No Hindu No Muslim - River Bein

Dadi**: Guddu beta, what happens when someone disappears into a river and doesn't come back for three days?

Guddu**: They drowned, Dadi!

Dadi**: That's what everyone thought when a young man named Nanak vanished in the River Bein. But what actually happened is one of the most important moments in religious history.

Guddu**: Who was Nanak?

Dadi**: He would become Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. But before that, he was a young man living in Sultanpur Lodhi in Punjab. Every morning before sunrise, he would go to the River Bein for his bath and prayers.

Guddu**: Like taking a morning bath?

Dadi**: Yes, but also for meditation and connecting with God. His friend Mardana, a musician who would later travel the world with him, would wait on the riverbank while Nanak bathed.

Guddu**: What happened that special morning?

Dadi**: It started like any other day. Mardana sat on the bank, watching Nanak wade into the water. Nanak dipped below the surface to bathe. And then... he didn't come up.

Guddu**: He didn't come up?!

Dadi**: Minutes passed. Then an hour. Mardana started calling Nanak's name. No response. He ran along the bank, searching the water. Nothing. He called for help, and the whole village came running.

Guddu**: Did they find him?

Dadi**: They searched all day, beta. They dragged nets through the river. They looked downstream. By evening, everyone was certain - Nanak had drowned. His family mourned. His mother wept. They gave him up for dead.

Guddu**: But he wasn't dead, was he?

Dadi**: Three days later, in the same spot where he had disappeared, Nanak simply... walked out of the river. Alive. Glowing. Transformed.

Guddu**: Where had he been for three days?!

Dadi**: That's what everyone asked. And Nanak's first words after emerging became the foundation of a new way of seeing the world. Do you know what he said?

Guddu**: What?

Dadi**: He said, "There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim." Everyone was shocked! This was a time of bitter fighting between Hindus and Muslims. What could he possibly mean?

Guddu**: That's a confusing thing to say!

Dadi**: Nanak explained that during those three days, he had been in God's presence. God had given him a cup of nectar and told him, "I am with you. I have made you blessed. Go and repeat My Name, and teach others to do the same."

Guddu**: But what about the Hindu and Muslim part?

Dadi**: Nanak understood that all these labels - Hindu, Muslim, rich, poor, high caste, low caste - are human inventions. God doesn't see any of them. God sees only souls, only love, only devotion. We divide ourselves; God never does.

Guddu**: So everyone is the same to God?

Dadi**: Exactly, beta! This became Guru Nanak's central teaching. He traveled for over twenty years, visiting Hindu temples and Muslim mosques, meeting priests and scholars, always teaching the same message: there is only One God, and all humans are equally God's children.

Guddu**: Is that why Sikhs have langars where everyone eats together?

Dadi**: Yes! Guru Nanak started the tradition of everyone - king or beggar, Brahmin or sweeper - sitting together on the floor and eating the same food. No one is higher, no one is lower.

Guddu**: Did people get angry with his teaching?

Dadi**: Many did, beta. The priests of all religions didn't like being told that their way wasn't the only way. The powerful didn't like being told they were equal to the powerless. But Guru Nanak never stopped teaching.

Guddu**: That was very brave of him.

Dadi**: The bravest, beta. And it all started with three days in a river, when a young man met God and came back with a message for the world: stop fighting over who is right. Just love God and serve each other.

Guddu**: Dadi, I wish everyone followed that teaching.

Dadi**: So do I, beta. So do I. But we can start with ourselves, can't we? See everyone as equal, help everyone without asking about their religion or caste. That's how we honor Guru Nanak's vision.

Guddu**: Goodnight, Dadi.

Dadi**: Goodnight, beta. May the One God bless all beings equally!