Guru Nanak Dev entered the river for purposes of bathing as other common pilgrims
were doing. Instead of throwing water to the east, he, however, started
throwing water in the opposite direction towards the west. Taking
him as a naive visitor, the nearby bathers told him that he was not performing
the rituals correctly. They advised him to throw water to the east.
Guru Nanak Dev continued throwing water towards the west pretending that
he was very much absorbed in the 'holy' act and had not heard anything.
Soon, many people gathered there to tell him that the proper method of
performing the ritual was to throw water in the other direction.
His water thrown to the west was of no use to him or to his dead ancestors.
Seeing a lot of people around, Guru Nanak stopped throwing
water, looked towards them and asked, "What is the matter? What is wrong
with my throwing water?" Many people spoke in one voice. "The
water is to be thrown towards the rising sun so that it reaches your dead
ancestors." Guru Nanak Dev replied that his crops in his village
were dying. The village is toward the west. He wanted to irrigate
those crops. After hearing this reply the people started laughing.
One of them questioned him as to how the water thrown by him could reach
hundreds of miles away. The Guru became serious and asked, "If the
water thrown by me cannot reach a few hundred miles away on this very earth,
how can water thrown by you to your dead ancestors reach them in the heavens?"
The people became silent and started thinking over the
reply given by the Guru. They had no logical argument to challenge his
statement.
Guru Nanak Dev came out of the river and the crowd followed
him. The Guru calmly told them the truth. He explained that
hollow rituals do not have any religious value. They should love,
respect and take care of their parents when they are alive. When
people die, they do not need anything from us and neither can we send them
anything after they have left this world. After death, people get
what they have given to the needy, out of their honest earnings, while
living on this earth.
Serve your parents and others when they are alive.
Hollow, mindless rituals after their death have no value to them at all.
