The leader of all people, Baba Nanak:
Although the Sikhs consider Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji to be their first Guru, it would not be an exaggeration to call him the leader of all people because the teachings given by Guru Sahib have transformed people of all religions. Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji said that all human beings are born from the light of one God, whether they are good or bad. Everything has been perfectly explained in this holy saying of Guru Sahib Ji, in which he said:
ਅਵਲਿ ਅਲਹ ਨੂਰੁ ਉਪਾਇਆ ਕੁਦਰਤਿ ਕੇ ਸਭ ਬੰਦੇ॥
ਏਕ ਨੂਰ ਤੇ ਸਭੁ ਜਗੁ ਉਪਜਿਆ ਕਉਨ ਭਲੇ ਕੋ ਮੰਦੇ॥
Awlī Allah Nūru Upāya Kudrati Ke Sab Bande.
Ek Nūr Te Sabu Jagu Upjya Kaun Bhale Ko Mande.
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji was born on 15 April 1469 at Talwandi in Rai Bhoi from the womb of Mata Tripta to the house of father Mehta Kalu Ji. Rai Bhoi’s Talwandi is now located in Pakistan and is currently famous as Nankana Sahib. Guru Sahib’s father Mehta Kalu Ji was a Patwari of the Revenue Department in village Talwandi and worked for Rai Bular, a Muslim landowner of that area. Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji was born for the benefit of the entire humanity. Regarding the advent of Guru Sahib, Bhai Gurdas Ji wrote:
ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਨਾਨਕ ਪ੍ਰਗਟਿਆ, ਮਿਟੀ ਧੁੰਧ ਜੱਗ ਚਾਨਣ ਹੋਆ॥
ਜਿਉਂ ਕਰ ਸੂਰਜ ਨਿਕਲਿਆ ਤਾਰੇ ਛਪੇ ਅੰਧੇਰ ਪਲੋਆ॥
Satguru Nanak appeared, the dust of the earth became light.
As the sun emerged, the stars appeared in the darkness.
According to this sentence of Bhai Gurdas Ji, the advent of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji was as if the sun had emerged in a dense fog. In such a bad time, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji came in the form of a sun, who began the work of removing the darkness spread from the minds of the people due to superstition, witchcraft and self-doubt.
Primary Education: In 1475 AD, Guru Sahib’s parents sent Baba Nanak to study with Gopal Pandit. At a young age, Guru Sahib would ask such questions to the Pandit that even the Pandit would be surprised to hear them. In 1478 AD, he was sent to study Sanskrit with Pandit Brijnath Sharma. Guru Ji also had a good discussion with him. In 1480 AD, he received Persian education from Qutab Din Maulana.
During his primary education, Guru Sahib introduced the child to the knowledge of Ek Omkar. That Akal Purakh who is embodied in every particle is universal.
Job in Modi Khana
Baba Nanak also had an elder sister, whose name was Nanaki. In Sikhism, she is known as Bebe Nanaki. Bebe Nanaki Ji was married to Jai Ram Ji, a resident of Sultanpur Lodhi, who worked in the Modi Khana of the Governor of Lahore, Daulat Khan. Guru Nanak was very fond of his sister, due to which, according to ancient customs, he also went to live in his brother-in-law’s house in Sultanpur. After going there, Guru Sahib started working in the Modi Khana at the age of 16. According to ancient Janam-Sakhis, this time was a creative time for Guru Nanak and it was during this time that his desire to meet the Eternal God increased. During this time, Guru Sahib Ji weighed everything in the Modi Khana by saying “Tera-Tera” instead of “13-13”.
Refusing to wear Janeu
Baba Nanak started acting in such a way from childhood that every action of his was unique. At that time, there was a social custom that when a child was included in society, a Janeu (a string of cotton) was worn around his neck according to Brahminical customs. When Baba Nanak’s father Mehta Kalu Ji and mother Tripta Ji invited the Pandit to their house and asked him to make a Janeu for Nanak, Baba Nanak demanded a Janeu that was full of compassion, patience, restraint and contentment. It would never break, nor would it burn in fire and would never be dirty. Baba Nanak told the Pandit:
ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਨਾਨਕ ਪ੍ਰਗਟਿਆ, ਮਿਟੀ ਧੁੰਧ ਜੱਗ ਚਾਨਣ ਹੋਆ॥
ਜਿਉਂ ਕਰ ਸੂਰਜ ਨਿਕਲਿਆ ਤਾਰੇ ਛਪੇ ਅੰਧੇਰ ਪਲੋਆ॥
Satguru Nanak appeared, the world became light from the dusty mist.
As the sun rose, the stars appeared and the darkness disappeared.
Thus, by demanding a Janeu that was patient, contented, and restrained and that did not burn, did not get dirty, and did not break, Baba Nanak had rejected the Janeu made of twisted threads of cotton from the very beginning, but the Pandit did not know anything about such a Janeu. At that time, the refusal to wear the traditional type of Janeu with reason gave rise to a new path, i.e. the stream of the path of Sikhism. This is easy for us to understand today, although it must have seemed difficult then. This is the path of Baba Nanak, which sheds light in a dark world.
