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I found the following interesting line while reading The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Nikhilananda

Sri Ramakrishna accepted the divinity of Buddha and used to point out the similarity of his teachings to those of the Upanishads. He also showed great respect for the Tirthankarās, who founded Jainism, and for the ten Gurus of Sikhism. But he did not speak of them as Divine Incarnations. He was heard to say that the Gurus of Sikhism were the reincarnations of King Janaka of ancient India. He kept in his room at Dakshineśwar a small statue of Tirthankara Mahāvira and a picture of Christ, before which incense was burnt morning and evening.

[Attitude toward Different Religions,...,The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna]

The question is about the bolded statement that says the relationship between the Sikh gurus and king Janaka. I want to ask two related sub-questions as a part of this question

  1. Who is king Janaka mentioned here? Is he the father of Sita in Valmiki Ramayana or the liberated Janaka present in several Vedantic scriptures including Tripura Rahasya? Note that I am not sure whether both are the same or different.

  2. Are there any other references saying either explicitly or implicitly, either directly or indirectly that Sikh gurus are possible reincarnations of Janaka?

hanugm
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  • Rāmakr̥ṣṇa isn't a person who is well read in the portions of Vedas such as Upaniṣads and Brāhmaṇas that he may know much about Janaka who features in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa. Most of his knowledge came from hearing. And upon hearing the info about Janaka circulating in mainstream is usually about the Janaka who is mentioned in itihāsa texts especially. In many itihāsa such as Mahābhārata, when they refer to Janaka, they refer to the Upaniṣadic one who was enlightened but sometimes mix with him Janaka of Rāmāyaṇa and consider them to be the same person. – Bingming Jan 14 '23 at 22:06
  • Know that Aṣṭāvakra too only appears in later texts (itihāsa and some late Vedāntic scriptures), he isn't mentioned as the teacher of Janaka in the Vedas. In popular tradition though, Janaka is considered to be the disciple of Aṣṭāvakra because anyway, only few read Śathapatha Brāhmaṇa, Jaiminīya etc. Even in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Aṣṭāvakra isn't mentioned. If you want to see some discussion on Janaka, check this out https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/53846/24460 – Bingming Jan 14 '23 at 22:16
  • Bhatt Kirat describes Guru Nanak as a ‘reincarnation of Raja Janak’ (tu tan Janak raja autaru). Guru Angad is described as an embodiment of Raja Janak: ‘you [Guru Angad] are the incarnation of Raja Janak’. In the Miharvan Janamsakhi, it is narrated that in a past life Guru Nanak was Raja Janak. Nanak’s past life as Janak appears to have been widely known because Mobad in Dabistan-i Mazahib says he had heard this story as well. Furthermore, Janak is lauded by Bhai Gurdas as an ideal king. – Bingming Jan 15 '23 at 00:06
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    I have also mentioned about this in an answer -- https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/21291/4732 – Rickross Jan 15 '23 at 04:59

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