Every Kattak and Vaisakh, I am invariably asked a few questions. Why do we celebrate Guru Nanak Sahib’s birthday on different dates in November each year? What is the historical date of the Guru’s birth? I am rarely asked: How ought to celebrate Guru Nanak Sahib’s Purab?

So, early yesterday morning, I started to draft an explanation. And what matters most?

In Guru Granth Sahib

‍Purab has two meanings in the context we are exploring: greatness, glory, virtue, or praise; and festival or auspicious time. In Guru Granth Sahib, both meanings are available. Guru Nanak Sahib shares his testimony.

The Guru pauses and reflects on witnessing the Sovereign's wondrous plays on earth, water, and sky filled with the 1’s presence. Then, the Guru voices:

From egg, womb, earth (soil), and sweat (dampness),
all creatures are Your deed.
I have seen Your one Purab-greatness,
You are present in all.¹

The Guru declares I also go on the pilgrimage, but the pilgrimage for me is the Nam (Identification with the 1). The pilgrimage is the reflection on the Sabad (word-sound) for inner deep knowledge. Then, the Guru voices: 

Wisdom’s deep knowledge is the eternal pilgrimage place,
where the ten Purabs-festivals are always evident.
I always seek Hari’s Nam,
give O Divine, O Earth-Supporter!²

Hari refers to the 1 Who is Light, All-Pervasive, and Fear-Eliminator. The ten festivals refer to the auspicious times for pilgrimage bathing in Indic traditions.³

For Guru Nanak Sahib, the greatness of the 1 to identify with the 1 is what matters all the time.

People were bathing at the Kurukshetra pilgrimage on Abhijit nakshatra festival or auspicious occasion as per Hindu beliefs. Guru Amardas Sahib’s very presence transformed the Purab. Guru Amardas Sahib documents and voices while scribing Purab five times!⁴

Abhijit bathing Purab occurred seeing-connecting with the Gur Satigur (Wisdom, Eternal-Wisdom). This is how people become filth-free and ignorance-free. This is how the light within is illumined. This is how pain vanishes, and the 1 is experienced. This is how Own-Self, Light, and Creator made it the Purab!

Many Sikhs traveled with Gur Satigur on this marg-panth, way-collective. At every instant, moment, and step, there was devotion to the 1. Many people came to see this devotion. Those who see the Guru, connect with the Wisdom, they experience the 1. Satigur made efforts to go to the pilgrimage sites to free people.

First, Gur Satigur arrived at Kurukshetra, and the Purab occurred. (Guru Nanak Sahib addressed the people at the same Kurukshetra on a solar eclipse.) The news spread in the world, and people came from three regions (all spaces). Spiritualists, sages, and commoners, they all came to see. Those who were touched-transformed by the perfect Gur Satigur, their transgressions were removed. Yogis, Digambars Jains, mendicants, and followers of six schools of Hindu philosophies offered, dialogued, and left.  

Second, Guru went to the river Jamuna and remembered the 1. The toll-collecters met and offered the Guru; they also didn’t charge tolls for ferrying across the followers. As Guru’s followers were freed from paying toll, those who remember and identify with the 1 and tread the Guru’s way-collective, the fear of death-toll-collector can’t touch them. The whole world says Guru-Guru; by identifying with the Guru, they became free.

Third, the Guru came to the river Ganges, and a wondrous movement occurred. All were enchanted seeing-connecting with the truth-exemplar Guru; no one charged even half the fare. Nothing accumulated in the money box; the toll-collectors went into silence and asked themselves: “Fellows, what can we do? Who do we ask? All are following Satigur.” (And we can’t collect from the Guru’s followers!)

The important people of the town came to seek Guru’s protection. They asked, and they decided that Gur Satigur (Wisdom, Eternal-Wisdom) as Gur Govind (Wisdom, Earth-Force) is Smriti (Hindu text). They all corrected their understanding that Smriti and Shastra (knowledge) for them is to contemplate Gur Govind as Sukhdev, Prahlad, and Sri Ram did. This is how to displace and dispel the five vices as thieves or way robbers in the fortress of the body-town. Nanak: Daily singing and offering of Puranas was replaced by the Guru’s instructions; this is how the devotion for the 1 was developed.

