Happy Jayanti
Gurū Nānak
(15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539)
Gurū Nānak, also referred to as Bābā Nānak (‘father Nānak’), was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated as Guru Nanak Gurpurab on Katak
Pooranmashi (‘full-moon of Kattak’), i.e. October–November.
Nanak’s birthplace was Rai Bhoi di Talvandi near Lahore (now Nankana Sahib, Pakistan).
Nanak preached a monotheistic religion which is said to combine both Hindu and Muslim influences.
Nanak travelled far and wide in Asia with a mission to spread the message of one God, ‘Ik Onkar’ or ‘Ek Onkar’. This God is the eternal truth and dwells in his creation.
His teachings converged into ‘a unique spiritual, social, and political platform based on equality, fraternal love, goodness, and virtue.’
The Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Text of Sikhism, contains his message in the form of 974 poetic hymns or ‘shabda’.
The Sikhs believe that Nanak and other Gurus stressed ‘bhakti’ meaning love, devotion or worship, and taught that that ‘the spiritual life and the life of the secular householder are intertwined.’
The Guru Granth Sahib,
the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, is regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion.
Message: “The highest religion is to rise to universal brotherhood and to consider all creatures your equals… Be kind to all beings. This is more meritorious than bathing at all the sixty-eight shrines and donating money” (Guru Nanak).
