1 GURU NANAK. 24.
2 times held by one Rai Bular, of the Bhatti tribe. The house in which Nanak °
3 was born, is now a place of public worship, and is called Nankdnd. Close
4 to it is a tank where Nénak used to play in his boyhood, known as Lalkera. |
5 ~ Nénak’s father was a weighman, or dharwaf, who also acted as patwari
6 of the village. Though not wealthy, he was a respectable man, and was ~
7 treated by the village people as their head. His father’s name was Sewa
8 Rém, and his mother’s Binasi. >
9 Nanak founded the religious system of the Sikhs. He was a man ofa
10 philosophic turn of mind, adapted to the age in which he lived, and was des-
11 tined to introduce, with singular success, those measures of reform, toleration,
12 and enlightenment which were the principal wants of his time. In his boy-
13 hood, he was of reserved habits, and seldom or never spoke to his associates,
14 except on the occasion of some pressing necessity. He ate but little, and
15 always seemed gloomy and thoughtful; he was endowed by nature with
16 a pious disposition and a contemplative turn of mind. Kdlu, who believed
17 that the boy’s birth was the result of the prayers of a certain faqir, who
18 had prophesied that his son would become a great man in the world, took
19 him to a physician and asked him to prescribe medicine for him, The youth,
20 however, said to the physician: “Certainly, nothing can cure one who suffers
21 from separation from the great Being who has given him life, vigour and
22 the power of speech, and who alone governs the universe.” The physician
23 was deeply affected by the speech and address of the little boy, and he
24 commended them, giving his affectionate father to understand that the
25 best, remedy for the boy was to leave him to himself, to be the free agent of
26 his own will.
27 While yet a boy of seven, Nanak was taken to the village school, and,
28 when the schoolmaster began to teach him the rudiments of his religion, the
29 youthful scholar politely asked him what proofs could be given of the exist-
30 ence of God. The master was informed that his pupil was the gift of a faqir,
31 and it is said that, renouncing the world, he became a faqir himself.
32 When his teacher laid before Ndénak the alphabet to read, the scholar
33 asked the teacher the hidden import of the first letter of the alphabet,
34 which is a straight stroke denoting singleness, and regarded even by the vulgar
35 as implying the unity of God. A firm and irrevocable belief in the unity
36 of the Creator seems, thus, to have been deeply implanted in the nature of
37 the pious Ndénak while he was yet a mere boy.
38 According to the author of Serwl Mutaukhirin, Ndnak received his edu-
39 cation from a Musalman Moulvie named Syad Hassan, who resided close
40 to his father’s house in Talwandi, and was thoroughly versed in the Maho-
41 medan law books.
42 The greater portion of his time was spent in seclusion and religious
43 contemplation. During the early part of his career, he used frequently to
44 conceal himself in the woods for days together, away from the busy
45 throng, and studiously avoided contact with his fellow-beings. His parents
46 were on several occasions led to believe that he had been lost in the wilder-
47 ness, or that he had been devoured by ferocious beasts; but, on search being
48 made, he was discovered in the garb of a faqir, indifferent alike to the
49 concerns of his own person and to the cares of the outside world.
50 When Ndnak reached his ninth year, his father, following the custom
51 of the Hindus, convened an assembly of all his relations and friends to
52 invest him with the Brahminical thread. Nénak was purified in the usual
53 way; and, all the preliminary ceremonies having been gone through, the
54 fied ca him to wear the thread, preparatory to his being
55 , >
56 This father's parent-
57 £e.
58 Nanak's boyhood.
59 Nanak and the
60 physician.
61 Nanak in school,
62 His sublime notion
63 of the deity,
64 His education.
65 He spends his time
66 in seclusion and
67 meditation,
68 Refuses to wear tho
69 Brahm nical thread.
70 b N ’ .
71 sriSatgurujagit SNGR Fee RR ER Ae ae SV SHAE ERB Erp oHt&i.com