Guru Nanak
Guru Nanak,
the founder of the Sikh movement, was born on 23 November 1469 at Talwandi (now
in Pakistan) in a Hindu family, but his life mission was to mediate between
Hinduism and Islam. Since his childhood he made friends with Muslim children,
studied Arabic and Persian, discussed philosophy both with Hindu and Muslim
scholars, and at the age of 13 when he was expected to accept the sacred
thread, he rejected it, stating that compassion, simplicity, austerity and
truthfulness were much better than cotton thread and knots.
On the
request of his parents he married Sulakhani (Sulakshana) and had two sons, Sri
Chand and Lakshmi Chand, but he used all his free time before and after work to
meditate and chant, together with his old friend Mardana, a Muslim musician.
One morning he went with Mardana to take bath in the river, and while in the
water he had a revelation, which is now at the beginning of the Guru Granth
Sahib of the Sikhs: “There is only one God, his name is Truth and he is the
Creator. He fears none, he hates none, he never dies and is beyond the cycle of
births and deaths, is self-effulgent and is realized through the kindness of
the genuine Guru”.
After this
revelation, he left his job and distributed all his possessions to the poor,
saying, “There are no Hindus or Muslims. Let the grace of God be the mosque,
devotion the prayer carpet; let the Koran be good behavior, modesty be
compassion, fasting be kindness, Kaaba be your good acts and your Imam be truthfulness”.
At the age of 30, in 1499, Guru Nanak started to walk around India, traveling
over 50,000 miles on foot in 25 years, offering his teachings in the form of
songs in the local languages and opening centers called manji, where his
followers could gather to sing and meditate. This was the beginning of Sikhism.
On his way
to Puri, he rested in the village of Sangat in Balasore district and set up a
Guru ka Langar (community kitchen) and community prayer hall. In the village
there is still a place called Nanak Diha, where Nanak built his cottage. Guru
Nanak reached Cuttack and rested at Kaliaboda on the Mahanadi, was received by
the Gajapati. Some envious opponents came to beat him with a Sahaba branch, but
he used it as a datan (toothbrush) and planted it as a sapling, which still
exists as a tree at the Gurudvara.
Guru Nanak
arrived in Puri in 1506 (some say in 1508), accompanied by Mardana and Bala,
and they camped on the beach. As they were thirsty, Nanak told them to dig a
hole in the sand and they found fresh drinking water at a few feet from the
sea, a very amazing and inexplicable feat. Baula is the Punjabi name for fresh
water holes, and that’s how the Matha got its name. Still the Grantha Sahib is
worshiped there, and there is a Guru ka Langar and Sangats (holy association).
Guru Nanak sent his devotee Mardana to get some Mahaprasada, but the Sevakas
did not allow him into the temple. Then, during the evening arati, in the
presence of the King, a golden pot full of Mahaprasada miraculously flew away
by itself towards the seashore to Nanak.
The King
went to meet him and in the course of their discussion on Sri Jagannatha asked
him if he was not feeling bad not being allowed into the temple. As a reply,
Guru Nanak showed the palm of his hand to the King, who with great amazement
saw there the forms of Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra. Nanak also told the
King that the real arati (worship) is the one performed within one’s heart.
Very impressed, the King offered him the property of the land where he had
camped, today called Bauli Matha. Guru Nanak also established the Mangu Matha,
where his footprints are visible.
The Grantha
Sahib is said to contain a song that Nanak is said to have composed for
Jagannatha, comparing the Sun and Moon to arati lamps, the forests to the
flower garlands, and the sandalwood scented breeze to incense. Some say that
Guru Nanak met Sri Chaitanya in Puri, in 1518, and that they sang and danced
together in Harinama Sankirtana.
Nanak died
on 22 September 1539, leaving his foremost disciple Angad (a devotee of Durga
namedLehna) to continue his mission. Hindus wanted to cremate his body while
Muslims wanted to bury it, and when they went to lift the shroud they only
found a heap of fresh flowers: the flowers were divided between the two groups,
that respectively cremated and buried their share.
Guru Nanak’s
son, Sri Chanji was born on Bhadra sukla Navami 1494 in a village named
Talbandi (presently known as Nankana Sahib) close to Lahore. His Diksha guru
was Abhinash Muni, and his Siksha guru was Purushottama Kol, a Kashmiri pandit.
Sri Chanji
is credited to have written Bhasyas on Veda and Gita; some of them are known as
Sri Chandra siddhanta sagar, Sri Chandra sabda sudhar, Sri Chandra siddhanta
panchakam, Ratna panchakam, Mukti manjari, Sri Chandra siddhanta manjari, Sri
Chandra panchadasi, Sri Chandra pancakam, Sri Chandra panchadevashtaka etc.
Source : http://indiaconmassimotaddei.com
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