Author: Sumer Singh Chauhan
Publication: www.swordoftruth.com
Date:
URL: http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/oldarchives/divideandconquer.html
(An essay on the common heritage
of the Sikhs and Hindus)
The argument that Sikhs are not
distinct from Hindus, or simply they are Hindus will be assessed on teachings
contained in the Shri Guru Granth Sahib, certain characteristics of the
Sikhs, the Sikh Gurus, the beliefs and practices of the Sikh nobility,
and a brief comparison of ritual. The ritual aspects of the Sikh tradition
can be discussed briefly to demonstrate the Hindu origins remaining in
the scriptures.
The Shri Guru Granth Sahib is the
holy book of the Sikh people. It is divided into ten granths, each reflecting
the teachings, beliefs and views of each of the ten gurus of the Sikh faith.
For a number of years many individuals in the Punjab have talked of the
Dasma Granth, which simply means the tenth scripture of the Tenth Guru.
Many villagers of rural Punjab believe that reading this scripture will
incur blindness. This, however, is evidence of the faithful being led through
religious influence by the Granthis (a type of priest) who wish the people
to follow the separatist philosophy for political reasons. Many scholars
have stated that the Granth contains specific references to Hindu gods
such as Rama and Krishna. The gurudwaras, or Sikh temples, have always
been decorated with pictures of Hindu devas and devis. The first desecration
of these pictures was in 1906 at Harmandir, and this was the first action
taken by separatist Sikhs. Other gurudwaras also had them removed as recently
as 1984, this occurred after the attack on the Golden Temple. This was
not an attack on religion but was justified for reasons of national security.
The Hindu faith is based on a number
of schools of Vedic philosophy but in the end all these schools focus on
one school, the Vedanta of Rishi Vedvyas. It seems through lectures and
research that perhaps the aim of the other schools was to finally develop
this Vedanta philosophy. It was Vedvyas who wrote the Mahabharat, which
is not only the ancient epic of India but the epic of the world. The Mahabharat
is a poem consisting of approximately one hundred thousand stanzas. Hindus
have placed so much faith in this work that it is claimed that if you cannot
find the answer to your questions here, you will not find the answer anywhere
else.
The Bhagavad Gita is the section
of the Mahabharat that relates the conversation that takes place between
Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. This conversation
touches on all topics discussed in Hindu philosophy and can be referred
to as a guide to the spiritual strength and warriorship required in a person's
path in life. An understanding of these scriptures is required before trying
to understand the Guru Granth Sahib or Guru Gobind Singh.
The history of the Sikh sect begins
with its founder Guru Nanak. He was born in the Punjab in 1469. Guru Nanak
challenged the authority of Brahmins (due to their abuse of the caste issue
at the time), preached the equality of all men, and described a simple
monotheism. In this, God is Sat, true, pure or essential reality; the divine
being was both sakar and nirakar, both with form and formless; and He revealed
Himself through His creation. It is man's duty to meditate on God's name
to reach nirvana. Nanak also upheld the dignity of labour.
The guru was to be the guide through
which a person can attain salvation. The Gurubani (Guru ki bani), or teachings
of the guru, were to be given the same reverence as the presence of the
guru. Meditation upon these teachings was considered the best form of worship.
Guru Angad succeeded the First Guru
based on his devotion to the teachings of Nanak. The third guru, Amar Das,
defined specific places for the pilgrimage of the Sikhs. The fourth guru,
Ram Das, founded the holy city of Amritsar, where the fifth guru, Arjun,
built a gurudwara and named it Hari-ka- mandir (the temple of Hari), later
to be known as Harmandir. Guru Arjun also compiled the Guru Granth Sahib,
the holy book of the Sikhs, which contains hymns from the Sikh and, Hindu
gurus, and from Suffi saints and Kabir.
