Imbibing Nanak’s preachings for environment and brotherhood

The city is reverberating with the solemn celebrations of 550th year of Baba Nanak’s Birth Anniversary like several other places in the country and all over the world, as corridors of Kartarpur Sahib at International Indo-Pak borders have also been opened for visiting Nanak’s Birth place. People are going for pilgrimage even as the religious institutions, the governmental and NGOs, all are extending a helping hand to facilitate their visit to historic places connected with the reverred saint.But it’s sad that we seem to be ignoring his preachings, which are so relevant in today’s scenario. At a time when serious concerns are being raised over growing disharmony and also the rising level of pollution, we all need to revisit his preachings and follow them. In this hustle bustle of pilgrimage, we should not miss the gist of Guru’s preachings.
Guru Nanak Devji was a crusader of environment. In his epilogue on, Jappji, he says “Pavan guru paani pitaa, maataa dharat mahat.” “Air is the Guru; Water- the Father; and Earth- the Great Mother.” But defining the creation by our Guru Nanak in such a sublime way seems to have been ignored by most of us, who have joined the mad race to be rich and successful and have lost track. We have started disrespecting the key constituents of life –Water, Air and Earth so thoughtlessly that the pollution crisis all over the world has become life threatening. The vicious severity of the pollution crisis in this part of our country is unfortunate one and sadly even hovered over the solemn occasion of Nanak’s 550th Anniversary Celebrations. We all are responsible for this mess and should do our bit to respect nature and follow Guru Nanak’s advice for our own emancipation. Let us care for the creation of the creator for our own benefit as advised by Baba Nanak by respecting our natural resources of Air,Water and Earth which if kept pure are life sustaining.
Over the issue of universal harmony and brotherhood, it is believed that Bhai Mardana (A Muslim by Birth) and Bhai Bala accompanied Baba Nanak for 50 long years in his Udassis – Voyages, through mountains, planes and the river tracks. ’Dhur Ki Baani’-the Lord’s own word as and when struck to Guru Nanak Devji, he is believed to have asked Mardana to give a tune for the divine song. Unfortunately, this great Muslim compatriot of Guru Nanak has been conveniently forgotten by us. Perhaps our mindsets have been shaped and influenced by the sad misdeeds of some of the colonial invaders and rulers. This is the right time to once again revive the spirit of brotherhood shown by Guru Nanak Devji.
In fact, one is so keenly bewitched towards the concept of Ik Onkar, ‘The Unity Of the Creator’ given by Guru Nanak to the bewildered humanity. Guru Nanak literally puts numerical ONE- ‘IK’ before ‘Onkar’-believed to be the primordial word and sound since ages in Indian Philosophy and elsewhere though given different nomenclature in other world religions.
Lastly, the Kartarpur corridor opening with the grace of Guru Nanak Devji should not be marred in controversies and rather we must strive for accepting humanity’s unity in true spirit of Guru Nanak’s basic mantra, ‘Ik Onkar’.
Brij Bhushan Goyal is a city based Senior Citizen and a social worker.