SOME BELIEFS AND TEACHINGS OF GURU
NANAK
Guru Nanak Dev ji (1469-1539) was one
of the greatest spiritual teachers, mystics, metaphysical poets and social
reformers.
He founded Sikhism , a new religion,
which is followed today by millions of people. There is hardly a country where
you don’t find Sikh places of worship called Gurdwaras which are open to people of all
faiths and serve as spiritual sanctuaries. Here, the holy scripture known as
the Guru Granth Sahib is kept. One finds in these gurdwaras the musical
renderings of hymns, prayers and the programmes of religious talks.
Gurdwaras are community centres that provide
free meals in communal kitchens named as langars with adequate provision for
education and social assemblies.
Guru Nanak was born in 1469 at
Talwandi, later renamed as Nankana Sahib, now situated in Pakistan.
At the age of eleven, Guru Nanak refused
to submit himself for the ceremony of wearing the sacred thread that
distinguishes the high-born from the low caste and told the appointed priest:
“Let compassion be thy cotton! Spin it into the yarn of contentment: Give it knots of continence and
the twist of truth. Thus wilt thou make a janeu
(the sacred thread) for the soul. If such a one thou hast, put it on me. The
thread so made will neither snap, nor become soiled. It will neither be burned
nor lost. Blest is the man, O Nanak, who weareth such a thread around his neck.
“----Source: Guru Nanak by Prof. Harbans
Singh, Punjabi University, Patiala, October 1969.
According to an other authentic source:
the beliefs of Guru Nanak focused on the
oneness of God, the equality of all people regardless of caste or gender, and
the importance of living an honest and ethical life. He taught that people
could achieve spiritual connection through meditation, honest work, and
selfless service.
Guru Nanak rejected rituals, idol
worship, and the caste system.
In Japji Sahib, a foundational Sikh prayer and a spiritual composition
by Guru Nanak about God, one finds the following eternal lines:
“There is no
limit to the praises of Him that are being sung, no end to the ways in which He
is described. There is no limit to what He doth for us, and no end to what He
giveth. There is no limit to what He seeth, and no limit to what he heareth. None
can divine the limit of His purposes. None can know the limit of what He hath brought
into being and of the nature of all that exists. Many yearn to discover His
limit, but His limit cannot be fixed. None know the limit. The more we say the
greater he seemeth to become. Great is the Lord, high His seat, and higher than
the highest His name. He that would know how high He is must first be as high
as He is. How great He is He alone knoweth. What is given us is by His bounty
and grace alone.”—Quoted from Guru Nanak by
Prof. Harbans Singh, Punjabi University, Patiala, 1969.
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G.R.Kanwal
4th November 2025.
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