This morning’s Times
of India reports that the Akal Takht,
the highest temporal Sikh body, bans Sikhs from keeping the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book and the
“living, active Guru” of the Sikhs, in homes that also have bar counters in
them. I don’t quite see merit in such a sanction.
Sikhism, as I have known and understood, is one of the
world’s youngest religions, founded only around the 15th Century. It
is not a religion that draws upon one line or school of thought. It is inspired
by Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism and several others. It is
also the only religion that is not built on the teachings of a single Guru, but
is based on the teachings of 10 Masters, with the Guru Granth Sahib, being the final and ever-living Guru. To me, it
is not even a religion – it is a beautiful confluence of various streams of
wisdom. Which is why Sikhism, and the Guru
Granth Sahib, are very contemporary and very relevant even today. Nanak,
the founding Guru of the Sikhs, said that ultimately what __ or the only thing
that __ matters is The Truth. And The Truth, he said, was unspeakable. Which is
why he, and his successors, sang it. Which is why the Guru Granth Sahib is in verse, containing 1430 angs (limbs or literary sections), actually hymns, complied and
composed between 1469 and 1708.
Perhaps, by virtue of their religion being so young, or maybe
their upbringing is based on practical and liberal tenets, I have found Sikhs
to be very fun-loving, friendly and caring. They live Life to the fullest. They
are never self-obsessed and choose always to get involved, and to serve whenever
they get an opportunity. They are also the only set of people on the planet who
can laugh at themselves. The innumerable Sardarji jokes that we come across is
strong evidence of this. No other community will be so tolerant if they were to
be the butt of so much global ribbing and ridicule. So, when a stricture is
passed on such a wonderful people, it does shock and surprise.
I have another personal reason and learning to share. Understanding
and realizing The Truth that Nanak sang about, and that which every spiritual
path will take you to, does not require abstinence. In fact, intelligent living
does not demand anything from you. It only wants you to be. To live in the
moment and experience the Now. This will happen, only after a person’s quest
for inner peace, through pursuing material matters of the world, draws no result.
Only when seeking outside is futile, does man consider seeking within. That’s
when, as Nanak taught, and Sikhism preaches, the individual sees the panj chor (Five Thieves) of ego, anger,
greed, attachment and lust, as distracting from being on The Path. So, in
essence, each one of us has to find our ways to get on to The Path – through experience,
through stumbling, through falling and through learning. No religious diktat
exists nor can any direct anyone to The Path, unless, she or he really wants to
be on it. Whatever dos and don’ts abound around us, are the handiwork of the
mandarins that want to control, using the name of religion, and causing fear of
retribution by an external God, to coerce the masses into submission.
Simply, nothing outside can distract you or prevent you from
realizing your True Self – and the Godliness in you – except you! As Nanak
himself has sung it so beautifully: “As fragrance abides in the flower, as
reflection is within the mirror, so does the Lord abide within you. Why search
for Him without?”
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