Inder Jeet S ‘Prince’
Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism, was an apostle of peace and harmony He was born in 1469 AD at ‘Rai Boi Ki Talwandi’ in the present district of Shekupura Pakistan. The Sikhs lovingly refer to this place as “Nankana Sahib” It is thronged every year by Sikh devotees from all over the world on “Kartik Puran Masi” to celebrate birth anniversary of Baba Nanak!
Those were the times when Lodhi rulers were ruling the country. Innocent Hindus were being forcibly converted to Islam’. Their condition was simply deplorable. According to Dr Gokal Chand Narang, a noted historian, “All vestiges of Hindu greatness had been obliterated. During four & half centuries that intervened the overthrow of Anangpal and the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, history does not tell the name of a single Hindu in Punjab. Those who had escaped conversion had lost all that lends dignity and grace to life. The people were so much disprited and frightened that they were left with no sense of honour, respect and regard for their own culture.
According to facts available as many as 60 foreign invasions of India took place between the 11th century and the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. For a long time more than conquering the country to rule over it, the invaders came to loot and convert the Hindus to Islam.
Those who resisted were massacred. The invaders seemed to believe that there was religious sanction for this. They had, therefore, no compunction in committing the worst of crimes against the Hindus whom they called “Kafirs” ( The non-believers). The foreign invaders made it a point to destroy Hindu temples and their libraries. The males used to be massacred just to glorify their own faith. The invaders used to pick up young women only to make them their slaves. The essence of religion was forgotten altogether. The Hindu’s hatred of Muslims and Muslim’s discrimination against Non-Muslims were at its peak level. Within Hindus, Brahmins considered themselves superior to the rest of Hindus and about one sixth of the Hindus treated as untouchables. The administration was corrupt at every level. Bribery and unfair means were the order of the day.
It was in this age of darkness (Ignorance) that was enlightened by the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. In the words of Bhai Gurdas Ji, a sufi saint,
“Satguru Nanak Pargatya, Miti Dhundh Jag Chanan Hoya”.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji wanted to pull the Hindu community out of degeneration, Ignornace & depression & by restoring to them the lost virtues. At the age of seven, learnt Hindi and Sanskrit Guru Ji used to surprise his teachers with the siblimity of his extra ordinary knowledge about divine things. At the age of 13, Guru Ji learned persian & at the age of 16, Guru Nanak Dev Ji was the most learned man in the region.
Guru Ji used to remain happy in the company of ‘Sadhus’ & ‘Faqirs’. He was married to Mata Sulkhani Ji at an early age & was blessed with two sons namely Sri Chand Ji & Laxmi Dass Ji.
Guru Ji got the job of a storekeeper in the ‘Modikhana’ of Nawab of Sultanpur through the help of her elder sister’s husband.
Guru Ji spent few years at Sultanpur Lodhi. One day Guru Ji went to a nearby rivulet ‘BAIN’ to have a bath & disappeared. Guru Ji reappeared only on 3rd day & gave his first sermon as :
“Na Koi Hindu,
Na Musalmaan!’’
Since Guru Ji had studies both in the Hindu Ashram and in the Muslim Madrassa & had read the scriputres of both these religious, he realised that there could not be two seperate Gods, one for the Hindus called ‘Ram’ & the other for the Muslims “Allah”. Guru Ji realised that there was the same one God for the whole humanity & for all the religions Guruji thus preached new idea of God as supreme universal, all powerful & truthful as described in ”JAP JI SAHIB”.
Guru Ji resigned his job & put this wife & two children in the care of his father-in-law in Batala & left Sultanpur to preach his newly founded religion all over India & nearby countries. All through his ardvous journeys his close associate Bhai Mardana, a Muslim of humble birth was with him. They had been friends since childhood. Bhai Mardana played on a Rebeck (a stringed instrument) while Nanak sang ‘Gurbani’.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji combined in himself a recluse, an ascetic & a family man who married & had children. He was a fond brother of a loving sister. He was a dutiful husband. He was a loving father. And yet he was unduly attached to none. For years, he would go out towards the East, West, North & South, but every time he came back to his home. Guru Nanak Dev Ji broke barriers of caste. In his eyes, there was no higher or lower caste. He rejected the privileges acquired by birth. He fraternized with the poor & the down trodden, the peasant & the worker. The whole world was one family for him. He respected other religions.
Wherever Guru Ji went, he established a ‘Sangat’, a congregation in which all humans, Hindus & Muslims, low & high caste, sat as equals to sing praises for almighty. One person was appointed as guide to each ‘Sangat’ to conduct religious discourses.
Guru Ji, also instituted the ‘Pangat’, the sitting together as equals to enjoy the food (‘Langar’) which was distributed free to all. Even today this practice of free food ‘Langar’ is observed in each ‘Gurudawara’ to remind us that all human beings are equal & have the same rights.
It is worth mentioning that both Muslims & Hindus including the untouchables attended Guru Ji’s ‘Sangat’ where religious discourses were held every morning & evening. Both communities claimed ‘Nanak’ as his own, a fitting testimony of his teachings. He was a ‘Pir” for the Muslims & “Guru’ for the Hindus.
“Guru Nanak Shah Faqir
Hindu Ka Guru,
Muslim Ka Peer !”
Guru Ji, during the last 20 years of his life, made an experiment that was unique for his times. Guru Ji acquired a piece of land on the banks of river Ravi & set up a new township called Kartarpur there. It was the Ist experiment of its kind, perhaps in the entire world. The land was common, the farming was common, & there was a common kitchen. Guru Ji insisted on the common kitchen so that the curse of the caste system could be removed from the society. No body could see Guru Ji unless he had eaten in the common kitchen. Guru Ji did farming in the fields along with others. Guru Ji attached great importance to manual labour.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji, before leaving for his heavenly abode in 1539, appointed Bhai Lehna Ji renamed as Guru Angad Dev Ji, as the 2nd Nanak of Sikhism.
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