Religious Problem in India

Author(s): Annie Besant
Publisher: Theosophist Office Adyar

Page 78

70
THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEM IN INDIA
he cannot be satisfied with what is withont. And there is nothing more troublesome to the commonplace man or woman than to be pressed with questions as to realities, when he finds himself quite comfortable on the safe cushions of formul; and so Nānak in his childhood, is a great trial to his father. Surely he must be mad; he is sitting for hours meditating and taking no food; he must be having fever. They bring a doctor to see him. Nānak asks the doctor whether he could cure the diseases of his soul. What kind of patient is this who greets his plıysician in that manner? Or take him when the ceremony of the sacred thread is to be performed. The story is so characteristic that I will give it to you, and I ought to say here that for all the quotations I am making, I am depending upon my Sikh friends, who have been good enough to translate them for me from their own books, so that I may have ground to go on which is sure.
“When everything was ready and the Purohit (the family priest) was about to invest him with it, Nanak turned round and enquired: "Tell me, Pandit-ji, of what use is this thread? What are the duties of the man who is invested with it? Why is it necessary to put it on!'
"Nobody can perform any sacrificial ceremonies without putting it on,' said the Purohit, who was merely a village Pandit, and did not know the secret signification of the sacred thread; this thread pulrifies the wearer and entitles him to attend and perform all ceremonies.'