Guru Nanak Saheb

Society Religion & Philosophy
1

This thread is about Guru Nanak. Please do not mess it with any geo-political debate. Thanks.

Who was he?
His origin?
Was he a hindu originally? Or a Muslim?
Did he really performed Hajj, as reported?
Did he believe in onness of God even after the start of Sikhism?
Why he decided to create a new religion altogether?
Was he a good friend of Baba Fareed of PakPattan and other Muslim saints of that time?
Did he have good relationship with Hindus?
How much and when Aurangzeb factor came into play in the birth of Sikhism? (Please refrain from any keechaR uchaling at others)
What is the term Khalsa?
What does Khalsa emblem represent?
Is he buried or was burnt?

2

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

I don’t think you will be able to keep this thread clean.. though I took first site I got…
http://www.sikhs.org/guru1.htm
He was born to a simple Hindu family.
He did go to mecca, I am not sure he did Haz, since he was caught napping with feet towards, mecca and questioned mecca as God’s place as he questioned many other bliefs.
He believed in oneness of GOD, though looks like that its not him but 10th Guru who started Sikhims (Somebody correct me)
He just started new way of thinking, mediation… Not new religion.
He met him and they had discussion. its mentioned in article.
Yes, he believed in theory of Karma and Sanskara.
Aurangzeb - Yes, Sikhism came at that time of 10th Guru, Guru Gobind Singh and did seem to be response to presecution by Aurangzeb. Guru nanak was in the times fo BAbur.
Is he buried or was burnt?
<< Interesting incident about him evaporating with Hindus burning flowers and Muslims burying the flowers>>
It looks like he tried taking good of both religion and tried making them one… :-)…

3

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

Thanks a lot. It was informative. So what about the word Khalsa and the emblem. I always thougt it was inspired by the Arabic word Allah.

Also do some Sikhs in India have idols in temples?

4

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

^ Never seen Sikhs idol worshipping...and i doubt that they do it in India. In their Gurdawara, they keep the book in a minature house shape thingy, and sing hymns to praise Gurus. Thats how the Sikhs worship.

5

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

<< Interesting incident about him evaporating with Hindus burning flowers and Muslims burying the flowers>>
This part is interesting since exactly is the same story about KABIR, who was a Muslim turned to Bhakti movement ...

6

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

Just like you said, i'll try to solve ur querries

[quote]

Who was he?

[/quote]

He was a hindu by birth born in a simple hindu family.

[quote]

His origin?

[/quote]

?? Indian ofcourse!

[quote]

Was he a hindu originally? Or a Muslim?

[/quote]

Originally hindu but being born under mughal rule his philosophies had some mughal touch.

[quote]

Did he really performed Hajj, as reported?

[/quote]

can't say, never heard !

[quote]

Did he believe in onness of God even after the start of Sikhism?

[/quote]

he did belive like every saint and sufi

[quote]

Why he decided to create a new religion altogether?

[/quote]

He never declared any new relegion, he raised his voice against mughal harshness towards hindus and against radical practices in hinduism (like caste system, sati pratha etc.), sikhs were a community in hinduism just like Rajputs, Jats, Baniyas etc.

[quote]

Was he a good friend of Baba Fareed of PakPattan and other Muslim saints of that time?

[/quote]

again cant say, no proof, never heard!

[quote]

Did he have good relationship with Hindus?

[/quote]

he was a hindu but had some tough job with some extremists

[quote]

How much and when Aurangzeb factor came into play in the birth of Sikhism? (Please refrain from any keechaR uchaling at others)

[/quote]

Aurangzeb personally had to do nothing with origin of Sikhism. Sikhs originated among Hindus against Mughal cruelity. Aurangzeb was a butcher, he simply alloted islamic rule in his empire after being King. His rule was pretty harsh on non-muslims (hindus n Sikhs). He used to say accept Islam or death.

During Guru Gobind Singh's days Sikhs and Hindus reunited and became very strong. He used to say if you want ur relegion then fight with them(mughals) or be ready to get killed. The long beard tradition came into existance coz soldiers(sardars) never had any time to shave or relax.

