INTRODUCTION#

Guru Essence of Guru Nanak’s Jap Ji Saheb BY Sujan Singh Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikh religion, was born at Nankana Sahib (formerly Rai Bhoe Ki Talwandi), now in Pakistan, on the full moon night of October- November 1469 A.D. Modern historians now cite the actual date of birth of Guru Ji as April 15, 1469 A.D. Guru Nanak Dev was born at a time when conditions of society in India had deteriorated to the lowest level. Guru Ji has described the extent of degradation in many of his shabads enshrined in holy Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the holy granth (book) of Sikh religion. Guru Ji said that the king (Ibrahim Lodhi) was the epitome of greed; his prime minister was the sinner and his finance minister was the embodiment of lies. The ladies of the harem were king’s counsellors. The illiterate public was the mute witness to the king’s misdeeds and turned their blind eyes and deaf ears to whatever the king and his courtiers were doing. At another place, Guru Ji said that the judges did not deliver their justice unless their palms were greased with some money. After the defeat of Ibrahim Lodhi by Babar, Guru Ji described Indians as flocks of sheep, which were not protected by their Lodhi masters from Babar’s atrocities. The causes of degradation of Indian society were the prevailing caste system at that time and exploitation of common people by Brahmins through the maze of religious rituals. One of the important aspects of Guru Ji’s mission was to bring reformation in the society by getting rid of these rituals. At the age of nine years, Guru Ji inflicted the first blow on these rituals when he refused to wear the sacred thread from his family Brahmin.