Guru Nanak Dev

Published: 14th Oct, 2019

Recently, 550^th birth anniversary of Guru Nank Dev was celebrated.

Context

Recently, 550^th birth anniversary of Guru Nank Dev was celebrated.

About

Guru Nanak was born in Talwandi but he travelled for years before he founded the Dera Baba Nanak in Kartarpur.
Irrespective of their creed or caste, his followers ate together in a common kitchen known as langar. And the sacred place/temple he created for worship and meditation was called dharmasal (now known as Gurudwara).
Before he died in 1539, he appointed a follower called Lena(known later as Guru Angad) as his successor.
Guru Angad compiled the work of Guru Nanak and added to it his own script known as Gurmukhi.
The next three Gurus also wrote under Nanak's name, and their work was compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604.
Works of Shaikh Farid, Sant Kabir, Bhagat Namdev, and Guru Tegh Bahadur were also added to these compilations.
Finally, in 1706, Guru Gobind Singh authenticated the compilation and created the Guru Granth Sahib.
Guru Nanak's followers increased in the sixteenth century as people from all castes and occupations joined the community.
By the seventeenth century, the town of Ramdaspur developed around a Gurudwara called the Harmandar Sahib and became a self-governing society.
The Mughal Emperor Jehangirsaw them as a potential threat, and in 1606 he ordered the execution of Guru Arjan.
By the seventeenth century, Guru Gobind Singh organised the Khalsa Movement, and the community of Sikhs became a political organisation called the Khalsa Panth.

Guru Nank’s Teachings

Guru Nanak emphasised the worship of one Godand insisted that caste, creed, and gender were irrelevant to attaining salvation.
According to him, pursuit of an active life would liberate humans, and he also used the terms nam, dan, andisnan to mean right worship, welfare, and purity of conduct.
His ideas today are called nam-japna, kirt-karna, and vand-chhakna, which mean right belief and worship, honest living, and helping others.
Thus, Guru Nanak’s idea of equality had social and political implications.

Kartarpur Corridor

The corridor will connect Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur (Pakistan) with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district of Punjab and facilitate visa-free movement of Indian pilgrims, who will have to just obtain a permit to visit Kartarpur Sahib, which was established in 1522 by Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak Dev.
The corridor will help India and Pakistan to go peaceful in their relations.

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