One
day, early in the morning Guru Nanak went to the river basin with his Muslim
friend Mardana for bath. He plunged into
the river but did not come back and it was reported that he was drowned by the
river. The villager did massive search for him around the bank of river but no
trace of him found. After three days, Guru Nanak appears in the same spot where
he plunged for bath. When he appears, He was not the same guy. He was in
trance. He had divine light in his eyes. He was in Holy Communion with God. He was
enlightened. When he finally broke his silence he uttered the word, "There
is no Hindu, no Muslim".
Guru
Nanak, the founder of Sikh religion was born in a Hindu family on April 15,
1469 in the Western Punjab of Talwandi village (now Shekhupura District of Pakistan). His
Father name was Mehta Kalian Das who used to work as an accountant in the local
Muslim authority. At the age of six Guru Nanak was sent to school. He learnt
Mathematics, Hindi, Muslim literature, Persian and Arabic. He was talent since
his childhood. When Guru Nanak was at the age of 13, he had rejected sacred
thread ceremony and disappointment his family. Guru Nanak refused to accept the
sacred cotton thread from the Hindu priest. He sang the following poem in this
regards, "Let mercy be the cotton, contentment the thread, Continence the
knot and truth the twist. O priest! If you have such a thread, do give it to
me. It'll not wear out, nor get soiled, nor burnt, nor lost. Says Nanak,
blessed are those who go about wearing such a thread"
Guru
Nanak used to spend long hours in meditation and religious discussions with
Muslim and Hindu seekers. Guru Nanak Parents were worried about him so they
arrange a suitable girl for him to have marriage relation with the hope that he
might start taking interest in household affairs. At age of 16, he was married
to Sulakhani daughter of a pious merchant. Guru Nanak did not reject his
parents’ choice as he felt that married life did not conflict with spiritual
pursuits. Guru Nanak was happily married. He had two sons Sri Chand in 1494 and
Lakshmi Chand three years later.
After
marriage Guru Nanak was persuaded by his parents to take a job as an accountant
in charge of the stores of the Muslim governor of Sultanpur Daulat Khan Lodi
where he was distributing grocery to people and when he gave groceriesto the 13th
person, he stopped there because in Panjabi the word 13 is called “TERAH”,
which means yours and Guru Nanak kept on saying “yours, yours and yours …”
remembering God. People reported to the emperor that Guru Nanak was giving free
food to the people, when treasures were checked; there was more money than
before.
When
Guru Nanak was at the age of thirty, he traveled throughout the Indian
Subcontinent and further east, west, and north to spread his mission. Guru
Nanak used to deliver his message in the form of Musical hymns because it was
the proper tool to deliver the message of that time. He was accompanied by his
childhood Muslim friend Mardana who was expert in playing music.
One
of the interesting facts during his journey is the story of Mecca; Guru Nanak
fell asleep with his feet pointing towards the holy Kabba. When the Muslim watchman
kicked Guru Nanak, saying, "How dare you turn your feet towards the house
of God". At this Guru Nanak woke up and said, "Good man, I am tired
after a long journey. Kindly turn my feet in the direction where God is
not."
It
is said that, Guru Nanak came to Nepal and stayed in Balaju (Guru Nanak Math)
and Thapathali during his third journey (Udasi) to Mt. Kailash in Tibet. He spends
some times beside the Bagmati River in Pashupathinath Temple doing meditated
and helping Nepalese seekers to ease their mind. The foot print of Guru Nanak
Sabib still exists in the Guru Nanak Math in Balaju. As per the historical
record, Sikh people entered in Nepal during 18th century. Maharaja Ranjit Singh
had very good relation with than Rana Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana. When
Maharaja Ranjit Singh died during British rule in India, The East Indian
Company gave lots of trouble to his wife name Jinda Kaur. She runs away from
Punjab and came to Nepal via Nepalgunj along with her remaining family and
supporter. Jung Bahadur Rana gave her shelter and respected her as his sister.
Later she went to London but those who remain in Nepal started to live their
livelihood in Nepal. Now the Sikh generation is populating around Kathmandu,
Birgunj, Biratnagar and Nepalgunj. Presently there are 0.2% of Sikh community
is living in Nepal out of its total population. Currently, there are 25.8 million Sikh are
living worldwide with75% of these living in the Punjab. It is the world’s fifth
largest religion.
Nepal’s
oldest copy of the Guru Granth Sahib is hand-written copy of 300 year old. Sikh
believes that there is only God; He is the creator of life and death. They
believe that God exists throughout our daily lives although he may not be
visible. He is with us in spirit where ever we go. The interesting fact is that
the Sikh community believes in Five “K”. (Kesh (hair) hair and beard as it is
given to us by God, Kanga (wooden comb) to be worn in the hair at all times as
a symbol of cleanliness, Katchera (shorts) cotton underwear with symbolize purity,
Kara (steel bangle) worn on the wrist to symbolize truth and freedom and Kirpan
(sword) to defend the truth.
In
Sikhism there are no deities other than God and the Guru, and the guru is
within the Guru Granth Sahib (holy book of Sikh community). In the Sikh
language this is called Gurumuki (Guru’s voice). Guru Angad Dev ji was the one
who created the Gurumukhi (compiled the writings of Guru Nanak Dev ji ), Guru
Amar Das ji had established Guru Ka Langar (Community Kitchen), Guru Ram Das ji
founded Amritsar and began to creation of the Golden Temple, Guru Arjan Dev ji
completed the construction of the Golden temple, Guru Hargobind Singh ji was
the first guru who took up a sword to
defend the religion and urge anyone to help weak and vulnerable, Guru Hari Rai
Singh ji devoted his life preaching the teaching of Guru Nanak Sahib ji, Guru
Harikrishna Sahib Ji became the symbol
of purity and emphasized the important o speaking the truth and believing in
Sikhism, Guru Tegh Bahadur Singh ji was killed
for supporting his religion and refusing to convert to Islam during
the unrest between India and Pakistan on
Kashmir issue and Guru Gobinda Singh ji was the one who created “Khalsa”
(brotherhood), Sacrificed father, mother, sons and his own life to protect Sikhs
from forced conversion to Islam.
Tenth
Guru of Sikh religion is Guru Gobinda Singh who decided that there is no need
for a further living soul of a Guru and therefore he named the 11th Guru as
“Guru Grantha Sahib Ji”. The Sikh’s message of equality is personified through
their langars (community kitchens). All visitors eat and sit in the same place,
served as equals, sharing simple food cooked in the tantalizing Punjabi style.
Equality is a very important element within the Sikh religion, regardless of
caste and class, and all humans are seen as equal. Everyone possesses the same
rights.
Wahe
Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh which means the pure or wonderful
teacher belongs to God and victory belongs to God.
The
author is sociologist by profession can be reached at girithejorba@gmail.com
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