SIKHISM - SIKH DHARMA The word Sikh is derived from the Sanskrit 'shishya' meaning disciple. Sikhs are the disciples of their ten Gurus beginning with Guru Nanak Dev Ji (1469 - 1539) and ending with Guru Gobind Singh Ji (1666 -1708). 

Today, Sikhs are the disciples of their scriptures, their one true and eternal Guru, the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. If a Sikh wishes advice or solace or inspiration he or she only need to enter a Gurdwara (Sikh house of worship) bow their head and listen to a reading or read themselves from the holy scripture.

There are over 22 million Sikhs in the world today, the vast majority live in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab. There are though many Sikhs throughout the world. They migrated from India seeking opportunity and a new life. Their communities can be found in many cities in the form of Gurdwaras and free kitchens where all who come are honored and fed.

GURU NANAK, THE 1ST SIKH GURU   

Guru Nanak Dev Ji the founder of the Sikh faith was the son of a Hindu official with a small holding of land in a village northwest of Lahore. Guru ji had his elementary education in Sanskrit and Persian. (This education served him well later in life as he composed many devotional poems and hymns.) His father intended to train him as an accountant so that he could get a job in the court of the Muslim governor of the district. But Guru Nanak Dev Ji turned out to be indifferent to his school text books and instead engaged in long and deep discourses with holy men both Hindu and Muslim, who turned up at his village. As a young boy he was the despair of his parents as he would not attend to family business and used what ever money they gave him to feed the poor. When he grew to be a young man, they arranged a marriage for him. And for a time he devoted himself to the care of his wife and two sons.

But the search for truth became too overpowering; one day, while bathing in a river young Nanak had a divine revelation in which he entered the court of Akal Purkh (God, the Great U

ndying Creator of All) who sent him on a mission to spread his word. For three days Guru Nanak, as he was to become known, was missing and presumed drowned. On the third day he reappeared and began his mission from God with a simple message: 

'There is no Hindu, there is no Mussulman'. By this statement he was not denying Hinduism or Islam, but stating that in Gods eyes all worshippers are equal. He set out on the first of several journeys taking with him, as his companions, a Muslim musician Mardana Ji and a Hindu peasant Bhai Bala. The three went preaching from village to village. Guru Nanak ji composed his sermons in ragas (musical modes) which were sung to the accompaniment of the Rabab (a lute style instrument played by Mardana Ji).

Guru Nanak's teachings inspired many people and within a few years his disciples or students became a homogeneous group whose faith was exclusively within the teachings of Guru Nanak. Nanak traveled all over India as far as Assam, south to Sri Lanka, and north to Tibet. He also went westwards beyond India to Mecca and Medina in Arabia, and to Baghdad (where there is today a war torn Gurdwara or shrine commemorating his visit.) Wherever he went, he sang his hymns which told the people that if they wanted to love God they should learn first to love themselves and each other.

A WISE MAN TEACHES

There are countless stories of Guru Nanak Dev Ji's travels. Once Nanak came to a river and in it he saw a number of Hindus who were taking water in their clasped hands and offering it towards the rising Sun. He enquired about what was going on. One replied, "We are offering water to our ancestors who are thirsty in the next world." Nanak replied "This sounds like a good idea, let me try." With this Guru Nanak Dev Ji waded into the river and started offering water to the west, opposite to the Sun. The throng looked on and were very puzzled. "What are you doing?" they asked. Nanak replied, "Why, I am offering water to my fields in the Punjab. If your water can reach the next world surely mine can reach the Punjab which is just a few hundred miles away". With this the people realized the folly of their ritual.

Another story of Nanak”s wisdom: One day he met a very rich and successful man who invited him to his large and luxurious house. The man had accumulated a vast fortune with deceit and foul means boasting about his wealth. He proudly asked Nanak if there was anything he could do for such a man of God as himself. Guru Nanak picked a needle off the floor and handed it to the rich man saying, "Please give me this needle in the next world."

The man was puzzled, but the holy and humble presence of Nanak inspired deep thought in him. "How can I do this" he said "One comes into this world with nothing and leaves it with nothing". The pin suddenly dropped from the man’s hand and he knew that he had wasted his whole life. He fell at Guru Nanak’s feet. "Forgive me " he cried. Guru Nanak Dev Ji blessed him and told him the three rules all should live by: Naam Japo - Recite the name of the Lord at all times, Kirat Karo - Do an honest days work , Wand Shako - Share your food with those around you.

