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Message of Guru Nanak from Kartarpur
Dr Paramvir Singh
Kartarpur, now in Pakistan, is about 500 years old town on the bank of river Ravi which commemorates the last phase of the life of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and his message to humanity. With Guru Nanak’s message of love, peace, service, humanity, brotherhood and spirituality, the town occupies the sacred status in the history of mankind. The followers of both the major religious communities of that time, Hindus and Muslims, however in conflict, paid their obeisance to him keeping in mind as their Guru and Pir. The place was common for all human beings irrespective of their status in the society. The person who visited this place was neither a Hindu nor a Muslim but a man of God.
Bhai Gurdas, contemporary of 3rd to 6th Gurus, mentioned Kartarpur in his Varan, an important work known as key to Guru Granth Sahib. He said:
Phiri baba aia kartarapuri bhekh udasi sagal utara.
Pahiri sasari kapare manji baithi kia avatara.1
Guru Nanak returned to Kartarpur and he put away his robe of a recluse. He started wearing householder’s clothes and continued his mission sitting on a cot.
Sometimes, the personalities in religious garb are being respected foremost in the society and nobody wants to know their conduct and level of spirituality. But it was different in the case of the true Guru, Guru Nanak, who laid emphasis that the attire of a Sufi or saint is not above good deeds. He was in householder’s garb but attracted people from every section and corner of society. His divine personality was the centre of attraction for those who wanted to shed their sufferings and seeks spiritual upliftment in life.
The Guru’s presence at Kartarpur pushed inspired him to see him. The religious personalities from Hindu tradition, such as, Baisno, Brahmchari, Jogi, Japi, Tapi, Sanniyasi, Hathi, Sidh, Sadhu and of Muslim faith, such as, Sufi, Pir, Fakir, Gaus, Auliyas etc. started coming to the Guru at Kartarpur and had a dialogue with him on the spiritual matters. They felt deeply impressed by the Guru’s word and bowed their head before him. This shows that the Guru developed widely representative congregation at Kartapur where everybody had the right to put forth his idea. Guru listened to them carefully and then expressed his theo-centric universal philosophy which was acceptable to everybody. Large number of common people from every religious tradition irrespective of their status and position in the society came to the Guru for his blessings. Guru Nanak started his daily routine which was conducive for the social and religious upliftment of humanity and society. People coming to see the Guru started emulating his way of life and a new society was formed at Kartarpur. In very short period, Kartarpur became the centre of the philosophy propounded by Guru Nanak and people from far and near started coming here for spiritual gains. Prof Harbans Singh observed , “The fraternity coming into being at Kartarpur was marked by faith, charity, equality, affirmation, trust, mutual help and service. It was no monastic order, but a fellowship of ordinary men engaged in ordinary occupations who believed in the Guru and made his word the support of their lives.”2 The daily routine set by the Guru at Kartarpur is mentioned in the ballads of Bhai Gurdas in these words:
Gianu gosti charcha sada anahadi sabadi uthe dhunkara.
