Guidance for all
The Sikh Scriptures are unique among the religious "Holy Books" of the world in that they don't just offer spiritual guidance for the Sikhs alone but impart guidance and assistance for all the peoples and religions of the world.
The Siri Guru Granth is a supreme treasure for all mankind. It is the true and permanent Spiritual Guide of the Sikhs. Guru Granth Sahib transcends creed and caste, cant and convention. It does not belong to the Sikhs alone. It consecrates the sayings of 11 Hindu bhagats and as many bard poets and seven Muslim saints, along with the teachings of six Sikh gurus. No other religion has included in its holy book the sayings of others, however revered. The Guru Granth Sahib provides unique and unequalled guidance and advice to the whole of the human race. It is the torch that will lead humanity out of Kaljug, (the dark era) to a life in peace, tranquillity and spiritual enlightenment for all the nations of the World.
This is what Max Arthur Macauliffe writes about the authenticity of the Guru's teaching: "The Sikh religion differs as regards the authenticity of its dogmas from most other theological systems. Many of the great teachers the world has known, have not left a line of their own composition and we only know what they taught through tradition or second-hand information. If Pythagoras wrote of his tenets, his writings have not descended to us. We know the teachings of Socrates only through the writings of Plato and Xenophanes. Buddha has left no written memorial of his teaching. Kungfu-tze, known to Europeans as Confucius, left no documents in which he detailed the principles of his moral and social system. The founder of Christianity did not reduce his doctrines to writing and for them we are obliged to trust to the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Arabian Prophet did not himself reduce to writing the chapters of the Quran. They were written or compiled by his adherents and followers. But the compositions of Sikh Gurus are preserved and we know at first hand what they taught."
Bhagat Kabir who is a prominent contributor to the Sri Guru Granth Sahib says on page 479:
Says Kabeer, I sing the Glorious Praises of the Lord; I teach both Hindus and Muslims. ((4)(4)(13)) |
SGGS Page 479 |
It's clear that the SGGS gives directions to the various religious peoples of the world to point them in the correct path. The different religions ("paths to God") and their "Holy Books" are supported and are not directly criticized but the followers who do not follow these scriptures properly are reproached and admonished.
My body and breath of life belong to Allah - to Raam - the God of both. ((4)) |
SGGS Page 1136 |
The One Lord is within both Hindu and Muslim; Kabeer proclaims this out loud. ((3)(7)(29)) |
SGGS Page 483 |
Some bathe at sacred shrines of pilgrimage, and some make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Some perform devotional worship services, and some bow their heads in prayer. ((2)) |
SGGS Page 885 |
All belong to the One God
A Sikh believes that there is only one God in the Universe and that He is the same God for all religions and all the peoples of the world. The soul goes through a cycle of birth and death before reaching its human form. The goal of life is to merge with God and to maintain a balance spiritual and temporal obligations. The true path to God does not mean a renunciation of the world but a life of devotion as a householder, earning an honest living and avoiding temptation and sin. Sikhism condemns rituals such as fasting, pilgrimages and other meaningless rites. All people of all races and sex are equal in the eyes of God. There is total equality between man and woman and women can participate in any religious function and lead the congregation in prayer.
All are Yours, and You belong to all. You are the wealth of all. Everyone begs from You, and all offer prayers to You each day. |
SGGS Page 86 |
Who can estimate Your worth, God? You are kind and compassionate to all beings. |
SGGS Page 608 |
Don't worry - let the Creator take care of it. The Lord gives to all creatures in the water and on the land. |
SGGS Page 1070 |
O Lord and Master, You are inaccessible and merciful. Everyone meditates on You. All beings are Yours; You belong to all. You deliver all. ((4)) |
SGGS Page 301/2 |
Teachings for Hindus
As we have seen Gurmat (the Guru's message) is universal mystical revolution. Hinduism is hard to pin down but there are certain fundamental beliefs focusing around a national-political project which has been active in India since the Aryan invasion three and a half thousand years ago. But whereas the western Aryan belief systems such as the ancient Greek and Roman were changed by the influence of Judaism and Christianity, the eastern Aryans have not made this change, since the earlier attempts of Jainism and Buddhism were effectively marginalised in India, the land of their birth.
There is also a gulf between sramanic beliefs of the indigenous Indians which were later taken over and interpreted by the Aryan priests the brahmins, and brahminism. Sramanic beliefs include devi (the Goddess), music and dance as symbolised by Shiva and Krishna, and the Guru-chela relationship implied in the Upanishads. The brahmin texts include the Rig Veda, Manu and other simritis, shatras, purans, tales of Ram (Ramayana) and Mahabharata.
While the sramanic tradition deals with the dynamic tension of opposing forces in the universe (male and female, Guru and apprentice) which exist in the universe and within ourselves, the brahminical deals with social order as expressed in the caste system and the subjection and elimination of forces outside the brahminical social order which hope is expressed in the figure of Kalki, the final incarnation of Vishnu who is yet to come.
In contrast with Hindus, Sikhs do not accept animistic or polytheistic beliefs. Moreover, its monotheism does not contain any belief in avatars - that God incarnates as a man and dies. Its method of realisation, or soteriology, does not involve renunciation, but rather social transformation through living in reality and social responsibility, both within the inner family unit, the intermediate family (sangat) and humanity. The doctrine of Meeri-Peeri is that spiritual and social transformation are linked, which is why Sikhs do not believe in the caste system, and believe that women are equal to men.
