INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

of the story. This is accomplished by inserting quoted speech of Guru Nanak in the
form of a final lecture addressed to the scholars of Varanasi.
Having divine words mediated at a locality specified by the Guru signifies yet
another level of meaning to local Sikhs; it sanctifies a place and makes the first disciples
preservers of the Guru’s sacred speech. In the episode on Guru Tegh Bahadur’s
travel the quotation of a hymn composed by Guru Arjan is presented as the devotional
link between the Guru and his disciples: when Guru Tegh Bahadur visits Allahabad,
Kalyan Das in Varanasi affectionately recites a hymn with desires to meet the
Guru. Through his extrasensory perception Guru Tegh Bahadur realizes that he must
travel eastwards to meet the anxious soul waiting for him. In both these episodes
quotation of gurbani is the key to establishing relationships between the human Gurus
and their disciples at Varanasi.
THREE PANDITS, A DOG, AND RIVER GANGA
The narrative on Guru Nanak’s deeds consists of two separate anecdotes that have
been blended to form a composite episode structured around discourses with three
learned scholars or pandits. The Guru is portrayed as intellectually superior to the
religious elite in Varanasi and he has not arrived for religious debates but to convey a
teaching. Throughout the story he is addressed as “Guru ji”, an enlightened teacher
who is in the process of mediating divine messages revealed to him, and each debate
will consequently turn into a lecture that serves to prove the spiritual supremacy of
his teaching and presence. Even the most arrogant pandit of Varanasi will be internally
struck by the spiritual glamour of Guru Nanak’s face and is drawn towards
him. Moreover, Nanak is gifted with mystical powers attesting a status likened to the
divine itself: he reads inner thoughts of people, foresees events to come, and works a
miracle. The mystical experience in the interaction with the Guru is physical and
sensory. A mere glimpse of his exalted personage purifies souls and by touching his
feet people are liberated. After witnessing these extraordinary actions the scholarly
elite of Varanasi will confirm that Nanak “is the re-incarnation of God in kaliyug” and
become his disciples. 211
The first anecdote relates the famous pandit Gopal Shastri, who is the owner of
the garden in which Guru Nanak takes a seat. The pandit is magnetically drawn to
the Guru by the sound of the divine name emanating from Mardana’s rebeck. Gopal
Shastri is not challenging Guru Nanak to debate but simply inquires about his worship.
After listening to the singing and teaching of Guru Nanak the soul of Gopal
Shastri is purified; he becomes a follower and eventually gives away his garden to the
Guru. The outline of the first part of this anecdote resembles the discourse between
Guru Nanak and pandit Chattur Das in the seventeenth century Valaitvali Janam-sakhi
referred to above. Hypothetically the modern narrative could have drawn parts of the
material from this source or other oral and textual versions, however, modified the
story to be an account of Gopal Shastri instead of Chattur Das. The modern narrative
211
Varanasi Dian Kush Itihasik Yadan, p. 6.
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008