Sodaru arti gaviai amrit vele japu uchara.3
There was continuous dialogue and discussion and spiritual vibrations,
There was recitation of Japji in the moring and Sodar and Aarti (in the evening)
Dialogue or discussion for the sake of knowledge was commenced among the enlightened souls and with the recitation of Bani the atmosphere was fully saturated with melodies and shiphonic sounds. Sodar and Arti were sung in the evening and Japu was recited in the early morning. These compositions have been persons included in the Nitnem of a Sikh forever. Macauliffe, an ICS officer turned Sikh scholar, elaborated the daily routine of the Sikhs started by the Guru at Kartarpur in these words:
“At Kartarpur, a watch before day, the Japji and the Asa ki War were repeated. Then followed reading and expounding of the Guru’s hymns, until a watch and a quarter after sunrise. This was succeeded by singing and the reading of the Arati (Gagan mai thal). After this, breakfast was served. In the third watch there was again singing, after which in the evening the Sodar was read. Then the Sikhs all dined together. The repast ended with further singing. After a watch of night had elapsed the Sohila was read, and everyone then retired.4
Final shape was given to some other longer composition at Kartarpur along with Japuji Sahib. Guru Nanak infused the spiritual elements among the people with his Bani but the mission was completed when spirituality came in practice with honest means of earning and its sharing. Guru Nanak himself started cultivation at Kartarpur on the land offered to him by his devotee Karori Mal. His produce was open for everyone coming to see him at Kartarpur. Puran Singh states that the bread and water were ready for all at all hours of the day, and crowds came and freely partook of the Guru’s gifts. All comers were filled from the Guru’s treasury of thought and love and power; the diseased and distressed were healed by him.5
The tradition of Langar started by Guru Nanak at Kartarpur fulfils the physical needs blended with a social message of treating all as equal. Langar and Sangat are complimentary to each other. Both have the same message of remaining together for physical as well as spiritual gains. Sitting at the same level for dining together was a new system established by the Guru to bind different sections of the society at the same level irrespective of their socio-religious and political status in the world. Commenting on the institution of Langar of the Guru, Khazan Singh said, “His expenses were on a grand scale, as he had established a public feeding-house where thousands of helpless and poor people were fed daily. Food was constantly distributed throughout the day and night.”6 Langar started at Kartarpur is now recognized and applauded at global level.
Guru Nanak instructed his successor, Guru Angad, to go to Khadur Sahib and continue the mission from there. The institutions started by Guru Nanak to establish the new faith remained intact and the successor Gurus nourished and developed them. Guru Arjan Dev and Guru Tegh Bahadur sacrificed their lives to protect and preach the ideology of Guru Nanak. Even the followers follow the foot-steps of their masters and have ever tried to keep the virtuous flag high. Guru Nanak left this mortal world in 1539 but his light was transferred to his successor Guru Angad. At the time when Guru Nanak left the world a controversy arose between the Hindus and Muslims. Both wanted to perform the last rites according to their respective customs. This shows the sense of love of two major communities of that time for Guru Nanak. Hindus declared him as their Guru and Muslims proclaimed him as their Pir. The journey started by Guru Nanak from Sultanpur for a mission to bring the two major religious communities in conflict was fulfilled at Kartarpur where both bowed their head to him. Syad Muhammad Latif, a renowned historian of Punjab, said that “His (Guru Nanak’s) best endeavours during his long public career, were directed towards removing, or reducing to a minimum, those religious and social differences which had sprung up between the two great sects of India, the Hindus and the Mahomedans, and to reconciling them both; and to a great extent he was successful.”7
Since then all the religious communities were living in peace and harmony till the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. British annexed Punjab in 1849. After about one hundred years, i.e. at the time they left India in 1947, they divided Punjab on religious grounds and drew a line of partition near Kartarpur where the great Guru delivered his message of peace and harmony. The main shrine related to the last phase of life of Guru Nanak was left in Pakistan. Sikhs have always been praying to God to unite them with their religious places which remained on the other side of border.
With formation of the Pakistan government under Imran Khan in August 2018 a new hope sprang up in the minds of Sikh community for open entry to Kartarpur which is expected to be fulfilled very soon. Both the governments of India and Pakistan adopted a common minimum program to come together to celebrate the 550th Prakash Purab of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. A new corridor from India to Pakistan is under progress for the devotees of the Guru which is being opened on the occasion of celebrations on 12 November 2019. It all became possible with the grace of God and blessings of the Guru. The message of love, peace, harmony and honest earning delivered by Guru Nanak at Kartarpur will, hopefully, bring about mutual love and understanding between the two countries.
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References
1. Varan Bhai Gurdas, Var 1, Pauri 38.
2. Harbans Singh, Guru Nanak and Origins of the Sikh Faith, pp. 178-179.
3. Varan Bhai Gurdas, Var 1, Pauri 38.
4. Max Arthur Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion, vol.1, p. 136.
5. Puran Singh, The Book of the Ten Masters, p. 18.
6. Khazan Singh, History of the Sikh Religion, p.108.
7. Syad Muhammad latif, History of the Panjab, p. 246.
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