Describe the major teachings of either Kabir or Baba Guru Nanak, and the ways in which these have been transmitted.
Baba Guru Nanak, a great leader and saint in the Bhakti tradition had some major teachings which were performed and transmitted in different ways.
1. Baba Guru Nanak advocated a form of “Nirguna Bhakti”.
2. He rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship and the scriptures of both hindu and Muslims.
3. According to him, the ‘Absolute’ or Rab had no gender or form. He proposed a single way to connect to the divine by singing the hymns called “Shabad”.
4. He would sing these compositions in various ragas while he attendant Mardana played by the ‘Rabab’.
5. He organizwd his followers into a community and and set up rules for community worship.
6. He appointed one of his disciples Angad as his successor and this practice continued for nearly 200 years.
7. Although Guru-Nanak did not wish to establish a new religion, but after his death, his followers consolidated their own practices and disntinguised theselves from Hindus and Muslims.
His teachings are relevant in the 21st century because of the simplicity, practability and feeling of community.