At the times of Guru Nanak, the government did not run any schools or colleges. There were two types of institutions run by private endowments. The “Hindu Pathshallas” and the Muslim Madrasas or Maktabs. Pathshallas received voluntary contributions from Hindu Community and the Madrasas Grant Aid from the Muslim rulers. Hindu libraries had books on religion, philosophy and medicines.
At Village School
At the age of seven, the child, Nanak was admitted into the village school. He was 4 talented children; He learned the basics ‘quickly and thoroughly. He impressed his teachers with his extraordinary intellectual ability and skill; he had amazing maturity at such a tender age. Gopal Pande, his first teacher, had never seen such a pupil in all his life, the child learned, to read and write in amazingly a short time, when his teacher tried to teach him arithmetic, accountancy and bookkeeping, he found him profoundly proficient in figure work. Mehta Kalu wanted his ‘son to be a good accountant like him and to take up MS job after his retirement. Unlike, Rai Bularand Nanaki, Mehta Kalu could not understand the Spiritual behavior of Nanak.
When the stage for religious discussions came, the child Guru composed hymns on each letter of the Panjabi alphabet to explain the religious significance of the letter. For instance,” Sassa soe Sshrist jin Saji, Sabna sahib ck Bhayia” SSupreme Lord, who has created the world. “Thus, he wrote hymn on each letter in order of the alphabet to explain its religious significance this composition is called “Patti” or Tablet. It is a divine exposition on the attributes of the Creator. It contains the message of hope, joy and deliverance which the Guru offered to a suffering humanity.
The teacher was overwhelmed by the wisdom and maturity of Nanak, and realized that he had nothing to teach Nanak on ethics, religion and philosophy, His pupil was a divine soul who could teach all humanity, How could he teach one who wrote “without truth, even a cart load of books was of little Use.
“Let your intellect be the fine paper, on which you should write, with the pen of Divine Love, as dictated by the Master Write the praises of His Name, Write that He is limitless and great.”
Pandit, Gopal bowed before his pupil Nanak recognizing him as a true messenger of God, and became a disciple of Nanak and retired from his job, He considered himself fortunate to have learned from Nanak and thus been blessed.
Nanak said to his classmates, “God is our Father, we are his children, and we should love each other and thus serve Him.” He asked them to constantly repeat the name of God, the Formless, and Lord who is present everywhere and is all powerful. Learning of Sanskrit for three years, up to the age of 13, the child Nanak was attached with Pandit Bnj to learn the language of ancient scriptures Sanskrit. He learned everything that he deemed necessary for his purpose in an astonishing short period. He learned all about Vedas and Shashtras and their philosophy. Learning of Persian and Arabic ai Madrasa at the age of 13, the child Nanak was entrusted to the charge of Maulvi Ruknuddin who soon realized that his pupil was an enlightened soul who knew much more than him. His father sent him to the Madrasa basically to learn Persian, the official language of the time so that Nanak could take over his post of Revenue officer on growing up.
Nanak surprised his new teacher by learning Persian and Arabic in an astonishingly short time. One day, Ruknuddin the teacher was amazed to hear a divine composition of hymns on each letter of Persian script, conveying the spiritual Significance of each letter of the alphabet as Nanak had done for Pandit Gopal in Punjab. Baba Kalu was keen that Nanak, after having been trained in advanced studies of ancient Indian and Islamic classics, would be able to secure a high office in the Administration of India, But Nanak was only preparing himself for much bigger task ahead as a missionary of God, who would travel through the length and breadth of Indian Subcontinent, Ceylon, Himalayan Kingdom, Tibet, China, countries of West Asia, as faras Syria Turkey and North Palestine. During this period a number of miracles took place which made the people realize that Nanak was no ordinary person buta highly enlightened soul by listening an association with whom they could feel the presence of God himself.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 7, 1993
