Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
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Separation
As Nanak goes to bathe in the river, he leaves behind his c lothes – indic at ive of his
previous set of c odes and signs; he leaves behind his attendant – indic at ive of his
h o me , f amily and soc iet y at large. He now possesses nothing. Nanak has stripped
off his c ult ural c ondit ions and divest ed himself of soc iet y’s st ruc t ures. He
disappears in the Bein for three days. His M u s lim e mp lo y e r s u mmo n s t h e
fishermen, has nets thrown into the river, and has his men searc h everywhere, but
in vain. Nanak is nowhere to be found and Nanak’s employer leaves dejected,
thinking how good a minister Nanak was.
Betwixt and Between
In this ‘interstruc tural situation’, Nanak ‘is at onc e no longer c lassified and not yet
classified; he is no longer the store employee, nor is he yet the Guru who will
at t rac t millions t o a new world religion. Nanak has reac hed a dynamic threshold
where the past borders are gone and future possibilities are yet to come. During
the three days he is believed drowned, Nanak goes through a series of numinous
events.
In the multilayered mythic ac c ount, Nanak is ushered into the divine presenc e
and receives a cup of amrit: ‘ehu amritu mere nam ka piala hai – t his amrit is t he
c u p o f my Na me ’. Enclosed in the waters of the River Bein, Nanak receives the
drink of immo rt alit y – amrit (lit eral meanings: a = n o t + mrit = d e a t h ). He does
not see; he only hears. The postmodern philosopher, Hans-Georg Gadamer,
regards the phenomenon of hearing as being c ruc ial t o t he building up of t radit ion:
‘hearing takes in language and thus everything, not just the visible’. The voice
Nanak hears does not c ome from some high mountaintop; it c omes from inside the
river. T o drink is a basic and primal func t ion and need, and so the ac c ount validates
as basic human process. The Divine c ommand ‘pio’ (drink) substantiates the human
body with its capacity to drink, taste, grow and be nourished.
What Nanak received was nam ka piala – the c up of Name. Nam (the c ognate
of the English word ‘name’) is the identity of the transc endent One. This elemental
proc ess c onstitutes Nanak’s introduc tion to the Divine: by sipping the universal
drink. Nanak gets to know t he Ult imat e Realit y. The immortal drink that Nanak
receives is the sapiential experience of the transcendent One.
After being given the c up of amrit, Nanak is asked to go and instruc t others.
But t here is also t he implic at ion in t he Janamsakhi narrat ive that he is put through
a test. Before he departs, Nanak is ordered to illustrate his method and tec hnique:
‘How does one praise my name? Recite!’ Guru Nanak responds with a hymn that
was his song – and proof – of praise. We find here a striking affinity between ‘kahu’
(‘rec ite’ in Punjabi), the c ommand that Nanak rec eives, and ‘kun’ (‘rec it e’ in
Arabic ), the order given to by God to the Prophet Muhamma d through the
Arc hangel Gabriel. While the Prophet Muhammad the Word in the c aves of Mount
Hira, Guru Nanak hears it in the River Bein. Neither was previously known for his
poetic genius, but after passing through the spac es, both of them bec ome the
matrix for a voluminous and momentous and most artistic text – the holy Qu’ran
and the Guru Granth, respec tively.