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Sant Dadu Dayal Quotes and Teachings

This is a collection of quotes and teachings of Sant Dadu Dayal. Sant Dadu Dayal (1544—1603) was a poet and sant and is the founder of Dadu Panth active in Rajasthan, Gujarat and other states of the region.

A new pot taken from the potter’s furnace may be decorated with many pictures outside. But what use will it be to thee, O Dadu, without any contents? Such are the ones who make outer display of religiosity.

The whole world makes an outer display, whereas the practice of the Saint is within. This is the difference between the two; hence no accord is found between them.



One sits fearlessly by repeating God's Name; the Negative Power can never consume him.

God belongs to the caste of love, love is dear to Him; Love is his body, and love alone is His color.

This fragile and transient human life is speedily coming to its end. It is high time that we seek refuge in the Lord of Love. Only while living as a human being can the work be accomplished, not after death. 

When love and devotion arise, one is firmly established in blissful meditation.

The One alone dwells within my heart, Day and night I repeat His Name. The Name of God alone is true; keep that within thy heart. Forsake all hypocrisies and cumbrous practices; this is the teaching of all Saints, O Dadu.

The vessel of flesh is impassable and rough, the subtle transmigratory body is drowning in it; Dadu says: If the body is without Ram the mind cannot be controlled.

God belongs to the caste of love, love is dear to Him; Love is his body, and love alone is His color.

The lover is converted into the Beloved. That indeed is called true love. Forgetting his own ego, he remains absorbed in the One.

The Name of God is my sect. My way of living is control of the senses. For my deeds — watch my disciples: their goal is to be immersed in Ram [God].

When one’s whole being is engaged in repeating the Name, that, indeed, is called repetition. The self then blossoms forth within, and the Lord reveals Himself, O Dadu.

Do the repetition of God and forget Him not. Fulfill the purpose of thy birth by practicing concentration. Be steadfast in the remembrance of God. Practice meditation with love, and sing the glory of God. The human body is the door to salvation.

Saints are the true redeemers,
They make one see the Creator face to face.
Having themselves crossed the ocean
of the world, they take others across;
They are the saviors of beings.
Dyed in the colour of the Supreme Lord,
They have the blameless Name
as their support;
Always truthful, disciplined, blissful and contented,-
Their wisdom and reach knows no bounds.
In eternal love, in eternal ecstasy,
In eternal company with the essential Truth;
In eternal union, in eternal life,
In eternal knowledge and contemplation are they absorbed.
Crest-jewel of all, bestower of bliss to all,
They are rare in this world.
They are the Swans, the dwellers of the Ocean of Bliss,
Who come for the good of others,  Dadu.

Myriads of Sounds are heard; the one who hears gains access to the Kingdom of Immortality (place beyond the reach of death). A genuine servant gets to see the resplendent form of the Supreme Being.

“Wherever one’s thought dwells, there will that person rest. At his pleasure, he may go to the delusion of unreality or he may merge into the Lord of the self. Where thou keepest thy mind while living, to that abode shalt thou go after death. The soul finds lodging in a place wherein it has hitherto been immersed.” 

One who, turning the attention inward, brings it within the self, and fixes it on the Radiant Form of the Master, is indeed wise, O Dadu. …. Search for the Beloved close to the place where-from the Sound emerges, and thou shalt find Him, sayeth Dadu. There is solitude there, and there is luster of Light. …. Fix thine attention within, O valiant servant, so does Dadu proclaim.

The one who is merged in the Word, who is pierced by the arrows of the Master’s instructions, who is absorbed with the One alone — only that person is rightly set on the Path.

Gone is the time, and lost is the opportunity.
Where shalt thou find this priceless birth once it slips out of hand?
Catching hold of our hand, the Negative Power [Kal] is drawing us close day by day.
The self does not awaken even now.
Its time is spent asleep.
While watching, Dadu, the hair has grown white from black.
Body, mind, and youth are all gone, and even now thou turnest not to God!
While alive one can transcend bodily qualities.
While alive one can be liberated;
While alive one can shed all Karmas.
That truly is called liberation.
While alive one can cross over what is hard to cross,
While alive can one go to the other shore.
While alive one can find the Master of the world,
And can attain discrimination and wisdom.
If the meeting is not accomplished while alive,
If the contact is not made while alive,
If the Lord of the universe is not found while alive,
The one is simply drowned.
One is freed while alive,
One is not freed after death, sayeth Dadu
If one were to be free after death,
Then all will come under that.
Some say one can secure abode in paradise after death;
They preach liberation after death.
They, indeed, are making the world insane, O Dadu

God is within all beings. He accompanies all and is close by. Musk is in the musk-dear, and yet it goes around in search of musk. The self knows not God, although God is within the self. Being deaf to the holy Sound of the Master, sadly does he wander. He for whom thou searchest in the world, dwells within thyself. … Search for the Lord within thyself, the Imperceptible One hath the Guru revealed.

The knowledge of the Sound Current imparted by the Guru merges one easily into Truth. It carries me to the Abode of my Beloved, sayeth Dadu.

The mind is a deer, sayeth Dadu.
Looking at the green forest of the world.
This foolish one runs around puffed up with pleasure.
It is destined to be a victim of Kal [lord of time, lord of death], the hunter.
The body is like a passer-by, sayeth Dadu

No sooner dost thou look at him, that he goes out of sight.
Be dedicated to the Name of God
As long as there is breath in thy body.
Hurry up, O passer-by, the journey hangs over thy head.
Delay no more.
What art thou doing sitting idle? Repeat God’s Name.
Evening has set in while the traveler is still in the forest.
He must move briskly.
This is not the time to be slack, warns Dadu.
Go Home quickly.