Vision Of Sahib Sri Akali Guru Nanak Dev Ji

[Nihung Vikramdeep Singh]

Mysterium, Tremendum et Fascinans of Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s Vision

One of the world’s greatest philosopher and theologian, William James quoted that for a religion to take root and be successful it requires a religious experience where it undergoes three main factors; Mysterium, Tremendum et Fascinans. In Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev Ji received his call from the almighty via a vision where all criteria of James’ theory. Mysticism, marvel and fascination.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji had a sublime vision of God while bathing in a river for 3 days, in his vision of God he realised that there is only one God and that God did not have any physical attributes.

Hence in the first verse of Guru Granth Sahib Ji Guru Nanak Dev Ji states so boldly yet simply;

“There is only one God.

Truth is Gods name.

God is the creator and all happens to Gods will.

God is without Fear.

God has no enmity.

God is beyond time and, beyond birth, God is Self-Existent.”

When Guru Ji experiences God, he is captivated by the infinite’s brilliance and magnificence, and because of this Guru Nanak is immersed in spiralling and overwhelming emotion like no other, and it is so intense that he is lost in his own emotion of God for three days. Some Sikhs believe that because God isn’t bound by time, to Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s the vision may have seemed as long as a split second but in reality it lasted three days. However some believe that because God is not fixed to one place e.g. the concept of Heaven or Makah etc, Guru Nanak was overwhelmed by Gods prevailing presence and felt a metaphysical attraction between himself and God which is a feeling and emotion which can’t be bound by meagre, words. And that this experience or feeling was so intense that it lasted three days, that too underwater.

The tremendum of Guru Nanak Ji's vision was magnificently revealed after he departed from the river. Guru ji simply uttered the Mool Mantra and subsequently began receiving divine scriptures from the almighty which conceded all his life. Also Guru Nanak described God, in a way which is above human understanding E.g. God is beyond time and death. The biggest tremendum about his experience is that he stayed underwater for three days, which is beyond physical restraints.

The fascinating factor around the vision of Guru Nanak Dev Ji is that he managed to sum a depiction of God, and could be processed by thought, but along with that his description will always puzzle the mind e.g. God is self existent. Because the mind will try to put boundaries upon every thought which passes through, how can you put a boundary upon the concept that something has been there since the beginning and beyond understanding and something which isn’t the result of a set of processes? Because in life everything comes to existence via a process which carries out e.g. cells = tissue = organs = organ systems = organism. (Full stop) however with God there is no full stop and the origin is unknown.

Hence Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s vision was not only a religious experience which any human being can have, but a revelation which set off a missile in the world in the form of Sikhi. Gurfateh