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Guru Nanak (for Children)

Sikh Missionary Society: Publications: Guru Nanak (for Children):

A New Way of Teaching

A New Way of Teaching

Guru Nanak went into the river too. He began to splash water to the other side. This was something strange for the people. They gathered round him and thought that he was a fool. The people laughed at him and asked, "Are you mad? Why are you splashing water towards the West when all the other people are throwing it towards the East?"

The Guru did not listen to them. He went on splashing the water.

An old man came to the Guru angrily. He held the Guru by the arm and said, "Don't you know which side the water is to be thrown?"

The Guru smiled and asked, "May I know why all these people are throwing the water to that side?"
"Well, they are sending the water to their forefathers on the sun. So they are throwing the water towards the East," said the old man, "Only you are foolish enough to throw water towards the West."

"Do you know how far away their forefathers live?" asked the Guru.

"Millions of miles away on the sun," was the old man's reply.

"Well," said the Guru. "My farm is at Kartarpur in the West. It did not rain this year and my crops are thirsty. I am sending the water to my crops." Saying this, the Guru began to throw water again.

The people laughed at him and said, "Your farm is in the Punjab. How can this water reach there?"

"If my water cannot travel three hundred miles from here and reach my farm," said the Guru in surprise, "How can your water reach millions of miles to the Sun?"

The old man could not find any answer. Some of the people agreed with the Guru and they said, "He is right. It is really useless to throw water to the sun if it cannot reach there."

The people came to understand their ignorance They stopped throwing the water and listened to Guru Nanak. The Guru taught them the true way of life. He told them to serve living people and not think of the dead who have left us for ever.