These are instructions Sikhs live by to this day. We try to arise before the Sun each day in order to worship God, to chant God’s holy and eternal name and to remember that Name with every breath throughout the day. Sikhs are obliged to “work by the sweat of their brow” and NOT to exploit the labor of others, but to treat all fairly and with respect. Sikhs are also required to share the fruits of their labor with those less fortunate through das vandh (tithing one tenth of their income) to care for and feed others.

EQUALITY OF ALL PEOPLE, GENDERS AND RELIGIONS

Guru Nanak Dev Ji's crusade was against intolerance which had become the practice of the Muslims, and the meaningless rituals and discriminations of caste and gender which had become an integral part of Hindu life. He spoke out against the mistreatment of women, saying “Kings, warriors, rich men and beggars come into this world through the labor of women, how can we not be grateful and respect all women?”

Guru Nanak spent the last years of his life with his family in the village of Kartarpur which is now on the Pakistani side of the India/Pakistan border. At the time people flocked to him and heard him sing his hymns. Even today Guru ji is regarded as the symbol of harmony between the two communities. Upon his death both Hindus and Muslims claimed him as a prophet of their traditions.

NANAK'S SUCCESSORS

The first Nanak was followed by nine other “Nanaks” Though they had different names each presented themselves in the spirit, wisdom and light of Guru Nanak. The tenth and final Sikh Guru declared that from then on the Word of the Guru, as embodied in the Sikh scriptures, Siri Guru Granth Sahib would be honored by all Sikhs as the Word of Nanak.

The scriptures were compiled by the fifth Nanak, Guru Arjun Dev ji. He compiled it from the poems, prayers and hymns of his own and those who had preceded him beginning with Guru Nanak. Also included in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib are the writings of the Ninth Guru, Teg Bahadur as well as the writings of 31 bhagats or holy men from the Hindu, Muslim and Sufi traditions. These were included for their universality and application to all people no matter what their gender, race or religion. This is one of the things that make the Sikh scriptures unique, few are the religious writings of any faith that include writers from other paths.

The language of the scriptures is another indicator of the universality of the Sikh path. Unlike the Hindu texts, written in Sanskrit, a vast and complex language needing a lifetime to thoroughly understand, The Granth is written in a far simpler alphabet of some 40 characters devised in order to make it accessible to the widest variety of people, called Gurmukhi (or “from the mouth of the Guru.)

Sikhism is one of the world’s youngest religions, approximately 500 years old. It is the fifth largest religion in the world today. Guru Nanak, at nine years of age, when he was about to be presented with the ceremonial cotton thread worn by Hindus, declared, “By adoring and praising the Name of God, honor and a true and eternal thread are obtained. In this way a sacred thread shall be put on, which will not break, and which will be fit for entrance into God's court.”

THE MOOL MANTRA

Later as a young man, he spoke, the first words and the foundation of what was to become the Sikh scriptures, the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. He said, the Mool Mantra, “There is but One God; Truth is God’s Existence; God is the Creator of ALL things material and spiritual and the Doer of all that occurs within Time & Space; God is fearless and without anger; God is both Undying and Unborn, complete and perfect; It is through the grace of God that I meditate upon and remember God – God who is True in the beginning, True for all of Creation, True even now, Oh Nanak, God shall ever be True.”

Guru Nanak spent his adult life traveling and teaching these truths. He held that all faiths are valuable and essential to the upliftment of all peoples. He traveled with a Hindu and a Moslem who played musical instruments as he sang his shabds or divine songs. Once, when traveling in the Middle East he was admonished for sleeping with his feet pointing towards the sacred city of Mecca wherein God dwelled. He answered that he would be grateful if the man could point his feet in a direction where God did NOT dwell.

Nine human Gurus who exemplified his spirit and beliefs succeeded Guru Nanak. They taught their followers to rise early and worship and sing and meditate upon God; to serve others and share with them; to work by the sweat of his brow. Most Sikhs also cover their heads with turbans and do not cut their hair, remaining as God made them. Guru Nanak did not just tolerate other beliefs and religious systems, he respected and loved them as sacred and peaceful sources of salvation.

GUYRDWARAS, HOUSES OF SIKH WORSHIP

Nanak’s teachings are carried on by modern Sikhs. At Sikh places of worship (gurdwaras) the Siri Guru Granth Sahib is given a place of honor and is the ultimate authority for all followers of the Guru’s path. Sikhs consider it a blessing to serve food to others (langhar) and are persistent in their efforts to satisfy anyone’s spiritual or temporal hunger. (Sikhs are precluded however from proselytizing or recruiting others to the Sikh path.)

