Sikhism is a universal world-faith with a message for all men, The Sikhs must cease to think of their faith as just another good religion and must begin to think in terms of Sikhism being the religion for this new age, The religion preached by Guru Nanak is the faith of new age.
The Sikh-faith is the universal religion for the present age. The Sikh religion is truly the answer to the problems of modern man. Now here is presented a religion totally unaffected by Semitic or Christian influence. Based on the concept of the unity of Govt, it rejected Hindu formularies and adopted an independent ethical system, rituals and standards which were totally opposed to the theological belief of Guru Nanak’s age and century. It would be difficult to point out to a religion of greater originality or to a more comprehensive ethical system. A reading of Guru Granth Sahib suggest that Sikhism should be regarded as anew and a separate world religion. The religion is also one which should appeal to the occidental mind it is essentially a practical religion. If judged from the pragmatically stand point, in some quarters it would rank almost first in the world.
The founder of the Sikh religion was Guru Nanak Dev. The Sikh religion came into existence in the fifteenth century and developed very quickly, due to having vast qualities adopted in this faith. The seat of Sikh Gurus continued till the Tenth human guru and after that the Guru-gaddi was given to Guru Granth Sahib by Guru Gobind Singh. Guru Nanak the founder of Sikh religion is known for the social reforms. He used to preach for hard work, against sati rasam and against the superstitions existing in the society. He was too brave to speak against the ruler of that time. He performed his activities in a strange way which resulted in improving ways of life, Though Guru Nanak did not attend any school yet due to spiritual power in him, he wrote such a poetry which nobody could write. He was declared a scientist, as what he told five centuries ago, is being proved by the scientists now.
The sacrifices made by Sri Guru Arjan Dev,
Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh are well known in the world. There was no selfish interest but they fought against the cruelties done by the rulers of that time, To save Hindu religion, Guru Gobind Singh created Khalsa which he called saint-soldier as he has both the qualities. The Khalsa is ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of nation and religion. In the Sikh religion everyone is taught to ask for the well-being of the whole world and not of individual himself or of a particular community. According to Sikh-religion the aim of life is not to get salvation or heavenly abode called paradise but to develop the best in man which is God. Everybody hankers after salvation, paradise or Elysium, setting his hopes on them every day of his life. But those who love to see God, do not ask for salvation. The great Guru Nanak replied to the question, how to see God and love him, in Japji Sahib.
According to Sikh religion, God has been described as nirgun or absolute and sargum or personal, When God was Himself self-created there was none, He consulted Himself, what He did came into pass, Then there was no hell, or heaven or the three regioned world. There was then no sin, no virtue, no Veda or any religious book, no caste, no sex. When God becomes sargun He becomes what is called the Name and in order to realize Himself God made Nature where He has His seat is diffused everywhere as love, The Gurus have represented the double phase of the God and they have avoided the pitfalls into which some persons have fallen with them. God is not an abstract idea or model form but a personal being. Capable of being loved and honored and yet He is conceived of as a Being whose presence is diffused all over His creation. The God had no incarnations; He Himself is truth, beauty and eternal yearning of the heart after goodness. The Gurus have compared the Aryan idea of immanence with the scientific idea of transcendence without taking away anything from the unity and the personal character of God.
Some people generally have wrong interpretation of Sikhism. The person who are familiar with the eastern though fix upon the passages which refer to the thought of immanence and conclude that the Sikhism is nothing but an echo of Hinduism while those who are imbued with Muslim or Christian thought take hold of changing passage of identify Sikhism with other religions. The person who knows both, will see here no system, nothing particular but confusion, Guru Nanak prescribed the fundamental of Sikh belief in God in the As a Di Var. God is called the in-dweller of nature and is described as filling all things by an art which is artless. The universe too is not an illusion, it being rooted in God who is real, is a reality not a reality final and abiding but a reality on account of God’s presence in it. He is not a God belonging to certain persons, Muslim or Hindu, but is dispenser of whole universal life. The only way to worshipping Him is to sing his praises. There can be no worship without good actions. Without pleasing God, all actions are worthless.
