REMEMBERING SRI GURU NANAK DEV JI
Born on 15th April 1469 in a village called Rai
Bhoi Ki Talvandi, Sri Guru Nanak Dev JI completed his spiritual journey to this
world on 22nd September 1539. His last resting place was Gurdwara Darbar
Sahib Kartar Pur. Both Talvandi and
Kartar Pur are now parts of present day Punjab of Pakistan.
On the 550th
birthday (12th November 2019) of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji it is imperative
to recall his universal and eternal teachings and place them before the people
at large.
In his message on this sacred occasion Capt. Amarinder Singh.
Chief Minister of Punjab, said: “As we celebrate the 550th Prakash
Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, it is our humble endeavour to disseminate the
ideology of Baba Nanak across the world.
It is my strong belief that Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s philosophy is the
key to the creation of a harmonious society based on the ethos of Tolerance,
Peace, Communal Harmony, Women Empowerment and Protecction of Natural Resources.”
According to World Punjabi Organisation, Nanak Shah Fakir was
Hindu Ka Guru, Musalman Ka Pir. He preached oneness of God, humility,
simplicity, humanity, integrity, truthfulness and secularism. His ideology
stood for dispelling of rituals, imbibing of moral values, working hard,
sharing earnings, trusting God, respecting women, practicing humanity and
compassion and preserving environment.
In his book Guru Nanak
Bani (Published by National Book Trust, India),
Bhai Jodh Singh, says Guru
Nanak Devji emphasized equal opportunities, equal access to sources and resources, equal participation
in decision making, equal rights, egalitarianism, equitability and social
justice for the marginal, disadvantaged, deprived and exploited ones because he
believes in :One God”.
History says that in 1475, during his stay in Sultanpur, Guru
Nanak Dev Ji went to a nearby river every morning in order to bathe and
meditate. One fine day, he went to the river as usual but did not return for
three days. It is believed that he went
deep inside the forest and stayed there for three days. When he returned, he
looked like a man possessed and did not utter a word. When he finally spoke, he
said, “There is no Hindu and no Musalman.” These words were the starting point
of his teachings which culminated in the formation of Sikhism, the fifth great
religion of the world.
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji did not believe in idol worship,
casteism, the discrimination between the high and the low. The rituals of the
priestly class, the life of inaction and mere contemplation did not appeal to
him. He did not recommend monasticism
for leading a spiritual life and himself lived a householder’s life and
performed the duties thereof. He however did recommend the repeated chanting of
the name of God to have direct access to Him. He asked his followers to be completely
free from lust, rage, greed, attachment and conceit. Exploitation and fraud also had no place in
his code of ethics. He saw human salvation in community service, especially to
the needy and the distressed. The idea
of the community kitchen (Langar) where people of all sects and religions, the
rich and the poor, the mighty and the weak, men and women, sit on the same mats
in perfect discipline and share the same food is unique in Sikhism. Food here
is not only a means of physical survival, but a symbol of equality and by extension
a message for the mind of the eater to liberate Itself from egotistic rubbish
of the world.
Finally, here is a
synoptic description of God, The True One, as envisioned by Sri Nanak Dev Ji:
“The True One was in the beginning, the True
One was in the primal age,
The True One is now also, O Nanak;
the True One also shall be.
By His order bodies are produced; His
order cannot be described.
By His order souls are infused into
them; by His order greatness is obtained.
By His order men are high or low; by
His order they obtain pre-ordained pain or pleasure
By His order some obtain their
reward; by His order others must wander in transmigration.
All are subject to His order; none is
exempt from it.
He who understands God’s order, O
Nanak, is never guilty of egoism.”
God, according to Guru
Nanak Dev Ji, is not isolated from his creation. As his contemporary saint poet
Kabir Das also says:
“O servant where dost thou seek Me:
Lo, I am beside thee.
I am neither in temple nor in mosque; I am neither in Kaaba
nor in Kailash;
Neither am I rites and ceremonies,
nor in Yoga and renunciation.
If thou are a true seeker, thou shalt
at once see Me: thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time.
Kabir says, ‘O Sadhu God is the
breath of all breath.’
It may not be wrong to suggest that Nobel Laureate
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) wrote the following song in his Gitanjali under
the inspiration of the teachings of both Kabir Das and Guru Nanak Dev Ji:
“Leave this
chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom doest thou worship in this
lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy
God is not before thee!
He is there
where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path-maker is
breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is
covered with dust. Put off thy holy
mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!
Deliverance?
Where is this deliverance to be found? Our master himself has joyfully taken
upon him the bonds of creation; he is bound with us all for ever.
Come out of
thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if
thy clothes become tattered and stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and
in sweat of thy brow”
As post script, let me
add that Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji had firsthand knowledge of people, their places,
practices and performances. He had
travelled on foot as far as Sri Lanka, the terrains of the Himalayas, Mecca and
most parts of the Middle East. A born mystic poet of a very high order, 976
hymns out of the 5894 incorporated in The Sri Guru Granth Sahib, were composed
by him. He used the language which could
be easily understood by one and all. For evidence, just look at the Mool Mantra
of Japji Sahib which reads like this: Ek Onkar, Om Sat Naam, Kartaa Purakh,
Nirbhau, Nirvair, Akaal Moorat, Ajuni, Saibangh, and Gurparsaad. Its English version would be as follows: The
One, the Reality, Of Name ever True and Eternal, The Prime Doer, the Creator,
Fearless, Without Enmity, Of Eternal Form, Without Birth, Uncaused,
Self-existent and Self-illuminating, Known by the Grace of the Enlightened Teacher.
. -------G. R. KANWAL 12th November 2019
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