Today, Sikhs around the world are celebrating the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhi.

Here's a bit of background on who he is and why we continue to honor him today.
Born in the humble village of Talwandi, Punjab, in 1469, young Nanak found himself dissatisfied with the inequities, hypocrisies and general unhappiness he observed all around him.
He ultimately decided to establish a new religious tradition, Sikhi (in English, Sikhism), a tradition that continues to flourish more than five centuries later.

Today Guru Nanak’s followers comprise the fifth-largest world religion, numbering nearly 30 million around the globe.
His teachings have inspired a diversity of expressions over the years, from art and literature to humanitarian efforts. In a way, the most easily noticeable aspect of his legacy is how Guru Nanak continues to inspire so many and how his teachings continue to resonate today.
Guru Nanak’s first teaching, and the first teaching to appear in Sikh scripture (Guru Granth Sahib), is the term ik oankar. This term refers to the oneness of divinity, a singular connective force that permeates every aspect of this world.
In a prayer that Sikhs have sung every evening for centuries, Guru Nanak wrote, “The same divine light pervades everyone and everything.”

Ik oankar is so central to Sikh teachings that many have said all of Sikh wisdom is constructed upon its foundation
We see this in the life of Guru Nanak, who rejected all social disparities and hierarchies (e.g., gender, caste, religion) and advocated for equal rights for all.

Seeking equality was a natural outcome of his worldview–any form of supremacy is a blot on our collective divinity.
Guru Nanak taught that it’s not enough to intellectualize our ideas. We must live by the values we identify.

When we practice feeling a sense of oneness with the world around us, we can cultivate a feeling of connection. This feeling of connection is best described as love.
In the Sikh worldview, this is the ultimate goal of our lives — to find and experience this deep connection of love. It’s an all-consuming kind of love, one that brings joy and optimism into our everyday lives and one that becomes embedded in the cores of our beings.
This is what Guru Nanak meant when he wrote, “If you want to play the game of love, then approach me with your head in your hands.” This is not a soft, mushy love. It’s a powerful, resounding love, that is both sustained and sustaining.
The idea of service in the Sikh tradition ties directly to the ideas of oneness and love. When we truly see our shared divinity and feel love for the people around us, we will automatically be moved to serve them.
One of the most commonly circulated accounts from Guru Nanak’s life demonstrates his commitment to service and justice. When he was a boy, Guru Nanak’s father gave him money to go to town and find a good deal. Guru Nanak gave all his money to a group of impoverished devotees.
In explaining the decision to his father, he pointed out that his father asked him to find a good deal and asked, “What could have been a better deal than this?”
There are many examples from the life of Guru Nanak that exemplify his commitment to seva. He spoke out against the Emperor Babur, who massacred civilians as he sought to solidify power in South Asia. Some early sources record that Babur imprisoned Guru Nanak for his resistance.
Guru Nanak established langar, a free meal served to anyone and everyone with only one real condition – all must sit together on the floor as a mark of equality. He established community centers (dharamsalas) and he even established a city, Kartarpur, that thrives to this day.
What Sikhs take from the life of Guru Nanak is a model for how to live by one’s values and ideals. He is seen as a paragon in this regard, someone who actually practiced what he preached.
It is memories and teachings like these that Sikhs will be reflecting on over the next month. The rest of us might do well to take this opportunity to reflect on these ideas as well.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Simran Jeet Singh

Simran Jeet Singh Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @SikhProf

23 Jun
Racists trashed a Sikh-owned Indian restaurant in Santa Fe, NM, scrawling hate speech like "F*CK ISIS" and "I HATE SAND N*****S"

It just breaks your heart. Immigrants come with dreams in their hearts. They work so hard. And this is how they're treated. It's just not right.
Among the items stolen or damaged include supplies that they would use to create weekly care packages for downtown’s unhoused population, including food, hygiene products, and cash out of their own pockets.
sfreporter.com/news/2020/06/2…
Unsurprisingly, the racists invoked the racist-in-chief in their vandalism of the restaurant.

Tr*mp is destroying this country. We must do everything we can to vote his ass out of office.
Read 7 tweets
6 Jun
Look at Berlin SHOWING UP for racial justice.

The movement is truly global. #BlackLivesMatter
Sydney, Australia showing up for racial justice. #BlackLivesMatter

London SHOWED UP for racial justice #BlackLivesMatter
Read 4 tweets
5 Jun
Officers in Buffalo, NY shove older man to ground.

His head hit the ground, he lays there bleeding.

Cops just stand around looking at one another.
Why do cops attack racial justice protestors?

religionnews.com/2020/06/04/we-…
Spokesperson for Buffalo PD says the man tripped and fell.

The video clearly shows Officer Aaron Torgalski shoving him to the ground.

Now do you get what we've been saying about the police being too violent?
Read 5 tweets
25 Mar
11 Sikhs killed, 11 more injured in attack on gurdwara in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Harrowing images from the scene. Absolutely heart-breaking.
Eyewitness estimates about 150 Sikhs trapped in gurdwara during attack.

"The gunmen started their attack at a time when the Dharamsala was full of worshippers." - Narindra Singh Khalsa
aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/g…
Incredibly sad. Sikhs have made Afghanistan their home for centuries. But they have been pushed out in recent years due to religious intolerance. Is there anywhere Sikhs can live in peace?
reuters.com/article/us-afg…
Read 8 tweets
24 Mar
Sikh Community Cooks Free Meals For Over 30,000 In Isolation In New York ❤️✌️🏾
indiatimes.com/trending/human…
Sikh group in Canada opens food bank to tackle coronavirus-triggered shortage
tribuneindia.com/news/sikh-grou…
Australian Sikh volunteers cook and deliver groceries for isolated neighbors
9news.com.au/national/coron…
Read 14 tweets
6 Jan
As tensions between the US and Iran escalate, so do the vulnerabilities of many marginalized communities.

A short thread on how this hate will impact the estimated 1 million Sikhs who live in North America — and how their experiences represent a microcosm of our collective pain.
Sikhism is the world's 5th largest religion, yet most Americans don't know about it.

While they are invisibilized, Sikhs carry a unique, visible identity including long uncut hair, turbans, and beards.

This combination of being unseen and hyper-visibility has proven lethal.
Upon first arriving in this country, Sikhs were targeted in violent race riots in Bellingham, Washington. At the time, Americans misidentified Sikhs as Hindus. This was over a century ago. Racist attacks have continued in the years and decades since.
Read 12 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!