The Palace Of God

When Guru Nanak was at Mecca, the famous Muslim Quazi Ruknuddin said to Him: “Tell me, O Nanak, can you describe to me the Palace of God? How many towers does it have? How many doors and how many turrets?”

Guru Nanak smiled and told the Quazi: “Know that the Palace and Temple of God is the human body. Of towers, it has twelve – three on the right arm and three on the left (the hands, forearms and upper arms); and similarly three each on the right and left legs (feet, legs and thighs). The palace has nine doors, and these are the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the mouth and the two lower apertures. It has fifty-two turrets- thirty two teeth in the mouth and twenty nails on the hands and feet.”

Guru Nanak paused for a moment, and then continued: “But God’s palace of Light (the Spiritual Realm) is beyond the fifty – two turrets, the nine doors and the twelve towers. For it is there that an everlasting Fountain of Nectar flows; and it is there that you will find Ismet-the everlasting lotus. From this palace of light, God is constantly calling to us from above. But we are asleep and hear Him not.”

“But the way to the Palace of Light is through the human body, the Palace or Temple of the Living God. The Satguru awakens the disciple and teaches him how to go inside the human body, and through it find the Path to God’s great Palace.

“The human body is a city,
The rarest of gems and rubies there await thee,
Acquire them by devotion and service to the Satguru.”