Sikhism- An Introduction Read online

  Let no one be proud of their birth. Know that we are all born from the same clay.

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  Insight

  God, the creator of all, is accessible to everyone, regardless of caste, race, religion or gender. In God’s sight all are equal.

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  The religious privileges of the brahmins came in for particular criticism from the Gurus. The Hindu tradition said that only brahmins could teach the Vedas. The Gurus rejected the idea that such a right belonged to any single group. They also denied the authority of the Vedas. They might be revealed by God but so were the utterances of such men as Kabir, Ravidas and the Muslim Sufi, Sheikh Farid, as well as, pre-eminently, the bani revealed to the Gurus themselves.

  It is not easy to say how important concepts of ritual purity and pollution are in the Panth today, but one does hear of Sikhs who will bathe and change their clothes if they have visited a chamar (leather worker) or chuhra (sweeper) home. The existence of Ravidasi (chamar) and Valmiki (chuhra) congregations in Britain, whose members will speak of discrimination suffered at the hands of Sikhs, may indicate a continuing concern about pollution among some Sikhs, even if the major reason is social – they look down on them as coming from a lower zat (see Chapter 16).

  Sikhs are conscious that some of them fall short of the ideals of the Gurus. Reformers draw attention to their teachings and institutions, such as langar and open membership of the Khalsa, as well as the sharing of karah parshad, and endorse it practically, but age-long customs are changed only slowly. A growing number of young Sikhs in Britain criticize the persistence of caste within the Panth but most of them have to bow to family pressures when it comes to marrying, and that means marrying a member of one’s own zat.

  Woman: male–female equality

  God is without form or features according to Sikh teaching. That means it is theologically inappropriate to use he or she, him or her of God, though the terms used of God are all masculine. However, bani, the word used to describe the Gurus’ hymns, is a feminine noun. It is also true that Guru Nanak described himself as the bride of God saying:

  My beloved is not distant. When my soul was reconciled to the Guru I found God, the prop of my life. In this way the bride met God, the bridegroom, and became his beloved.

  The name of God in this verse is Haré, one of the names of Lord Krishna, but Guru Nanak frequently used Hindu or Muslim names for God when it suited him. It did not mean that he was a Hindu or Muslim, or that he thought of God as male. On the contrary, the passage to which most weight must be given is this:

  The wise and beauteous Being [Purukh, i.e. God] is neither man nor woman nor bird;

  When Guru Nanak said that he was God’s bride or:

  You are our mother and father, kinsman and brother

  or:

  You are our mother and father, we are your children

  he was referring to a spiritual relationship of love, not one of a biological or physical kind. Such language is the common currency of mystics throughout the religions.

  * * *

  Insight

  Gender, like all else, comes from God. It is part of creation.

  * * *

  The Guru once said that for aeons upon aeons there was nothing but undivided darkness over which God’s will held sway. At the divine command creation began. Until then there was no male or female, no varna or jati, no pain or pleasure. He also affirmed that God is hidden in and enlightens every human heart, not only those of men or only those of women.

  With this as background it is not surprising that Guru Nanak stressed the importance of woman. In an Indian society that saw her as a source of spiritual pollution, where priests taught that one could not obtain liberation without being born as a man, Guru Nanak said:

  Man is born of woman and woman of man. (AG 879)

  and:

  It is from woman that we are conceived and born. Woman is our lifelong friend who keeps the race going. Why should we despise the one who gives birth to great men? (AG 473)

  A seventeenth-century theologian, Bhai Gurdas, expressed the Sikh position as well as anyone when he said:

  From a temporal as well as spiritual point of view woman is man’s other half and assists him to salvation.

  This may seem sexist to twenty-first-century readers. They must remember that he was writing to men who probably traditionally held women in low esteem and believed that they were, if anything, a threat or hindrance to liberation.

  Guru Amar Das appointed women to be preachers and missionaries, realizing, no doubt, that in Muslim-influenced areas of Punjab especially women would not be allowed to speak to men who were not members of their family. But beyond the practical expediency lay the principle that women could preach the Sikh message. Mata Sahib Kaur provided the patashas, sugar crystals, for the first amrit initiation ceremony on Vaisakhi in 1699. This would have rendered the amrit ceremony totally unacceptable to pollution-conscious men and women. She was also initiated into the newly formed Khalsa, which should not be called a ‘brotherhood’ as it is open to women as well as men.

