GURU NANAK DEV
“Truth will come to light”
Guru Nanak Dev was a saint-poet of Punjab. He was the organizer of the Sikh religion. Guru Nanak Dev was the first who raised his voice against Mughal cruelty.
Guru Nanak Dev was born in 1469 at Talwandi near Lahore. It is now in Pakistan and is popularly known as Nankana Sahib. His father Mehta Kalu was a respectable person, but he was a Khatri. Right from childhood, he was in search of God. He was very thoughtful and quite different from other boys of his age. He did not like to study tricks of business. He was always lost in deep meditation.
Once his father gave him 20 rupees to make a good bargain. But he spent the money in feeding some hungry sadhus and made a true bargain. On returning home, he narrated the whole incident to his father and said, “I have done Sachha Sauda.” He did not ever look after the cattle properly. His father wanted to make him a worldly man. He, therefore, got him married at an early age of fourteen, fifteen. But his married life could not change his saintly way of living. Nanak had no taste for worldly affairs. He was always thinking about God.
At Sultanpur, Nanak was appointed as store-keeper of the storehouse by Daulat Khan Lodhi. There he distributed grains etc. to deserving and poor people freely. The matter was reported to Daulat Khan. But on checking the stocks of food grains, everything was found in order.
At the age of 30, he left his home and became a preacher to the people.
He travelled far and wide and visited places like Kurukshetra, Gaya, Macca, Haridwar and preached not to believe in casteism. At this time, both Hindu and Muslim priests were befooling the orthodox people. Nanak brought awakening in the people about God. He said there is only one God. When Guru raised his voice against the cruelty of Mughals he was arrested by the Mughal forces and presented before Emperor Babur. Babur was so much impressed by the saint-poet that he at once ordered for his release with great reverence.
He wrote many songs in praise of God. All his wise sayings and teachings are put in the Holy Granth Sahib, which is the sacred book of the Sikhs. He was loved by all. He taught the unity of God, the dignity of hard labour and the brotherhood of man. People used to call him a saint and virtually he became Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak told people that God is one. This God is present in every human body. He advised people to look for God within themselves. Thus, he became very popular amongst Hindus and Muslims. He told them that God was omnipresent.
Guru Nanak was a great poet and philosopher. He spent his last days at Kartarpur.
You can also like are other content like essay on diwali ..
Leave a Reply