This is what the Guru teaches the Hindu:
The Muslims have lost their five times of daily prayer, and the Hindus have lost their worship as well. Without their sacred squares, how shall the Hindu women bathe and apply the frontal marks to their foreheads? |
SGGS Page 417 |
The Hindus have forgotten the Primal Lord; they are going the wrong way. As Naarad instructed them, they are worshipping idols. |
SGGS Page 556 |
Teaching for Muslims
Both Sikhism and Islam recognize the Oneness of God and regard it as human duty to follow what they describe as the hukam, "the Divine Will". However, they differ on the content of this hukam. For Muslims, it can be derived from the Holy Koran, the hadith of the Prophet Muhammed (Peace Be Upon Him), the consensus of the religious scholars (ijma) and argument by analogy (ijtihad). The kafir is the rebel, the unbeliever, who denies this hukam. For Sikhs, the hukam is unspeakable: “hukam na ka-ha ja-ye”. It can only be realized when lived. Therefore, the emphasis is on personal experience rather than social order. God’s laws and truths are written in every human heart, they are inscribed in the very being of our nature, articulated in the body, mind and soul.
The ideal Muslim social order is a return to the state established by the Prophet Muhammed (Peace Be Upon Him), with all the world as Muslims, the remaining non-Muslims - zimmis – suitably subjugated and unable to promote their lies/practice their faiths. This ideal may be seen in a range of states from Afghanistan (where Sikhs may no longer perform nagar keertans), to Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. It looks to an ideal past.
The result of this has been what is termed Islam’s bloody borders, struggles with all non-Muslims be they Hindu (India), Jews (Israel), Sikhs, Christians (Sudan, Indonesia, Balkans), Buddhists (Bhutan). By contrast, for Sikhs it is an as yet unrealised one world (sabhe manas ko ik pachanbo = recognise all humankind as One), with pluralism in people’s approaches to the One Reality as a garden of many flowers, with an emphasis on the equal dignity of all, of which the langar is a microcosm.
This pluralistic, one world vision is guarded by an armed and active citizenry in this republic of joy and is captured in the opt-repeated slogan, “Degh Tegh Fateh” = Victory to the Cauldron and the Sword. This ideal is also captured in the name of the birthplace of the Khalsa, Anandpur Sahib, City of Bliss. This is a physical manifestation of the spiritual transformation explained by holy bhagat Ravidass in the hymn about Begumpura, a description of the Kingdom of God. By entering that Kingdom within our heart, Sikhs strive to manifest that Kingdom in this world as a vanguard of this revolution, Akaal Purkh Ki Fauj – army of the Eternal Spirit.
First, this manifests for the flourishing of all humanity irrespective of race, religion, or sex in changing human expressions of God’s Divine Order, an ever-changing, ever-fresh kaleidoscope of rainbow colors in front of the Light of God’s Word or Guru-Bani. God’s law is not an abstract system for self-defined ‘normal’ people, with the ‘abnormal’, the kafir to be changed or subjugated, but a growing personal development which manifests in all people. It is based on the growth of every single person with the law (hukm) the universal natural growth principle for each person as a unique plant in God’s Garden of Love and Life.
Second, it is a vision which looks to the future manifestation of that Order on earth realizing that its success depends not on external coercion (law or sh’araih), but inner transformation through meditation (simran) and meditation in action (meeri-peeri). Finally, the victory of God’s Order is held to be part of God’s sovereignty so it will be. Trusting in this, Sikhs enjoy chardi kala, a dynamic optimism for the future, not looking to the past.
This is what the Guru teaches the Muslim:
There are five prayers and five times of day for prayer; the five have five names. Let the first be truthfulness, the second honest living, and the third charity in the Name of God. |
SGGS page 141 |
Your Holy Scriptures say that Allah is True, and that he is neither male nor female. But you gain nothing by reading and studying, O mad-man, if you do not gain the understanding in your heart. ((2)) |
SGGS Page 483 |
It is difficult to be called a Muslim; if one is truly a Muslim, then he may be called one. First, let him savor the religion of the Prophet as sweet; then, let his pride of his possessions be scraped away. |
SGGS page 141 |
Maaroo, Fifth Mehla: O slave of the inaccessible Lord God Allah, Let compassion be your Mecca, and the dust of the feet of the holy your fast. |
SGGS page 1084 |
See also
External links
Gurus: | Nanak Dev | Guru Angad | Amar Das | Ram Das | Guru Arjan | Har Gobind | Har Rai | Har Krishan | Tegh Bahadur | Gobind Singh | Guru Granth Sahib | Sikh Bhagats |
Philosophy: | Sikh Beliefs | Simran | Sewa | Beliefs and Principles | Underlying Values | Prohibitions | Technique and Methods | Other observations | Technique and Methods |
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Scripture: | Guru Granth Sahib | Sikh Scripture | Dasam Granth | Ek Onkar | Waheguru | Bani | Mool Mantar | Japji Sahib | Jaap Sahib | Chaupai | Anand Sahib | Tav-Prasad Savaiye | Rehras | Sukhmani |
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