhairao
A luminous close to this stretch of Bhairao — the raag's brightness becomes the brightness of unity.
Translation Notes
Substantial. Attribution: the on-disk heading catalogues this as Bhairao, Fifth Mehl (Guru Arjan), and its numbering (॥੫॥੩॥) sits inside Guru Arjan's Bhairao run. Unusually, it closes with "kaho kabeer" — a genuine textual puzzle that has led some readers to hear Kabir's voice here. We follow the heading's attribution while flagging the Kabir signature (the sacred source sections are left untouched). Every practice named — Ramadan, Hajj and the Kaaba, Hindu tirath and poojaa, namaaz — is rendered respectfully and evenhandedly, with the critique falling on outer form in all traditions, never on either faith. Ramadan and fasting are framed gently ("not because those things are wrong").
"I am neither Hindu nor Muslim."
The Arc
One of the great interfaith declarations in Gurbani. It moves from keeping neither Hindu fasts nor Muslim Ramadan, to the one Lord of Hindu and Muslim alike, to needing neither Mecca nor Hindu shrine, to the Formless One taken into the heart, to "neither Hindu nor Muslim," and finally to meeting the One through the Guru-Pir.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The great interfaith unity; shared humanity beneath labels; inward devotion over outward form. Foregrounds the creed-leveling heart of Ik Onkar. Connects to Guru Arjan's formless-One in Shabad 37 and to the caste- and creed-leveling spirit throughout the project.
For Raag Bhairao
A luminous close to this stretch of Bhairao — the raag's brightness becomes the brightness of unity.
Translation Notes
Substantial. Attribution: the on-disk heading catalogues this as Bhairao, Fifth Mehl (Guru Arjan), and its numbering (॥੫॥੩॥) sits inside Guru Arjan's Bhairao run. Unusually, it closes with "kaho kabeer" — a genuine textual puzzle that has led some readers to hear Kabir's voice here. We follow the heading's attribution while flagging the Kabir signature (the sacred source sections are left untouched). Every practice named — Ramadan, Hajj and the Kaaba, Hindu tirath and poojaa, namaaz — is rendered respectfully and evenhandedly, with the critique falling on outer form in all traditions, never on either faith. Ramadan and fasting are framed gently ("not because those things are wrong").