The beautiful Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple, in Amritsar, India has doors on all four sides signifying that Sikhs welcome any and all people of all religions, bow to them and find value within their teachings. 

Nanak, is said to have composed 974 hymns in all. These hymns form a major part of the Adi Granth or the Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs. Seven of the 10 Sikh gurus were composers and poets themselves. Besides their compositions, the writings of Hindu and Muslim saints and poets of the medieval period, such as Kabir, Trilochandas, Baba Farid and Namdev, are included in the Adi Granth. The holy book of the Sikhs is not merely a religious work but a work of historical importance, throwing light on language, literature and society of medieval India. Some of the compositions of the bards who accompanied the gurus were also included in the holy book. It is to the credit of the Sikh gurus that they have not appropriated the contributions of these simple folk as their own work but have acknowledged their authorship.

The compilation of the hymns, which started during the time of the fifth guru, Arjan Dev, was completed during the lifetime of the tenth and last guru, Gobind Singh. The personal involvement of the gurus in the compilation of the hymns leaves no room for doubt about their authenticity and authorship. The same cannot be said about some other works of the medieval period, which were appropriated by established religions not to reform themselves but to dilute the teachings and blunt the criticism contained in them. The Sikh gurus and their disciples, in contrast, guarded the independence of their young religion zealously from those who were eager to destroy it.

SIKH WORSHIP

Hymn or kirtan singing has always occupied an important place in Sikh community worship. Guru Nanak himself composed hymns and sang them at prayer meetings. The hymns were set to music by Mardana, his first Muslim disciple and also a rebeck player. Mardana followed the guru everywhere in the subcontinent and to far-away places. Upon Mardana’s death, his son played the rebeck for Nanak. It is still a Sikh tradition to have Muslim rebeck players called rababis perform devotional music in gurdwaras along with Sikh and Hindu rebeck players.

The subject matter of most hymns is simple and is meant to appeal to ordinary people. Most of the hymns are basically about the true nature of God. The hymns dispel false notions and myths about God. Nanak believed in the unity of God, not in the plurality of gods. He preached against exhibitionism in religion and emphasised inner spiritual awakening; wherever Nanak went, he challenged superstition and formalism. Nanak turned deeply inward and came up with the powerful message of love and unity at a time of social divisiveness resulting from competition and mistrust among religions. The hymns tell us that the way to experience God is through love. Quoting from Nanak's writings:

God is the Master, God is Truth,

His name spelleth love divine,

His creatures ever cry: ‘O give,

O give’,

He the bounteous doth never decline.…

Some of the hymns are so relevant to our times that they read as if they were written only a week ago. From the 25th Pauri or verse of Japji which opens the Sikh scriptures:

There is no count of fools who

will not see,

Nor of thieves who live by fraud,

There is no count of despots

practising tyranny,

Nor of those whose hands are

soiled with blood.

There is no count of those who

sin and go free,

Nor of liars caught in the

web of falsehood,

There is no count of the polluted who live on filth,

Nor of the evil-tongued

weighed down with calumny.

Of such degradation, O Nanak,

also think.”

SIKHISM AS HISTORY

The importance of Sikhism as an independent religion does not diminish because it was influenced by Hinduism or Islam. One cannot deny Christianity its independence just because it originated in the larger ethos of the time of Judaic influence. Sikhism too retained its distinct character from mainstream Brahmanical Hinduism throughout its history. Nanak’s religion grew out of the turbulence of the times he lived in. His spiritual quest led him to the acceptance of the best in other traditions and faiths such as Islam and Hinduism. According to Dr. Gopal Singh, author of “A history of the Sikh People ( 1469-1988), many people before Nanak had preached the oneness of God but Nanak was the first to speak of the oneness of man.

The gurus that succeeded Nanak came into conflict with Mughal officials in Punjab. They often complained to the emperor in Delhi of the rising power and influence of the Sikh gurus, which they viewed with suspicion, and they saw the rise of Sikhism as an economic and political threat to Mughal power. It must be remembered that Sikhism was a householder’s religion and the gurus and their disciples were not recluses. The Sikhs were a prosperous community. The gurus laid great emphasis on hard work and pursued their professions of trade and agriculture. Soldiering was also considered a noble profession by the gurus.