SIKH RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

Mankind over the ages has embarked on many a remarkable journey. With the turn of each Century, he seems to have come closer to the eternal truth loosely called mukti, transmigration of the soul, moksh etc. Salvation or a form of intermingling of the soul with the creator, renunciation as so many teachers have spoken and written about down the ages was consistent with a philosophical thought that has always existed. And yet mankind continues to move apparently in aimless circles in search of the Truth. Much has been written about the great religions of the World, and the various interpretations of the philosophy of Life. Great teachers born in every age, preached almost identical thoughts. Whether we can call these men of wisdom Teachers or Reformers, all of them tried to change the character and thinking of Mankind. Most have failed and I dare say this not with cynical distress but more so because I feel there is need for men to understand their respective religions, rather than simply chant or repeat the written teachings of these men of wisdom from the past. There is a golden rule, stated once by a great teacher from the past, “What you do not want done to yourself do not do to others”. Of course when Confucius said, “ While you do not know life, what can you know about death”, he was simply stating an eternal truth. We need to look within ourselves as individuals in today’s world, and not blindly believe and follow the huge growing population of charlatans who call themselves “teachers”.

Sikhism is one such religion that explores the teachings of many a great reformer and gives the believer, a comprehensive guide to a Way of Life, which in effect is what all religions really teach. The Sikh Gurus have much in common with other teachers in the Indian tradition, but their history and contribution is also distinctive. They were not Brahmins, they did not see their calling to be that of expounding the Vedas. They taught in the vernacular, not in Sanskrit and their message was for everyone. There were ten of them who all followed the teaching of Guru Nanak, and who with the conscious decision of Guru Gobind Singh the tenth Guru, that the succession was invested in a written collection of teachings, which was given the title Guru Granth Sahib. This is now the Guru of the Sikhs.

The first requirement of a Guru is that he should be enlightened. Only in the case of Guru Nanak himself is the story of his experience available. Guru Nanak was born into a Kshatriya family of the Bedi subgroup and seems to have been brought up as an orthodox Hindu in a district where there were both Hindus and Muslims in the population. His father was a revenue superintendent for Rai Bular, the Muslim owner of the village of Talwandi. Information about the aspects of Guru Nanak’s enlightenment is available in what are known as the Janam Sakhi narratives. Innumerable stories are told in the janam sakhis to show that Nanak was already destined for greatness. The pandit saw it in his horoscope and the Muslim midwife stated that he laughed like a grown man. The pandit declared that the child would sit under a canopy :

“Both Hindus and Turks will revere him; his name will become known on earth and in heaven. The ocean will give him the way, so will the earth and the skies. He will worship and acknowledge only the One Formless Lord and teach others to do so.”

Guru Nanak’s search at least in his teens was so varied that it is acknowledged that by the time he was at the end of his teens he was an educated man already dissatisfied with the formal Hinduism which was his heritage. There are descriptions of his meetings with yogis, sadhus and sants many about which are preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib. Around the age of 30 the janam sakhi describes an event that preceded Guru Nanak’s emergence as a Guru. He disappeared for three days during which time it was believed that he had drowned in the river. When he appeared he made the enigmatic pronouncement :

“There is neither Hindu nor Mussulman so whose path shall I follow ?
I shall follow Gods path. God is neither Hindu nor Mussulman and the path which I follow is God’s.”

His enlightenment and communion with the Supreme being is best described in the Mool Mantra. Years passed and Nanak traveled far and wide. He is credited with having traversed the length and breath of the Indian sub continent. His travels to the main centers of Hinduism and Islam took him as far as Mecca, Tibet and Sri Lanka. During his travels he was often accompanied by Mardana, a Muslim disciple and musician. From the janam sakhis it is possible to argue that Guru Nanak was a reformer speaking and acting against the caste system and working to improve the status of women. Equally it can be asserted that he was a religious synthesizer attempting a blend of Hinduism and Islam in his own cult, or that he was a defender of pure religion against superstition, or that in saying “there is no Hindu and no Mussulman” he was essentially condemning their faiths as ultimately futile. With regard to Hindus and Muslims he can be seen as encouraging them to see the truth that exists within themselves. It was the obscuring influence of ritual in Hinduism which he deplored and condemned. The popular janam sakhi accounts which described him as a Guru, popularly explained among Sikhs as one who dispels ignorance or darkness (gu) and proclaims enlightenment (ru).

When Guru Nanak was 50 he decided to end the wandering stage of his life as a teacher, and decided to settle down in the village, though he did make significant journeys in his later years. He was offered land by a rich devotee, where he built his home, a place of worship, and erected a hostel and dharamsala, which in Sikhism is the precursor of the gurdwara. His teachings were not far removed from the sant tradition of north India. He rejected old and arcane traditional aspects of popular Hindu thought. He condemned in his hymns worship of ancestors, the use of astrology, auspicious days the acceptance of rituals related to the offices of Brahmin priests. He preached meditation. The philosophical teachings of the Vedas was not dismissed, though belief in the Vedic deities is ridiculed.

The tradition of a community becoming a permanent body of believers is at least as ancient as Buddhism. The Buddhist sangha seems to have been envisaged as a vehicle for preserving and transmitting the Buddha’s teachings from the outset. Gautama made no other provision for a successor. The Sikh sangat only gradually came to have these functions. Guru Nanak nominated and prepared one of his followers to take his place. Some years before his death a Trehan Kshtriya called Lehna, a devotee of Durga, became a follower of the Guru. He displayed the characteristics of humility and of obedience to the message (bani) to such a degree that Guru Nanak eventually chose him to be his successor in preference to his own sons. The elder Sri Chand, though a pious man was an ascetic and was full of self importance. The other son, Lakshmi Chand had no desire for religious life. Just before he died Guru Nanak initiated Lehna as Guru by placing five coins and a coconut before him and bowing at his feet. He gave Lehna a book of his hymns (a pothi) and a seli, a woolen string symbolizing renunciation worn by Sufis around their caps. He renamed him Angad and declared that the new Guru possessed his spirit and being. Angad is a pun on the word “ang”, limb, and means “part of me”.

When Guru Nanak died on 22 Sep 1539, he left behind him not a fully developed Sikh religion but much more than an embryo. First there was his teaching preserved in 974 hymns, many of which were already in written form, and many others committed to memory and in regular use. Second, there was a community obedient to his discipline, living the householder life (grihastha), regarding work as a divine form of service, singing the kirtan composed by Guru Nanak and meditating upon the divine name. Finally there was a second Nanak, Guru Angad, through whom god continued to speak. From these emerged the sangat, the Guru Granth Sahib and the discipline of life and worship which are still, in the twenty first century, those things which give Sikhism its distinctiveness and cohesion.


Lt Col Sukhwant Singh
(Retd)