Guru Nanak gave a message of love, tolerance, peaceful coexistence and sincere concern for all of humanity, the environment and all creatures and beings.

 

 

By Jugraj Singh

Humans of the world Unite!

 

Guru Nanak lived during the beginning of Mercantilism and Capitalism. He made four major travels in the four directions of the world to understand the problems facing common people, and attain spiritual enlightenment.

 

After these travels, Guru Nanak concluded that man had become too selfish, arrogant, hypocritical and isolated. The isolation began with a breaking away from nature, society, then family, and finally self.

 

 

Guru Nanak gave a message of love, tolerance, peaceful coexistence and sincere concern for all of humanity, the environment and all creatures and beings. He gave three central principles to form the foundation of Sikhism:

 

Kirat Karo: Engage in honest, productive labor.

Vand Shako: Share the fruits of such labor with everyone.

Naam Japo: Meditate on Oneness and attempt to live a simple, spiritual life.

 

            Modern society has resulted in extreme individualism and isolation. People have become isolated from society, family and self. This isolation is the main reason for unhappiness, dysthymia and depression. It is becoming rare to hear people conversing with one another, especially when travelling such as on an airplane, train or bus. People get lost in their own thoughts and usually spend hours staring at their computer, tablet or smartphone screen. When communication becomes sparse and limited, culture suffers and as a result, one becomes culturally deprived. Culturally deprived people become intellectually deficient. Intellectually deficient people lose their spirituality. Once spirituality is lost, people struggle to find a purpose of life.

 

            Lack of a purposeful life is the cause of many sorrows and negative coping mechanisms. People go through their daily routines without much thinking day after day: they get up, have breakfast and go to work; after work, they return home tired, have dinner and watch television then go to sleep. The weekend is awaited and is the time for catching up on sleep, shopping, partying, drinking alcohol or even doing recreational drugs. This cycle can be repeated sometimes for decades.

 

            The East and West both suffer from unequal relations. The West has a superiority complex, whereas the East has an inferiority complex. This imbalance has led to a lot of suffering on both sides. Westerners feel a spiritual void in their lives and lack the answers that they need to fill it. Easterners start off with spirituality in their lives, but after immigrating to the West, they slowly lose their culture, identity and spirituality.

 

 

            Inter-generational gap is the result of rapid technological development, commercial focus and language barrier. The older generations are less tech-savvy than the younger generations, therefore communication becomes hindered. Whereas the older generations prefer speaking to each other and speaking face to face, younger generations prefer wtf: Whatsapp, Twitter and Facebook. Not having time for discussion is a problem of modern economies. People are almost always in a rush to be somewhere; the resulting anxiety and instability further impedes communication. Although people would like to sit and talk, they simply do not have the time. Communities which have immigrated to a Western country and have a mother tongue different than English have difficulty expressing themselves in English and also in communicating with their children or grandchildren, particularly when the children grow up attending English-speaking schools and interacting with peers who mostly speak English.   

 

            Environmental concern is central to human well-being. Unfortunately, rapid industrialization and capitalism have done tremendous damage to the environment and continue to do so. Pollution has resulted in chronic sickness, stunted growth of children and decreased life expectancy. Burning of fossil fuels and methane release from industrialized livestock has resulted in unpredictable weather patterns and increased the devastation from natural disasters. What is needed is a global ban on fossil fuel burning and on the internal combustion engine. At a minimum, hybrid and electric engines should become the norm with the objective of replacing these engines with more environmentally-friendly technology such as hydrogen fuel cells. All nations should strive to produce energy from renewable sources such as solar, wind, oceanic waves and geo-thermal power. Similarly, Bamboo should be planted with enthusiasm. Bamboo is amongst the fastest growing plants in the world, therefore its potential to clean air and become a carbon sink is unbelievable. Bamboo can grow in almost all of earth’s climate zones and it can be harvested after three years or less. Bamboo has unlimited potential: it is Mother Nature’s gift to humanity. It can provide all of the basic needs of mankind, and it can be used in all sorts of construction since it has tensile strength greater than steel.

 

 

            The West is facing a crisis of overweight and obesity, opioids and violence. A robotic and monotonous existence is partly responsible, as is the breakdown of society due to weakening of human relations and the alienation and isolation of man from self. When people do not have spirituality in their life, they become increasingly stressed and dissatisfied because of the imbalance between spirituality and materialism. The materialist dream can be summed up as Bigger, Better and More; and to continue buying things that we do not need with money that we do not have for people that we do not really care about. Loss of intergenerational communication and transmission of experience and knowledge from the elder to the younger generations is also hurting individuals and society. Not utilizing this precious resource by confining elderly to nursing homes leads to young people making many mistakes and history tragically repeating itself whereas both situations could have been avoided.

 

            Guru Nanak asks a question, “How to become truthful and live honestly, how to break the walls of falsehood which surround our consciousness?” He answers by stating that one should live according to Hukam (Natural law) and accept whatever has happened, is happening and will happen. Humans have free will and it should be used to better oneself and increase the level of consciousness. Guru Nanak’s message gives hope and happiness. He completes his prayer by saying that when the name of the creator is taken, one is blessed with happiness, and it is through the blessing of the creator that all creation is cared for and good things will happen to the creation.

 

            The colonialist theory of Divide and Rule has been replaced by Label and Exploit. Today, most people have multiple identities and therefore labels, such as race, ethnicity, culture and religion, but not the single identity of a human being. These multiple identities are false because they are confined within space and time. Medicine is also doing a disservice to humanity by labeling people based upon their health problems and then not rehabilitating them so that the label can be removed. For example, excessive worry, unhappiness and difficulty sleeping are given scientific names which people have to live with for their entire lives; these labels become part of one’s identity. Pharmaceutical companies then offer treatments with the expectation that the treatments will also be given indefinitely so that they can earn a large profit. What identity were we before our birth and what identity will be after death? This simple question shows how fragile life is and how it is wrong to give so much importance to differences, and instead it is right to focus on that which unites us.    

 

            Sri Guru Granth Sahib contains Guru Nanak’s philosophy and represents the evolution of eastern spirituality and thought. Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary is approaching. How should we celebrate and honor him? The best way to do so is to apply Guru Nanak’s philosophy to our daily lives and attempt to live truthfully, humbly and simply; and spread his message of love, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

Jugraj Singh is a MHA Medical student and is son of esteemed writer-columnist Dr. Sawraj Singh.