Guru Nanak Recovered

Guru Nanak: The founder of Sikhism

Dhruv Miglani, Culture 8

INTRODUCTION

Guru Nanak was the founder of Sikhism and the first of the Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated world-wide on Karthik Puranmashi, the full moon day which falls on different dates each year in the month of October and November. As a boy, Guru Nanak learnt other languages besides his mother tongue (Hindi and Punjabi) - Persian and Arabic. He spent 25 years of his life travelling and preaching his ideology. Many of his hymns were composed during this period. They represent answers to the major religious and social problems of the day. During these tours, he studied other religious systems like Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Islam. He also visited numerous places of Hindu and Muslim worship where he learnt a lot of new things. Guru Nanak had a distinct sense and his mission was God oriented. Nanak believed that he was a messenger of God and God had commanded him to preach an entirely new religion, the central idea of which was the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God.

Family and Childhood

Nanak was born April 15th, 1469 at Rai Bhoi Ki Talvandi, near Lahore. His parents were Kalyan Chand Das Bedi, popularly known as Mahtakalu and Matha Triptha. His father was the local accountant in the village of Talvandi. His parents were born Hindus. He had one sister, Bibi Nanaki, who was five years older than Guru Nanak. In 1475, she was married and moved to Sultanpur. Nanak was attached to his sister and followed her to Sultanpur to live with her and her husband. At the age of around 16 years, Nanak started working. At the age of five, Nanak is said to have had an interest in divine subjects. At age seven, his father enrolled him at the village school- as was the custom. One day, Nanak was writing on “Patti” (hard writing board) and the teacher asked him “What are you writing?” Nanak gave the teacher his Patti and the teacher was astonished by the poem that Nanak had written. At the age of 13, Guru Nanak had to put a sacred thread on him according to the traditional Hindu custom. It was a big ceremony with family and friends, but Guru Nanak refused the sacred thread from the priest. It is said that one day, the local landlord, Rai Bular, saw another astonishing scene. He was returning from a village and from a distance, he saw Guru Nanak lying on the ground and a large cobra was holding its wide hood over the Guru’s head. It was thus protecting that man of God against the sun.

On September 24, 1487, Nanak married Sulakkhini, daughter of Mul Chand and Chando Rani, in the town of Batala. The couple had two sons, Shri Chand and Lakhmi Chand. Shri Chand was the founder of Udasi Sect of Sikhism.

Birth of Sikhism

Rai Bular, the local landlord and Bibi Nanaki were the first people that recognized divine qualities in Nanak. They encouraged and supported him to study and travel. At the age of 30, Guru Nanak had a vision. After he failed to return from his ablutions, his clothes were found on the bank of a local stream called the Kali Bein. The towns’ people assumed he was no more. Daulat Khan (Governor of Sultanpur) had the river dredged, but nobody was found. After three days, Nanak reappeared, staying silent. The next day, he pronounced: “There is neither Hindu nor Mussulman (a person who follows Islam or a Muslim as they are commonly referred to) so whose path shall I follow? I shall follow God’s path. God is neither Hindu nor Mussulman and the path which I follow is God’s. All Hindus and Mussulman are children of the same father. They should live together like brothers, like members of a good family. I am neither Hindu nor Mussulman; I am a lover of God and a servant of man. To me, all religions are His.” At that time, Hindu and Mussulman relationships were good but they used to follow different religions. Nanak said that he had been taken to God’s court. There he was offered a cup filled with ‘Amrita’ (a type of nectar) and given the command “This is the cup of adoration of God’s name. Drink it. I am with you. I bless you and raise you up. Go, rejoice in my name and teach others to do so.” From this point onwards, Nanak is described in accounts as a Guru and Sikhism was born. Finally, on the completion of his tours, he settled as a peasant farmer at Kartarpur, a village in Punjab. Guru Nanak later died at the age 70 on September 26, 1539 in Kartarpur due to old age.

Teachings

According to Guru Nanak, God is the most recognizable. Nanak’s teachings can be found in the GURU GRANTH SAHIB as a vast collection of hymns or Shabad, recorded in Gurumukhi. The opening lines of GURU GRANTH SAHIB say: “There is but One God, The Supreme Truth; The Ultimate Reality, The Creator, Without fear, Without enemies, Timeless in His image, Without Birth, Self-Created, By His grace revealed.” Through popular traditions, Nanak’s teaching is understood in three ways:
• Vand Chakko- Sharing with others, helping those who are in need
• Kirat Karo- making a living honestly, without exploitation
• Naam Japna- meditating on God’s name to control your five evils to eliminate suffering and live a happy life.

Nanak’s main aim was the worship of God (Naam Japna). Guru Nanak was totally against discrimination; he believed in the equality of men and women. He elevated the position of women saying that women are the carnation of the next generation. According to him, without women, there would be no one at all in the world. Guru Nanak believed in equality and he rejected the Hindu caste system.

Conclusion and Analysis

So far I learned that Guru Nanak laid the greatest emphasis on the worship of God. To spread his knowledge, he traveled widely throughout Asia. According to him, one should follow the direction of awakened individuals. He was indeed the messenger of God after all the preaching he had made and all the events in his life that he had gone through. I have previously written on this topic and from writing this essay gained a greater depth of understanding, which has made me more interested in Guru Nanak’s personality.
References

(1) Biography of Guru Nanak- book
(2) www.sikhhistory.com
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Nanak
(4) http://www.oxfordsikhs.com/SikhAwareness/Guru-Nanak-Dev-Ji_261.aspx

Biography (About the author)

My name is Dhruv Miglani. I am an eighth-grader at Shishu Bharthi. I have been taking Hindi and culture at this school since third-grade. I have learned a lot about Hindi and the various cultures in Shishu Bharthi. My favorite subjects in school are math and science. I play basketball for my school and I have loved playing it for a long time. I play my saxophone in my school’s concert and jazz band. I have two siblings-one brother and one sister-both younger than me. I love playing with them a lot.

References: (1) Biography of Guru Nanak- book (2) www.sikhhistory.com (3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Nanak (4) http://www.oxfordsikhs.com/SikhAwareness/Guru-Nanak-Dev-Ji_261.aspx Biography (About the author) My name is Dhruv Miglani. I am an eighth-grader at Shishu Bharthi. I have been taking Hindi and culture at this school since third-grade. I have learned a lot about Hindi and the various cultures in Shishu Bharthi. My favorite subjects in school are math and science. I play basketball for my school and I have loved playing it for a long time. I play my saxophone in my school’s concert and jazz band. I have two siblings-one brother and one sister-both younger than me. I love playing with them a lot.