Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Twilight of the Sultanate c18.s3: Gurū Nānak

Twilight of the Sultanate c18.s3

Language
English

Gurū Nānak

c18.s3.1

Nānak met Kabīr when he was about twenty-seven years of age.²⁸ This must have been nearabout the last decade of the fifteenth century when Kabīr was more than sixty-five and his fame had spread far and wide. There is no doubt that Nānak learnt much from Kabīr, for in the *Ādigranth*, the religious Book of the Sikhs, there are many lines composed by Kabīr.

c18.s3.2

²⁸ Westcott, *Kabīr and Kabīr Panth*; *Kabīr Granthāvalī*, 20.

c18.s3.3

Nānak's chronology is fairly certain and exact. He was born on the full-moon day of Kārtik, 26 November, 1469 at the village of Talwandī, situated on the banks of the Ravi, in the district of Gujranwalla. He appears to have acquired some knowledge of Hindi and Persian, but was averse to any deep desire for learning. He was tried on many odd jobs like agriculture and shop-keeping but without much success.

c18.s3.4

At the age of eighteen Nānak was married to a Khattrī girl Sulākhin, and by her he had two sons, Srī Chand and Lakshmī Chand.²⁹ But he was neither attached to his family nor to his job. He longed to satisfy his spiritual hunger—an innate thirst to know the Truth. At last when he was about thirty years he gave up his home and his job and became a Sanyasī. He set out to meet Sadhūs and saints and to gather experience. On his wanderings he was accompanied by Bhai Bālā, his companion from childhood and Bhai Mardānā, a Muhammadan Rabābī or minstrel who used to play on the harp when the master meditated. Nānak’s common recitation in the praise of the Creator was “Tūhī Nirankār, Kirtār,—Nānak Bandā Terā”. With regard to Nānak’s travels, it is difficult to speak with precision, but he appears to have visited most of the important places in India, Ceylon, Arabia and Iran. He seems to have visited Mecca and Medina in the garb of a Muhammedan faqīr.³⁰ All kinds of miraculous stories are related in connection with these travels. In 1504 he became the Gurū of the Sikhs (*Shishya*, disciples) and for the next thirty-four years he preached his message. During these years also he travelled, and most of the places he visited in the Punjab in course of time became centres of pilgrimage.³¹ He breathed his last in 1538 in his home-town at the ripe age of seventy. The Muslims erected a tomb and the Hindus a shrine in his memory. Both the tomb and the *samādhi* have since been swept away by the waters of the Ravi.

c18.s3.5

²⁹ Srī Chand later founded the order of Udāsīs who have a number of *Akhārās* all over the Punjab.

c18.s3.6

³⁰ Ind. Ant., III, 1874, 298.

c18.s3.7

³¹ *Kiara Saheb*, where he used to lie in youth grazing cattle; *Mal Saheb*, where he spent the money given by his father for trade on feeding the Sadhus and thus did Kharā Saudā or true business; *Sant Ghāt* and *Baba Ki Bīr* where he used to bathe and sit near Ban Nadi; *Rori Saheb*, where he slept at Aminabad; *Panja Saheb* in Hasan Abdāl near Rawalpindi—and many others. Ind. Ant., III, 1874, 295-99.

c18.s3.8

Nānak regarded himself as the prophet of God, and had “received from His door-step” the message which he delivered.³² His mission was the unification of the Hindus and the Muslims. Punjab was so situated as always to bear the brunt of the attack of invaders from the north-west. During the invasion of Tīmūr it had suffered terribly. All along the fifteenth century it was in turmoil; foreign invaders and local rebels had brought about untold misery to the fair land of the Five Rivers. In Nānak’s days the pressure of Islam on the people of the Punjab was daily increasing. There seemed to be no end to the conflict between the Hindus and the Muslims. Nānak realised that in order to heal the wounds of society, it was necessary to end the conflict of religions. He strove towards that end. That was the mission of his life.

