After Kabir, another great son of India was born in the Punjab. He was Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak also tried to bring the Hindu religion and the Islam religion closer together, to find a common bond between the two. Like Kabir, he believed that all men or equal in the eyes of God, no matter what their caste or religion. Guru Nanak preached the god will question a man about this good deeds and not regarding his tribe or sect. guru Nanak traveled through out the country to convey his message of love and unity.

He left behind the Granth sahib, which is great treatise bringing out all the best from all the regions. He went to the Middle East and other Muslim countries to speech the message of human unity. He went on pilgrimage Mecca, Varanasi, Haridwar and Puri.

He had two disciples, one, Hindu and another Muslim, who were with through thick and thin. By his spiritual powers, Guru Nanak performed miracles.

Sikh religion has a special dedication to the memory of Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak’s writings and sayings have been adopted as the sacred scriptures by the Sikhs.

Gowtham Buddha

Buddha, the great one, who never thought a thought and never performed a deed expect for the good for others; who had the greatest intellect and heart, taking in all mankind and all the animals, all embracing, ready to give his life for the highest angles as well as for the lowest worm.

All beings tremble before danger, all fear death. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill.

Buddha was named Gautam by his father who was the ruler of a tribe known he Sakyas Buddha’s father had a fine place to live and enjoyed all the comfort which a king could aspire. In his childhood Buddha had made the most wonderful toys, the best things to eat and the most beautiful clothes wear. But as he grew older, he developed a gradual dislike for all the comforts and luxuries of life.

Despite this comfortable live, Gautam was not happy. He went on thinking about the world outside the place gates, about the common people and their lives.

Ode day he saw an old man, he pitied his bending shoulders, haggard looks and the agony of pain. Then he saw a sick man suffering from a chronic disease. Gautam wanted to go deep in to the sufferings of human beings.

Once, while he driving through the city, he saw men carrying a dead body. This upset him very much. He asked himself why men had to die.

All these unhappy things of life troubled Gautam’s mind. He decided that he would not rest until he had found out way there was sorrow in the world and how men could be freed of it.

One night he slipped away from his place, when every body was sleep, including his wife yashodara and his little son Rahul. Leaving his wife and sweet little child was painful but he withstood the temptation and left. He dressed up a common man and set out in search for truth.

He went to a number of saints and sages but they could not answer his questions about unhappiness in the world.

He sat down under a tree to think out for himself by deep meditation and concentration. He did not eat or drink for many days. His penance continued until his body became all bones but still he did not know the answer. He wandered about for six years with out any results and then one day when he was sitting under tree, the answer came suddenly to him. He received enlightment. He felt as if he knew all secretes of the world.

Buddha discovered that there was sorrow and unhappiness in the world because people were greedy and selfish and wanted worldly things of life. He discovered that the only way to end unhappiness was to stop wanting things and to follow the enlightened path. He laid down eight principles for good life. These included doing no evil, speaking no evil and listening to no evil.

Spiritual truths are very subtle and cannot be perceived through the cross intellect and an impure mind. Our senses have limitations and cannot go beyond a certain distance.

The katha Upanishad says that thought the Atma is present in every being; it does not reveal itself to one and all. Even great scholars fail to comprehend it, because it is subtle and hidden. It can however be realized by those who cultivate a sharp, discriminating and concentrated intellect. Because we can not perceive it through our impure mind, we can not deny the existence of truth. We have to have faith in the scriptures and in great people who had direct experience of it. While defining Sraddha, Shankaracharya says in the Vivekachudamani ` a firm conviction, based upon the intellectual understanding that the teachings of the scriptures and of one’s masters are true, is called by sages the faith which leads to realization of the reality.’

In the Chandogya Upanishad, there is beautiful dialogue between Aruni the teacher and Svetaketu the disciple. Our ancient sages were very thoughtful. They knew that unless the disciple develops subtle understanding, it will be impossible for him to grasp the subtle truths. So they explained reality with the help of illustrations. One such illustration is depicted. Svetaketu requested his teacher to explain the truth with the help of illustration, since he was not able to understand it.

The teacher asked the boy to fetch a fruit from the banyan tree. When the boy brought it, the teacher asked him to break it. When it was broken, the teacher asked him to make one mere seed and break it. When Svetaketu broke it, the teacher asked him to see what was there in the seed. When Svetaketu replied that there is nothing whatsoever, the teacher corrected the boy saying, ` dear boy, and this subtle essence which you do not perceive, out of this subtle essence the large banyan tree stands. Have faith, dear boy; out of that being which is this subtle essence, the whole universe has come. That is the truth. That is atman’’.

It is true that in the world of practical life, you cannot do with out wealth. But do not attach more importance to money than it deserves. Never for get that money is only a means of happiness and not happiness it self.

God is ever telling us through his great teachers. But do not continue to make the same errors. Learn from every experience if you burnt your fingers once, he intelligent enough not to repeat that painful experience.

Happiness is a state of mind does not depend on the quality or quantity of external possessions. A person may be the lord of all the three worlds and yet to be unhappy. Another may be the poorest of beggars and yet be the happiest man in the world.

