The Sikh Bulletin

The Sikh Bulletin cyq-vYswK 539 March-April 2007
elaborated, propounded and put into practise what had been
written by him. That is my observation.
Nevertheless, Guru Nanak did not announce the conclusion
of his preaching with the closing of his personal ministry. He
called himself ‘guru’ that is a teacher, and knew full well the
obligations that go with the title. He had firstly to educate
those who accepted his guidance so that they could
understand the ideal he was preaching. Then he had to
carefully monitor their initial steps in the journey towards the
ideal. He had to hold their hands until they were brought
nearest to the final goal. The last lap, of course is, individual
effort. Then he had to be there all the time for the guidance of
the people. He knew that all that was not possible in one
lifetime. Knowing that one lifetime was not sufficient for the
purpose, and knowing that moulding the psyche and thought
processes of an entirely new nation is a long drawn-out
process, he provided most successfully in all human history,
for the extension of his natural lifespan by decreeing not
merely a successor but a whole line of successors. The most
remarkable aspect of which was that his nominee and their
nominees succeeded him not only simply as successors, but
as Nanak’s very own self – ‘the limb of my limb, the flesh of
my flesh and the spirit of my spirit’ as he called Lehna
coming after him.
From the very beginning, Guru’s ideal was the Khalsa. But
just as a pupil passes through stages of learning and slowly
crosses over from one class to another, from one stage of
knowledge to a higher one, so his Sikhs were to graduate to
the Khalsa status. The mission that the Nanak (in his ten
forms) had undertaken required him to slowly lead humans to
perfection – a stupendous task by any reckoning.
We need to realise that the journey of transformation did not
start with the finished product but with the raw and crude raw
material available to him in a land and a mentality enslaved
for a millennium. His material consisted of a people who had
accepted their fate of despicable doormat for the conquerors.
This is brought out in the Janamsakhis by the symbology of
Kauda, of Kaaroon, of Malik Bhago, Sajjan the thug, the
magicians of Kaamroop and so on. The Guru did not finish
the job with a magic wand. He imparted to humans an idea of
liberated person – a jiwan mukta and provided many steps to
the ladder so that humans could steadily ascend to proximate
the ideal. The journey was understandably torturous as the
change was phenomenal; it was superhuman. The Guru
himself likened it to transforming ‘ghosts and demons into
gods’ (pasu prethu dev karai). The stages through which the
ascent took place are known to us in history. They were –
sahlang, satsangi, naamdharik sikh, giani (for instance
Partapmal), gursikh, sant, brahamgyiani and so on, until on
the Baisakhi day of 1699, when the same Nanak literally
unveiled (drew out from a tented enclosure) the human of his
dreams.
It is in this context that I call the Khalsa the ‘finished
product of the Sikh movement.’ Since the Khalsa was also
to be the Guru (under the strict guidance of the Guru
Granth), the most compassionate Nanak wove him into an
institutional framework – the order of the Khalsa.
This phrase has been used by the most knowledgeable
Sirdar Kapur Singh. A reader wanting to know his
understanding of it may go to his matchless
Prasharprashna. As far as I am concerned, I have tried to
make myself as plain as is possible for me in the present
stage of my self-understanding.
I must also add that sometimes feel uneasy that I have to
submit to this kind of scrutiny at the hands of the casual
reader. In these circumstances, I sometimes defend myself
by remaining silent. The next time I do that, I hope, I will be
better understood.
*****
“DEFINITION OF A SIKH”
Dear Colleagues,
I have just gone through the discussion on “Definition of a
Sikh” under the title “Universal Religion – Discussion”.
Universality means: Affecting, relating to, or including the
whole world or everyone in the world; the state or quality of
being universal. Acceptable: 1. worthy of being accepted. 2.
Adequate to satisfy a need, requirement, or standard;
satisfactory.
Mr Hardev Singh Shergill, Mr Gurmit Singh JP, Dr Surjit
Singh Sidhu, Mr Jarnail Singh are very sincere
scholars/theologians of Sikhism. The objective of all of
them is to disseminate Sikhi, founded by Guru Nanak for
the humanity. The Sikhi promulgated by Guru Nanak was
for the whole humanity not for a particular group of people.
I would just give one example:
Guru Nanak said that God is ‘Ajuni’ which means God does
not come into anthropomorphic form. Guru Arjan who
succeeded to the ‘House of Nanak’ elaborated it in very
strong wording that: “The tongue of that person be burnt
who says God comes into anthropomorphic form. This one
fundamental principle of Nanakian Philosophy was neither
accepted by any Hindu since they believe God came as
Ram, Krishan, etc.nor is being accepted by the Sikhs at
large. However, Albert Einstein, a Noble Laureate Scientist,
accepted it and declared that God does not come into
anthropomorphic form. A few years ago there was a survey
on this issue in USA. About 20% American accepted that
God does not come into anthropomorphic form without
knowing that Guru Nanak preached it more than 500 years
ago. This survey clearly indicated that a principle that has
characteristic of acceptability will become universal.
This fundamental principle, God is Ajuni, has the
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