“The Vision and Mission of Oneness, as enunciated by Guru Nanak Rai Ji (circa 1469 to 1539) The Prophet of Unification of Humanity, is based on the premise: “There is One Light of Our Creator in All”. Hence, everyone is my own relative. I am a friend to all. The feeling of “the other” or adversary or stranger leads to the monstrous thought of duality and then results in the emergence of the demonic forces of domination, exploitation, discrimination, resulting in war and bloodbath.”
On the 552nd Anniversary of his Blessed-Advent, let’s offer our homage to Satguru Nanak Sahib Ji (circa 1469-1539) The Enlightened One, by way of abiding by his Sacred Tenets of Amity, Humility, Liberty, Equality, Compassion, Empathy, Peace, Love, Justice and Fair-Play. His basic teachings also include ‘Kirat’ (honest earning of a livelihood) offering ‘Sewa'(selfless-service to humanity) with a spirit of empathy & compassion) while remaining in a conscious-state of ‘Simran’ (constant-remembrance of Our Creator). This would yield infinite equipoise to a true seeker of GOD.
Guru Nanak, The Prophet of Oneness of Humanity is a unique amalgamation of a multifaceted embodiment, by way of being a composer and singer of Divine poetry, a politically aware social-reformer and globe-trotter and a staunch advocate of interfaith goodwill, women’s rights and human rights, who was centuries ahead of his times
While being all of these, he was a householder and a farmer, who always practiced before he preached. He did not lay any claims to any wisdom, yet followers would see the Divine Light in Guru Nanak. His principles were replicated by all of his nine successors, up to Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who completed The Mission and anointed the Scripture as Guru Granth Sahib Ji, in circa 1708.
Guru Nanak Sahib Ji lived his last 17 years at the city of Kartarpur. Since 1947, the era of post-partition of India, when the nation was bifurcated, Sikhs had been denied access to several historic Gurdwaras, in Pakistan, including Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Sahib Ji. With Divine Grace, the miraculous opening of Kartarpur-Corridor was manifested on the 10th of November 2019, just two days prior to the 550th anniversary of the Blessed-Advent of Guru Nanak Ji.
Guru Nanak Ji denounced celibacy, asceticism and renunciation, unequivocally, stating that anyone could experience Divine realization (Nirvaan, Moksh, Emancipation, Salvation, Liberation) even while living with a family, instead of shunning society and going to the mountains, caves and forests. The Guru says, “GOD resides in the human-body and can be attained through introspection”.
Guru Nanak Sahib Ji sayeth: “Human-birth has been attained to make concerted endeavors towards fostering Oneness of Humanity”.
Guru Sahib taught humanity to deal in the ‘True-Business’ and ‘Real Trade’ of disseminating Love, Peace, Harmony and Equality, while shunning all varieties of discrimination, bigotry, domination, tyranny, prejudice, bias, superstitions, rituals et al. Only then could humanity register a well-deserved ‘Profit of Godly Blessings’, enabling The Soul to have an extremely smooth transition, after shedding the perishable body. The Guru advises thus: “always remember the ultimate reality of death as nobody is assured of inhaling the next breath”.
The Divine Guru traversed to various countries across several continents, during his 4 Holy Tours, covering 27000 miles in 25 years of his 70-year sojourn onthis planet, fostering Goodwill amongst races, cultures, religions and tribal traditions.
Furthermore, The Divine Guru enunciated his Tenets thus: “All of the human interactions must be replete with Divine-Love & Godly-Light, Lifelong-Learning, Selfless Humanitarian-Service in a Spirit-of-Sharing, Amity, Tolerance, Acceptance, Understanding, leading to a Harmonious Co-existence for ALL.
Guru Sahib deliberately chose special and sacred days to visit the highest centers of learning and places of pilgrimage of various religions and sects like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Islam and Christianity, opining that the Divine-Message with which he was entrusted by The Creator to convey to the masses, could be attained only at large gatherings.