By the beginning of the seventeenth
century the guruship was in the hands of the sixth guru, Hargobind. The
Sikhs began to show an element of militancy because of the threat of persecution
from Islam, which had brought forth the martyrdom of Guru Arjun. Hargobind
fortified Amritsar and built the Akal Takht, the throne of God, opposite
Harmandir. This complex of both buildings is referred to as the Golden
Temple. Some of the followers of the guru were beginning to be transformed
from pacifist members of a religious sect into a highly organized militant
body, organized to meet any challenge to the Hindu faith. After Guru Gobind
Singh (the last and tenth guru) had formed the Khalsa brotherhood this
transformation was complete.
"The best source on Sikh philosophy
is the Shri Guru Granth Sahib, with special reference to the Dasma Granth
since it was Guru Gobind Singh who distinguished the identity of the Sikhs."
-Jimiyat Singh Gill.
Guru Gobind Singh encouraged faith
in the hearts of his people at a time of great persecution and fading hope.
The total amount of time to develop the accepted Sikh canon took 208 years.
Since Guru Gobind Singh was assassinated by a muslim in 1708, anything
written after that is of little or no importance to us.
Scholars have authenticized the
Dasma Granth in case there is any question of its validity. Thakur Das,
the author of Sikh Hindu Hain (Hosiarpur, 1899), Bhai Randhir Singh of
Punjabi University, Patiala, Hari Ram Gupta author of History of the Sikhs
(Lahore, 1944), Sardar Jimiyat Singh Gill, founder of the Shiromani Sikh
Society of Toronto and founder of the first Toronto gurudwara, Joseph Davy
Cunningham, author of A History of the Sikhs from the Origin of the Nation
to the Battles of the Sutlej (Calcutta, 1849), to name a few have all stated
that the Dasma Granth was an authentic part of the Granth.
If the Guru Granth Sahib were to
be examined, there is no difference between Hinduism and Sikhism because
the Granth is based on the Hindu scriptures and beliefs.
An authority on modern Sikhism,
Dr. Gopal Singh, indicated in his translation of Shri Guru Granth Sahib
that the worship of Rama and Krishna is found in the Granth. It should
also be remembered that the Tenth Guru had designated the word of the Granth
as the final word of authority binding on all Sikhs. In this the Granth
functions as the Guru for all Sikhs. This makes the significance of the
Tenth Guru, in two traditions, stand out. It was Bhai Mani Singh who compiled
the Dasma Granth. On June 24th, 1734, under the orders of Zakaria Khan,
Bhai Mani Singh was executed for not embracing Islam.
It is accepted that the Akal Ustat
and Vachitra Natak are authentic works of Guru Gobind Singh. His composition
Akal Ustat is mainly in the praise of God and is so clearly put forth that
there is no need for personal interpretation. The Vachitra Natak is basically
an autobiography, but it is also describes the Guru's philosophy of action
and his philosophy of the origins of material existence.
The separatist Sikh can only draw
wisdom from the Granth which cannot be gained by following the ideas of
reformers like Bhai Kahn Singh who attempted to splinter the Sikh identity
in order to reinvent Sikhism into a completely distinct religion. Individuals
such as Bhai Kahn Singh are viewed as renegades within the Panth (Faith)
and they have damaged the essential Sikh identity held by the Gurus and
the martyrs. It is also important to remember here that the Guruship had
passed to a canon of authority, the Granth, not to an individual. Guru
Gobind Singh ordained the word of the Granth as final. This is the commandment-
"the Granth must be obeyed" -because it was issued by the Tenth Guru. Whosoever
goes against this is a traitor to the panth and is no longer a Sikh. Guru
Gobind Singh states:
Sab Sikhon ko hukum hai
Guru manyo Granth
Guru Granthji Manao
Pragat guran ki deh
Jaka hirdai shudh hai
Oat shabad mein le
Raj karega Khalsa
Aaki rahe na koi.
Paar hoy sab milenge
Bachae sharan jo hoy
Khanda jaakae hath mein
Kalgee so he shish
So hamaree raksha kare
Shri kalgee dhar Jagdish.
