Celebrating Guru Nanak Dev's Birthday in Punjab

By Muhammad Aslam Khan - OhmyNews International - South Korea

Saturday, November 11, 2006

The 538th birthday celebrations of the founder of the Sikh religion, Baba Guru Nanak Dev have been completed with religious fervor in different parts of Pakistani Punjab.

Members of the Sikh community from around the globe attended the five days religious rituals with great enthusiasm and paid homage to the great Sufi poet of Punjab, who changed the lives of hundreds of thousands people through his message of love, peace, tranquility and equality.

Pakistan made special arrangements for the occasion to provide transport and lodgings for 15,000 guests from abroad. Pakistan Railways arranged special trains for Indian Sikhs to attend the celebrations on the Pakistani side of Punjab and then return back.

Pakistan Airlines International (PIA) National airline carrier also flew special flights from various destinations to Lahore for devotees. Guru Nanak Dev was born in a Hindu farming family at a tiny remote village of Talwandi Rai in Sheikhupura district, 160 kilometers from Lahore. That village was renamed to Nankana Sahib during the life of Guru Nanak Dev Ji in recognition of his teaching and services for humanity. It is now a town.

Now the Gurdwara Janam Asthan (birthplace) in Nankana Sahib is the center of spiritual zeal for Sikhs scattered all over the globe. These faithful converge annually to pay homage to the spiritual Guru, whose message is still relevant in fast changing times.

The Guru's world-changing movement spread all over Punjab, the target audience was the poor peasants of rural areas.

Nanak Dev Ji used the rhythm of Punjabi poetry and soothing Sufi music as a medium of instruction.

He stood against social evils and promoted the equality of every one human being without any discrimination of color, creed, race or sex. Baba Nanak was the first one who fought for the rights of the women.

The Sikh code was revolutionary because it guaranteed food and a living place for every human being without any discrimination. Gurdwaras (the Sikh worship place) were open 24 hours for everyone with arrangement of free food.

"You can't find any Sikh as a beggar simply because of the teachings of Baba Nanak Ji," said Anwar Aziz Chaudhry, a Michigan university law graduate and retired politician and former minister, who served in successive governments.

Interestingly, Baba Guru Nanak Ji never compiled the Sikh code of practice and rituals, that came after his death. The vastly traveled founder of Sikh religion Baba Guru Nanak also performed Hajj as a devout Muslim and paid homage to the prophet Muhammad at Medina.

His close associate and lifetime friend Sufi musician Ramdas was a Muslim, who spent his life with him as a follower. Therefore the teachings of Guru Nanak Ji had great resemblance and commonalities with Islamic teachings and philosophy. Being a child from a Hindu family, the lifestyle and jargon of Nanak Ji was greatly influenced by typical Hindu traditions that overlapped the ideological contradictions with Hinduism.

Now Sikhism is considered to be an offshoot of Hinduism.

Guru Nanak Dev spent his last decade in a village called Kartarpur Sahib, now situated in the district of Norwal on the lush green banks of the river Ravi. Before he died he announced that Sikhism had been completed. According to mythology, immediately after his announcement of the completion of Sikhism, he passed away. There was a brawl over his last rituals, his Muslim followers wanted to bury him and his Hindu followers insisted that they should cremate his body.The scuffle was going on and suddenly the enraged followers came to know that the body of Nanak ji had disappeared mysteriously and a lot of roses had taken its place.

To settle the dispute both groups distributed the roses, the Muslims buried and Hindus cremated these flowers.

So it's a fact that at Darbar Sahib Kartarpur there is a marble clad grave outside the complex and inside a crematorium was also made in remembrance of the great Sufi poet and founder of new progressive religion of Sikhism.The Sikh code of teachings was compiled after Baba Nanak Ji, and nine successors of Nanak Ji shaped the contours of this new religion. Finally the ninth guru Gobind announced the compilation of the Sikh scripture and holy book the Granth Sahib.

Guru Gobind Ji, the great warrior of his times, converted pure Sufi movement into the militant group and introduced five Ks. He also declared that Granth Sahib will be considered a living Guru after him, and that no one be appointed his successor.

The Granth Sahib contains the work of three great Muslim Sufi poets, Baba Farid Shaker Ganj, Hazarat Mian Meer and Waris Shah. Their work makes up 33 percent of the book. The Granth Sahib is considered to be an eternal living guru, so every Sikh place of worship has a spacious bedroom for it to "take rest".

The first time that I personally attended the "Sukh Assen" (Comfortable Sleep) pageant at the golden temple Amritsar, I was naturally astonished to observe that the holy book was taken to luxury bedroom with all modern facilities to "rest" for the night.