Guru Nanak: The founder of Sikhism

Guru Nanak was born in the year 1469. As a child, Nanak was not interested in studies, preferring to spend time contemplating. After leaving school, his family tried to engage him in several occupations, but he did not take any interest. He was married off in the hope that the responsibility of a family would change him, but Nanak continued to avoid all physical exertion, often sitting in one position for hours and days.

Finally, his brother-in-law, Jai Ram, took Nanak with him and got him employed as a storekeeper for the provincial governor. Surprisingly, Nanak excelled at this job. He distributed most of what he earned, to the poor. At night, he would sing praises of the lord. He met Mardana who played Rubab, a stringed instrument. They became constant companions.

Once Nanak disappeared for three days. When he came back, he declared, “There is no Hindu, no Mussalman.” Nanak went on several journeys, which took him across the length and breadth of the country and even outside, to as far west as Baghdad. On his travels, called Udasis, Nanak donned a white robe and looked like both a Hindu and a Muslim religion man.  

Nanak questioned blind faith. At Haridwar, he saw some pilgrims offering water to the rising sun. When he asked them, he was told that the water would reach the sun. Nanak started sprinkling water to the west, saying that if water could reach the sun, it could surely reach his much closer fields.

When Nanak went to Mecca, he once slept with his feet towards the Kaaba, the main shrine of the city. When a priest saw it, he admonished Nanak for sleeping with his feet pointed towards God. Nanak requested him to turn his feet in a direction where God did not reside. The story goes that wherever the priest turned Nanak’s legs, he saw Kaaba.

When he was 50, Nanak founded a village called Kartarpur in Punjab on the banks of the Ravi River. A large number of people used to gather to hear him. He set a routine for them, which became a template for all Sikh towns. People would rise before daybreak and bathe in cold water.

They would gather in the temple to sing bhajans. During the day, they would attend to their worldly affairs and gather again in the temple in the evening where they would recite prayers, have dinner, and then depart for their homes. Guru Nanak combined the good qualities of Hinduism and Islam and, from his own personality added gentleness and courage, to create Sikhism. That is why, in Punjab, it is still said: Nanak Baba Shah Fakir, Hindu ka guru, Mussalman ka pir.