Prior to the 15th Century, the leaders of thought had fixed certain grades of salvation, according to the different capacities of men, whom they divided into high and low castes. Certain people belonging to favored classes developed in them a few good qualities to a very high degree while others left to themselves, got degenerated. It was as if a mali neglecting to look after all the different kinds of plants entrusted to him, were to bestow all his care on a few chosen ones, which were in bloom so that he might be able to supply a few flowers every day for his master’s table. The Sikh Guru did not want to take such a lopsided growth and wanted to give an opportunity of highest development to all the classes of people. They declared the whole humanity to be one and that a man is to be honored not because he comes of a particular caste or creed but because he is a human being an emanation from God whom the God has given the same senses and same soul as to others. So they had to shun the idea of un-touch ability Guru Nanak said, ‘How women can be called inferior? They have given birth to kings and prophets’ Women as well as men share the grace of God and are equally responsible for their actions to Him. Guru Har Gobind called women the conscience of man.
The ultimate source of all that is in us is God alone. Without Him there is no strength provided by God to him. Now question arises, who is responsible for man’s action? Man himself. We learn from the Ist shlok of 7th Pauri of Asa Di Var that man is given a free will which leads him to do good or evil actions, to think good or evil thoughts and to 0 in consequence to hell or heaven. The problem of good and evil is the problem of union and disunion with God. All things are strung on Gods will and man among them, As long as man is conscious of this, he lives and moves in union with Him. But later on led away by the overweening sense of self, he cuts himself from that unity and begins to wander in moral isolation.
The way of religion shown by Sikh Gurus is not a set of views but a method of life, lived according to specific model based not on rules or laws but upon fellowship. In the functioning of fellowship the personality of the Guru is all along operative commanding his whole being and shaping his life to its diviner without such a personality there would be no direction in the moral forces of society in spite of thousands kinds of knowledge, would still be utter darkness. There is no force to connect man with man then with God. Everybody will exist for himself in moral isolation like spurious sesames left desolate in the field with a hundred masters to own them. The Sikh Gurus remove the barriers of caste and position set up by men among themselves and gathering them all up to themselves unite them with God like this foundations are laid of a society of the purified who as on organized force strive for the good of whole universe. The Sikh Gurus were perfect and are described as such in the Sikh scriptures. Guru Nanak says “Everybody else is subject to error, only the Guru and God are without error’. ‘Fifth Guru says “Whoever is seen, is defective, without any defeat is my true, Guru the Yogi. The state of perfection attained by the Gurus is lucidly described by Guru Arjan Dev in the eighth and the eighteenth Ashtpadies of Sukhmani Sahib. The Sikh Gurus fought with sin and had overcome it. A few of them had lived for a long time in error until grace touched them as they were perfected through a constant discipline of knowledge love and experience in the association of their Gurus.
According to Sikh religion the change comes not only through association with the Guru which is found in many other religions but through the belief that the Sikh incorporates the Guru, He feels himself with the Guru and then feels himself linked up with an inexhaustible source of power. A Sikh who follows the teachings of his Guru is great power in himself but when such a Sikh gets into himself the dynamic personally of such a perfect exemplar as Guru Gobind Singh, his powers acquire an infinite reach and he becomes a superman, The Guru says that Khalsa is my, other self, in his, I live and have my being a single Sikh, a mere believer is only one but the equation changes when he takes Guru Gobind Singh into his embrace. He becomes equal to one lakh and a quarter in the Sikh pailance. The change occurs in his physical fitness mental and Spiritual outlook. He will keep the Guru’s flag always flying. The feeling of incorporation with the Guru makes the Sikh strong beyond his ordinary powers and in time of emergency comes to his rescue long before he can remember anything relevant to the occasion recorded in history of scripture.
The idea of religion in Sikhism is more practical than merely mystic, and it consists of the practice of Nam and Sewa. It implies to practice the presence of God and by keeping Him ever in our mind by singing his praises of dwelling on his excellences, The idea of services is that it should be, not only liberal but also efficient and economical, it should do the greatest good with the least possible means. There is no need to go to jungle to get salvation but by doing all the good act in normal way of life. The religion like Sikhism whose aim is to serve mankind belongs to same category. It requires organization of its followers as an essential condition of success, Guru Nanak began with two things in his religious work, the holy word and the organized fellowship, The idea of holy fellowship led to the establishment of local assemblies led by authorized leaders called Massands, Every Sikh was supposed to be a member of one or other such organization. The love between the Guru and the Sikhs was more intense than had ever existed between the most romantic lovers of the world. The only form of worship was the meditation on the singing of the word.
