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Summary of Question:	Founding Of Sikhism By Nanak
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Wednesday, 5/29/2002 2:03 PM MDT

hi

I would like to ask about the founding of sikhism by Guru Nanak. Is it believed to have been revealed to him by God the way the Abrahamic religions believe they have been or did it occur through realisation/enlightenment like for example it believed of Buddha by Buddhists?

I have heard that it occured when Nanak ji went missing by a riverside and returned three days later looking radiant, but varying conclusions on what happened (revealed by God/realised whilst meditating?).

Someone told me that in one of his texts Guru Gobind Singh says that he was instructed by Waheguru to be reborn in the kaliyug, whilst he was meditating on a mountain side? So it seems he received a revelation through an elightenment?

I'm confused!

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Sat Siri Akal.

It is a confusing question, isn't it? Think of it this way. Revealed religions are religions where God speaks certain truths to someone and then, because you have faith in that person, you believe those truths even if you have no experience of it yourself. The Buddha model is the model that says-the person experienced it through the power of their own meditative consciousness working with God. If that person can experience it, then all I have to do is follow the same practices and (if it's God's will) I can experience it, as well.

Guru Nanaak gave a system of meditation, not revelation. In Japji, he wrote that the only true way to know God is to get up in the Amrit Veyla and meditate on the Word. So he left behind a system where, if we meditate on Gurbani, we can experience the same state of consciousness he experienced. That is why the Siri Guru Granth Sahib is so much more than a "revelation." It is a Living Teacher. If you obey what the Guru says, then you will have a spiritual practice to give yourself the same state of union realized by Guru Nanaak and all the other Gurus.

Some Sikhs consider Sikhism a revealed religion because they haven't understood the practical instructions given by Guru Nanaak. And, honestly, because it is much less work to believe something than to do a practice and experience it for yourself. But the beauty is that you can experience it for yourself by following the Guru's instructions-if you choose to do the work.

May Guru continue to guide you on your spiritual path.

GPK