Guru Nanak Dev Jee ( 1469-1939)
The world has just celebrated 550th
Birthday (12 Nov 2019) of Guru Nanak Dev Jee, the Founder and first Sikh Guru, who was the most popular religious leader not only in his country of birth, India but also in other many countries in Asia. He was born in 1469 at Rāi Bhoi Kī Talwaṇḍī, a village
in the Lahore province of Punjab, Pakistan (present-day Nankana
Sahib). Right from childhood he showed a great inclination towards God and questioned many baseless rituals and
superstitions being followed by most people. His father Kalyan Mehta Jee had arranged his early education by the teachers at home. He was very sharp in
learning Punjabi, Urdu, and even Persian language. He would often get deeply absorbed in
meditation as if talking to heavens and therefore paid very little attention to
worldly chores. His father was often upset about his son’s unusual behaviour and
tried to give him a variety of tasks/jobs to bring a change in him. But Guru
Nanak always sought his happiness in doing spiritual things but stayed very
respectful to his parents. His divine
power and the saintly outlook was well recognised and respected by his elder sister
(Nanaki) and Rai Bolar, the local administrator. Guru Nanak loved to help the needy, be in the
company of saints and sages and paid rich gratitude to God. He did everything
for everybody in the name of God and never considered any other factor of worldly
gain or loss.
Guru Nanak observed that in those days, most of the people were
confused by the conflicting teachings /messages given by Priests, Pundits, Qazis and Mullahs. The people were
suffering from hatred, fanaticism, falsehood and hypocrisy. Guru Nanak was
deeply touched by the plight of the people and wanted to help them by conveying
“Real Message of Almighty ONE God".
Therefore in 1499, at the age of 30, he got further enlightened and he
decided to move out on his sacred mission and educate people to spread the holy
message of peace, love, gratitude and compassion. He is the only religious
Guru/saint to have travelled over 50000 Km in over 22 years, popularly called five
Udasi ( Long journeys) . In those days, road and rail routes were not well
developed in India and its neighbouring countries. Therefore his most of the
journeys were on foot except when he travelled from India to Saudi Arabia by
boat ( Sea Voyage). He had the company of his lifetime friend ( Muslim friend
who played musical instrument “Rebab” . For
the first year, he spread his message of peace, compassion, righteousness and
truth to the people in and around his home. A brief summary of the countries/ places where
Guru Nanak visited are very briefly given below in chronological order:
·
First Udasi (1500-1506 AD). Guru Nanak started his first udasi at the age
of 31. In seven years, he had covered
many towns and regions of undivided India, namely Sultanpur, Tulamba (modern
Makhdumpur, Zila Multan), Panipat ( Now in Haryana), Delhi, Banaras (Varanasi), UP, Nanakmata
(Zila Nainital, U.P.), Tanda Vanjara (Zila Rampur, UP), Kamrup (Assam), Asa
Desh (Assam), Saidpur (modern Eminabad, now in Pakistan), Pasrur (now in
Pakistan), Sialkot (now in Pakistan).
·
Second
Udasi: (1506-1513 AD) During his age of 37 to 44, Guru Nanak Dev Jee moved
southwards and covered the towns and regions like Dhanasri Valley, Sangladip (Ceylon).
·
Third
Udasi: (1514-1518 AD). At the age of
45 he started his journey towards North. In about 5 years he
covered various towns and regions like Kashmir, Sumer Parbat,
Nepal, Tashkent, Sikkim, Tibet.
·
Fourth
Udasi: (1519-1521 AD) At the age of
50 he moved toward East and going across
the Arabian Sea. This journey lasted about 3 years and covered
various towns and regions like Mecca Bagdad, the Arab countries and Iran.
·
Fifth
Udasi: (1523-1524 AD) At the age of 53, he spent two more years to walk across and convey his
message of peace, brotherhood, upliftment of women. During this short journey, he covered the various towns and regions within Punjab.
Guru Nanak had no conflict with anyone during such long
journeys, inside and outside India. He respected all religious leaders,
political leaders, their customs and languages
but conveyed the Holy Message of God almighty in a very peaceful way
that they all accepted his way of righteous
life.
After these long
journeys of 24 years, he finally settled to Kartarpur, a small town on the bank
of River Ravi ( Now in Pakistan). During this period he lived like a common man and did farming, ploughing of
fields, weeding out grass from paddy fields but continued to vigorously guide people to stay on the right path and lead their life of love and
harmony. At the age of 70, he peacefully
left for his heavenly abode in1539. He was so popular both among Hindu, Sikhs
and Muslims that they all wanted to lay his body to rest in their traditional
way. After a lot of discussions among his followers, they agreed to have two separate
but nearby memorials Gurduara and Masjid. These are still there and all visitors
pay their tribute to their beloved Gur Nanak Dev Jee. On 09 Nov 2019, Pakistan has opened a Corridor
of 4 KMS across river Ravi allowing Indian people to visit Gurdwara Kartarpur, without any Visa requirement and pay their
Homage to their beloved Guru Nanak Dev Jee.
