Walking with Nanak

by Haroon Khalid

you know who Mazhabi Sikhs are? When untouchable Hindus converted to Sikhism they were referred to as Mazhabi Sikhs just like you have Musali and Deendar in the Muslim community.’

But whenever a religion travels further away from its source in terms of time, it also travels away from the essence of the teachings of the source.

‘Wars are now fought from rooms by pressing buttons,’

Behind the gurdwara was the last embankment on the Pakistan side, beyond which lay India.

The photograph for which Iqbal Qaiser had to wait for several hours has been immortalised in his book.

For them this gurdwara was not a symbol of Nanak or his teachings but of Sikhism, of the same Sikhs who had killed thousands of innocent Muslims at the time of Partition.

Wherever he went, he chose to stay aloof from civilization, yet he was always close enough, that he did not completely abandon it.

Nanak covered most of this distance on foot and this took him about twenty-four years.

He regarded the beauty of the world to be a manifestation of the Divine.

The sky the salver, the sun and moon the lamps, The stars studding the heavens are the pearls The fragrance of sandal is the incense Fanned by the winds all for Thee The great forests are the flowers. What a beautiful aarti is being performed For you, O Destroyer of fear.2

He is trying to say that God doesn’t reside just in temples, mosques or shrines, but in nature. Nanak is saying that when God resides everywhere why should we, as devotees, limit our aarti to temples?

The Grim Reaper has harvested your field.3

The entire world, all its experiences, converging towards a focal point. Divinity.

Why can’t divinity be found in the smile of an infant or the fear of a calf separated from its mother?

He noticed how the crying of the birds became his voice in the form of a single tear shed.

he would incorporate any point of view into his philosophy if he could not counter it with an argument.

‘The Quran says that one should not seek Allah in abandoned caves and jungles but one should instead live as a member of society so that a believer is able to inspire others around him.’

He thinks and talks about topics that ordinary people cannot even fathom,’

It is but natural for anyone in this state to feel vulnerable.

‘But then Nanak was someone who challenged religious and social boundaries.

For him the world of business and money is the only correct use of one’s time.

Despite the centuries separating the two, one could still trace a continuity of religious tradition.

I touched one of the trees in the hope that through physical contact I would be able to transcend the boundaries of time and space and enter the world of Nanak and those naked ascetics. I

Nanak’s philosophy is centred on the concept of redefining the sacred and the profane.

is Nanak’s criticism of the concept of a ‘sacred space’. Every place is sacred as far as Nanak is concerned.

He had the unique role of applying the tilak on the forehead of five Gurus after Guru Nanak, therefore appointing them as the next Guru.

How different would his personality have been if he were a Muslim?

It was truly amazing what Iqbal Qaiser has managed to achieve through the power of his words.

gurdwara. Listening to Jasdeep’s poem, I wondered if Guru Nanak had inspired the poet within him.

here must have played an important role in the career of the reformer Nanak.

The serenity of this place must have provided him solace from the turmoil in his mind.

‘I find it contradictory that Sikhism today has become an institutionalised religion.

It was Guru Gobind who led the Sikh community to its destination and gave it its current character.

It was a rejection of any sort of identity that different groups used against each other to ferment hostility.

as the true message of God had been tainted by the promoters of these religions.

He believed that in both these religions the messengers had become more important than God, which is why a true devotee could never traverse the path of truth using either Islam or Hinduism.

Nanak realised that religion here was another commodity that was sold.

sincerity, humility, hospitality and honesty.

Nanak realised that nothing brought him more joy in life than this spiritual quest that Nanak and Mardana had begun through their spiritual songs.

Had they known the gravity of their undertaking, perhaps, they would never have set foot outside Talwindi.

They were able to achieve greatness only by remaining in the dark about their destiny.

I have come to the conclusion that Nanak was repulsed by the concept of making a larger-than-life figure out of a religious leader.