INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

6. An elderly woman
You see the dogs running in the streets. But some dogs have chains
around their necks. You can see them travelling in cars. It is similar to
that. Humans are always running here and there. But if I belong to the
Guru, I can reach him. I will become a child of the Guru and he will
take care of us. The Guru is not in any temple or mosque, the Guru is
within your heart and soul. Those who take amrit become children of
the Guru. Those who don’t are not children of him. Whoever takes amrit
is freed from 84 lakhs [8.4 million] births. When she will die, lord
Yama will not come near her. She will be liberated. You have to adopt
and follow the Gurus’ words.
According to an almost unanimous opinion among the respondents, the individual
who does not conform to the Khalsa norms should not be regarded as a “complete”
or a “perfect” Sikh (See e.g. answer 1, 4, 6). Instead the uninitiated are considered as
“imperfect” (adhura) and “unprincipled” disciples without a Guru (nigura), that is,
drifters who may call themselves Sikhs but lack the presence of and the relationship
to a Guru. 355 The evaluating distinction made between Amritdharis and other Sikhs
should not be seen as expressions of orthodox Khalsa positions among community
members at Varanasi, but is more related to how people look upon the ritual elements
of the baptism and the regular engagement in gurbani which the personal discipline
of Amritdhari Sikhs entails. The nectar which is distributed during the Khande
di pahul ceremony is considered to be imbued with five gurbani verses which the persons
representing the panj pyare, or the “five beloved”, are reciting over sweetened
water in a cauldron while stirring with the double-edged sword. These two components
‒ recited gurbani and the sword ‒ are believed to empower and transform the
water into a nectar substance that has the capacity to completely purify and distil the
inner and outer composition of aspirants when they ingest and are sprinkled with it.
After the core act of receiving or “taking” nectar, the initiates will listen to the discipline
of the Khalsa order, including a declarative statement that renounces previous
social identities of the initiates and confirms their new spiritual rebirth and a com-
355
This interpretation of a non-Amritdhari Sikh may not be unique for contemporary Sikhs in
Varanasi but find references in history. As Mann (1999) purports, unlike the existing distinction
that is made between Sikhs and Khalsa Sikhs the historical sources of the early eighteenth century
suggest that both Sikhs and Singhs were considered as being part of the early Khalsa community,
the latter of which were those who had undergone the Khande di pahul ceremony. In the
eighteenth century Chaupa Singh Rahit-nama, the author made a hierarchal distinction between
Sahajdharis and Singhs who wear unshorn hair and weapons, although the categories were not
regarded as two separate identities but two ends of the spectrum representing the Khalsa ideal.
In Chaupa Singh Rahit-nama Sahajdharis are called Kache pile Sikh, or “half-baked” or “not yet ripe”
Sikhs who have to develop into Singhs.
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008