Wahe Guru nam jahaj hai
Chare so utare paar
Jo shardha kar sevande
Guru par utaran har.
In the Mahabharat, according to
Vedvyas God is known as Omkar or Parbrahma. God then converted Himself
into Vishnu. Out of Vishnu's navel came Brahma and from His forehead came
the Akal Pursh (otherwise known as Akal, Rudra, Shiva or Mahesh). Marich
was the son of Brahma. In time, Marich had a son named Kashyap Rishi who
then married the daughters of Daksh Prajapati; Ditti, Aditti, Vinta and
Kadru. Aditti produced the gods and man. Ditti brought forth the demons
and Kadru produced snakes. Vinta was the mother of Garuda (vehicle of Vishnu)
and the sun-god Surya.
The Suryavanshi Rajputs claim their
origin from Aditti. The most famous of Suryavanshis was Bhagwan Rama or
simply the Lord Rama. Other famous Suryavanshis are Maharana Pratap, king
of Mewar and sworn enemy of Akbar the Turk (also known as Akbar the Great);
and Maharana Jung Bahadur, virtual ruler of Nepal, Emperor of the Gurkhas.
Lord Rama was the son of Raja Dashrata of Ayodhya, born on the site of
where the Babri Masjid once stood. He is the seventh incarnation of Lord
Vishnu. The relevance of this will be evident later in the paper. When
Vishnu, Brahma and Akal combined their powers, or shaktis, to create the
image of the Mother goddess it was Durga who came forth. Durga is also
known as Shiva, Devi, Mata, Parvati, Chamunda, and Jwaladevi. This becomes
important because Guru Gobind Singh was a great devotee of Durga.
"As far as the eighteenth-century
Khalsa was concerned, the Dasma Granth was as much a part of the canon
as the Adi Granth. The Dasma Granth breathes a militant spirit which matches
that of the eighteenth-century Khalsa. Its influence on Khalsa ideals is
well illustrated by portions of the Chaupa Singh Rahit-nama and by the
strong fascination exercised within the eighteenth-century Panth by the
Devi cult." - McLeod: "Who is a Sikh?"
We will now compare the Mahabharata
to the Dasma Granth, to illustrate the common element of whether one is
derived from the other, ie. the Dasma Granth derives its essence from the
Mahabharata. It might be suggested that the Dasma Granth was purposely
removed from the gurudwaras for political reasons because of separatist
trends which begin to surface after the annexation of the Punjab by British
India.
The argument now is based not only
on the thoughts of the author of this paper but also on the indepth research
of others and the interviews conducted for the research of this paper.
Guru Gobind Singh describes in the Dasma Granth how Akal (God) had expanded
Himself to first become Vishnu, then Brahma and Shiva. This is described
in the Vichitra Natak.
The Guru then goes on to describe
the characteristics of Vishnu. He also goes on to discuss the origins of
gods, demons, Garuda and other beings in the same manner as Vedvyas did
before. The Tenth Guru then goes so far to claim his own origin from Lord
Rama and His descendants.
Most people of the Punjab know that
the city of Lahore was built by the elder son of Rama, Luv, while the city
of Kasur was built by Kush, the younger son. A powerful point can be made
here in that Guru Gobind Singh states Guru Nanak as being a descendant
of Kush, while himself (Guru Gobind) is a descendant of Luv. Guru Gobind
describes the genealogy in great detail and tells how this came to be so.
Except for Guru Angad and Guru Amardas, the eight remaining Gurus were
recognized as descendants of Lord Rama, whether it is because of devotion
or respect, this view is held by both Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs.
A further analysis of the Guru Granth,
the Dasma Granth and Hindu scriptures will show that there is no difference
between the philosophies they all convey. The philosophy and devotion of
Hindus belonging to the Shakti cult (Mother Goddess) can also be seen by
Guru Gobind's monumental work "Var Durga Ki" which is revered by both Sikhs
and Hindus. The only conclusion that one can make is that there is no philosophical
or cultural difference between the Hindus and Sikhs. It is only that Sikhism
is a simplistic form of Hinduism and is separate from any other religion
that could have influenced it during its evolution.
