Walking With Nanak

Walking With Nanak
Author: Haroon Khalid

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Year: 2016
Tags: #books/2022
Highlights
Iqbal Qaiser recited Nanak’s Babur Bani to me, a long poem that Nanak wrote at the time the
Mughal marauder Babur attacked Punjab, destroying the cities of Eminabad and Lahore on the
way.
Through his poem Nanak challenges the divinity of the Divine and asks if this bloodshed is the
blessing that God had promised.
Remember that the world is balanced by evil and good, pain and ecstasy, deprivation and
bounty. Know that whatever has been taken from you was needed to maintain the divine
equilibrium and whatever will be given to you will be by Him to fill a void.
Social mores dictated that women should remain confined within the boundaries of their homes.
However, religious pilgrimages provided them with the opportunity to explore a world otherwise
closed to them.
‘The first one was started by Sri Chand with his Udasi sect. He was the son of Guru Nanak,’
‘Then there was one that was started by Prithi Chand, the brother of Guru Arjan,’
When untouchable Hindus converted to Sikhism they were referred to as Mazhabi Sikhs just like
you have Musali and Deendar in the Muslim community.’
‘Caste system also doesn’t appear in Islam but you know it exists. The Syeds because of their
direct lineage from the Prophet of Islam hold a special place in the caste hierarchy and the
Musalis and Deendars continue to be treated as untouchable Hindus despite their conversion.
Whenever a religion travels further away from its source in terms of time, it also travels away
from the essence of the teachings of the source.
Nanak, unlike other ascetics, was strongly against the idea of begging for food, and instead
preached that if someone chose to extend their hospitality out of their own free will, only then
was it permissible to take food from them.
Nanak first travelled east, going all the way to Bengal. He then travelled south, going to the
island of Sri Lanka. Back in Talwindi, he then headed north, which included the regions of
Kashmir, Nepal and Tibet. Upon his return he decided to go west to Mecca and returned to settle
at Kartarpur. Nanak covered most of this distance on foot and this took him about twenty-four
years.
Is the chirping of the birds also not a call of prayer? Is the humming of a song not an act of
worship? Is working in the burning hot fields in summer to supply children with food not a
supreme act of devotion? Why then does divinity need to be divided and distributed as tabarak
(blessings) and prasad only from temples and mosques?
He had decided a few years earlier that he would incorporate any point of view into his
philosophy if he could not counter it with an argument. On the other hand he was willing to shed
any established tradition or belief system if he could not find within himself a rational reason for
it.
‘What does Chuhrkhana mean?’ I asked him. ‘Traditionally there were two bangles that were
worn with regular bangles. One of them was worn at the start while the other at the end. Those
two bangles were known as Chuhr. This is a Sanskrit word which means to lead.
What is important in this story is Nanak’s criticism of the concept of a ‘sacred space’. Every place
is sacred as far as Nanak is concerned.
Nanak’s entire struggle was against the rituals revolving around organised religion. Today,
however, if you walk into a gurdwara, there is a strict code of conduct.
I remember, once I was sitting at Gurdwara Janamasthan with my back towards the main shrine
when a Sikh man came up to me and told me to not sit with my back towards the main shrine. I
wanted to narrate the incident of Nanak at the Kaaba to him at that time but refrained from
doing so.
As he learned to make beautiful furniture out of plain wood, he also learned to shape the
audacity of his dreams to settle in line with the realities of his life.
It was actually a conscious effort by Nanak to dilute his religious identity, which is why he had
adopted a garb that incorporated symbols from the clothes of all religious traditions.
They were able to achieve greatness only by remaining in the dark about their destiny.
Nanak was repulsed by the concept of making a larger-than-life figure out of a religious leader.
He spoke vehemently against miracles being associated with them.
The beauty of Nanak’s poetry lies in his sarcasm.
Mecca was a sacred city only for Muslims, while Benaras was sacred to the Hindus; Multan was
revered by all.
Later, when he visited Multan, he was disappointed to see that the religious syncretism he had
imagined was non- existent. The Hindus were assured of their superiority, while the Muslims
were assured of theirs.
This city had once been known as Ajodhan, but its name was changed to Pakpattan after the
head of the Chistiyan silsila (religious order), Baba Farid, left Delhi and settled here.
You perhaps may not have questions because you have shut your mind to knowledge. I, on the
other hand, am a curious soul, which is a characteristic of a true believer and therefore I have
more questions than answers.’
The purpose of his life, Nanak said, was not to spread his message but to understand the
message of different religious and spiritual traditions.
‘You are my follower if you are willing to learn all your life. You have to remain a student forever
like me. Learn from not only scholars and holy men but also from those whom you chose to
ignore—servants, women, children, animals, plants, the sea, the land and the sky. Keep an open
mind and never become too rigid in your beliefs. Dogma is the end of inquiry and hence the
death of enlightenment.
Guru Arjan’s death marks the end of an era in the history of the institution of the Guruhood. He
was the last Guru in the line of the Gurus who focused solely on spiritual matters. He wrote
profusely and has the highest number of hymns in the Guru Granth Sahib, numbering 2218. The
second highest number is that of Guru Nanak at 974.
There is a misconception that lack of education breeds religious intolerance and that education
exorcises all such demons. In fact the case in Pakistan seems to be the opposite. This is because
education here is closely connected with the nationalistic agenda. One of the stated purposes of
education in Pakistan is to promote nationalism among children. It is for this reason that the
mainstream education here is diluted by nationalistic propaganda and hence, by association,
religious propaganda.
With a strong sense of nationalism comes a strong sense of ‘otherization’, a demonisation of
those who are not part of us
Nanak talks about removing intermediaries and establishing a direct connect with God.
Nanak felt that people were now starting to follow him blindly and this depressed him.
Lehna laid the foundation for the Gurumukhi script, the script of the Guru, in which Punjabi is
now written the world over, except for the land where Nanak actually lived and died.

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Author: Haroon Khalid

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