In Guru Granth Sahib, Purab is the festival or auspicious occasion when we gather to remember and experience the greatness of the 1.

In Bhai Gurdas’ Writings

Bhai Gurdas (1551-1636) records the context of Purab in multiple Vars and Kabit Savaye. Below are a few citations.

The daily deeds of Gurmukh, or Wisdom-facing, person: “Love, devotion, and reverence, in present times, serve Gur, do Gur Purab.”⁵ Live the Wisdom, that’s Guru’s festival of the greatness of the 1, that’s the auspicious moment!

The ten counts and Gurmukh: “Untiing at pilgrimage Purab on ten Purabs do not equal Gur Purab.”⁶ There is no contentment by bathing at pilgrimage centers which coincide with ten Hindu festivals. The contentment is in Guru’s festival of the greatness of the 1!

The deed of Gur-chela, Mentor-protege: “ Serve in love, devotion, and reverence, and organize Gur Purab.”⁷ Not only are the mentors serving themselves, but they are also commemorating the Guru’s festival of the greatness of the 1!

The daily routine of Guru’s Sikh: “I offer myself to those Sikhs of the Guru who do Gur Purab with love and devotion.”⁸ To offer oneself is adore to that level where one is willing to do anything and everything. In this case, offer oneself to those who celebrate Guru’s festival of the greatness of the 1 in love and devotion!

The Sikh movement and collective: “In Dharmsal do Gur Purab as sow for successful trade.”⁹ In any Principle-centered gathering of the Sikhs, including gurduaras, the seeding is of Guru’s festival of the greatness of the 1 to achieve life’s purpose.

In the congregations: “Some bring sweets or great prasad to consume, some call the Sikhs to do Gur Purab.”¹⁰ Prasad is literally grace, symbolically degh or karah, and along with food and sweets, is served as a gracious gift from the Guru to the people for physical nourishment. Gur Purab is the Guru’s festival of the greatness of the 1, that is, spiritual, mental, and emotional nourishment. 

This is how the Sikhs of the Guru developed their lifestyle. 

Over the Centuries

The two earliest attributed accounts of Guru Nanak Sahib’s birth vary, though they agree on the year 1469. Later works follow, cite, corroborate, or revise them.

Vaisakh Sudi (light fortnight) 3 is the birth recorded in Sakhi Mahalu Pahile Ki by Shihan Uppal. He is mentioned in Bhai Gurdas’ Var 11, Pauri 14, as the prominent Sikh of Guru Nanak Sahib. Scholars have cited Shihan’s work around 1570-74.

Kattak’s Puranmashi (full moon) is mentioned as the birth time in popularly termed Janam Sakhi Bala. Traditionally, Bhai Bala Sandhu was considered Guru Nanak Sahib’s companion, but scholars have established the work mentioned above to be Janam Patri Nanak Vedi Ki by Gorakh Das (Handali) dated around 1658-59.

The birth anniversaries of the Guru were not celebrated in Panjabi or Indic culture. They seem to have been the influence of Western culture through the British Empire post the Panjab annexation in 1849. The first documented birth anniversary celebration was at Nankana Sahib in 1925. The first documented centennial celebration was in 1969. The Nanakshahi calendar was first adopted in 1999.

The historical disagreements continue, and the calendar adjustments evolve.

Purab, over the decades, became Divas (day) for Panjabis or Jayanti (victory) for Indians. The fixed commemoration has been on 1 Vaisakh (14 Apr). In 2024, the popular celebration is on 2 Maghar (15 Nov), which shifts yearly.

Contemporary cultures influence us. The available resources and research data inform us. Still, none of these are definitive.

The only definite notion is what’s in Guru Granth Sahib, and that’s Purab: the greatness of the 1, which was the festival or the auspicious moment when one connects with and experiences the 1. For the Sikhs, it was carrying that Guru-imparted tradition while navigating the culture, from Panjabi to Indic to Western. 

