In Hardwar, on the banks of the Ganges, he saw crowds of people throwing water toward the rising sun in the east to offer it to their ancestors in heaven. Guru Nanak stood in the water and began vigorously throwing water toward the west.
"How can water thrown here reach your fields hundreds of miles away?" the priests asked, thinking him a fool.
On the third day, to the utter astonishment of the villagers, Nanak stepped out of the river at the very spot he had entered. A luminous, radiant glow emanated from his face, so bright that people had to shield their eyes. He was no longer just Nanak; he had become Guru Nanak, the Enlightened Master.
At Kartarpur, the institution of Langar, the free community kitchen, was established. Rich and poor, king and beggar, Brahmin and untouchable, all sat together in a straight line on the floor to eat the same simple food. This practice dealt a death blow to the rigid caste system, proving that in the eyes of the Creator, all human beings are equal.
His father, Mehta Kalu, was a practical man, a revenue collector who wanted his son to succeed in the material world. He grew increasingly frustrated with Nanak’s detachment from worldly affairs. Hoping to instill some business sense in the boy, Mehta Kalu once gave him twenty rupees—a small fortune in those days—and told him to go to the city to buy goods that could be sold for a good profit. He called it the Sacha Sauda, the good bargain.
From his earliest years, Nanak was unlike the other children in the village. While they played in the dusty streets or spoke of the cattle and the harvest, Nanak would often sit in silent contemplation beneath the shade of a massive banyan tree. His eyes, deep and filled with a peace that surpassed human understanding, seemed to look far beyond the physical world. He saw a universe not divided by caste, creed, or religion, but bound together by a single, divine thread of love.
In response, Guru Nanak asked for a piece of bread from Lalo’s house and a piece of fried bread from Malik Bhago’s kitchen. Holding Lalo’s coarse bread in his right hand and Malik Bhago’s rich bread in his left, the Guru squeezed them both.
In Hardwar, on the banks of the Ganges, he saw crowds of people throwing water toward the rising sun in the east to offer it to their ancestors in heaven. Guru Nanak stood in the water and began vigorously throwing water toward the west.
"How can water thrown here reach your fields hundreds of miles away?" the priests asked, thinking him a fool.
On the third day, to the utter astonishment of the villagers, Nanak stepped out of the river at the very spot he had entered. A luminous, radiant glow emanated from his face, so bright that people had to shield their eyes. He was no longer just Nanak; he had become Guru Nanak, the Enlightened Master.
At Kartarpur, the institution of Langar, the free community kitchen, was established. Rich and poor, king and beggar, Brahmin and untouchable, all sat together in a straight line on the floor to eat the same simple food. This practice dealt a death blow to the rigid caste system, proving that in the eyes of the Creator, all human beings are equal.
His father, Mehta Kalu, was a practical man, a revenue collector who wanted his son to succeed in the material world. He grew increasingly frustrated with Nanak’s detachment from worldly affairs. Hoping to instill some business sense in the boy, Mehta Kalu once gave him twenty rupees—a small fortune in those days—and told him to go to the city to buy goods that could be sold for a good profit. He called it the Sacha Sauda, the good bargain.
From his earliest years, Nanak was unlike the other children in the village. While they played in the dusty streets or spoke of the cattle and the harvest, Nanak would often sit in silent contemplation beneath the shade of a massive banyan tree. His eyes, deep and filled with a peace that surpassed human understanding, seemed to look far beyond the physical world. He saw a universe not divided by caste, creed, or religion, but bound together by a single, divine thread of love.
In response, Guru Nanak asked for a piece of bread from Lalo’s house and a piece of fried bread from Malik Bhago’s kitchen. Holding Lalo’s coarse bread in his right hand and Malik Bhago’s rich bread in his left, the Guru squeezed them both.
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