Amid Pak-India border tensions, Pakistan has issued 3316 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims to attend birthday celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak Dev from 12-21 November.
Every year, thousands of Sikhs from all over the world including India, come to Nankana Sahib to attend the annual birth anniversary celebrations of first Sikh guru, Baba Guru Nanak Dev in Gurudwara.
In line with Pakistan's efforts to encourage people to people contacts and promote religious tourism the High Commission in India has issued visas to pilgrims more than the numbers prescribed under the 1974 bilateral protocol.Baba Guru Nanak from an early age evidenced a questioning and inquiring mind. He soon mastered the Vedas and Sanskrit and was enrolled into a Madrassa to study Persian and Arabic languages. Picking up both languages quickly, he surprised his teacher by composing an acrostic on the Persian language.
When it was time for Nanak to be invested with the twice born thread the “sacred” thread, called the Janeu, he refused to take part in the ritual. When the priest continued to insist that the young Nanak done the string he went into a trance and sang:
Guru Nanak (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ) (Saturday 15 April 1469 - Monday 22 September, 1539), the founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Gurus of the Sikhs, was born in the village of Talwandi.
Also called Rai Bhoe-ki Talwandi, the village now known as Nankana Sahib, is near Lahore in present-day Pakistan. He was born, according to many ancient Sikh records, in the early morning of the third day of the light half of the month of Baisakh (April - May) in the year 1469, which is believed to be Saturday 15 April 1469; while other chronicles state the date of birth as October 20 1469. The Sikhs now celebrate this auspicious event each year on the Pooranmashi (full moon day) in the lunar month of Katak (October-November), which falls on different dates every year. In the year 2015, it is 25th November,
Before Guru Nanak departed for his heavenly abode in 1539, his name had travelled not only throughout India's north, south, east and west, but also far beyond into Arabia, Mesopotamia (Iraq), Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Afghanistan, Turkey, Burma and Tibet; new records now show even as far as Europe ans in particular Italy!
The name "Nanak" was used by all subsequent Gurus while penning down their own spiritual revelations, registered now in the Sikh holy scripture called the Guru Granth Sahib. So the second Sikh Guru, Guru Angad is also called the "Second Nanak" or "Nanak II". It is believed by the Sikhs that all subsequent Gurus carried the same message as that of Guru Nanak and so they have used the name "Nanak" in their holy text instead of their own name and hence are all understood to carry the divine "Light of Nanak."
Guru Nanak is also called Satguru Nanak, Baba Nanak, Nanak Shah Faqir, Bhagat Nanak, Nanak Kalandar etc. by people from different religions and Cults.
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