Happy Guru Nanak Jayanti
Today marks the 551st birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru, and the founder of Sikhism. Having spent his entire life spreading the message of peace and love, Guru Nanak taught us that selfless service was the prime way of life and is our supreme duty.
Here is a short story about Guru Nanak for you to reflect upon– Jai Ram, Guru Nanak’s brother-in-law was serving as dewan (steward) to the governor, Nawab Daulat Khan Lodhi of Sultanpur. It is said that both Jai Ram and Rai Bular believed Guru Nanak was a saint ill-treated by his father; and thus, Jai Ram promised to find a job for him in Sultanpur.
Guru Nanak’s sister, Nanaki, had great love for her younger brother. On their annual visit to Talwandi, when she noticed her father’s impatience at her brother’s indifference towards worldly activities, she decided to take him to Sultanpur. Her father gave his consent hoping he would choose a good profession. In the city of Sultanpur everyone really liked Nanak, he was always speaking Truth. A lot of the time he would suddenly just start singing. Everyone was really inspired by him because the Truth that he sang uplifted everyone.
Jai Ram got the Guru Nanak, the post of a storekeeper of Nawab’s state granary where the grain was collected as a part of land revenue and later sold. The Guru carried out the duties of the storekeeper very efficiently. One day, a customer noticed something funny. As Nanak weighed out the wheat, he would count 1-2-3-4-5… When he came to 13, he just repeated it over and over. In Nanak’s language the number ‘13’ is ‘teraa’. But ‘Teraa’ also means ‘Yours’. So, when he would count up to ‘teraa’ he would start to think about how he and everything belonged to God. “Everything is Yours, everything is Yours, everything is Yours… Yours, Yours, teraa, teraa, teraa,” he would say over and over. Closing his eyes, and with a smile on his lips, he would scoop out way more wheat than the people had paid for. Someone told Nanak’s boss that he was giving away wheat for free.
Nanak’s boss came over to see for himself. When he got there everything seemed normal. The wheat was all there. So, he sat down and counted all the money Nanak had collected. He looked at the record book and weighed all the wheat. Then he looked at the numbers to see exactly how much wheat there should be. His boss was very surprised with what he found out! There was way more wheat there then he expected! Everyone was shocked, a miracle must have happened. They had seen him giving much more wheat than people paid for, and now there was more than there should be!
God protected Nanak. Every time Nanak was about to get in trouble, he was protected. This is because he was completely honest, and he was thinking completely about God all the time.” May this holy occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti enlighten your heart and mind with knowledge and awareness. Let us keep his teachings close to our heart and help each other to attain peace and harmony. Happy Guru Nanak Jayanti!
