Theory of Satan: We see very bad deeds being done daily. If God is in everyone, the question arises who is doing all those evil acts, According to Islam, all such acts are done by Satan. Guru Nanak does not endorse this philosophy. He says no one else has any power to do anything except the One Almighty; all acts, which appear to us good or bad, are according to His will. None can interfere in His order, not even the powerful “Satan” whose very existence is denied by the Guru, It is all His Will which prevails, nothing is good or bad for Him, It is how we look at things that we consider some acts of God and other acts of Satan. We know darkness and coldness do not exit. Actually it is the absence of light which we call darkness and absence (deficiency) of heat which we call coldness. Similarly Satan has no existence; it is absence of goodness,

Think of a small fish which is eaten by the bigger fish which itself “in turn” is eaten by a still bigger fish. It may appear to be an act of Satan for the weaker fish, but that is a way of life prescribed by God for the bigger fish. Plants are eaten by animals which are killed by man for his own food, there is no evil act of Satan for these killings, but that is the plan of God for running this “show” of the world.

When one man tortures another man, he is doing that irreligious act just because God has taken away goodness from him, Satan does not play any part anywhere. This whole world is like a drama being staged by God on this earth. He assigns different characters to different persons and they act accordingly. Some are given the duty of a villain while others may be assigned the role of a “Saint” in this world. It is God alone whose will prevails both for seemingly good or bad acts. If it is accepted that bad acts are done by Satan, it automatically assumes that there are two independent powers acting in this universe; God, the positive power doing good acts alone and Satan, the negative power, doing bad and evil acts. This obviously cannot be accepted.

This also proves that the philosophy of one God, (given by Nanak) has nothing to do with ‘one—God philosophy of Islam. The latter believes in Satan, the negative counterpart of God, the existence of which has been denied by Nanak.

Karma Theory of Hindus as such is also not endorsed by Nanak. It says God through this agent Dharam Raj keeps account our good and bad actions like a bank accountant and we have to receive the award or punishment for all our actions. According to Nanak, God is the merciful Lord, He has the power and authority to excuse us (he does it always) for our wrong doings when He makes us to repent sincerely for those actions. While challenging the “Kar ma Theory” of Hindus, Nanak comments: “If we believe that what we do here in this life, is the result of our actions in the previous birth, then on what basis we performed our actions in our first life when we joined the cycle of births and deaths, We had no life previous to our first life of the cycle, and hence did no actions before that birth and without those “actions” we could not start this cycle at all.

Guru Nanak, however, warns us that if a person does not repent for any bad deeds done by him, and repeats the bad acts, he shall have to suffer for them in this or in the next life.

Burying or Cremation of the Dead: The common method of disposing the dead body among Sikhs is cremation. This has confused the observers to believe that this Sikh ritual has been copied from Hindu faith. Hindus do it as a religious act so that the soul may leave the body and forget about it. for Sikhs, it is not a religious act but a convenient way for disposal of the dead body. According to Sikh faith a dead body may be buried, thrown in water, cremated or allowed to be eaten by birds or disposed of in any convenient way. None of these methods helps the soul or harms it, in any method. This philosophy is new both to Hindus and Muslims. Similarly, the analysis of each principle of Sikh faith would reveal that it has a universal appeal without any dogmatic faith in any ritual. Many thinkers agree that Sikhism is a faith for the modern man, to quote only one such author, HLL. Bradshaw.

“Sikhism is a Universal World faith a message for all men. This is amply illustrated in the writings of the Gurus. Sikhs must cease to think of their Faith as ‘just another ‘good religion’ and must begin 10 think in terms of SIKHISM BEING THE RELIGION FOR THIS: NEW AGE… The religion preached by Guru Nanak is the faith of the New Age. It completely supplants and fulfills all the former dispensations of older religions. Books must be written proving this.

Article extracted from this publication >> January 24, 1986