Guru Gobind Singh founded Khalsa Panth on the Basakhi day of 1699 at Anandpur Sahib, Amrit or baptism was made the basis of this organization and the persons who wanted to serve humanity through Sikhism must join it seriously as regular members and receive its baptism as the initial step. All must have some creed which should be well defined and should not be confused with the belief in practices of neighboring religions. Guru Gobind Singh ordered that of Khalsa should be distinct from the Hindus and Muslims. He who keeps alight the unquenchable touch of truth and never swerves from the thought of one God he who has full love and confidence in God and doesn’t put his faith even by mistake in fasting or the Muslim graves and Hindu cemeteries, of jogis, places of sepulcher; he who only recognizes the one God and no pilgrimages, alms, non-destruction of life penances or austeries and in whose heart light of the Perfect one shines, he is to be recognized as a pure member of the Khalsa.
The Khalsa is to embody in himself the highest ideal of manhood as described by the tenth Guru in the Sarbloh. The Khalsa was thought fit to administer baptism of the new order to the Guru or was consecrated as the Guru incarnate. Guru said, if anybody wishes to see me let him go to an assembly of Sikhs and approach them with faith and reverence; he will surely see me amongst them. In the ranks of Khalsa all are equal, women were to be given in the amrit same way as to men and were to enjoy the same rights. The Khalsa Organization entails a certain disciplinary outfit in the shape of baptismal forms and vows. The Sikh religion as taught by Guru is a force that not only saves individuals but also blinds them to work for nobility in the world. Organization implies to increase the possibility of scope and effectiveness of the work. For the working of an Organization effectively, itself, it is compulsory that the individuals concerned in it should be able to keep up their attachment to the cause and sufficient amount of enthusiasm for it. The discipline is secured by such devices as flags and drills and uniforms in armies and can form ceremonies in religion. Uniformity is essential and it creates necessary enthusiasm by appealing to imagination and sense. They should be related to his inner belief as works are to their meaning, tears to 8rief, and smiles to happiness and a tune to a song. Some time worked become meaningless when we do not care for their sense or the language or the language to which they belong becomes dead, Sometimes tears and smiles are only cloaks for hypocrisy, But when their inner meaning is real and we are sincere about it they do Serve as very helpful interpreters. Forms are the art of religion. Similar to art of nature these forms impose certain limitations on the ideal but at the same time they make the idea more real and workable for general use, Guru Nanak asked people to leave burn that custom which makes you forget dear God. But the Sikh forms were not conceived in the sprit or exclusiveness or as essential to the advancement of individual souls. It is possible for a man to love God and cultivate his individual soul without adopting these forms but if we went to work in a systematic manner not only for our own advancement but for the good of others as well in company of Sikhs we must adopt the disciplinary forms of their organization. The Sikhs who are the soldiers of Tenth Guru and whose religion is surcharged with his personality find the uniform worn and ordained by him as a real help in playing their part as units of the Panthik Organization. As is God so is Guru and as is the Guru so must be the follower. By wearing knickers, one ensures briskness of movement at time of action and an easy underwear at time of action and an easy underwear at time of rest, an iron on right arm as sign of sternness and constraint and a sword by his side as an instrument of offence and defense and as an symbol of power and dignity. The Guru presented an impressive picture of simple but disciplined soldier. He however combined in him saint line of the old rishies with the sternness and strength of a knight. He kept long hair which all the world over has always been associated with saintliness. A comb is a simple necessity for keeping the hair clean. These are the forms with which the Sikhs are invested at time of their baptism in order to look exactly like their master, and they are to behave exactly like him.
From the facts given above it is obvious that service to humanity, non-violence tolerance, abandonment of caste etc, are the basic doctrines of Sikhism.
(Dr.Manmohan Singh is Asst. Director
Industries Dept., Punjab Chandigarh)
Cortesy the Sikh Review
Article extracted from this publication >> August 30, 1991
