Guru Nanak, the Apostle of Humanity 1469--1539

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Guru Nanak, the Apostle of Humanity

1469--1539

A turmoil was enveloping the Indian scene in the fifteenth century A.D. The political domain was in the grip of a pandemonium; the Pathan and the Mughal rulers were at daggers drawn and the poor populace was constantly trampled over. The impersonators and imposters were plundering the realm of religion. The caste discrimination was tearing off the social set up and brotherhood. The womanhood was brutally subjugated. Health, wealth and honour, all had become defenseless. Such was the predicament at the advent of Guru Nanak, the first Supreme preceptor of the Sikh Religion. He was born in the house of a revenue official, Mehta Kalu, in the year 1469 at Talwandi, in District Sheikhupura (now in Pakistan).

Nearly first thirty years of his life Guru Nanak minutely studied and experienced himself with all the temporal aspects of the human life. On full moon day in the month of Kartrik in the year 1469, he emerged from his contemplative trance, and declared the real purpose of his manifestation into the mundane world. His first message to mankind echoed the Universal Brotherhood, "Na koi Hindu, na koi Musalman."

To reform a society and to re-instill in it the human values, a reformist needs courage to expose the exploiters. Guru Nanak was not only endowed with Godly vision but also with the fortitude to speak against the societal atrocities committed by the ruling elite, and the corrupt implementations conducted under the garb of religion. He narrated such inhuman offenses fearlessly:

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* 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 ...

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