Review by Mrs Padmamalini Rao

The word journey is a profound one. It means the distance from one place to another, from one time to another, from a state of ignorance to one of realisation. Volume One of Journey with the Gurus by Inni Kaur is all these journeys into one, explained in the most familiar way known to human kind–through the retelling of the events in the life of the saint, Guru Nanak … from his birth to his decision to leave his family for the purpose of spreading the message of God.

Inni Kaur opens the door of Nanak’s house, raises the shutters of his windows, leads the reader by the hand to the river bank he used to frequent, bundles us into the bullock carts that take him from one town of Panjab to another. We enter conversations and between tea and pakoras, marriages and the janeu ceremony, false allegations and meditations, we experience with our senses his wisdom.

Nanak’s message that the gifts of the universe are all around us, that the light of God is within and that the first should not blind the awakening of the second is never more needed than today. Nanak’s faithful follower, Mardana, asks, ‘If God’s Light is in everyone, then why are some people so unkind and cruel?’ To this, Nanak replies ‘people are unkind and hurt others because they don’t know that God’s Light is in them.’ Journey with the Gurus is a book meant to be read together as a family, together in twos and threes, together with oneself and the ever-present Gurus. At the end of each chapter, Inni Kaur lists ‘Discussion Points’ that draw readers to delve within their hearts and confront the ugly spectres of judging others, speaking harshly, temptations, negative and self-destructive impulses, discrimination and a host of other dark forces. She then draws our attention to Nanak’s demeanour and choices in which lie the means to overcome our lower selves. Interspersed in between are places of significance in the Guru’s life, where Gurudwaras now stand, and Nanak’s verses (shahbads) in Gurumukhi with the English translation.

This is a journey one does not want to end. Though written in a manner that is instructive to Sikh families raising children to the faith in modern times, it is a journey every child and adult with even the slightest inkling of humanism can relate to. Nanak’s questions to the established practices of his time are our own questions. His courage knocks at our hearts to enter. The effulgence of his compassion lights our way. One journey over, we wait with nothing but the baggage of our longing for that God within, for more journeys with the Gurus.