c18.s3.9

³² Khazān Singh, *The History and Philosophy of Sikhism*, II, 350.

c18.s3.10

His *Janam Sākhis* (biographies) declare that the first words that the Gurū uttered after his revelation were: "There is no Hindu, there is no Musalman."³³ This clearly indicates that it was Nānak's settled intention to do away with differences between the two by instituting a third course which should supersede both of them. Nānak's message is similar to that of Kabīr's, for both were trying to cure the same diseases of the same society.

c18.s3.11

³³ T. P. Hughes, *Dictionary of Islam*, 586.

c18.s3.12

The chief point of Nānak's teaching was unquestionably the unity of God. The Sikh Gurū conceived of God as One, Nirguna (attributeless) and Nirākār (formless). He "is inaccessible, fathomless and is exalted above all."³⁴ Once this Absolute Supreme could be understood there was to be no difference between His creatures, Hindus or Muslims, and there was to be no quarrel about His name. Nānak himself uses the names of Harī, Rām, Govind, Brahma, Allāh, Khudā, Sāhab, Parmēshwara, with absolute freedom. By emphasising the Majesty of the Absolute Supreme the Gurū dealt a blow to the Hindu pantheon of deities. In the *Ādi Granth*³⁵ it is clearly stated that "the cause of causes is the Creator."³⁶

c18.s3.13

³⁴ Macauliffe, I, 363.

c18.s3.14

³⁵ *Ādi Granth* of Gurū Nānak is distinguished by the *Guru Granth* finalised by Gurū Govind Singh.

c18.s3.15

³⁶ Dr. Trumpp's translation of the *Ādi Granth*, 474; Hughes, 590.

c18.s3.16

Man's soul is held by Nānak to be a ray of light emanating from the Light Divine.³⁷ But being enmeshed in Māyā, men are deluded into egotism and think of their existence as apart from His. This delusion prevents the pure soul from freeing itself from the matter, and hence the long chain of painful births and deaths, of transmigration of the soul. To remove this delusion and to return and merge with the Light Divine should be the aim of man. It is like *fanā* of the Sūfīs and *Nirvāna* of the Buddhists. This can be achieved by constant remembrance of His name (*Smarana*), ardent, constant, sincere *smarana*, be it of any name of God. One who is constantly lost in love of God is in harmony with Him and His creations. He loves and serves all, and hates none. Nānak laid great emphasis on right action and humility of temper.

c18.s3.17

³⁷ Macauliffe, *op. cit.*, II, 171.

c18.s3.18

It is by complete surrender to Him that self-realisation is possible, not by pilgrimages, idol-worship, practice of austerities, self-torture or mechanical recitation of this or that formulae. He strongly condemns the superstitions of both Hindus and Muslims. "Until thou art saturated with the True name, nothing would avail thee," says Nānak.³⁸ He attacks the caste-system of the Hindus and declares himself to be "with those who are low-born among the lowly."³⁹ To the Musalmans his advice is : "Make kindness thy mosque, sincerity thy prayer-carpet, what is just and lawful thy Qurān".⁴⁰ Like Kabīr, Gurū Nānak is never tired of praising the good and attacking the evil. He threatens sinners with dire punishments, but if they chose to walk along the path of virtue, the mercy of God was always there for He was ever ready to help.

c18.s3.19

³⁸ He exclaims:

c18.s3.20

³⁹ Macauliffe, I, 186.

c18.s3.21

⁴⁰ *Ibid.*, 1, 38.

c18.s3.22

Self-realisation was to be achieved amidst the tumult and turmoil of life. Sachkhand (the kingdom of Heaven) was to be earned within this world. Renunciation of the world was tantamount to fleeing from the battle of life. The Gurū knew that after all people have to live in the world and work in their professions, and a religion of renunciation could not suit them.⁴¹ He, therefore, advocated a middle path between extreme asceticism and free satisfaction of the senses. Like Kabīr, Gurū Nānak also thought that a preceptor (Gurū) was essential for one who sought self-realisation.

