Guru Nanak.

A lot of things can be said about Guru Nanak, He was a nice guy who was born in a merchant family, He got married and had two sons. He travelled around the world with His Muslim friend named Mardana, He was kind, generous and taught people to love each other and all nice things.

However the purpose of this story is to show another side of history & how the Sadguru’s have been shaping Humanity and our evolution in their unique styles.

Guru Nanak was one of the greatest religious innovators of all time who lived during a very interesting period of history when Babur invaded India and the life of the ten Sikh Gurus runs parallel to the Mughal Empire.

We have seen how the Sufi saints of Chisti order played an important part in the assimilation of Hindus and Muslims.The assimilation stated with Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer during the time of Mahmud Ghori’s invasion and rule of Prithvi Raj Chauhan, it then spread to Delhi ,through Qutab-ud-din Bhakhtiar Kaki during the establishment of the Slave Dynasty of Qutabuddin Aibak & Iltutmish, thereafter it spread to Punjab through Baba Farid and then again Hazrat Nizzamuddin Auliya in Delhi and His famous disciples Amir Khusro and Nassiruddin Chirag –I –delhi. They shaped the social, political and cultural life mainly through their writings , poetry , songs and music. The Delhi Sultanate in the process of trying to destroy the Sufi Saints destroyed themselves and paved the way for the Mughal Empire.

Guru Nanak brought about a revolution through a unique spiritual thrust by which he reorganized the social and political platform based on love, equality and goodness by breaking down all barriers of sex, caste, creed, religion. Needless to say that His work was further consolidated by the nine Sikh Gurus after Him and thereafter the Guru Granth Sahib remained the eternal Guru. The Sikh Guru’s had frequent conflicts with the Mughal Emperors as they considered it a spiritual duty to resist evil and injustice. They organized society as political and societal oppression could not be resisted by individuals.

The unique points which were spread by Guru Nanak and helped shape Humanity are

·         He brought out the importance of local language by encouraging Punjabi & Gurmukhi, he was always for the masses and therefore never encouraged Sanskrit language for the select few to understand God and have any monopoly.

·         He emphasized the role of hard work, discouraged begging and believed in the Householder way of achieving God and never encouraged any of the Guru to be an ascetic. He believed that increased Spiritual awareness leads to increased and vibrant participation in everyday world.

·         “From a woman, a man is born” – Guru Nanak gave highest value and importance to women.

·         He believed in a community concept of Dharamshala which later evolved into Gurudwara where Satsang or meeting of people for community development could take place.

·         He believed in langar or community kitchen for feeding the poor and also breaking all barriers of caste and creed by eating food together as human beings.

·         He believed in Naam Jaap or repeating the name of God to have direct access to God without the help of any rituals or priests.·        

     Sikhism is also highly influenced by the secularism of the Bhakti Saints and Sufi Saints like Kabir and Baba Farid as their hymns and couplets have also been included in the Guru Granth Sahib along with music and langar concept to bring about integration in society.

Therefore we see that a lot of nonsense was wiped out and logical and simple rules for spiritual and material evolution and growth was made.

However I cannot resist the urge to point out that Guru Nanak’s body was not found when He died as only flowers were found, similar to Kabir. The true Guru often fills up his body with pure energy which probably disintegrates into the ether, once the mission is completed.

Let us always remember the simple teachings of helping each other, leading a simple life and serving all as a means of serving God.

The Famous Sufi Saints of India.

There are four Sufi Saints who made huge difference in the social and cultural life and helped evolve Humanity.

1.     Moinuddin Chisti of Ajmer – came during rule of Prithviraj Chauhan .

2.    Qutabuddin Bakhtiar Kaki – Qutab Minar dedicated to Him and was close to Iltutmish of Slave Dynasty.

3.    Fariduddin Ganjshakar – development of Punjabi literature –more than 124 hymns composed by Him is included in Guru Granth Sahib by 5^th Sikh Guru Arjun.

4.     Nizamuddin Auliya -  He was spiritual master of Amir Khusrau & Nasiruddin Chirag –e – Delhi.

The common thing among these four famous Sufi Saints was that they formed the spiritual chain or “silsila” of the Chisti order in India, each successive person being disciple of the previous.

This was similar to the ten Sikh Gurus or the spiritual chain of Kriya Yogi’s of Mahaavatar Babaji or Ancient mystics known as Essenes –famous for “The Dead Sea Scrolls”.

The Sufi Saints stressed on love as a means for realizing God, love of God implied a love of humanity. They had a highly evolved sense of secularity and kindness. They brought about a paradigm shift towards worldly matters and people began to be inclined towards mysticism and prayers and remaining aloof from the world.

The Sufi Saints always promoted the local language and culture and believed in assimilation, mutual tolerance , quality of accommodation and to bring about cohesion of diverse people they promoted Qawwali music by which  listeners became so mesmerized that they started dancing a traditional religious dance called” Dhamaal”.

