Tempo:
— CHAP. II
TEACHING OF NANAK
37
Bacon, Des Cartes and Alghazali, examined the current i469-i539. philosophic systems of the world, without finding a sure basis of truth for the operations of the intellect; and, similarly, the heart of the pious Nanak sought hopelessly for a resting-place amid the conflicting creeds and practices of men. All was error, he said; he had read Korans and Purans, but God he had nowhere found.^ He returned to his native land, he threw aside the habit of an ascetic, he became again the father of his family, and he passed the remainder He becomes a of his long life in calling upon men to worship the teacher, One Invisible God, to live virtuously, and to be tolerant of the failings of others. The mild demeanour, the earnest piety, and persuasive eloquence of Nanak, are ever the themes of praise, and he died at the age Dies, aged of seventy, leaving behind him many zealous and seventy, '^•°- ^^^^• admiring disciples.-
Could he turn his feet where the house of God was not?' (Malcolm, Sketch of the Sikhs, ip. 159.) Nanak adopted, sometimes at least, the garb of a Muhammadan Dervish, and at Multan he visited an assembly of Musalman devotees, saying he was but as the stream of the Ganges entering the ocean of holiness. (Cf. Malcolm, Sketch, p. 21. and the Siar ul Mutakharin,
i.
311.)
1
There is current a verse imputed to Nanak, to the effect
that'
'Several scriptures and books had he read,
But one (God) he had not found: Several Korans and Purans had he read, But faith he could not put in any.'
.
The Adi-Gra7ith abounds with passages of a similar tenor, and Nanak says, in the supplemental portion, called the Ratan Mala, •Man may read Vedas and Korans, and reach to a temporarybut without God salvation is unattainable.' The accounts mostly agree as to the date of Nanak's death, and they place it in 1596 of Vikramajit, or 1539 of Christ. A Gurmukhi abstract states precisely that he was a teacher for seven years, five months, and seven days, and that he died on
bliss,
2
the 10th of the Hindu month Asauj. Forster (Travels, i. 295) represents that he travelled for fifteen years. Nanak died at Kartarpur. on the Ravi, about forty miles above Lahore, where there is a place of worship sacred to him. He left two sons, Sri Chand, an ascetic, whose name lives as the founder of the Hindu sect of Udasis, and Lachmi Das, who devoted himself to pleasure, and of whom nothing particular is known. The Nanakputras, or descendants of Nanak, called also Sahibzadas, or sons of the master, are everywhere reverenced among Sikhs, and if traders, some privileges are conceded to them by the chiefs of their country. Muhsin Fani observes (Dabistan. ii. 253) that the representatives of Nanak were known as Kartaris, meaning, perhaps, rather that they were held to be holy or devoted to the service of God, than that they were simply residents of
Kartarpur.
TEACHING OF NANAK
37
Bacon, Des Cartes and Alghazali, examined the current i469-i539. philosophic systems of the world, without finding a sure basis of truth for the operations of the intellect; and, similarly, the heart of the pious Nanak sought hopelessly for a resting-place amid the conflicting creeds and practices of men. All was error, he said; he had read Korans and Purans, but God he had nowhere found.^ He returned to his native land, he threw aside the habit of an ascetic, he became again the father of his family, and he passed the remainder He becomes a of his long life in calling upon men to worship the teacher, One Invisible God, to live virtuously, and to be tolerant of the failings of others. The mild demeanour, the earnest piety, and persuasive eloquence of Nanak, are ever the themes of praise, and he died at the age Dies, aged of seventy, leaving behind him many zealous and seventy, '^•°- ^^^^• admiring disciples.-
Could he turn his feet where the house of God was not?' (Malcolm, Sketch of the Sikhs, ip. 159.) Nanak adopted, sometimes at least, the garb of a Muhammadan Dervish, and at Multan he visited an assembly of Musalman devotees, saying he was but as the stream of the Ganges entering the ocean of holiness. (Cf. Malcolm, Sketch, p. 21. and the Siar ul Mutakharin,
i.
311.)
1
There is current a verse imputed to Nanak, to the effect
that'
'Several scriptures and books had he read,
But one (God) he had not found: Several Korans and Purans had he read, But faith he could not put in any.'
.
The Adi-Gra7ith abounds with passages of a similar tenor, and Nanak says, in the supplemental portion, called the Ratan Mala, •Man may read Vedas and Korans, and reach to a temporarybut without God salvation is unattainable.' The accounts mostly agree as to the date of Nanak's death, and they place it in 1596 of Vikramajit, or 1539 of Christ. A Gurmukhi abstract states precisely that he was a teacher for seven years, five months, and seven days, and that he died on
bliss,
2
the 10th of the Hindu month Asauj. Forster (Travels, i. 295) represents that he travelled for fifteen years. Nanak died at Kartarpur. on the Ravi, about forty miles above Lahore, where there is a place of worship sacred to him. He left two sons, Sri Chand, an ascetic, whose name lives as the founder of the Hindu sect of Udasis, and Lachmi Das, who devoted himself to pleasure, and of whom nothing particular is known. The Nanakputras, or descendants of Nanak, called also Sahibzadas, or sons of the master, are everywhere reverenced among Sikhs, and if traders, some privileges are conceded to them by the chiefs of their country. Muhsin Fani observes (Dabistan. ii. 253) that the representatives of Nanak were known as Kartaris, meaning, perhaps, rather that they were held to be holy or devoted to the service of God, than that they were simply residents of
Kartarpur.
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