On this year of Nanakshahi 556, make any day festive or any moment auspicious by connecting, remembering, reflecting, contemplating, or experiencing the 1! That’s the greatness of the 1 Guru voices, sings, documents, imparts, and gifts. 

Let us hone in on Prakash (illumination), the 1’s Light in all spaces and creatures!

References

¹   “ਅੰਡਜ ਜੇਰਜ ਉਤਭੁਜ ਸੇਤਜ ਤੇਰੇ ਕੀਤੇ ਜੰਤਾ ॥ ਏਕੁ ਪੁਰਬੁ ਮੈ ਤੇਰਾ ਦੇਖਿਆ ਤੂ ਸਭਨਾ ਮਾਹਿ ਰਵੰਤਾ ॥੩॥,” Guru Granth Sahib, p. 596

²   “ਗੁਰ ਗਿਆਨੁ ਸਾਚਾ ਥਾਨੁ ਤੀਰਥੁ ਦਸ ਪੁਰਬ ਸਦਾ ਦਸਾਹਰਾ ॥ ਹਉ ਨਾਮੁ ਹਰਿ ਕਾ ਸਦਾ ਜਾਚਉ ਦੇਹੁ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਧਰਣੀਧਰਾ ॥,” Guru Granth Sahib, p. 687

³   “ਅੱਠੇ, ਚੌਂਦੇ, ਮਸਿਆ, ਸੰਗਰਾਂਦ, ਪੂਰਨਮਾਸ਼ੀ, ਉਤਰਾਇਣ, ਦਖਣਾਇਣ, ਵਯ ਤਿਪਾਤ, ਚੰਨ ਤੇ ਸੂਰਜ ਦੇ ਗ੍ਰਹਿਣ,” Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, Gurushabad Ratanakar Mahan Kosh, p. 616

⁴   “ਨਾਵਣੁ ਪੁਰਬੁ ਅਭੀਚੁ ਗੁਰ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਦਰਸੁ ਭਇਆ ॥…ਮਿਲਿ ਆਏ ਨਗਰ ਮਹਾ ਜਨਾ ਗੁਰ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਓਟ ਗਹੀ ॥੬॥੪॥੧੦॥,” Guru Granth Sahib, p. 1116

⁵   “ਭਾਇ ਭਗਤਿ ਭੈ ਵਰਤਿਮਾਨਿ ਗੁਰ ਸੇਵਾ ਗੁਰਪੁਰਬ ਕਰੰਦੇ।,” Bhai Gurdas, Var 6, Pauri 3

⁶   “ਤੀਰਥ ਪੁਰਬ ਸੰਜੋਗ ਵਿਚਿ ਦਸ ਪੁਰਬੀਂ ਗੁਰ ਪੁਰਬਿ ਨ ਪਾਇਆ।,” Bhai Gurdas, Var 7, Pauri 10

⁷   “ਭਾਇ ਭਗਤਿ ਭੈ ਸੇਵਦੇ ਗੁਰਪੁਰਬ ਕਰਾਏ।,” Bhai Gurdas, Var 9, Pauri 17

⁸   “ਕੁਰਬਾਣੀ ਤਿਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਗੁਰਸਿਖਾਂ ਭਾਇ ਭਗਤਿ ਗੁਰਪੁਰਬ ਕਰੰਦੇ।,” Bhai Gurdas, Var 12, Pauri 2

⁹   “ਧਰਮਸਾਲ ਵਿਚਿ ਬੀਜਦੇ ਕਰਿ ਗੁਰਪੁਰਬ ਸੁ ਵਣਜ ਸਓਤੇ।,” Bhai Gurdas, Var 29, Pauri 5

¹⁰   “ਏਕ ਮਿਸਟਾਨ ਪਾਨ ਲਾਵਤ ਮਹਾ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ਏਕ ਗੁਰਪੁਰਬ ਕੈ ਸਿਖਨ ਬੁਲਾਵਹੀ ॥,” Bhai Gurdas, Kabit Savaye, 309