Guru Arjun, who compiled the Granth
Sahib, writes in the fifth Granth "O God you are as great as you adopted
the form of Vamana [fifth incarnation of Vishnu], you are also Ram Chandra
[seventh incarnation of Vishnu] but you have no form or outline". This
"no form or outline" concept can also be found in the Divine Manifestations,
the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna states He has a form
and is beyond form. Guru Arjun goes on to make references to Narsimha [fourth
avatar], Warha [second avatar], Krishna [eight avatar] and Kach [third
avatar].
Guru Nanak makes specific references
to Lord Rama and wrote several hymns about Lord Krishna. All throughout
the Granth praises are specifically addressed to the avatars of Vishnu,
particularly to Rama and Krishna. A very interesting observation of the
literature is the occurence and reference to the name "Bithal", which is
found throughout the Granth. Bithal is the Punjabi version of the Marathi
name "Vithal" which is another name for Lord Krishna. Hardyal Singh M.A.,
a famous Punjabi revolutionary during the time of the British Raj, said
that "if you were to remove every page that contained the name of Bithal
or Ram from the Granth, you will be left with nothing more than a few pages
and the book case." The Guru Granth Sahib clearly states that Bithal is
the Lord.
According to Vedvyas the earth is
created from the dead remains of demons who were vanquished by the gods.
This concept can be understood if one looks into the philosophy of maya,
this however is not the purpose of this paper. This concept of the earth's
creation is restated in the Dasma Granth, chaupai 14. The Tenth Guru made
it easier for the common layman to comprehend this philosophy by putting
it in a less abstract form.
The difference of the body and the
soul, evolution of consciousness through transmigration of the soul through
eight million four hundred thousand existences is discussed by Vedvyas.
At the time of the Gurus, the Islamic faith was at its zenith in the Punjab
and could have easily influenced the Sikhs to adopt the Islamic viewpoint
on this subject, yet the Gurus, along with Guru Gobind Singh, stood firmly
within the Hindu viewpoint. Therefore nothing different stands between
the viewpoint of Vedantic philosophy and that of the Guru Granth Sahib.
The goal of Hindus and Sikhs alike
is not to reach a heaven, because this achievement is only temporary, but
to break the cycle of life and death in order to achieve moksha (salvation
or nirvana). If one fails, they may have to repeat either one, some or
all of their existences. This is not the view held by the other tradition
that could have influenced Sikhism, namely Islam.
The modern Sikhs claim another difference
in their belief, that of secularism, but this philosophy is also found
in Jnana Yoga, the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna states
that all other paths come back to Him, therefore one should not persecute
another belief. It is only the Hindus in world history who can claim that
their's is the only faith not to have persecuted the Jewish people, instead
they built ancient and recent synagogues for the Jewish people to practice
their faith.
Reference is made to the avatars
of Vishnu in the Granth Sahib. There are ten major avatars referred to
as the Dasha Avatars, there are fourteen minor avatars as well. All these
avatars are recognized in the Guru Granth Sahib even if Hindus of different
sects may not recognize them all. The Dasma Granth deals with all the avatars
beginning on page 169. Volume two of the Dasma Granth is exclusively based
on Krishna. It is accepted that Guru Gobind Singh was a staunch believer
in Durga Mata (Mother Goddess) as many of his hymns such as 'Deh Vo Shiva'
are directed towards Shiva (not the male god but his female consort also
known as Shakti or Devi who at times is referred to by His name).