  There were no women Gurus, it is true, but we must remember the conventions of the day which must have constrained the Gurus, and note also that the Gurus’ wives often played significant roles in the development of the Panth. Principally, however, the Gurus were not social reformers but spiritual teachers and messengers. The natural corollary of what they taught may well have been the social as well as spiritual equality of man and woman but their primary aim was to preach their message of spiritual enlightenment to everyone. They could not render it unacceptable by preaching a social revolution that they could not effect.

  Spiritual equality has never been denied to the Sikh woman. In religious matters the Rahit Maryada agrees that there are no functions that she may not undertake, including being one of the panj piare at the amrit ceremony. However, social attitudes often lag some way behind the teachings of the great religious preceptors and this is certainly true of the status of Sikh women. The Gurus denounced sati, the immolation of women upon their husbands’ funeral pyres, and seem to have been successful in preventing the practice. Perhaps this was not too difficult because sati was such an obvious act. However, they also condemned the dowry system and female infanticide. Neither of these has been completely eradicated to this day and amniocentesis is becoming increasingly popular in Punjab, frequently leading to female foetuses being aborted. Families may also be more concerned about the sexual conduct of daughters than that of sons and more prepared to make sacrifices for a son’s education than for a daughter’s – attitudes not unknown in many other societies.

  In Punjabi culture a girl is paraya dhan – the property of others is the literal meaning of the phrase. Her father, then her husband, is responsible for her. She is never her own person. She is a costly expense to her parents, as a dowry is expected, and after they have spent everything on her the benefit is enjoyed by the family she marries into. The rest of her life will be spent with them! Among Sikhs in the dispersion, as well as those in India who themselves have experienced higher education, a broader view of the purpose of nurturing offspring is developing, but until pension schemes replace the dependence of parents upon their sons for security in old age, change is likely to be slow and limited.

  Sikh theology offers the same rights and responsibilities to women and to men. It is the powerful influence of a patriarchal society that Sikh women have to overcome. Gradually in Britain, and more so in the USA, social liberation is taking place, and in India too. There it is more common than it was to find women taking courses at university and continuing to work after marriage, but in the rural areas the old traditions may be little changed and in any Sikh community the birth of a daughter is seldom greeted with the joy that a boy baby brings, but that seems to be a response found among some members of most cultures.

  Sikhs and the use of military force

  The history of Sikh persecution begins with the martyrdom of Guru Arjan in 1606
and has had a strong influence on Sikh attitudes to the use of outward force. The British made use of this martial tradition by recruiting large numbers of Sikhs into the army once Punjab had been annexed in 1849. Sikhs had probably been armed since the days of Guru Hargobind (1606–44), who kept a standing army. However, it was Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, who formalized the creation of a Sikh fighting force in 1699 when he established the Khalsa, a community of Sikhs prepared to serve the Guru even to the extent of giving him their lives. This appeal for loyalty resulted in the five beloved ones, the panj piare, coming forward to offer themselves to him. The Guru asked for commitment but this was not to be of a blind unquestioning kind. He called them to observe certain principles as he did himself. He propounded the theory of the just war, the dharam yudh, one to be fought only in the defence of justice.

  Sikhs believe that Guru Gobind Singh was only following the tradition of other Gurus. The emphasis should not be upon his sanctioning the use of outward force but upon the moral pressure that he and some of his predecessors had brought to bear upon rulers. He laid down the first principle of a just war in addressing the Mughal emperor of his day. War should be a last resort. Only when all other means had failed was it right to resort to force. He communicated this rule to the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, in a letter called the Zafarnama in which he accused him of tyranny. He wrote:

  When all other methods have failed it is permissible to draw the sword.

  This should guide the individual Sikh who wears the kirpan (sword) as one of the five Ks. It should not be unsheathed even to show a friend what it looks like. If it is drawn, it should only be when bloodshed is unavoidable, but it should be remembered that Sikhs should be law-abiding citizens who should not take the law into their own hands.

  Guru Nanak had accused Emperor Babur of injustice when he pillaged the town of Saidpur after capturing it. Guru Amar Das persuaded Emperor Akbar to end a tax on Hindu pilgrims to Hardwar. He also asked him, successfully, to remit taxes in the Labore district where his army had been campaigning and which consequently was faced with famine after crop destruction. He told members of the kshatriya class that they should fulfil their traditional obligation (sva dharma) to provide people with a protective fence of justice. Guru Hargobind had been imprisoned in a fort at Gwalior; when the Emperor Jehangir offered him his freedom he refused to accept it unless 52 Hindu rajas received similar treatment.

