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The celebrations for the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak is over and the long aspired Kartarpur Saheb corridor between the Republic of India and the Islamic State of Pakistan has been opened to the public with great fanfare. The Sikhs and Muslims, historically arch-enemies paved the same path on 9 November, 2019 reflecting the feelings and emotions of universal brotherhood and peaceful co-existence. Now time demands, “Let us revisit Guru Nanak’s message by way of contemplation with an analytical, secular and inclusive approach”. Nanak was unique in his own way. More than theoretical, he was a practical Paigambar. He traveled. He taught. He ploughed. His whole message can be summed up in the following words: “You can’t plough a field simply by turning it over again and again in your head. You have to come in the field of life to sow the seed of brotherhood.” His teachings are the synthesis of body, mind, heart and soul. His message is not in piecemeal but is based on the fundamental truth of ‘wholeness’. We can call it universal, cosmic or Ek Onkar Satnam. To realize this he did not practice any established doctrine or principle of Hinduism and Islam. He virtually discarded most of the rituals and dogmas prevailing in those days. To a layman, the meanings of the Wholeness and the Universe seem to be infinite. But in real terms both these words mean ‘onenesses or ‘integration’. The Whole is One and the meaning of Uni is also One. The Whole cannot be divided. If we divide the whole, it will be in pieces. Nanak gave it his own interpretation as “Ek Onkar Satnam” – an Ultimate Point of no return. The rest of the teachings of Guru Nanak are only to realize the basic cardinal aspect of Ek Onkar. Once you have the realization of Ek Onkar, nothing is left to reach upon or fall back upon. It is the ultimate goal. The body, mind, heart and soul merge there. It can be called by different names, like equanimity, consciousness, ecstasy and blissfulness. “Chad di Kala’ in Sikhism means the same thing. It is a realization beyond anything and everything. Even the scripture and the guru evaporate there. The Guru and the scriptures are used as ladders. These are useful and necessary means. After reaching the top these have to be left. Otherwise, there will again be the rigmarole of the world. Today, the fake gurus and false scriptures are taking a toll on humanity. The ‘wholeness’ or the unitary aspect is being torn apart into pieces. In place of ‘inclusive’, the ‘divisive’ forces are at work day and night. Guru Nanak’s message is ‘look ahead’ at One – Ek Onkar. It transcends man-made divisions of religion, region, gender, caste and creed, even nationalities and hardcore nationalism. Nanak was ‘not a Hindu nor a Muslim’.
Guru Nanak’s inner search from his early childhood helped him to develop his own unique stand. He became a man of shared experiences and beliefs. His frequent travels far and wide gave him immense opportunity to assimilate teachings and beliefs of different protagonists of the Bhakti Movement in India and the Sufi saints of Islam in neighbouring countries.
Guru Nanak was a householder as well as a true sanyasi. Like the concept of the Trimurti in Hinduism and the Trinity in Christianity, Nanak gave a Law of Three, i.e., Kirat Kar, Vand Chhak and Naam Jap. The practice of Naam Jap is reading of the scripture. It is based on the wager that scripture is a living word – not just hymn and history, not just facts and figures you can read in a book, but a source of ongoing personal guidance. The reading of the scripture helps the reader to transcend mental processing in favour of a deeper form of spiritual ingestion. Guru Nanak warned that reading of scripture should not form a ritual practice. Instead, it should be a practice of ‘letting go of I-ness.’ It should deepen our connection to higher wisdom. About the reading of the scriptures, Nanak said,
“One may read for years and for years,
And spend every month of the year in reading only;
And thus read all one’s life,
Right up to one’s last breath.
Of all things, contemplative life is really what matters;
All else is the fret and fever of egoistic minds.” (GGS p. 467)
On the Oneness of human beings, Joseph Cunningham, an official of the East India Company, in his book ‘History of Sikhs’, wrote: “It was reserved for Nanak to perceive the true principles of reform and to lay those broad foundations which enabled Guru Gobind to fire the minds of his countrymen with a new nationality and give practical effect to the doctrine that the lowest is equal with the highest, in race as in creed, in political rights as in religious hopes.”
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