Sikh tradition
celebrates the coming of Guru Nanak on this day, 543 years ago, as the descending of Divine Light on Earth to dispel the mist and fog of spiritual ignorance in an age of darkness (
Kali Yug). Nanak’s appearance was to be the beginning of a new way (
Panth) that was to crystalize into what we know as Sikhi or the Sikh religion.
Sikhs will celebrate Nanak’s birth, as they have always done, with much fanfare. As a symbolic gesture, their homes will be lit. Taking a cue from traditions that Nanak started, they will gather in congregations across the world and sing hymns of praise to God and share with others the fruit of their labors by organizing community kitchens.
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Nanak was born in 1469, in Talwandi, now Nankana Sahib in present day Pakistan, and died in 1539. The turning point in Nanak’s life came when he was around 30 and employed as a book keeper at the royal granary in Sultanpur. By his own account, recorded in Sikh scripture, he received the divine call, and was ushered into the holy presence, “The Lord called me, an unemployed minstrel, to His service. The Master called his minstrel and placed the Robe of Honor to sing true praises.”
Nanak’s experience of the Divine is captured in the creedal statement of the Sikh Scripture. It begins with the use of an alpha numeric,
Ik Oankar to symbolize the One Ultimate Reality, which is both immanent and transcendent.
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For almost 30 years, Nanak travelled incessantly across India, to Tibet, and to Baghdad and Mecca. He met people of all religions in stations, in the village square, the street corner, the bazaar or somebody’s home, speaking to them in their language.
Whether it was at Hardwar, showing the pilgrims the futility of offering water to ancestors or at Mecca, asking the Qazi to point his legs where God was not, Nanak’s logic was irrefutable and his sincerity and unbounded love enough to melt any opposition.
