Guru Nanak Dev: Prophet of prophets

Dr Satish  K Kapoor

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If ever a prophet provided the divine nectar of his teachings to the souls enmeshed in worldliness, without making any distinction of caste, class, colour, creed; who traversed thousands of miles on foot, pointing out to ascetics, anchorites, monks, mystics and religious divines; and who tried to liberate people from social evils and bizarre rituals, with rare courage and dynamism, that puissant soul was Guru Nanak Dev.

He was born at a time when the political, social, religious and cultural climate of the country betrayed signs of deterioration. With his advent, says Bhai Gurdas, ‘the fog of ignorance that brooded over the spiritual world dispersed, and there was light all over the globe.’

God is truth

The central point in Guru Nanak Dev’s theology is his concept of one god whom he equates with the Eternal truth. To experience Truth is to experience the Supreme reality. When one perceives the same truth in all, even the tiniest creature looks divine.

God and guru

The god of Guru Nanak Dev is beyond time, space and human description. His hukam (order) prevails everywhere. He manifests himself through shabd, the Word divine, and can be realised by surrendering to His will. The guru leads one to god by uplifting one’s consciousness.  

Attaining salvation

Guru Nanak Dev rejected external observances like image worship, fasting etc. as means to salvation. He exposed the hypocrisy of religious mountebanks, pedagogues and priests who promoted irrational beliefs, and promised heaven after death. He advised that instead of escaping the phenomenal reality, one should remain pure amid the impurities of the world, simultaneously cultivating a life of bhakti (devotion), jnana (knowledge) and karma (action). 

Vismad: fourth dimension of consciousness

By hearing the Word, keeping holy company, leading a virtuous life bereft of five passions – lust, anger, avarice, attachment and ego, and by steadying the mind through meditation on the divine name, one is able to perceive light in the effulgent lotus of the heart, and savour anahata nada (the unstruck music) ringing within. It is a state of vismad, the fourth dimension of consciousness.     

Guru Nanak Dev provided a spiritual orientation to society by his saintly presence, plain reasoning, mild censure and musical rendering of shabds. His teachings are relevant today as we are infected, more or less, by the lower nature of the likes of Malik Bhago and Sajjan thug, whom he transformed. 

—Dr Kapoor is a noted educationist, historian and spiritualist