As
per the author, SPL Bedi, after completing a bulk of his journeys and
peregrinations in the land, Guru Nanak decided to settle down on the banks of
the river Ravi which flowed through the heart of the Punjab. He selected a
spot, and the land was given to him by his devotee, one Seth Karoria, who was
one of the wealthiest persons of the region. Guru Nanak built his abode there,
where he would live with his family. He himself ploughed his fields, since he
was a firm believer that every man should indulge in an occupation and put in
hard labour, and live off the fruits of the same. He called his home Kartarpur,
or, “Gods Ville,” and inevitably, all his followers, and other people seeking
his blessings, would flock to the place; in due course a gurudwara came up
there. It was at Kartarpur that the Sikh faith gained some kind of an
organizational semblance.
On
the eastern bank of the river at that place was a mango grove where Guru Nanak
held his congregation. The place is known today as the town of Dera Baba Nanak.
Why he built two places of meeting at that time separated just by the width of
the river Ravi remains a mystery. Strangely, the border separating India and
Pakistan runs through the two spots: Kartarpur being in Pakistan, and Dera Baba
Nanak being in India! Up to now pilgrims on the Indian side had to be content
with having darshan of Kartarpur from
Dera Baba Nanak through binoculars; now, with the construction of the corridor,
they can actually cross over to visit and pray at the actual site….
Bedi
writes: “But history revealed the strangest of facts, through the dynamics of
happenings. When in 1947, with freedom coming to the Sub Himalayan
Sub-continent, Pakistan and Hindusthan came into being as two independent
sovereign states the boundary line dividing the two ran exactly between the Sat
Guru’s twin seats, Shri Kartarpur on the one side going to Pakistan and Dera
Baba Nanak on this side coming to India.” This he wrote half a century ago.
It
is again a strange fact that when the relationship between the two countries
has touched a new low, it is Kartarpur which has provided a bridge for the two to
make an effort to mend the relationship. However, even a slender twig has the
potential to be the foundation of a new structure, hopefully for the good of
all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msd3AR30IBI&list=RDMsd3AR30IBI&start_radio=1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msd3AR30IBI&list=RDMsd3AR30IBI&start_radio=1
