Guru Nanak - Biography
Guru Nanak was a spiritual leader in India who founded
Sikhism. He is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. He is a
visionary and a great soul; he was an original spiritual
thinker.
Guru Nanak was born on 15 April 1469 at
Nankana Sahib in Punjab. Presently it located near Lahore in
Pakistan. His parents were Mehta Kalu, and Mata Tripta. They
belong to a Hindu merchant family. He had one sister, Bebe
Nanaki. In 475 she married and moved to Sultanpur. Nanak was
attached to his sister and followed her to Sultanpur to live
with her and her husband, Jai Ram.
From early ages,
he showed particular interest in spiritual matters. At the
age of seven, he attend school. In school, he described the
symbolism of the first letter of the alphabet in
Persian, which resembles the mathematical version of one, to
represent the unity or oneness of God. In spite of being
born in a Hindu family, he interacted with Muslims and was
interested in reading the religious texts of both the
faiths. He particularly criticized caste and gender
inequalities in Hindu religion. One morning, when he went to
bath in the nearby river with his friend Mardana, he
disappeared beneath the water and everyone believed that he
had drowned in the river. Three days later he miraculously
appeared out of the river and told everyone that he had been
taken to God’s court. Nanak’s life change in a big way. He
was spiritually reawakened by this incident and was
completely enlightened. From this point onwards, people
started calling him “Guru Nanak”.
Guru Nanak founded
and formalized the three pillars of Sikhism: Naam Japna,
Kirat Karni and Vand Chakna. Nanak’s teachings can be found
in the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib, as a collection of
verses recorded in Gurmukhi. Guru Nanak travelled
extensively during his lifetime. He started travelling at
the age of 27 along with his longtime companion Bhai
Mardana. He visited Tibet, most of South Asia and Arabia. He
left his family for a thirty-year period.
Guru Nanak
married Mata Sulakkhani, daughter of Mul Chand and Chando
Rai on 24 September 1487. They had two sons, Sri Chand and
Lakhmi Chand . Sri Chand received enlightenment from Guru
Nanak's teachings and went on to become the founder of the
Udasi sect. Guru Nanak appointed Bhai Lehna as the successor
Guru, renaming him as Guru Angad. Guru Nanak died on 22
September 1539 in Kartarpur, at the age of 70. His birth is
celebrated world-wide as Guru Nanak Gurpurab on Kartik
Pooranmashi.
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