The society of that time considered women to be of low status, but Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji fearlessly opposed this tradition and described the status of women as very high and pure. Baba raised his voice in favor of the woman who has been going through a lot of trouble and harassment for centuries and said:
ਭੰਡਿ ਜੰਮੀਐ ਭੰਡ ਨਿੰਮੀਐ ਭੰਡਿ ਮੰਗਣੁ ਵੀਆਹੁ॥
ਭੰਡਹੁ ਹੋਵੈ ਦੋਸਤੀ ਭੰਡਹੁ ਚਲੈ ਰਾਹੁ॥
ਭੰਡੁ ਮੂਆ ਭੰਡੁ ਭਾਲੀਐ ਭੰਡਿ ਹੋਵੇ ਬੰਧਾਨ॥
ਸੋ ਕਿਉਂ ਮੰਦਾ ਆਖੀਐ ਜਿਤੁ ਜੰਮੈ ਰਾਜਾਨ॥
Bhandi jammiai bhand nimmiiai bhandi mangan viyahu.
Bhandihu hovei dosti bhandihu chalai rahu.
Bhandi mua bhandi bhaliai bhandi hovei bandhan.
So why is it called bad as a king is born.
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji says that how can a woman who gave birth to kings and maharajas be bad.
Udasis
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji undertook four Udasis to free people from superstitions and illusions, under which he went to far-off countries. Two companions Bhai Mardana Ji and Bhai Bala Ji were also with him. Wherever Baba Nanak went, he lit the lamps of wisdom and knowledge in the dark minds of the ignorant people. These journeys of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji are known as Udasis. During these four Udasis, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji visited famous Hindu pilgrimages like Haridwar, Gorakh Mata, Ayodhya, Prayag, Banaras, Gaya, Jagannath Puri, Madurai, Rameswaram, Somnath, Dwarka, Pushkar, Mathra, Bindraban and Kurukshetra etc. as well as Singla Deep, Sikkim, Assam, Bengal, Orissa, Dravidian country Bombay, Aurangabad, Ujjain, Kutch, Ajmer etc. During the first Udasis, when Guru Sahib saw Aartis being performed in the temples of Jagannath Puri, he wrote an Aarti in which he wrote:
ਗਗਨ ਮੈਂ ਥਾਲੁ ਰਵਿ ਚੰਦ ਦੀਪਕ ਬਨੇ ਤਾਰਿਕਾ ਮੰਡਲ ਜਨਕ ਮੋਤੀ॥
ਧੂਪੁ ਮਲ ਆਨਲੋ ਪਵਣੁ ਚਵਰੋ ਕਰੇ ਸਗਲ ਬਨਰਾਇ ਫੁਲੰਤ ਜੋਤੀ॥॥
Gagan Main Thalu Ravichand Deepak Bane Tarika Mandal Janak Moti.
Dhupu Mal Anlo Pavun Chavro Kare Sagal Banrai Fulant Jyoti.
What kind of aarti is this, your aarti is refuted
After returning from the first Udasi, you had established a new village, Kartarpur, on the banks of the Ravi River with the help of some of your prominent devotees. According to one information, Bhai Mardana’s family had also settled here. After this, Guru Sahib first went to Mata Vaishno Devi via Jammu and Kashmir, Gyan Kot and Jammu, then to Sri Amarnath and then even higher up to the snow-laden mountain Mala, where he had a conversation with some Siddhas.
Apart from these, Baba Nanak joined the caravan of Muslim pilgrims via Kasur, Pakpattan, Tulamba, Multan, Bahawalpur, Shakhar etc. and travelled to Makran, after which he reached Mecca Sharif. There, Guru Sahib had a discussion with the pilgrims. Guru Sahib had a debate with Maulana Rukandin. After this, he set out for Medina and then reached Baghdad in Iraq via Basra and Karbala. Then from Baghdad, via Isfran, Tehran, Mastak, Bukhara and Samarkand, he reached Hasan Abdal near Rawalpindi via Kabul and Jalalabad in Afghanistan. After this, he came to his village Kartarpur via Aminabad. During this pilgrimage, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji made a deep study of Muslim beliefs, customs and religious scriptures. During this pilgrimage, Guru Sahib wrote while mentioning the attack of the Mughal emperor Babur in Aminabad:
ਖੁਰਾਸਾਨ ਖਸਮਾਨਾ ਕੀਆ ਹਿੰਦੁਸਤਾਨੁ ਡਰਾਇਆ॥
ਆਪੈ ਦੋਸੁ ਨਾ ਦੇਈ ਕਰਤਾ ਜਮੁ ਕਰਿ ਮੁਗਲੁ ਚੜਾਇਆ॥
ਏਤੀ ਮਾਰ ਪਈ ਕੁਰਲਾਣੈ ਤੈ ਕੀ ਦਰਦੁ ਨ ਆਇਆ॥
Khurasan has frightened Hindustan.
You did not blame the Lord, but the Mughals raised you.
You have inflicted so much pain that you have not felt any pain.
At that time, Brahmins and clerics used to deceive people into believing in blind faith and claiming to be close to God and exploiting people in the name of uniting them with God. Baba Nanak has condemned them by calling them infidels:
ਕੂੜੁ ਬੋਲਿ ਮੁਰਦਾਰੁ ਖਾਇ॥
ਅਵਰੀ ਨੋ ਸਮਝਾਵਣਿ ਜਾਇ॥
Speak lies and eat the dead.
Let no one explain to you.
For the last eight to ten years of his life, he lived in Kartarpur. It was here that Bhai Lehna Ji came to see him and became his. Both became one light. Bhai Lehna Ji embraced Guru Nanak Dev Ji in such a way that he transformed from Bhai Lehna to Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji. In 1539 AD, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji placed his light in Bhai Lehna Ji (Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji) and passed away in the eternal light. There is such power in the teachings of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji that if someone lives by following them, then his life becomes successful. So we all should follow the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
Note: The verses of Gurbani have been taken from the internet.
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