“There is One God. His name is
Truth; He is the creator. He fears none; He is without hate. He never dies; He
is beyond the cycle of births and death. He is realized by the kindness of the
True guru. He was True in the beginning; He was True when the ages commenced
and has ever been True. He is also True now.” This universal truth with the
central message; “Eik Naam-Sat Naam, the Truth is God” was expounded by the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev
whose birth anniversary is being celebrated today in India and world over. This
day is also called as the Prakash Utsav or the Guru Parab. The festival today
marks the 548th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. The Guru Parab is
considered as the most sacred day in Sikhism which falls in the Kartik month on
the Poornima day (full moon day) as per Lunar calendar. Guru Nanak is one of
the most prominent saints of India’s Bhakti movement. Guru Nanak Dev has been a
contemporary of famous saint Kabir Das and is regarded as the founder of Sikh
religion.
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Guru Nanak Dev PIC: indiatoday.intoday.in
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Guru Nanak was born on 15th
April, 1469 at a place called; Talvandi is West Punjab province which is now in
Pakistan. His father was Kalyan Chand Das Bedi and mother was Mata Tripta who
were Hindus. The father was a Patwari (who maintains land records) in the
village Talvandi. At the age of seven years, Nanak was sent to school to learn
Hindi, Sanskrit and Persian languages but child Nanak did not show much
interest in learning. He had also attempted different profession like
agriculture and shop keeping but was not successful. He had demonstrated his
spiritual inclination at very early age. As Nanak’s father had found him not
very much interested in studies, he was sent by his father to look after the
crop in the field. There in the field Nanak found that birds were eating the
crop which gave immense pleasure to Nanak. He was supposed to protect the crop
from the birds but he was much delighted and enjoying watching the birds eating
the crops and started singing with joy; Ram ji ki chidia, Ram ji ka khet, auri
chidia chug lo khet; meaning “the birds belong to the Lord Rama, the God and
the fields too belong to the Lord. Come on birds and take plentiful of food.” At
the shop where he was asked to work, Nanak again demonstrated his liking for charity.
He would give articles to people and would not ask them to pay for it. Father
was annoyed with his behavior but it did not affect him. He was married at the
age of nineteen years and had two sons. However, he failed to concentrate on
the family life and was always very eager to mingle with saints and spiritual
masters. At the age of thirty years he left his home and led a life of an ascetic.
He roamed across many holy places in search of the truth and to gather
spiritual knowledge.
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Guru Nanak Jayanti Celebration
PIC: ohmyindia.com
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Later Nanak established his
hermitage at Kartarpur on the bank of River Ravi. Nanak started preaching philosophy
and art of living in peace and harmony with the people. He was always found
immersed in the devotion of God and singing in His praise. Many people started
coming to Nanak’s hermitage to listen to his preaching. Nanak had also started
roaming in villages around to spread his message of love, peace, harmony and
devotion among the people. Nanak’s teachings have been compiled and recorded in
Gurukukhi language in Guru Granth Sahib. Sufism teachings and Bhakti (devotion)
had greatly contributed in the evolution of Nanak’s philosophy. He later played
a prominent role is India’s Bhakti movement. His teachings emphasize on the
unity of all religions and that the God is one which is called the Truth. Nanak’s
philosophy believes that the God is formless and everybody can realize the God
through His divine Grace.
Guru Nanak’s teachings emphasize on
the purity of life, non-violence, universal brotherhood, truthfulness, unselfishness,
and mercifulness to all the creatures. One of the teachings of Guru Nanak puts
lot of thrust on charity. The langar, the concept of free meal in all the
Gurudwaras is a brilliant example of this preaching. All the Gurudwara’s follow
this wonderful and unique concept of charity. During langar, whosoever comes to Gurudwara,
he is offered free food. The teachings also include justice for all, egoless
service to the society and leaving a life of purity without any blemishes of
lust, anger and pride. He gave the Mantra “Wahe Guru” for all the followers of
Sikhism. Guru Nanak also believed in giving equal rights to women and allowed
them to pursue and teach religion.
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Langar at a Gurudwara PIC: tripadvisor.com
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Most of the teachings of Guru
Nanak are in the form of hymns and songs. Nanak considered music as a beautiful
medium to connect the soul with the God. Guru Nanak Devji composed many spiritual
poems. Japji Saheb is one such poem that every Sikh recites in the morning and
is a summary of all his teachings. The Japji
saheb has five parts and each part is called as Khand. The five khands are;
1. Dharm
Khand- It includes the path of righteous duty emphasizing the need for right
living and leading a sinless life.
2. Gyan
Khand- This Khand deals with the spiritual knowledge which is considered
essential to lead a blissful life.
3. Sharam
Khand- It deals with the inculcating the Nanak’s teaching in life to lead a
spiritual and religious life with peace and harmony.
4. Karam
Khand- It teaches the path of Karma and braveness to lead a fearless and courageous
life.
5. Sach
Khand- This is the path of truth. This is the final stage for the liberation and
to find the God.
Guru Nanak Dev left for his
heavenly abode on 22nd September, 1539 after completing a highly
evolved and pure life leaving great spiritual message to the mankind to realize
the God and live with peace and harmony. Guru Nanak’s ultimate message to the
people that “Even Kings and Emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion
cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God” continues to inspire
people to follow the spiritual path shown by him even today.
Wahe Guru, Eik Naam-Sat Naam, The
truth is God.
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