[quote]

What is the term Khalsa?

[/quote]

Khalsa which means 'Pure' is the name given by Guru Gobind Singh to all Sikhs who have been baptised or Initiation by taking Amrit in ceremony called Amrit Sanchar. The first time that this ceremony took place was on Baisakhi, which fell on 30 March 1699 at Anandpur Sahib in India

[quote]

What does Khalsa emblem represent?

[/quote]

Khalsa's have five emblems, all beginning with letter 'K'. They are 'Kesa'(hair), 'Kangha'(Comb), 'Kacch' (Drawers), 'Kirpan' (Sabre) and 'Kara' (bracelet of steel) commonly worn on the right arm.

[QUOTE]

Is he buried or was burnt?

[/QUOTE]

When Guru Nanak's end was near, the Hindus said we will cremate you, the Muslims said we will bury you. Guru Nanak said; "You place flowers on either side, Hindus on my right, Muslims on my left. Those whose flowers remain fresh tomorrow will have their way." He then asked them to prey and lay down covering himself with a sheet. Thus on September 22, 1539 in the early hours of the morning Guru Nanak merged with the eternal light of the Creator. When the followers lifted the sheet they found nothing except the flowers which were all fresh. The Hindus took theirs and cremated them, while the Muslims took their flowers and buried them.

PS - Guru Nank did form Sikhism not with the motive of new relegion but with the motive of new community. His aim was to eliminate radical practices in Hinduism and change extreme orthodox nature of Islam towards non-muslims.

7

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

Sikhs don't do Idol worship, though most of the Sikhs family have picture of Gurus, and mainly of first (Guru Nanak) and 10th (Guru Gobind), and they worship those, Sikhs are big time into Bhazans and Singing for Gurus...
In Gurdwara's they worship Guru Granth...
They are close to Punjabi's and there is strong marriage bonds between these two groups, infact its very common for Sikh and Punjabi families to be together..

8

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

^ dont agree rahul!

Sikhs and Hindus share very close ties in north India. I have many sikh friends who believe Hindu Gods, if u visit their home you can see Hindu God's pics and idols with Sikh Gurus. The same is with hindus, hindus too respect and believe Sikh Gurus and place their photos in their home-temples with Hindu Gods.

Infact interrelegious marraiges are quite coomon here too. Sikhs and Hindus marry each other without any relegious dicrimination.
If there is any scene of inter-relegious marriage then community and status plays major role than relegion ex- Sikh Jat family prefers Hindu Jat and vice versa, rather than being marry their children to other community.

I afraid community system(caste-system) have deep roots in Indian society.

9

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

They visit Hindu temples all the time, and so do Hindus visit Gurdwaras. Sikhs are regarded as Hindus.

Aurangzeb executed the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur for refusing to convert to Islam.
He sacrificed himself to protect Hindus, after Kashmiri pandits came to him for help when the Emperor condemned them to death for failing to convert to Islam. This marked a turning point for Sikhism. His successor, Guru Gobind Singh further militarised his followers (see Khalsa). After Aurangzeb killed four of Gobind Singh’s sons, Gobind Singh sent Aurangzeb the Zafarnama.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh_Guru

10

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

^ most likely, but what i stated was what i witnessed.

11

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

[quote]
Aurangzeb executed the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur for refusing to convert to Islam.
[/quote]

Aurangzeb executed the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur for refusing to acccept the truth and stop spreading his filth.

Fixed.

12

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

Waheguru Ji Da Khalsa
Waheguru Ji Di Fateh

Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji was born in Nankana Sahib near Lahore (in present day Pakistan) into a Hindu Khatri caste family, he learnt about Hinduism from his family and priests and about Islam from Sufi ascetics and eventually came to the conclusion that neither the Hindu dharam nor what the Sufis preached was completely infallible so he layed the foundation for a superior spiritual path which was distinct from both yet incorprated beliefs from both religions, he was the Guru of Sikhi, he wasn't a Hindu or a Muslim, he said "there is no Hindu or Muslim", he showed a path which would replace these religions.