He went up the Himalayas to have a dialogue with the Nath sect of Yogis. Interesting details and routes of such journeys are available at: https://satguru.weebly.com/
The Vision and Mission of Oneness, as enunciated by Guru Nanak Rai Ji (circa 1469 to 1539) The Prophet of Unification of Humanity, is based on the premise: “There is One Light of Our Creator in All”. Hence, everyone is my own relative. I am a friend to all. The feeling of “the other” or adversary or stranger leads to the monstrous thought of duality and then results in the emergence of the demonic forces of domination, exploitation, discrimination, resulting in war and bloodbath. His 9th successor, Guru Gobind Singh Ji (1666 to 1708) continued the Divine legacy, stating “Recognize humanity as one race, ethnicity, creed”, verily in consonance with the thought of Guru Nanak Sahib Ji. Since the year 1708, the Eternal Guru of the Sikhs is Guru Granth (The Holy Scripture in rhyme) that includes the sacred verses spoken by saints and Seers, affiliated to various Faiths.
Guru Nanak Ji emphasized upon the “Religion of Righteousness”, thereby implying that an ideal Divine-Life can be lived, only when humans are empathetic towards everyone in the world. This is the reason, for which the Soul has attained this unique species of a human-frame, with a brain to decide and a heart to experience the joy and sorrow of everyone, and not just one’s own. Rising over and above one’s vested interest would enable one to remain sacredly truthful and loyal to one’s True Divine-Calling.
The ‘burning issues’ that prompted Guru Nanak Ji to raise his vociferous voice were War, Poverty, Education, Environment of Our Planet, Human Rights, Our Shrinking Freedom, Discrimination.
Despite the materialistic human-evolution and massive strides in the spheres of science and technology, leading to a comfortable and luxurious lifestyle, the Aspirations of the Soul have been neglected.
The world is up in flames, today, even more than it was during the life and time of the Blessed Advent of the Divine Preceptor, Guru Nanak (1469-1539). In one verse, he laments and exclaims: “I can visualize the entire humanity engulfed in flames of hatred and bloodshed and righteousness has taken wings”. Guru Nanak Sahib saw in his deep, meditative trance that the entire earth was ablaze with the fires of hatred, prejudice, intolerance, bigotry, superstition, hollow ritualism, and so he set out on his world tour to remind humanity of the lessons of “Divinity in Humanity”.
It is not “religion” (per se, i.e., the various religious teachings, faiths, beliefs, traditions, cultures) that is the cause for all misery. Rather, the real culprit is the MIND (the corrupted form of the Pristine and Sublime SOUL) which is influenced by an illusion to harbor distorted, biased, prejudiced viewpoints. The malady afflicting humanity results from a misinterpretation of religious teachings or sheer ignorance or (sometimes) deliberate hatred originating from a sense of vested interest and misplaced views on account of race, ethnicity, religion, lineage, caste, creed, culture, nationality, power, authority, gender, education, economic status is the real cause of ALL suffering inflicted upon millions of people. The Divine Preceptor, Guru Nanak preached the message of “One God of All, One God for All, One God in All” and actually lived by setting precedents. He emphasized upon reverence for all Prophets and for Scriptures of all religions, while enjoying the birthright and freedom of following one’s own heart in practicing a religion of one’s choice.
The title GURU means “an enlightened spiritual Master” and not an ordinary worldly teacher or an expert etc. The word SIKH means a perpetual learner for the entire lifetime, a disciple or follower of the Guru.
Guru Nanak Sahib says: “GOD, the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent ONE is worshipped in innumerable ways and remembered by infinite Hallowed Names, yet GOD remains Only One Entity or the Sole Power and not many or different for people of diverse races, religions, regions, cultures”.
It is ONLY through meaningful dialogue that we would learn about the commonalities and similarities amongst people of various backgrounds, and that’s how all of us can be empowered to live, harmoniously, despite the “so-called differences” of race, ethnicity, religion, region, color, caste, creed, gender, culture, lineage, appearance, rituals, ceremonies, traditions, customs, economic status, position of political power, social clout etc. and the list goes on. If we do not communicate with each other, we tend to remain ignorant about the other. Then, we become fearful or we generate hatred or both of these increases.
When some humans indulge in domination and subjugation, there starts a never-ending war, resulting in massive bloodshed, misery, leaving orphans and widows. This war of attrition and hatred continues, unabated, for generations and centuries. We must work, in tandem, to engage in all such activities, that are meant for the Good of All, in consonance with the inherent nature of the Eternal Soul which is an intrinsic part of the Primal Soul, GOD.
(The author can be reached at amar1ujagar1pritam@gmail.com)