Teachings of Guru Nanak
-Sarwan K.Aggarwal

1. We need an adept/guru to learn spiritualism.
Young Nanak had gone to a city to buy wares for his local store. He met some holy men and spent his money on feeding the holy men. He did not bring anything for the store. When asked, he told that he had executed a "transaction of truth" (Sachha Sauda). [There is a town in Punjab by the name "Sachha Sauda" in honor of that transaction.] The returned young Nanak was enlightened. In a transaction we have two parties exchanging something it has for something it wants to have. In the above transaction, Nanak served the holy men and the holy men imparted spiritual knowledge to Nanak. As Nanak was evolved soul, he got enlightened right away. In some circles, it is rumored that Nanak ran into Kabir and the saint Kabir helped Nanak realize his true self. [Sikhs do not believe that Nanak had a guru. They do agree to the fact that some thing called "Sachha Sauda" happened.]

2. Thinking of Lord makes one close to Him
The story goes that Nanak was counting the sold items. When he approached the count of thirteen ("Tera"), he forgot counting and started chanting "Thou, Thou, .." (Tera, tera, ..). He went into a trance/samadhi and was one with Lord. He gave away countless items and that did not cause any shortage in the store. As Nanak was close to God, so can we. The trick is clean mind, love, and devotion.

3. God is every where.
The story goes that Nanak was sleeping with feet towards Mecca. A Muslim brother walked by and complained of Nanak's disrespect for the grand mosque. Nanak asked the brother to move his feet away from the mosque. It is said that the grand mosque kept moving with the feet. The Muslim brother begged to be forgiven and bowed to the holy men.
Don't expect that to happen with us mortals. It was Nanak's supreme spiritual powers and his total conviction in "God is everywhere. He does not just live in the temples, he lives everywhere. His special abode is this human body."

4. Don't blindly follow rituals.
The story goes that the faithful were offering water to Sun at the Ganges. Nanak started repeating the same with face towards the West. When some one questioned, "What are you doing?" He replied with the question, "What are you doing?" The answer from the faithful was, "We are offering water to the Sun." Nanak replied, "I was offering water to my fields in Rawalpindi." The faithful ridiculed, "How can it reach the fields in Rawaloindi." Nanak stated, "If your water can reach Sun, my water can sure reach Rawalpindi." The faithful realized their folly.
There is nothing wrong with offering water to the Sun. That is a ritual and our intention is to thank the Sun for its sharing its energy with the whole universe without any discrimination. No one seems to remember the intention any more. Additionally, the Sun is a creation of the Creator. Just like mentioned in Geeta, Lord Krishna has indication that His Bhagti is superior to Bhagti of anyone or anything else. We could supposedly thank the Lord for having created the Sun. We can bow to Sun as in "Surya Namaskar" with an intention to improve physically and mentally. In that situation too, Nanak would have us thank the Creator for having created the Sun. Nanak was against rituals and not against the initial thoughts behind it.

5. God intoxication is better than any earthly intoxication
The story goes that the Muslim king arrested Nanak. Some mystics noted that Nanak's grinding stones were running without any efforts. He told the king that Nanak was some great mystic. The king invited Nanak and offered royal wine. Nanak refused and said, "Naam khumari Nanaka chari rahe din-raat." His God intoxication does not wear out with time.

6. Reading wholly books does not carry that much weight.
Respected Muslim friends invited Nanak to a mosque to read Quron. The thoughts behind were the propaganda value of the same. Nanak said, "Only if your priest also reads." So priest kept reading and Nanak kept listening. At the end of the session the friend complained of the trickery. Nanak said, "He had actually read the holy book. The priest was selling his horses in a market." The priest confirmed to have the thoughts of the upcoming auction. It is the practice that matters. Lord cares for our love and devotion. We need think of the Lord with love and devotion.