INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

Nanak perceived himself as a messenger of celestial words. 246 The narrative tradition
of janam-sakhis, recorded from the seventeenth century and onwards, came to dress
the hymns of Nanak in biographical prose stories on the life and deeds of the first
Guru. Narrators belonging to the Puratan Janam-sakhi tradition took especially the
notion of direct revelation seriously, embroidering the narrative scenery of how
Nanak in his twenties disappeared in the river Bein for three days. In the meantime
he was gathered into a divine presence to experience a direct and aural revelation of
the formless God: Nanak heard the voice of God and was given a celestial bowl with
immortal nectar (amrit) of the divine name to drink. By ingesting the godly name he
was invested to the office of the guru for the world and received a robe of honour
from the divine court that confirmed and sanctified the bestowal of spiritual authority.
247 The story clearly emphasizes that Nanak’s identity was a missioned being,
already selected by God, and not brought into a divine presence to become enlightened.
After this experience Nanak sets out on extensive travels accompanied by his
Muslim musician friend Mardana to refine and spread his message. Along the way
into distant countries the janam-sakhi literature relates a continuing divine disclosure:
incessantly Nanak asks Mardana to tune his Rabab ‒ the bowed-string instrument
“speaking” the language of a dervish ‒ and immersed in meditation the Guru generates
shabads by singing the glory of God. 248 It is not Nanak himself who speaks, but
the words of divine origin are mystically and aesthetically mediated through his
mind and body to the sound of a celestial music.
When local Sikhs in Varanasi say that the Gurus’ hymns in the Guru Granth
Sahib are “speech from the sky” (akash bani) or “words from God” (dhur ki bani), they
thus appeal to fundamental Sikh beliefs and a tradition which claims that divine
words of ultimate truth was conferred to Guru Nanak by God to be communicated to
the world. The nature of this revelation is believed to be both private and public, in
the sense that God exclusively graced Nanak to disseminate a divine message and
establish a religious institution within which people could be brought to a higher
level of understanding through gurbani, or the Guru’s utterances. Believing Sikhs
246
One oft-quoted line to support the notion of Guru Nanak as a mediator in a godly revelation
is: “O Lalo, as the Word of the Lord comes to me, so do I express it”(GGS: 722).
247
The tenth chapter of Puratan Janam-sakhi named Bein Pravesh,”entry into the river Bein”, tells
about Nanak’s experiences in the divine court (See Bhai Vir Singh 1999(1926): 40 ‒ 43, and the
analysis of Nikky Guninder Kaur Singh 1992).
248
In the fifteenth and sixteenth century the Rabab was a significant instrument of Sufi sama,
attributed mystical values, and in some Sufi orders considered to speak as a dervish (Binbas
2001: 73). The janam-sakhis communicates similar ideas about the Rabab as an instrument producing
divine sounds. In the popular Balevali janam-sakhi for instance, Mardana went to collect a
Rabab from the musician Farinda in Akazpur. Farinda told Mardana that the Rabab was divine
and forbade Mardana to play the instrument in front of anyone but Nanak. In absence of the
Guru, Mardana just touched the strings, from which a divine sound was heard. When Mardana
placed the Rabab in front of Nanak and was asked to play, the strings started to sound by themselves
and tuning the words “You are Nirankar, Nanak is Yours.” At the sound of the new Rabab
Nanak went into meditation for two days and nights (Kirpal Singh 1990: 246 ‒ 248).
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008