By Satnam K Khalsa Mount Horeb
We must analyze who is a Sikh. By cultural default many people consider themselves Sikhs. However, when Sikhism becomes a matter of birthright, it has certainly lost all meaning. The very definition of a Sikh must include the rejection of zat-pat, the caste system. Sikh defines a state of mind, and a strong reinforcing social system that rejects social illness such as caste.
The nature of Sikhism is such that it is impossible to categorize it with other religions, as merely a religion. It is a philosophy, a way of life, and a social system. It is not necessary for a person to have a revelation from God in order to realize that there are injustices in society. From the inception of culture, human beings have had a sense of justice and injustice. For the sake of fulfilling a political or economic need, injustices in society are disguised in the sacred, the religion, by those for whom this ideology is useful.
Political and economic powers are often disguised in culture. We must be able to recognize how power and politics can be manipulated and mystified. We must analyze the real relationships of power productive realities, and prestige that are disguised in the “sacred” ideologies like “zat-pat.”
The legitimization of authority is achieved by a dominant power group by the mystification of social injustices, as a means to control. If ideology moves into the sacred, an oppressed person has no control over the system. In such a system, one is forced to follow the belief of the given religion, leaving no chance for resistance by the oppressed group.
The ideology of the caste system is legitimized on a cosmic scale. Varna and Jati were first mentioned in the Rg Veda, the earliest document of Vedic civilization. In the early Vedic cosmogony, Pu-rusha sacrifices himself and thus brings together the ingredients of creation by this creative murder. In this way the world comes into being, as well as the Varnashram hierarchy. It is interesting to note that in this early Vedic world view, the world is maintained not by the deity, but by the Brahmins, by the performance of ritual.
In a closed society as was present in India with the legitimized ideology of superiority and inferiority, one had to submit to the power structure, with its political processes locked in to the system.
In a likewise manner, the pollution taboos directed against women, are supposed to be created by the gods, therefore, it would be sinful to challenge.
If the power relationships were put into the proper perspective, the subordinate groups would have a chance to resist. Guru Nanak did not accept superstitions and power ideologies. He rejected caste and other discrimination such as the concept of the lower status of women.
The effect of the caste system and sexism is power over another. However, power is ambigious. Power over one another group leaves that group alienated and disempowered. Power is the relationship between the dominators and the dominated. Power is used to constrain the options of a people.
Therefore, the caste system is not simply a Hindu religious concept that Sikhs have rejected. Caste is a system meant to demean and subordinate the victims of the system. It is a mystified ideology that implies that the victim must be passive, and that to resist the system, is to challenge the will of the gods.
The social stratification created by the caste system cuts across the whole society, ranking people in terms of prestige, In state societies where lawmakers and creators of religion lived in opulence, sustained by the sweat of others, we need to look at religions as ideologies that reinforce the control of those on the upper rungs of the ladder, while instilling among those on the bottom a sense of duty and devotion, with a hope of reward in the next life.
The rejection of the caste system by Guru Nanak was one of the greatest contributions to the society, and a milestone in human civilization. If the Sikh people regress, again using caste designations, it will be the greatest disserve to the Sikh Panth, and to the society as a whole.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 9, 1990