In the entire Guru Granth Sahib,
the Vedas are respected and referred to as sacred. Guru Gobind Singh states
that the Vedas originated from Brahma and the path of the Vedas is the
only path for the people to follow:
Chaupai 197 Brahma char he ved banaie
Sarab lowg tih karam chale Brahma created the Vedas For all people to follow
(translation mine)
Guru Gobind Singh even goes further
to state that the Vedas came from the mouth of God: Chaupai 24 Disa vidi
sayan jimi asman Chatur ved kathyn karan purana All directions (or religions),
actions, and the sky, so says the Wise One (God) All came from the four
Vedas so says the Puranas. (translation mine)
Sikhism heavily bases itself on
Karma yoga (the science of actions) and states that if an individual acts
only on good deeds, selfless acts with a pure devotion to God, they can
achieve the ultimate state of existence.
Further similarities between Sikhs
and Hindus are evident in practices and rituals of the Sikh Gurus. It is
a documented fact that Guru Nanak worshipped Krishna. Guru Nanak also recited
the famous aarti (song of worship) of Ek Omkar which he composed in praise
of Lord Jaganath of Puri. He also went on pilgrimage to Badri Nath which
is sacred to Hindus. Guru Tegh Bahadur, tn pilgrimage to Jwalamukhi in
Kangra. Guru Gobind Singh worshipped Durga and fought the mughals to free
Ayodhya Masjid (the controversial mosque of Ayodhya). Guru Ramdas wore
a Vaishnav tilak on his forehead.
The name of 'Singh' is adopted fom
the Rajputs (a martial race of the Hindus, identified with Aryan ancestry).The
Kirpan (dagger) is also adopted from the martial tradition of the Rajputs
carrying the Katar. The turban is a common headdress of the Hindu people
of India and is not exclusively Sikh. The concept of uncut hair was introduced
by the Tenth Guru and not before.
Maharajah Ranjit Singh was a worshipper
of Baba Balak Nath (patron saint of Kangra) and Durga. Hari Singh Nalwa,
the General of Maharajah Ranjit Singh was also a worshipper of Baba Balak
Nath and Durga.
The royal families of Faridkot,
Nabha, and Patiala are all of Sikh nobility. They all engaged Brahmin priests
and Hindu temples were built for family use. Maharajah Pupinder Singh offered
bali (sacrifice) of a waterbuffalo to the temple of Kali in Patiala which
he built. Every year the Maharajah of Patiala donates a nose ring and gold
bracelet to the River Sarsa which is directed by the Brahmin priests and
in accordance to Hindu traditions.
Sikhs and Hindus have intermarried
since Guru Nanak's time. Sikhs have never accepted intermarriage with the
muslims. The Hindus accepted the marriages because Sikhism was considered
a part of Hinduism, and marriages for Sikhs were performed by the Pundits
( Hindu priests) until the beginning of the twentieth century, this was
a result of the reform movement of Bhai Kahn Singh. The Sikhs saw nothing
wrong with intermarrying with the Hindus because this did not present a
loss of identity.
The reader must be reminded that
this is not a new argument but one that has been debated for generations
since the annexation of the Punjab by the Raj. The traditions of Sikh nobility,
the rituals of the Gurus on pilgrimage, and the recitation of Hindu prayers
all show the essence of Sikhism as Hindu. The statements of the Gurus clearly
show that they did not create another faith but instead merely simplify
their own. When the muslims attempted to wipe out the Sikhs during the
reign of Aurangzeb (the Mughal emperor), it was from the Hindus that the
Sikhs found new recruits to carry on the survial of the Panth. The ritual
sacrificing of halva (sweet wheat) with the kirpan is clear evidence of
the influence of the Devi cult. The Ardas ritual found amongst the Sikh
tradition is another example of the presence of the Devi cult found within
the Sikh rituals. It should also be noted that this paper clearly reflects
the views of individuals who influenced and led the Sikh people. Although
the author of this paper does acknowledge the fact that not everyone may
agree with the views presented here, the truth is the truth and the sacrifices
of the Gurus must not be in vain, lest we forget. The Sikhs are Hindus.
