Guru Nanak Dev And Vedanta

Guru Nanak Dev And Vedanta

The Japuji Sahib comprises spiritual vision and insights of Guru Nanak. He wrote it after undertaking a number of pilgrimages in his quest for truth. It contains the essence of his spiritual experiences in 38 verses. These outline the sequential process of spiritual enlightenment. Each verse is referred to as a pauri or step, similar to the eightfold path prescribed by the Buddha in the fourth of his four noble truths.

The Japuji presents sutras or condensed aphorisms, in epigrammatic form, impacting the reader directly. The total length of these aphorisms is about one-fourth of the Gita. In addition to the paths of jnana or knowledge, karma or action and bhakti or devotion, they also prescribe the paths of dhyana or meditation, and sadhana or practice to attain liberation. These verses express philosophy, metaphysics, moral teachings and ideals of life in a compact form.

Japuji Sahib's 38 pauris begin with the moolmantra, the preamble outlining Guru's intuitive spiritual experience. It ends with a shloka. The purpose of the moolmantra, as in other such seed mantras, is to direct disciples to meditate on them. Moolmantras are not written or composed by the sage but are revealed to him in a flash of spiritual vision. Later, for common benefit these experiences are articulated without interpretation or distortion. They are yathapurvam akalpyat - expressed as they are seen.

The moolmantra is to be continuously meditated upon by the practitioner. Continuous meditation on it results in integrating its essence with the practitioner's lived life. For example, the dwadakshara - 12 syllables, trayodakshara - 13 letters, and pachakshara - five-lettered mantras are moolmantras of Bhaagvada creed, of Rama and Shiva followers respectively. The moolmantra of Japuji sahib is: 'There is but one God whose name is true, the Creator, devoid of fear and enmity, unborn, self-existent; by favour of the Guru'.

God is the first cause of all creation. Nothing is the cause of His existence. All existence evolves from Him. He creates everything but He Himself is unborn, uncreated. He is self-created and timeless. Unlike others who view God as mother and father, or as the master or controller of the universe, Guru Nanak views Him as an 'enlightener' whose grace is to be sought at all times.

The moolmantra is followed by jap - continuous recitation: 'The True One was in the beginning; the True One was in the primal age; the True One is now also, O Nanak; the True One also shall be'. Guru Nanak preferred to call God Satnam - the eternal holy truth, implying that truth is the essence of God. Gita expresses it as aum tat sat - Aum the eternal. According to Guru Nanak, it is only His hukam or divine ordinance and His grace that enables us to lead a meaningful life.

According to Vinoba Bhave, the conception of God in Guru Nanak is based on the concept of Brahmn and Aum in Vedanta. Brahmn 'is that from which the world originates'. It is the material, efficient and formal cause of the world. It is responsible for 'the origin, sustenance and cessation of the world (Taittriya Upanishad).

Vinoba Bhave saw it as a new idea based 'on one pre-existing, yields the beauty of the new along with the strength of the old...in this way Guru Nanak's teachings acquire added beauty'. Constructive reinterpretation of the central thesis of Vedanta has added new force to Nanak's vision.