He did visit the city of Mecca just as he visited many other places but he did not consider Mecca to be any more sacred or special than any other place on earth, in fact he slept with his feet towards the Kaaba.

13

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

^ so what you are saying is that he took good things from both religions and came up with a new religion..and this is how sikhism was born

14

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

[quote]
Sikhs and Hindus share very close ties in north India. I have many sikh friends who believe Hindu Gods, if u visit their home you can see Hindu God's pics and idols with Sikh Gurus. The same is with hindus, hindus too respect and believe Sikh Gurus and place their photos in their home-temples with Hindu Gods.

Infact interrelegious marraiges are quite coomon here too. Sikhs and Hindus marry each other without any relegious dicrimination.
If there is any scene of inter-relegious marriage then community and status plays major role than relegion ex- Sikh Jat family prefers Hindu Jat and vice versa, rather than being marry their children to other community.

I afraid community system(caste-system) have deep roots in Indian society.
[/quote]

People are spreading misinformation about Sikhi here. We are not part of Hindutva, we are Jatts.

Firstly Sikhi is separate form Hinduism, yes we protected Hindus from the Mughals because Hindus were incapable of defending themselves and needed us to stand up for them, we don’t agree with Hinduism but we also don’t agree with force and we do believe in freedom even for those who are not our own. Only those Sikhs who have no knowledge of the Guru Granth Sahib will worship useless idols, many Hindus worship Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji because they will worship anyone and anything.

Sikhs do not recognise Hindu deities or Hindu dharma, we consider it meaningless and useless, Guru Ji was born into a Hindu family but he rejected Hinduism, he condemned and ridiculed many Hindu traditions and beliefs of his society and showed them a better and superior path.

Sorry for offending people but I don’t want people to airbrush my identity, Hindu fanatics are trying to present us as one of their own but we are not.

15

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

[quote]
They are close to Punjabi's and there is strong marriage bonds between these two groups, infact its very common for Sikh and Punjabi families to be together..
[/quote]

Punjabi is an ethnic group, Sikhi is a religion, followers of Sikhi are normally Punjabis.

16

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

The symbol is called Khanda, it is made up of four weapons used by Sikhs and was made in the time of our 10th Guru.

[quote]
Also do some Sikhs in India have idols in temples?
[/quote]

No we don't believe in Hindu gods and goddesses, Guru Nanak Dev Ji said "what will we get out of worshipping 'gods' and 'goddesses' which if washed sink in water?".

We only have our holy book, our 11th Guru, Guru Granth Sahib in the Gurdawara and sometimes pictures of Guru Nanak Dev Ji or Guru Gobind Singh.

17

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

pretty much

18

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

^^ if you agree with SCT's comments then it means that its not a devine religion but one that was created in certain circumtances due to dislikeness of the founder for his parents' religion and his opperessing rulers. Its more like a movement to me in that case, as the text of Sikhism's sacred book is influenced by Quran, Vidh, Bible and other books that Guru Nanak Saheb got to read/know. I know it was written way after him, but his teachings are transfered from one Guru to another, so the central idea and theme was transfered and more was added by other gurus as their own inputs.

Its good to know that its a monothesist religion. By several accounts Guru Nanak Saheb is a very interesting person from Sub-continent's history. Can someone quote his authentic sayings about Islam and Propeht saw(not Muslims)?

Every 1111 th poster WINS.....
19

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

Guru Nanak was one of the most influential leaders of the sub-continent. He was born to a working Punjabi Khatri family. His views about Islam were not that great- so leave it putter!

20

Re: Guru Nanak Saheb

Going off-topic a little bit, but I heard recently in Ontario, Canada, they passed a new law which allows Sikhs to carry some sort of traditional sword (as a part of their religion??). Any info on this?

Lahore is no longer a part of India. Speaking of present times, he was born in a village close to Lahore, Pakistan. The village is now, more commonly known as Nankana Sahib. :)