Birthday Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji

     Today is Guru Purab also known as Guru Nanak Jayanti or birthday of first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh faith, was born in the month of Kartik (October/November). He was born in 1469 A.D. at Talwandi near about 30 miles from Lahore. The anniversaries of Sikh Guru's are known as Gurpurabs (festivals) and are celebrated with devotion and dedication. Sikhism preaches the existence of one God. They do not believe in idol worship and in fact, they are not allowed to place any idols in their homes and Gurdwaras. Sikhism also preaches good and healthy living, service to others, tolerance and love towards all. Apart from Guru Nanak Dev Ji, there were nine other Gurus who spread Sikhism.
    From the very beginning, he was not as other children. In school, he picked up the wooden plank that served as his slate, and wrote on it an acrostic using all 35 alphabets to compose verses that questioned the meaning of learning without understanding, a verse that forms part of the Granth Sahib.
    Often the father must have got impatient indeed; when sent to buy goods from the marketplace, he gave away all the money to a band of indigents that he saw in the bazaar. In the store where he was sent to work, he weighed out goods, but when he got to “tera” (thirteen) the word was chanted repeatedly like a mantra : “Tera (thine), O Lord, tera, I am Thine...” His father sent him away to work in his sister’s village, thinking that this would steady the youth; but his mind was preoccupied with the contemplation of the universal nature of God.
    Many inspiring stories which are lesson for mankind by Guru Nanak Dev Ji are found, few are mentioned here –

• Once in Mecca, he slept with his feet in the direction of the Holy Ka’aba. This was viewed as an insult by the Mullah, who kicked him and reproached him for turning his feet in the direction where God was. Nanak replied quietly, “Turn my feet in the direction where God is not...” Thus saying, he effectively silenced his critics, for they too believed as written in the Quran that God is everywhere.
• Yet again, when he was on the banks of the Ganga in Haridwar, he saw pilgrims throwing water in the direction of the rising sun. Why, he asked, and was told that they were offering oblations to the spirits of their ancestors. Thereupon, he too started flinging water in the air, but in the opposite direction, towards the west, and when asked why, he replied, “I am watering my fields.” The people laughed scornfully. “How can this be?” they asked. “How can you water your fields from such a great distance?” “Why,” said the Guru, “if your oblations can reach the other world, cannot these drops of water reach my land in Punjab, which is much closer?”
• When in the east, in Orissa, he visited the temple of Jagannath in Puri. It was evening, the time of the aarti offered to the deity with lamps and flowers. Guru Nanak stood silent, not participating. This, he said, was not homage enough to the glory and wonder of God, to whom Nature paid a far more sublime tribute.

Celebrations  - The akhand path or the continuous reading of Granth Sahib, the sacred book of the Sikhs, begins three days before Guru Nanak Jayanti. The sacred scripture is read non-stop from beginning to end. The Akhand Path culminates on the day of the Guru Purab and the holy book is then taken out in a procession. It is beautifully decorated with flowers and carried on a float. Children participate in the procession and march to the tune of local band playing religious hymns. Five armed guards who are called the panj pyare lead the procession. At the head of the procession is the Nishan Sahib or the Sikh flag.
Prabhat Pheri  - A few days before Guru Purab, people take out Prabhat Pheris or the early morning processions from the Gurdwaras. They go around their locality singing shabad or the religious hymns.
Langar - Later in the day, special kirtans are arranged in the Gurdwaras. The devotees attend Langar or the common meals where everyone eats the same food irrespective of caste, class, or creed. Devotees offer their services for cooking food, cleaning the Gurdwara or carrying out other chores. This is called the Kar Seva.
    He was not only the founder of the Sikh religion; he was a great poet, philosopher, humanist and a powerful social reformer, a teacher of mankind. Guru Nanak Dev Ji said that one need not become a sanyasi sacrificing one's family, to please God. Those who practice devotion, whose mind is pure and who have sympathy, patience and honesty, are in no way inferior to a Sanyasi.