New Delhi: With Chief Justice of India SA Bobde present on the stage, stories of Auschwitz and the "silence" of people on the concentration camps in Assam were among the topics discussed at an international conference celebrating 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak on Saturday in Chandigarh, Indian Express reported.
Foucusing on Guru Nanak's teachings, the speech was delievered by former Canada Federal Minister Ujjal Dosanjh.
Dosanjh began his speech with a reference to the 75th anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz camp, and explained the relevance of Guru Nanak's teachings in today's time, Indian Express reported.
Praising Guru Nanak as a critique and an activist, Dosanjh said, "“I cannot imagine Nanak sitting day in and day out reading poetry…spiritual poetry. My Nanak would ask me…you have read it, understood it. What will you do to change the world? Nanak’s verse is ‘pavan guru pani pita mata dharat mahat (air is our teacher, water our father, and Earth, the great mother)’. He did not say Punjab was mahat. He did not say India was mahat. He said dharat mahat. He would have never…said Punjab is for Punjabis and Assam is for Assamese…Hungary is only for Hungarian white people. Nanak would have never stood silent in face of all that is happening in this world”.
CJI Bobde, who also spoke on the occasion, praised Guru Nanak for his cause of equality and justice and added that his teachings transcend all man-made boundaries irrespective of race, caste, creed or religion.
Recalling the first Sikh Guru's ideology of "Pavan Guru, Pani Pita, Mata Dharat Mahat (air the guru, water the father and earth mother)", Bobde said had people followed this message sincerely, the country would not have faced the terrible environment crisis as being witnessed today.
"Guru Nanak and his philosophy do not belong only to Punjab or the Sikh religion but his persona and his teachings have gifted pearls of sanity and wisdom to whole world that could transcend all man-made boundaries irrespective of the race, caste creed or religion," Bobde said.
Noting that Guru Nanak's teachings revealed that he was a rationalist, he said the first Sikh Guru challenged superstitions and dogmas in simple and thoughtful words that were well understood and accepted by members of the clergy and commoners alike.
".Guru Nanak would demonstrate that all religions were equal and deserved to be equally respected by all. The ideas behind equality of all human beings as well as universal brotherhood formed the philosophy of the holy Guru Granth sahib (Sikh holy book) which we know the collection of poetic hymns through which Guru Nanak delivered his divine guidance," Bobde said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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