Guru Nanak, Son Of Man

By Atom Bergstrom

Atom’s Blog

Guru Nanak (1469-1539) vigorously denied he was of Divine origin.

He also refused the title of Prophet.

He denied the existence of Avatars.

But, just as you can’t be born without a mother, Nanak maintained a Guru is necessary for God-realization.

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Guru Nanak denounced spiritual teachers who accepted money from their students …

“Do not fall at the feet of him, who calls himself a Guru or Pir and goes abegging.”

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When it comes to book knowledge, Nanak was three miles north of the cheering section …

“One may read cartloads of books. He may read camel-loads. He may read boatfulls. He may read books which will fill a cellar. One may read for days, even for months. One may read for his whole life, even for all his breaths. Nanak, only one thing will count. The rest is all an exercise in egoism.”

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Guru Nanak was not against Hatha Yoga.

He merely thought its disciplines were too severe and time-consuming for the average working stiff.

He preferred Sahaj Yoga … Just What It Should Be Yoga.

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According to Dewan Singh …

“Sahaj connotes a natural slowness and steadiness required for perfect action. Sahaj is the opposite of inordinate haste. Sahaj is compactness and self-sufficiency, while haste is flippancy and inner weakness. Sahaj would mean equipoise, equanimity and equilibrium. It may be called ‘balanced perspicacity’ or sambuddhata, in the psychological sense. All true balance and true action (which may be called Sahaj-karam, as distinct from the self-willed action) engender aesthetic as well as spiritual pleasure, while spiritual fulfillment produces infinite bliss.”

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Guru Nanak refused to have anything to do with Sanskrit.

He regarded it as too esoteric for the ordinary person.

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Nanak didn’t pass on the Guruship to his own son because his son became a sadhu and refused to earn his own living.

His son Sri Chand formed his own ascetic Sikh organization that still exists today.

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Guru Nanak didn’t believe in evolution.

He taught that God voiced ONE Word, and the Universe instantly appeared.

Is this idea any less ridiculous than the Big Bang Theory?

According to Terence McKenna …

“We are asked by science to believe that the entire universe sprang from nothingness, and at a single point and for no discernible reason. This notion is the limit case for credulity. In other words, if you can believe this, you can believe anything.”

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Guru Nanak didn’t condemn the meat diet, but he didn’t encourage it either.

The first five Sikh Gurus were pacifists, but, after Guru Arjan was slowly and barbarously tortured to death for refusing to pay a minor fine, his son and successor, Guru Hargobind, wore two swords and formed a Sikh army.

He became an expert hunter and regularly ate meat, and most of his followers converted to meat-eating.

Incidentally, Guru Hargobind cooked his father’s betrayer in a frying pan — slowly.

Maybe Hollywood will make a movie some day, and Keanu Reeves will play Hargobind along the lines of John Wick.

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Guru Nanak began the community mess or “langar” system.

All castes had to eat together in the langar.

This was a radical innovation in caste-conscious India.

Even the magnificent Muslim Emperor Akbardined in the Sikh langar.

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Guru Nanak denounced the widespread practice of Suttee (widow-burning), where a wife was incinerated on the funeral pyre of her departed husband.

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Bukkiji, the younger sister of Shibboji, would frequently suck the toe of Soamiji of Agra (1818-1878) and state she felt the sensation of being breast-fed.

When Baba Jaimal Singh (1839-1903) was introduced to Soamiji of Agra, he was uneasy because Soamiji was not a Sikh and smoked the hookah.

Sikhs are strongly against smoking, maybe because Muslims enjoy it so much. (Just kidding.)

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“I’m looking at you, you’re looking / somewhere else. / Damn the kind of mind / that’s in two places at once.” — Kabir
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