Have you read this article before: The Beginning of Sikhism

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The first date in Sikhism is 1469 A.D. This was the year in which the founder of the faith Guru Nanak Dev ji was born. The age which gave birth to Guru Nanak Dev ji is very significant in the religious history of mankind. At this time, man’s mind was awakened to new ideas.
In India, this was the period of the Bhakti movement. The cult of Bhakti was popularised in Northern India by Ramanand, who followed the teaching of Ramanuja, the South India Saint and philosopher. The Bhakti faith was popularised in the Indo-Gangetic plains by Ramanand’s disciple Kabir & Ravidas, in Maharashtra by Parmanand, Tukaram & Nam Dev, in Rajasthan by Mira Bai, in Bengal by Chaitanya, in Telengana by Vallabha Swami and in Sindh by Sadhana.
All of these saints and Bhakats preached a simple religion of love of God. Their emphasis was on inner piety. They disapproved of mere externals and ceremonial worship. They regarded all men as equal and made no distinctions among them on grounds of religion or caste.
What Bhakti did in Hinduism, Sufism did in Islam. Sufi mystics came from Persia and Arabia. Some of them settled in India. Among them were men of deep learning and insight. Around them grew centers of new religious culture the more important of the Sufi seat were in Lahore, Multan, Pakpattan, Sirhind, Samana, Delhi, Ajmer and Gulbarga (Deccan).
By the beginning of the 15th century, there were over a dozen orders of Sufis in northern India. Of these, four, the Chishti, the Qadiri, the Suhrawardi and the Naqshbandi were the most important.
These Muslim Saints also believed in personal piety. Their doctrine was that the religious goal could be achieved only by loving God. They did not accept the authority of the Ulama, the law-givers of Muslim religion. The Sufis had a broad and tolerant outlook. Nor did they divide the Hindu from the Muslim. They lived simply and piously.
Bhakti and Sufism ushered a new religious atmosphere into the country. In this atmosphere, faith was valued more than form. Orthodoxy was discouraged. Hinduism and Islam did not wholly exclude each other. Their followers began to observe common points in the two systems. Although conflicts and prejudices still existed, yet a liberal influence had entered the India life.
Into this changing world, Guru Nanak Dev ji was born. He declared to mankind a message of love and faith. He preached this message far and wide. By Guru Nanak Dev ji’s teachings, the process of change was quickened.
Like the Bhaktas and the Sufis, Guru Nanak Dev ji proclaimed love of God as the basis of religion. Like the Bhaktas, he denounced caste and ritualism. Like the Sufis, he emphasised submission to God’s will as the final means to realization. Like both, he rejoiced in singing praises of the Almighty and indicated the way reconciliation between the Hindus and Muslims.
Spiritual quest was the sole aim of the Bhaktas and Sufis. But Guru Nanak Dev ji took notice of ills and errors of society. He said that it is the duty of a true religion to remedy all these ills and errors.
However, there were also some differences of doctrine. Guru Nanak Dev ji did not believe, as did some Bhaktas and Sufis, that man could in his mystical progress attain equality with God.
Guru Nanak Dev ji’s entire view was based on the concept of unity of God. He raised song in praise of One Supreme Being. Image – making and idolatry were forbidden.
Moral conduct was given sovereignty over everything else. Equality and justice were precious values. Selfless service was an inescapable duty of man.
In this simple teaching, he laid the seed of major religious faith which came to be known as Sikhism.

to read in punjabi: https://ieltsacademicreading.blogspot.com/2020/08/have-you-read-this-article-before.html
to read in hindi: https://ieltsacademicreading.blogspot.com/2020/08/blog-post_95.html






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