Short notes on the Reforms brought by Guru Nanak

Short notes on the Reforms brought by Guru Nanak

There are two views regarding the work of Guru Nanak. According to one school of thought Nanak was a reformer of Hinduism. This view is held by writers like Dr. GLC. Narang and Payne. According to the other view, Nanak was a revolutionary and the advocates of this view are Teja Singh, Kahn Singh and Macauliffe.

According to the first view, Guru Nanak belongs to the Bhakti school of thought in India. His teachings are practically the same as those of the other Bhakti Reformers such as Kabir. Nanak did not attack the fundamentals of Hinduism but merely those bad practices which had crept into the Hindu Society in the course of centuries. He did not show any disrespect to Hindu Avtars and Divinities. He merely challenged the high position given to the Hindu Gods. He put more emphasis on God than his incarnations. He attacked the Vedas and the Puranas but did not question the wisdom and philosophy found in them.

He wanted the people to incorporate into their lives of teachings of the scriptures rather than merely make show of them. To quote Indubhushan. Banerjee, “One must realise the difference between an attack of scripturalism and one on the scriptures themselves.” Most of the teachings of Nanak were identical with those of the Bhakti Reformers. The teachings of Hindu reformers like Namdev and Kabir were incorporated into the Adi Granth itself.

According to Payne, The aim of the Guru Nanak “was not to sweep away Hinduism but to restore it to its ancient purity. Like Luther he came to protest against the idolatry, the blind superstitions and the empty rituals, which had so long estranged religion from morality and the hearts of men from their Creator.”

According to the other view, Guru Nanak was a Revolutionary who “aimed upsetting the cherished institutions of the society in which he was born, bringing about social cataclysm. He condemned the caste system which was the very basis of Hindu society. He also suggested positive steps to ignore the caste system altogether.

He started the institution of Langar to common kitchen in which all persons, irrespective of the castes, were to sit together and eat together. Guru Nanak condemned asceticism which was the basic feature of the Hindu Religion. He did not attach any importance to penance and fasting. He repudiated the Hindu Mythology and questioned the utility of idol worship and the custom of going on pilgrimages.

It is not possible to accept completely either of the two Views. It must be conceded that Guru Nanak did not deliberately set up a new religion. However, his preaching’s and the work of his successors ultimately led to the rise of a new religion in the form of Sikhism.

Nanak’s Place in History

It goes without saying that Guru Nanak occupied a place of pride not only in the History of the Punjab or India but also of the whole world. Guru Nanak was one of the prophets of the world. He gave to the world the gospel of love, goodwill and reconciliation. He profoundly influenced the History of the Punjab. According to Dr. Gokal Chand Narang, “Nanak left the Hindus of the Punjab immensely better than he had found them.

Their belief had been ennobled, their worship purified, the rigidity of caste considerably relaxed, their minds greatly emancipated; and they have now become fit to enter on the career of natural progress to which Nanak’s successors were destined to lead them.” Again, “It leavened the whole Hindu thought in the Punjab and improved the moral and spiritual one of the whole people.”

According to John Clark Archer, “He was a historic person. He is also a theological construction. He is what India and the world in general thinks he is, also what Sikhs think of him. He is a historical theological figure to them, a real person and also a creature of religious fancy.”

Guru Nanak has been compared to Luther. So far as spiritualism was concerned, Guru Nanak was far ahead of Luther, but it cannot be denied that the influence of Luther was much greater than that of Guru Nanak. While the teachings of Luther spread all over Europe those of Nanak influenced mainly the Punjab. According to Sewa Ram Singh, “The legend of Guru Nanak’s life will always bring into activity the tender feelings of human soul, and all men will proclaim that among sons of men, none was born greater than Nanak.”

Cunningham sums up Nanak’s achievements in these words: “Thus Nanak extricated his followers from the accumulated errors of ages and enjoined upon them devotion of thought and excellence of conduct as the first of duties. He left them erect and free, unbiased in mind and unfettered by rules, to become an increasing body of truthful worshippers.

His reform was in its immediate effect religious and moral only: believers were regarded as ‘Sikha’ of disciples, not as subjects; and it is neither probable, nor is it necessary to suppose, that he possessed any clear and sagacious views of social amelioration of political advancement.

He left the progress of his people to the operation of time: for his congregation was too limited, and the state of society too artificial to render it either requisite or possible for him to become a municipal law-giver, to subvert the legislation of Manu, or to change the immemorial usages of tribes or races. His care was rather to prevent his followers contracting into a sect, and his comprehensive principles narrowing into monastic distinctions.”

According to Dr. Tara Chand. “The religious movement started by Guru Nanak continued to gather momentum under his successors. Its stern ethical tone and its definite puritanism were elements which distinguished it from similar movements in India. Its spirit of non- compromise carried within its possibilities of martyrdoms and the seeds of an organised church.

The unsettled political conditions of the latter period of the Mughal Empire gave these possibilities their opportunity, and the seed bore fruit. The later Gurus were inevitably drawn into the whirl of politics and they transformed the Church into a militant society. But although the Sikhs changed their organisation their religion retained almost unaltered the impress of Guru Nanak’s teaching.*”