Sufi music serves as a basis of contact with people & facilitates mutual adjustment between communities. The Sufi poets Rumi, Hafiz, Bulleh Shah, Amir Khusrow and Khwaja Gulam are so popular that they continue to inspire Bollywood film music and are known as epitome of romantic songs.

The Sufi model of “Khanqah” was more like an ancient “Caravan Serai” as they were removed from the main city, had a “Baoli” or Stepwells – similar to a pond, the “Khanqah” was more like a spiritual retreat where people from all over the world came to meet the Spiritual Master, it usually has a mosque for prayers attached along with a “Madrasa” or School where children were imparted education . Feeding or “Langar” was very popular as the poor and hungry were always served with love and care.

Therefore by default the “Khanqah” became the focal point of social and community development – very much like our modern day Malls  - only difference being that Malls are more materialistic.

We can explore the life of the saints and the subtle methods used by them for social engineering and evolution and with appropriate adaptation they can be used to develop our complex society.

Shiridi Sai Baba.

Sai Baba used to smoke beedi and eat mutton biryani. This is our thought process and Baba used to costantly monitor the thought process of his devotees by asking them what they were talking about in a very fatherly manner. 

Shiridi Sai Baba needs no introduction, however for the benefit of my readers I will add a few words about Sai Baba and why I think He is relevant in today’s context.

Sai Baba was first discovered as a young boy in Shiridi sitting under a tree in Samadhi and all the animals were circumambulating or going around Him as if drawn by a strange magnetic power. It was as if he was the post to which all the animals were tied by an invisible thread or rope.

The villagers respected Him, but He was indifferent to both honor & dishonor as children used to throw stones at this mad Fakir. Thereafter He disappeared and returned after a few years with a Muslim Family in their marriage party and stayed in Shiridi for sixty years.

Since the internet and many books and videos are there, I shall not write or repeat the same here about Sai Baba , but shall only write about why He is relevant today and can solve all our problems faced by Humanity all over the world.

Sai Baba was a Yogi who could perform many of the Yogic feats as described in the Yoga Sutra, He encouraged people to follow their own religion and scriptures . There was constant reading of religious scriptures in Masjidmayee where he chose to dwell – a dilapidated ,crumbling old mosque which he referred to as Dwarkamayee.

Sai Baba always uttered “Allah Mallik Hai” , “Ram Bhala Karega” and behaved as a Sufi Fakir and had full knowledge about the Muslim religion and therefore had both Muslim and Hindu Devotees.

He fashioned His abode as a Khanqah or Dargah of the Sufi Saints where constant Bhajan , Kirtan ,Aarti and singing in praise of God used to take place. If we observe – this had traces of the Bhakti Movement, similar to singing of Gurbani in the Gurudwara, singing of Qawwali in the Dargah of the Sufi Saints. The whole singing and music process is recognized today as the best healing and rejuvenating for mind and body as it elevates the mood.

Sai Baba had a constant fire burning much like the Yogis and followers of Zoroastrians and from that fire’s ashes he used to freely distribute Udi or ashes as Prasad which was also known as a cure for all ills and diseases.

Sai Baba also used to Himself cook for hundreds of people and operate a community kitchen where both vegetarian and non vegetarian food was cooked, it was similar to the langar of Gurudwara and free kitchens operated by Sufi Saints.

The whole purpose was to bring about social cohesion, mutual tolerance, serving the poor and hungry.

Shiridi soon became a Spiritual retreat where people from far and near came for His darshan or meeting Him to solve their problems and all were blessed and wishes fulfilled by the Grace of God.  

Shiridi soon became a social, cultural centre for rapid evolution of society and individuals benefitted from His holy company.

Today a lot of Sai Baba temples have come up all over the world and they all have the following :

1.  An idol of Sai Baba – like any Hindu Temple where the Deity is worshipped as father, mother , preceptor , Guru  and to focus their attention and communicate to a form who can help in communicating with the formless God.   
2. Place for reading Sai Satcharita- The life and teachings of Sai Baba – similar to Temples, Mosques & Gurudwara where religious scriptures as per one’s own faith and believe can be read in a silent and tranquil environment.
3.   A constantly burning fire – Similar to the Yogis and symbol of light, place for collecting Udi or sacred ash.
4. Arti and Bhajan – Similar to Temple, Mosque or Gurudwara where prayers are done four times a day. A place for Satsang or getting together of like minded people.
5.  Langar or Community Kitchen – Similar to Sufi Khanqah , Gurudwara where food is regularly distributed to the poor and hungry people.
6. Social Work – small dispensary for distributing medicines, treatment of sick , education for children with help of internet and digital products.

Therefore if the communities or societies take up building of similar Sai Baba temples , it would bring about more peace and harmony in a society which is constantly in competition of us versus them syndrome and build a common platform for social cohesion and bonding during times of natural disaster like flood , earthquakes and help evolution.

Possibilities are endless – Om Sai Ram.