What is need is absorption in god, loving him intensely. The `nectar lake’ is the lake of immortality. A man sinking in it does not die, but becomes immortal. Some people believe that by thinking of god too much the mind becomes deranged; but that is not true. God is the lake of nectar, the ocean of immortality. He is called the `immortal’ in the Vedas. Sinking in it, one dies not dying, but very transcends death.

Sri Ramakrishna said; the mind of the yogi is always fixed on god, always absorbed in the self. His eyes are wide open with an aimless look, like the eyes of mother bird hatching her eggs.

A spiritual aspirant, though engaged in various activities, keeps his mind fixed on the divine with in. now and then, he peeps within to have a glimpse of the divine light. Sri Ramakrishna compared thee mind of such a yogi with a bird with an inward look and expressed a desire to have a picture of such a bird. He said: the mind of the yogi is always fixed on god, always absorbed in the self. You can recognize such a man by merely looking at him. His eyes are wide open, with an aimless look, like the eyes of the mother bird hatching her eggs. Her entire mind is fixed on the eggs, and there is a vacant look in her eyes.

The greatest aid to this practice of keeping god in memory is, perhaps, music. The lord says to Narada, the great teacher of Bhakti, `I do not live in heaven, nor do I live in the heart of the yogi, but where my devotees sing my praise, there am I’. Music has such tremendous power over the human mind; it brings it to concentration in a moment. You will find the dull, ignorant, low brute-like human beings, who never steady their minds for a moment at other times, when they hear attractive music, immediately become charmed and concentrated. Even the minds of animals, such as dogs, lion, cats, and serpents, become charmed with music.

The golden temple at Amritsar is one of the most important pilgrim centers of Sikhs. Guru Nanak’s birth day is celebrated by large number of people here.

Guru Nanak dev was the founder of Sikh religion. He was born in 1469 at Talwandi in Punjab. He taught that there was only one god and the people should live in peace. Guru Granth sahib is the holy book of the Sikhs.

The states of Punjab and Harayana lie in the northern part of the Great Plains. Chandighar is the capital city of both Punjab and Harayana. It is a well- planned beautiful city. It is a union territory. The Sutlej, the Beas, and the Ravi rivers flow through Punjab. These rivers join the Indus and flow into the Arabian Sea.

The main occupation of the people is agriculture. The main crops are wheat, rice, and sugar cane. The people of these states are heard working. Dams, canals and tube-wells are used to irrigate the land. Farmers use scientific methods of farming. They use tractors, harvesters and other machines.

The people here speak Punjabi and Hindi. In this state is it very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer.

The men wear lungi and kurta. They wear a turban on the head and the women wear salwars kameez with a dupatta. The Bhangra dance of Punjab is very famous.

Harayana is adjacent to Punjab. The modern state of Harayana came into beings in November 1966. Many people in Harayana are dairy farmers. The Ghaghara is the only one river that flow through Harayana. Faridabad is a famous industrial town of Haryana.

*Amritsar is famous for golden temples besides being an important commercial and trading centre. Jalandhar and Ludhiana are famous for a variety of industries. Amritsar is the largest city in Punjab. It is religious centre of the Sikhs, and the golden temp-le is located here.

1. Sri Ranganath temple, Tamil Nadu, India.

This temple, the construction of which started way back in the 17 th century is the only temple in India with seven enclosures (or prahakaras) with a total of 21 ‘gopurams’. The temple complex covers about 156 acres and the main deity is Sri Ranganatha (Lord Vishnu in a reclining posture).

2. Jagat Pita Mandir,  Rajasthan, India.  This temple is one of the very few temples dedicated to Lord Brahma.  It was built in the 14 th century and is located along the banks of the beautiful Pushkar Lake in Rajasthan. The walls are decorated with silver coins and a silver turtle can be seen inside the temple. One more Brahma temple, which was built around the 5^th century can be found in the Brahma Carambolim village in Goa.

Jagat Pita Mandir                                                                              Brahma Carambolin temple     

3. Arulmigu Sri Raja Kaliamman Temple, Johor Baru, Malaysia. This is  a temple basically dedicated to Mother Kali and is built entirely of colored  glass pieces which have been imported from Thailand and few other places. Though, basically it is a Hindu temple. but it has places(and statues) to worship Buddha and Jesus. It is open throughout the year.

4. Mormon temples. These are temples staffed and managed by the Mormon church/ the church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (LDS). The temple is open to public in the construction stage, at which time it is called the “Open House”. However, once it is dedicated, only authorized members of the church are allowed to enter. There are practically no Hindu images and these are also sometimes called as meeting places.  To date, there are over 130 such temples spread across the world, the most famous and the largest one being the Salt lake Temple located in Utah, United States. The Mormon temples at Tokyo and California are other examples.

Salt Lake Temple, Utah, US                                                                                                                                           Tokyo Japan temple, Tokyo,Japan

5. Wat Rong Khun, Chaing Rai, Thailand. Also know as White temple, the construction of this magnificent structure started in the year 1997 and is estimated to take many more years to come. The temple is dedicated to Lord Buddha. The bridge leading towards it is said to represent the crossing of the birth-cycle to reach the Abode of Buddha. The temple is constructed entirely from white plaster with reflections from the embedded mirrored glass mosaics.

The above mentioned are a few unique temples in India and abroad. There are many more amazing temples around the world, known for their wonderful and breath-taking architecture.