GURU NANAK (A.D. 1469-1539)

Guru Nanak was the founder of Sikhism, one of the youngest religions. Guru Nanak became the first Sikh Guru, and his spiritual teachings laid the foundation on which Sikhism was formed.

Considered a religious innovator, Guru Nanak travelled across South Asia and Middle East to spread his teachings. He advocated the existence of one God and taught his followers that every human being can reach out to God through meditation and other pious practices.

Interestingly, Guru Nanak did not support monasticism and asked his followers to lead the life of honest householder. His teachings were immortalized in the form of 974 hymns, which came to be known as ‘Guru Granth Sahib,’ the holy text of Sikhism. With more than 20 million followers, Sikhism is one of the important religions in India.

            He became a wandering preacher of a Casteless, Universal, Ethical, Anti-Ritualistic, Monotheistic and Highly Spiritual Religion, which reflected the ideas of Kabir a good deal. His disciples called themselves Sikhs (derived from Sanskrit Sisya, Disciple, Or Pali Sikkha Instruction) and formed the new Pantha. Nine Gurus followed in succession to Nanak and gave the sect a stability and distinctness which other sects failed to achieve.

Guru Angad (A.D. 1539-1552), the immediate successor of Nanak, collected the latter’s oral teachings and put them down i a new script, the Gurmukhi, Guru Arjun (A.D. 1581-1606), the fifth Guru, constructed the Harimandir at Amritsar. He had the vanis (words) of the previous Sikh Gurus and other saints like Kabir, Namadeva and Raidasa brought together to form the Guru Granth Sahib, the Bible of the Sikhs.

Guru Teg Bahadur (A.D. 1664-1675), the ninth Guru, died a martyr at the hands of Aurangzeb. But his persecution only made the Sikhs tough, and Guru Govind Singh the last of the Gurus, organized them into a military sect. Before his death (1708), he named Granth Sahib as the everlasting Guru of the Sikhs.

SAGUNA SCHOOL – NORTH INDIA

           As regards the Saguna school of the Hindu mystics in North India, Tulasidasa, Suradasa, Mira Bai and Caitanya were the most important.

Tulasidasa (A.D. 1532-1623) was a Brahmana born in Rajapur Village in Banda District. He had received a systematic education in the Vedas and the Sastras. While still young he became a Sadhu and went to Ayodhya, the home of Rama, where he composed the famous Ramacaritamanasa in Hindi.

SURADASA (A.D. 1483-1563)

He was a disciple of the famous religious teacher Vallabhacarya. Living in the land of Vraja, he sang the glories of Krsna’s childhood and youth in his Surasagara. He was indeed the poet part excellence of love, human and divine.

        Born in a Princely family of Rajputana and wedded to a prince of Chittoor Mira Bai (A.D. 1498-1546) became a widow soon after her marriage. She was deeply religious and devoted to Krsna even in her teens and blossomed into a great saint and poetess, whose songs are as popular as those of Tulasidasa or Suradasa. Her form of worship was to regard Krsna as her lover and real husband and pour out her pet-up love and devotion of God as Krsna.

SANKARADEVA (A.D.  1449-1569)

 He spread the Bhakti cult in Assam. He was a contemporary of Caitanya. Another name worthy of mention is that of Nabhaji a contemporary of Tulasidasa and the author of the Bhaktamala, a biographical collection of saints.

        Besides the Vaisnava mystics and saints of the Saguna school, there were other saints also who were devotees of Siva or Sakti and followed Tantric practices. In Bengal, Krsnananda, Brahmanandagiri and Purnananda in the 16th century. A.D. and Ramaprasada Kaviranjana in the 18th century, are well-known. The Sakta saints, Sarvananda, Gosain Bhattacharya. Ardhakali and Vama Ksepa are household words in Bengal even today.