It is believed that Guru Nanak is
the most travelled religious leader/saint/prophet in the world. He travelled in
all four directions - North, East, South and West which included the whole of India
, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia,
Iraq, Iran, Tibet, Afghanistan. He had
travelled over 50,000 Kms in 24 long
years ( 1500 to 1524). Most of his journeys were made on foot with his
companion Bhai Mardana (A Muslim
, Violinist ).
Gurbani ( Message of God ) Guru Nanak used to often go into deep meditation and after that he
would recite Gurbani and ask his another
dear friend Bala Jee to make notes. The gist of his very first paragraph of his
first Gurbani Jap Jee Sahib is the “Mool Mantara” ( First Sabadh ( Sermon) is given below:.
·
There
is just ONE ( 1) God.
·
He
is the supreme Truth
·
He is
the Creator
·
He is
without fear and without hate
·
He is Omni
present
·
Pervades
over the entire Universe.
·
He is not
born
·
He will
not die to be reborn again
·
Before the time itself, there was Truth
·
When time began to run the course He was the Truth
·
Even now He is the Truth
Basic teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Jee
·
Naam: Japo ( worship Name of Gor) - Meditation &
Prayer, Free Service Sewa, Simran, Sacred
Music Kirtan
·
Wand kay Shako: ( Share your
earnings with the needy) - Share with others who are deserving, Free Food langar, 10%
Donation Daasvand. It could be money, food or even time
Primary Principles Life
·
One God: - There is only ONE (1) God who
has infinite qualities and names
·
Re-incarnation, Karma & Salvation: - Every creature has
a Soul; on death, the Soul is passed from one body to another until Liberation.
·
Remember God: Love God but have fear of Him as well.
·
Brotherhood All human beings are equal. We are
sons and daughters of, the ONE God Almighty.
Faith and Beliefs
·
Many Paths Lead to (ONE) God.: - To reach your destination there can be many
paths and they take different time and effort to reach the destination. Therefore
respect all religions and faiths. Let everybody take any path in search of the ultimate (ONE) God.
·
Equality: All humans are equal before God - No
discrimination is allowed on the basis of Caste, Race, Gender, Creed, Origin,
Colour, Status or holding of wealth.
·
Gratitude. Always pay gratitude to God. Accept
the will of God and accept your parents, place of birth as the decision of God and
have conflict or contradiction.
·
Love is God: All Creatures have God's spirit (
Aatmaa) and must be properly respected. Show love for all living things.
·
Personal Right: Every person has a right to life but
this right is linked to certain duties - Simple Living, Right thinking and
Good deeds.
·
Actions Count: “Karma is Dharma”. The human being is the highest
state of all beings and with faculties to decide the right action. Salvation
is obtained by one's actions - Good deeds, remembrance of God - NaamSimran, and Kirtan,
·
Living a Family Life: Must live as a
family unit (householder) to provide and nurture children for the perpetual
benefit of creation. Don’t seek God in jungle, caves or mountains. It is within you, search it and you will get
it.
·
Sharing: It is encouraged to share and give to
charity 10 per cent of one's net earnings.
Prohibited Behaviour:
·
Non-Logical Behaviour: Superstitions;
rituals which have no meaning, aimless
wandering and pilgrimages, fasting and penance; worship of graves, idols, statutes, pictures.
·
Material Obsession: ("Maya")
Accumulation of unlimited materials have
no meaning. All wealth, gold, silver and
properties will all be left behind when you depart from this earth. Do not get
attached to them.
·
Greed. Work hard and earn to fulfil your needs but NOT
greed. Do not snatch
other resources or harm them for personal gain.
·
Don’t Condemn Woman. We are all children of God and
every man and woman deserves the same
dignity and respect. Do not condemn a woman who gives birth to human beings, kings, soldiers, businessmen, farmers, saints
and all.
We have so much to learn from his
life, teachings and Gurbani. He always promoted the merit system and chose his
successor on pure merit. He wanted his successor to be a person of great virtues, dedication and God-loving. Therefore he made open selection seen by all people and did not favour
any of his two sons. He chose one of his followers – Bhai Lehna. He then renamed
him as Angad Dev, as his successor. He loved all and all loved him. He conveyed
his message of righteousness through love and smile. His Gurbani is an ever-living source of peace, strength, wisdom and happiness.
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