Guru Nanakji, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

I got the article from someone in the context of central message in all religions being the same. Sharing it here for posterity.

In a paper entitled Guru Nanak in Oriya Sources, author Raghubir Singh Tak describes an Oriyan palm leaf manuscript preserved in the Jagannath Temple Museum, which documents the point in history when Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Guru Nanak were visiting the holy dhama at Puri Jagannath at the same time, along with other associates. Raghubir Singh Tak, formerly a Professor in the Department of Guru Nanak Studies, GNDU, describes the manuscript:
"There is an entrenched tradition in Sikh religion that Guru Nanak during his sojourns visited Jagan Nath Puri and recited Arti- `Gagan main thai ravi chand deepak bane..: enshrined in Sri Guru Granth Sahib
There is an excellent narration of Lord Caitanya's meeting with Guru Nanak at Puri Jagannatha, delivered by H.H. Srila Bhakti Sravan Tirtha Goswami of Gaudiya Matha. He writes:
"A contemporary of Mahaprabhu, Guru Nanak was older to Mahaprabhu by 16 years. He departed five years after the disappearance of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Nanak sought a religious path that avoided the formal structures of both Islam and Hinduism. However, in the Guru Granth Sahib, there are frequent references to Har Krishen, Gobind, Gopal and Ram.
Thus most of the names for God in Gurbani come directly from Vaishnava bhakti school. Clearly, Nanak dev ji believed in a God that was both formless and full of form. Nirgun as well as Sagun. One does not negate the other. Both coexist at the same time, resonating with Sri Chaitanya's philosophy of `Achintya Bhed Abhed' (inconceivable unity in duality).
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Guru Nanak both met at Puri and spent some time there. This incident is recorded in Chaitanya Bhagbat of Iswar Das written in Oriya in 17th Century.
The author, Ishvar Das, was one of Mahaprabhu's close associates in Puri, and the only biographer to mention the event, perhaps because the meeting was brief and only the eyewitness devotees of Puri knew about it.
Ishvar Das writes: (Ishvar Das's Chaitanya Bhagavat, Adhyaya 61).
Srinibasaye Viswambhara
Kirtan madyare vihar
Nanak Saranga ye dui
Rupa Sanatana duibhai
Jagai Madhai ekatra
Kirtan Karanti Nritya
"In the congregational singing led by Shri Chaitanya in Nagar Purushottama (Puri dham), Nanak and Saranga (another name for Mardana who played the sarangi), the two bothers Rupa and Sanatana along with Jagai and Madhai also joined in. Gopal Guru, for whom Guru Nanak had deep affection, was there as well, along with Nityananda Prabhu, who was considered an incarnation of Balarama. They all relished the kirtan at Jagannath Puri."
(Ishvar Das's Chaitanya Bhagavat Adhyaya 64).
A popular legend is told of how Guru Nanak was entering the temple of Lord Jagannath, he met Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who was coming out. Both offered pranams to each other. Then Nanak turned and started to leave the temple. Mahaprabhu asked him why he was not going inside to have darshan. Guru Nanak replied `I have already seen the Lord'.
According to Padmabhushan Dr. Durgadas Basu, a National Research Professor, Guru Nanak was given mantra diksha by non other than Prabhu Nityananda while the latter was traveling through Bangladesh (Bengal). That Sri Nanak was a `mantra shishya' of Nityananda Prabhu has been written down in his autobiography and the last chapter of the Guru Grantha Sahib, while elaborating the greatness and glory of the holy `Naam'.
In the Granth Sahib, it is written:
"Swasi grasi harinam samali
Simar bus vishwambhar ak"
"In order to attain salvation, one must chant the holy name of Ram, Hari or Vishwambhar."

True happiness

Paamahamsa Yovananda writes:

Whenever you eat, drink, play, ride, picnic, fish, go to the movies, tour around the world, earn a million dollars,  meet the finest friend, bcome the healthiest man, or king of an earthly empire , these things will never give you the tangile ever-increasing joy born of the ever-increasing depth of meditation.

Violence, peace and Religion

Hi all

So I never understood violence in the name of  religion. I love teachings of sage Kapila, son of Devahuti. I am a follower of Gandhi. I believe in world peace.

SB 3.29.21: I am present in every living entity as the Supersoul. If someone neglects or disregards that Supersoul everywhere and engages himself in the worship of the Deity in the temple, that is simply imitation.

SB 3.29.22: One who worships the Deity of Godhead in the temples but does not know that the Supreme Lord, as Paramatma, is situated in every living entity's heart, must be in ignorance and is compared to one who offers oblations into ashes.

SB 3.29.23: One who offers Me respect but is envious of the bodies of others and is therefore a separatist never attains peace of mind, because of his inimical behavior towards other living entities.

SB 3.29.24: My dear Mother, even if he worships with proper rituals and paraphernalia, a person who is ignorant of My presence in all living entities never pleases Me by the worship of My Deities in the temple.

SB 3.29.25: Performing his prescribed duties, one should worship the Deity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead until one realizes My presence in his own heart and in the hearts of other living entities as well.

SB 3.29.26: As the blazing fire of death, I cause great fear to whoever makes the least discrimination between himself and other living entities because of a differential outlook.

Honestly,  I have no idea about God.  But SB does indeed teach nonviolence- the key to individual and societal peace.