Guru Nanak  Dev Ji

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Prime Minister of India greeted people on the occasion of Parkash Purab of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji

A brief history of Guru Nanak ji

• Guru Nanak ji,  the founder and first Guru of Sikhism, was born in 1469, at the village Talwandi which is located in the Punjab(present Pakistan) region of the Indian subcontinent.
• This village is known as Nanaka Sahib.
• His father Mehta Kalu, was a village accountant and his mother was Mata Tripta
• Blessed with a deeply contemplative mind and rational thinking, young Nanak ji would often astound his elders and teachers with the sublimity of his knowledge, particularly on divine matters.
• Growing up, Nanak ji refused to partake in traditional religious rituals, and often spoke out against several prevalent societal practices such as the Caste System, idolatry, and the worship of demi-Gods.
• Guru Nanak ji had mastered multiple religious texts(at the age of 16) and languages including Sanskrit, Persian, and Hindi, and was writing what many believed were divinely inspired compositions.
• He was married  to Mata Sulakhni in the year 1487 and they had  two sons, Sri Chand and Lakhmi Das
• The family, accompanied by Bhai Mardana, a Muslim childhood friend of Guru Nanak Dev ji, then moved to the town of Sultanpur Lodhi, where Guru ji took the job of an accountant
• One day, while bathing in “Vain Nadi” (a small river), Guru Nanak ji heard God‘s call to dedicate himself completely to the service of humanity. 
• The very first sentence which he uttered then was, “There is no Hindu, no Musalman (Muslim)”. 
• Stating that he had been taken to the God’s court and given a divine mission, Guru Nanak ji then began the next stage of his life, to preach his unique doctrine (Sikhi) to the entire world.

His teachings 

• Accompanied by Bhai Mardana, Guru Nanak Dev ji undertook four major spiritual journeys, running across India, South Asia, Tibet and Arabia. 
• In these journeys, he preached the new concept of God as “Supreme, All powerful and Truthful, Formless (Nirankar), Fearless (Nirbhau), Without hate (Nirvair), the Sole (Ik), the Self-Existent (Saibhang), the Incomprehensible and Everlasting creator of all things (Karta Purakh), and the Eternal and Absolute Truth (Satnam)”. 
• Nanak ji taught people that the ‘One’ God dwells in every one of his creations, and that all human beings can have direct access to God without the need of any rituals or priests.
• He attacked Hindu Caste system and condemned the theocracy of Mughal rulers. 
• He rejected the path of renunciation (Tyaga), emphasizing a householder’s (family) life based on honest conduct, selfless service (Sewa), and constant devotion and remembrance of God’s name. 
• In the later years of his life, Guru ji founded and settled down at the township of Kartarpur (“creator’s town”), on the banks of river Ravi in Punjab
• Guru Nanak ji introduced the institution of Langar (free communal kitchen) at Kartarpur, establishing the basic equality of all people regardless of their social and economic status. 
• In the year 1539, knowing that the end was drawing near, Guru Ji, after having tested his own two sons and some followers over the years, installed Bhai Lehna ji (Guru Angad Dev Ji) as the Second Nanak, and after a few days passed into Sachkhand.

Writings of Guru Nanak ji 

Guru Nanak Dev ji’s writings, in the form of 974 spiritual hymns comprising the Japji Sahib, Asa di Var, Bara Mah, Sidh Gosht and Dakhni Onkar were incorporated in the scripture Guru Granth Sahib by the fifth Guru Arjan Dev ji