c18.s3.23

⁴¹ Tarachand, 174; Macauliffe, I, 13.

c18.s3.24

As time passed Sikhism became a full-fledged religion almost of the pattern of Islam. It had a Prophet (Gurū Nānak), a Book

c18.s3.25

"Hadst thou the eighteen *Puranas* with thee,
Couldst thou recite the four *Vedas*,
Didst thou bathe on holy days and give alms according to man's castes,
Didst thou fast and perform religious ceremonies day and night,
Wast thou a Qāzī, a Mullā, or a Shaikh,
A Jogi, a Jaṅgam, didst thou wear an ochre-coloured dress
Or didst thou perform the duties of a house-holder,
Without knowing God, Death would bind and take all men away."
Also,
"He who worshippeth stones, visiteth places of pilgrimage, dwelleth in
forests,
And renounceth the world, wandereth and wavereth,
How can his filthy mind become pure."
Macauliffe, I, 133, 139.

c18.s3.26

(*Ādi Granth*; later the *Gurū Granth Sahab*) and a Church (Gurudwārā for the *Sangat*). Amritsar became the Mecca of the Sikhs (during the time of Gurū Rām Das) and they paid a religious tax (started by Gurū Arjun) of the type of Zakāt. Kabīr had only attacked the evils of the society, but in Nānak's teachings there were seeds of a definite religion. Nānak even otherwise succeeded better while Kabīr caused offence by his airs of superiority. Nānak's pure and serene way of life, his characteristic humility and his forbearance won for him the love of the people. He could prove what he said, and his "miraculous" acts made many staunch Hindus and Muslims his sincere disciples.⁴² In the course of the next two centuries political persecution changed Sikhism into a militant religion, but in essentials it continued to have the indelible impress of Gurū Nānak's teachings. During the period of our study Sikhism was distinguished by its stern ethical tone and puritanism from similar movements in the fifteenth century.

c18.s3.27

⁴² *Dictionary of Islam*, 586-87.

c18.s3.28

It has been noted that Kabīr and Nānak and other minor contemporary reformers derived inspiration from Sūfic lore, Hindu religious books, and teachings of earlier masters. Nānak learnt much from Kabīr. Kabīr was a disciple of Rāmānanda and Rāmānanda belonged to the school of Rāmānuja. There is consequently an unmistakable impress of the ideas of Rāmānuja on the teachings of Kabīr and Nānak.

c18.s3.29

Both Kabīr and Nānak, while conceiving of God as formless (Nirguna, Nirākār), apprehended Him as the supreme object of love. To Rāmānuja the individual soul, made by God out of his essence, returned to its maker and lived in full communion with him, although ever remaining distinct (*Visistadwaita*). Kabīr considered that the destiny of the individual is the merging of the part (soul) with the whole (God). Similarly Nānak held man's soul to be a ray of light emanating from the Light Divine. To Rāmānuja Bhakti-yoga was the greatest yoga.⁴³ To Kabīr and Nānak and other *sants* of the fifteenth century also Bhakti was the surest way to redemption. Thus Rāmānuja, Kabīr and Nānak all believed in Bhakti as the only means of salvation.

c18.s3.30

⁴³ A. L. Basham, *The Wonder that was India*, 332. Tarachand, *op. cit.*, 102.

c18.s3.31

Again, just as Rāmānuja had advocated not only unconditional trust in the Gurū but even his adoration (*āchāryā bhimāna—yoga*), so did Kabīr and Nānak give a divine status to the Gurū. Even in the sphere of social reform Rāmānuja had shown the way. He had admitted into the great temple of Srirangam, where he taught and preached, Shudras and the out-caste, although with certain restrictions. For them he had advocated *prapatti* (self-surrender). Kabīr and Nānak recognized no distinction of caste, creed or religion and advocated the path of Bhakti and *prapatti* for all. Thus the teachings of Kabīr and Nānak bore the stamp of Rāmānuja's philosophy and thought.

Cites (3)