Guru Nanak: Ahead of His Time--By About 500 Years

Dec. 8--My editor asked me what I was writing about for today.

"Guru Nanak," I said.

"Who?" she replied.

Exactly.

My editor is one of the most intelligent, educated, and informed people I know. And I'm not just saying that because she can delete my column with the click of a mouse.

My point is that even the most intelligent, educated and informed people in this country have never heard of Guru Nanak.

If that's not a shame, it's at least a pity.

Nanak was the founder of one of the world's great religions and was one of history's spiritual giants.

The more we know about people like Guru Nanak, the more we know about God - and each other.

Most of us know plenty about Jesus, Moses, Buddha and, lately, Muhammad.

Many of us have heard of Confucius, Zarathustra (thanks to Nietzsche and Kubrick), and maybe Lao-tze (the man behind the Tao).

Who knows Nanak?

I doubt even Regis Philbin could answer this question: Guru Nanak was the founder of which world religion?

A. Sikhism
B. Jainism.
C. Zoroastrianism.
D. Consumerism.

Don't phone a friend. I'll give you some hints.

Nanak was born in 1469 in northwest India, now Pakistan, a few hundred miles from the Afghanistan border. Like his contemporaries, Luther and Calvin, Nanak was a religious reformer. The most famous and controversial thing he ever said was this: "God is neither Hindu nor Muslim, and the path I follow is God's."

Nanak lived 500 years ago on the border between the Muslim and Hindu worlds. Such a public statement was beyond courageous.

Nanak also was a heroic social and political reformer. He declared that all men are created equal, centuries before Thomas Jefferson did. "Religion lies not in empty words. He who regards all men as equal are religious," said Nanak, who departed from tradition by eating together with people of different castes.

Continued on page 2: »