* Modesty and righteousness both have vanished, and falsehood moves about as the leader, O, Lalo
The function of the Qazis and Brahmins is over and satan now reads marriage rites.
The Muslim women of high caste and others of low caste, may also be put in the same account, O,Lalo.
Nanak, the eulogies of murder are sung, and the saffron of blood is sprinkled, O.Lalo.
And, dauntlessly, he challenged the God, Almighty Himself, as well:
* So much beating was inflicted that people shrieked. Didst not Thou, O, God feel compassion? Thou, O Maker, art the equal Master of all.
If a powerful tiger falling on a herd, kills it, then its Master is to be questioned.
The religious guides had become the victims of egocentric operations. They themselves indulged in double standards and dualities, and also instigated and aroused people to hate each other and revel in superfluous enmities. This led Guru Nanak to shake the Brahmins and Qazis, Hindu and Muslim priesthood:
* Thou wearest a loin-cloth putest a frontal mark, carriest a rosary and eatest the Muslim provisions.
O brother, within, thou performest worship, outside thou readest Muslim books and adoptest Muhammadan-way of life.
Lay aside the hypocrisy................................
The man-eaters say the prayer.
They who wield the knife wear thread round their neck,
In their home Brahmin sound the conch.
They have too the same taste...........................
* Becoming a Qazi, he sits to administer justice.
He tells the rosary and mutters God's Name.
Taking bribe, he does injustice.
If someone asks him, then he quotes and reads out some aphorism.
False is their capital and false their trade.
The Caste discrimination was another derogatory facet of religious convention prevalent at the time. The touch of a low caste was considered as an act of pollution by the arrogant people from high ranks. Let alone talking, even the sight of a pariah was considered a bad omen. With the message of, "In the next world, caste and power count not...." Guru Nanak forcefully condemned such practices.
* What is in the power of caste?.........................
High caste pride is like poison by holding in hands and eating which, the man dies.
* That alone is man's caste and that his glory, as are the deeds, which he does.
* Preposterous is caste and vain the glory.
The Lord alone gives shade to all the being.
* No one should be proud of his caste...................
O Stupid fool, be thou not proud of thy caste.
From this pride, many sins well up.
In the contemporary life, going through the Matrimonial Columns one frequently comes across, "Wanted a Jat Sikh... a Ramgarhria Sikh... or a Khatri Sikh." How can they call them Sikhs? Such protagonists of caste aberration were strongly admonished by the Supreme Guru:
* .... ask not the mortals caste and birth, so find thou the True Home.
* The way of union with the Lord is the way of Divine knowledge. With the Brahmans the way is through the Vedas.
Khatri's way is the way of bravery and of the Sudra, the way is the service of others.
The duty of all is the duty of One Lord's meditation, provided one cares to know this secret.
And to get rid of the notion of Defilement (Bhitna) caused by touching a low-caste, he advised:
* They, cry touch not, O touch not. Otherwise, this food of ours will be polluted.
With the polluted body, they commit evil deeds.
With the impure mind, they gargle their throat.
Says Nanak, meditate thou on the true Name.
If thou art unpolluted, then alone shalt thou obtain the True One.
Guru Nanak's mission was not just to create another religion. He initiated practical way of life, the life of equality and justice for all. To set an example he patronized the people of low means, caste, and status. During his sojourns he always stayed with the people of such formulations.
* Nanak seeks the company of those who are low caste among the lowly, nay rather the lowest of the low.
Why should he (he has no desire to) rival the lofty.
Where the poor are looked after, there does rain the look of Thy grace, O' Lord.
The inequality in the economic field was also the target of Guru Nanak's philosophy and he censured the avaricious tendencies against the fellow human beings:
* The man attached to mammon is very blind and deaf. He bears not the Name, and makes a great uproar and tumult.
* If one haughtily strokes his beard on the poor; that the Lofty Lord burns in fire.
The Creator administers perfect justice.
No doubt, in the male-dominated society of the time, woman was confined to the domestic life:
* If thou wear the embroidered-red overall (working clothes), then alone thou shalt be known as the bride.
If thou preservest thy home and tastest not the sin, then thou shalt be the beloved of thy spouse,
But Guru Nanak, amidst all the political and social upheaval, could not endure the suffering meted out to woman. His conception of womanhood was very honourable and sophisticated. He denounced the male domineering and chauvinistic attitude, and reminded people of their whole existence through the divinity of womanhood:
* Within a woman, the man is conceived and from a woman he is born. With a woman he is betrothed and married.
With a woman, man contracts friendship and with a woman the system of propagation keeps on going.
When one's wife dies, another lady is sought for. It is through a woman that man restrains his passion.
Why call her bad, from whom are born Kings?
From a woman, a woman is born.
Without a woman, there can be none.
Guru Nanak was the voice of the oppressed and meek, and by hearing his Word (Bani) people were endowed with solace and expectation. The Bani equally discharged the strong warning shots to the mammons, tyrants and persecutors. Wherever the celestial mission of Guru Nanak prevailed the people proclaimed without any discrimination:
"With the manifestation of Guru Nanak,
The Earthly wilderness and Temporal mist were lifted,
And the celestial rays enlightened through the mankind."
(Bhai Gurdas.)
*Gurbani Quotations from the author's book,
"Thus Sayeth Gurbani."