OM AND SAT KARTAR

At the age of five, Nanak was sent to Pandit Gopaldas Pande to study Mathematics and to learn to read and write in Hindi.

Nanak was very quick in learning and very clever in understanding what was taught to him. Nanak with his inquisitive mind would ask many questions to his teacher and supervise him.

Once when his teacher Pandit Gopaldas Pande was chanting ‘OM’ Nanak interrupted his politely and asked him what it meant.

The teacher was very surprised that a five-year-old boy wanted to know the meaning of ‘OM’. He told Nanak that ‘OM’ was the name used for God.

Nanak remarked, “But my mother says that Sat Kartar is the name used for God. ‘SAT’ means Truth and Sat Kartar means that God is the only Truth.”

Then the teacher explained that God had many names out of which two names were OM and Sat Kartar.

Even at a young age, Nanak showed signs of unusual sensibility by asking questions about God and life.

One day, the teacher went and confessed to Nanak’s father, “Your son is a genius. I have taught Nanak all that I know. There is nothing left for me to teach him. Please take him somewhere else to study.

Nanak’s learning at such a young age paved the way for what he taught his followers later in his life.

He taught the people that though God was called by man by many names, like Ram, and Allah, there was only one God.

When the animosity between the Hindu and the Muslims increased, these beliefs helped. Guru Nanak’s teachings also helped those people who were suffering because of the unnatural divides constructed by men such as caste, creed, gender, etc.

Guru Nanak taught that all the people were equal and that common people could reach God themselves. They did not need priests as mediators between themselves and God.

Alif

Nanak’s father, Mehta Kalian, sent Nanak to study Muslim literature and to learn the Persian and Arabic languages. On the first day, the teacher started teaching Nanak with the first Persian alphabet ‘Alif’. Nanak at once asked him the meaning of alif. The teacher could not explain it to him.

Then Nanak explained to the teacher, ‘Alif means one God. Alif stands for Allah which is the Muslim name for God. It is the same as Om or Sat Kartar.

The teacher was very surprised. He realized that Nanak already knew a lot.

As time passed, he was shocked to see that Nanak’s knowledge knew no bounds. He took Nanak to his father and requested, “Please take back your son. I can’t teach him any more”.

Mehta Kalian asked, “Why can’t you teach my son.”

The teacher said, “Your claver child done not need to be taught anything by me.”

“Why doesn’t he need to be taught by you? What makes you say that?” Asked his father.

The teacher admitted. He knows more than I myself know. He will teach the world. What can I teach him? He knows everything.