MACHHINDARNATHA (Matsyendranatha), also known as Minanatha, i.e. Fish-Lord, Minapa, Luipa (in Tibet), and Avilokitesvara (in Nepal), who flourished in the 10th century AD, was one of the eighty-four siddhas or Perfect ones of Tantric Buddhism. According to Tibetan-Buddhist belief, he was a fisherman who, while devoured alive by a

AMRIT, derived from Sanskrit amrta, defined variously as not dead, immortal, imperishable; beautiful, beloved; world of immortality, heaven; immortality, eternity; final emancipation; nectar, ambrosia; nectarlike food; antidote against poison; or anything sweet, commonly means a liquid or drink by consuming which one attains everlasting life or immortality. It is

NASIHAT NAMAH, lit. epistle of admonishment, is an apocryphal composition in verse attributed to Guru Nanak and is said to have been addressed by the Guru to king Croesus (Karun in Sikh chronicles). The King is advised to do good deeds when God has bestowed riches upon him. Money

ACROSTIC :At the age of seven Guru Nanak went to school and the schoolmaster wrote the alphabet on a wooden tablet for Nanak. After just one day Nanak copied the alphabet from memory and made an acrostic on the alphabet. The acrostic called the Patti or tablet in the

PAINTIS AKKHARI, lit., a poem based on paintis or thirty-Five letters, is a composition in the form of an acrostic utilizing for successive verses the thirty-five characters of the Gurmukhi alphabet. The poem is sometimes attributed to Guru Nanak but mistakenly, for it is not included in the Guru

BABAR VANI (Babar\'s command or sway) is how the four hymns by Guru Nanak alluding to the invasions by Babar (1483-1530), the first Mughal emperor of India, are collectively known in Sikh literature. The name is derived from the use of the term in one of these hymns: "Babarvani phiri

SATI or sachch, Punjabi form of the Sanskrit satya or sat, lit. truth, in the philosophical sense is essential and ultimate reality as against inessential or partial truth. Rooted in Sanskrit as meaning "to be, live, exist, be present, to abide, dwell, stay", satya means " true, real, pure," as

DAN (Skt. dana from the root da `to give`) means the act of giving or that which is given either as charity or alms or as offering, fee or reward for spiritual instruction received or for religious rite or ritual performed. The latter, however, is more appropriately called daksina.

SATNAMI. The word satnami is derived from satnam, lit. the True Name , a term used in some religious traditions including Sikhism to denote the Supreme Being. Literally, a Satnami is one who believes in and worships only the True Being and as such every Sikh is a Satnami.

DHESI, BHAI, and Bhai Jodh, both Brahmans converted to Sikhism, once came to Guru Arjan and complained, "0 True King ! other Brahmans treat us as out castes, for they tell us that by taking a Khatri as a guru, by discarding Sanskrit, the language of the gods, and

SIDH GOSTI, i.e. dicourse or dialogue with the Siddhas or mystics adept in hatha yoga and possessing supernatural powers, is the title of one of Guru Nanak`s longer compositions recorded in the Guru Granth Sahib. A goshti (gostln) seeks to expound the respective doctrines of scholars or saints participating

DHARMARAJA (DHARAMRAI) Dharamrai (Dharmaraja) has been created by the Lord, therefore he does not come near a devotee and servant of the Lord. (Var Bihagra M. 4, p. 555) By the remembrance of the Name, all the troubles end and the papers of Dharamrai are torn. (Prabhati M. 5,