According to popular accounts, when he and Mardana (the Muslim rabab player, his friend from his birthplace, Talwandi, who became his constant companion) went for the customary dip in the river nearby, absorbed in thoughts of God, Nanak mysteriously disappeared. It was during his stay in Sultanpur that Nanak attained Enlightenment, at the age of thirty-six. His universal message is as fresh and true even today as it was in the past and Sikhs all over the world practice what Guru Nanak preached, to reaffirm their beliefs in the teachings of their founder. A prophet of peace, love, truth and renaissance, he was centuries ahead of his times. He was a prolific poet and a unique singer of God's laudation. He said, "There is no Hindu, there is no Musalman".īorn in the month of 'Kartik' (October/November), his birthday is known as Guru Nanak Jayanti. The Muslim teacher Kabir (died in 1398) made a deep impression on Guru Nanak. Wandering for many years he came under the influence of both Hindus and Muslims (especially Sufi). He got married but then he abandoned his family and became an ascetic.
The son of a Kshatriya (warrior) family, Guru Nanak studied Hinduism and Islam. So divine were they, far beyond the confines of orthodox thought and the temper of the times, that they became the basis of a fervent spirituality rather than a religion, a spirituality with an universalistic outlook. His inspired utterances are known as the 'bani'- from the Sanskrit word 'vani' meaning both sound and speech. He learned Persian and Arabic, the languages of the elite, but he gave them up in favour of the language of the masses to whom he spoke directly, as did the Sufi mystics- Kabir and Farid- before him. The Hindu-Muslim conflict in the society and the rulers of his time underpins much of Guru Nanak's thought. His life spanned a period mid-way in ten centuries of foreigen rule in India. Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, lived at a momentous time in the history of India.
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