  Justice, a basic Sikh tenet, must govern the use of force as a last resort. The other rules that relate to the conduct of a just war are:

  War should be waged without hatred for the enemy or any desire for revenge. Lust, anger, greed, attachment and pride are the five vices or evils that Sikhs should shun. The first four could easily be committed during a war. In a just war Sikhs should avoid them, as at all other times.

  Territory should not be annexed. Any land or property captured in the course of the war should be returned to its owner as soon as possible after hostilities have ended. Looting and the taking of booty are forbidden. This would return the motive of justice into ones of lust and greed.

  The army must be made up of soldiers committed to the cause. Mercenaries fight for greed and a share of the spoils of victory. There should be no such trophies in a just war. Rape often follows victory. Sikhs should not violate the women of their defeated enemies. Sikhs were also told that they must be disciplined in their personal lives. Members of the army should not drink or smoke or take any other drugs.

  The final just war principle is that only the minimum force necessary should be used. Once the objectives of the war have been achieved, fighting should cease and attempts should be made to establish peace.

  Guru Gobind Singh, in laying down these rules, taught his followers that they should be sant sipahi, saint-soldiers. Daily nam simran, meditation, was as much an obligation upon them as keeping their military weapons prepared. There should be a balance here as in all aspects of Sikhism where moderation is a key concept. Guru Gobind Singh once said:

  Without power, righteousness [dharam] does not flourish; without dharam everything is crushed and ruined.

  Protection, however, should characterize Sikh power wherever it exists. The Sikh prayer (Ardas) ends with the sentence:

  The Khalsa shall rule, no hostile powers shall exist. Those who come to the Khalsa for shelter will be protected.

  The strength of the military tradition and culture in Sikhism, and the presence of the just war theory, may be reasons for pacifism being little discussed by Sikhs. If there are pacifist Sikhs they may hold to their principles by not being initiated into the Khalsa. Otherwise, in an India where there has never been conscription, they have never needed publicly to declare themselves.

  Medical issues

  From earliest times Sikhs have cared for the sick by building dispensaries and hospitals. Guru Nanak is described as healing lepers in some Janam Sakhi accounts. Leprosy was a dreaded disease at that time, and still is. It was considered incurable and likely to be transmitted to anyone who touched a leper. Guru Arjan set up a hospital for the care of lepers at the Punjab town of Taran Taran. At the time, little care was available for the sick outside the family and they were left to form support groups of their own if they were lucky and lived together until they died. The child Guru, Har Krishan, contracted smallpox from the patients he assisted, and died.

  Medical work is still at the heart of Sikhism. Many Sikh men and women are doctors or surgeons; still more are nurses. India is a country that cannot afford to employ all the doctors it trains, which explains why some of them have migrated to Europe or America. It depends on volunteers and voluntary contributions to make up for services that the government cannot afford to provide. Sikhs do this by setting up clinics or dispensaries and day wards at gurdwaras. Here, medical care is given free of charge and minor operations can be performed.

  Advances in medical research are making Sikhs think about some other issues related to the body.

  TRANSPLANT SURGERY

  One of the great scourges of India is blindness caused by diseases of the cornea. This can be cured by corneal grafting. Sikhs are encouraged at death to donate their eyes to eye banks so that this can be done. ‘Eye camps’ are set up in rural districts where patients who are blind or have poor sight can be taken and the simple operation that gives them back their sight can be carried out. In 1987 a Sikh set up a ‘Life After Death’ society in Calcutta ‘with the object of educating the public on the necessity of donating the entire body for transplant, medical research and educational purposes, instead of cremation or burial’. (About 40,000 Indians die of kidney failure alone each year.) Mr H Singh, its convenor, wrote in the Spokesman Weekly, New Delhi, 20 June 1988: ‘Our modest effort in the past year has led to the formation of branches in six cities including Calcutta, Bombay, and Delhi.’ Transplant surgery poses no ethical problems for Sikhs.

  The third Guru wrote:

  The dead may be cremated or buried, or thrown to the dogs, or cast into the waters or down an empty well. No one knows where the soul merges and goes. (Guru Amar Das, AG 648)

  Once someone has died the body is merely like the discarded skin of a lizard or some other animal that leaves it behind when it is outgrown. The soul or spirit has no more use for it, so it can be used for transplants or research. In practice, of course, many Sikhs would not like to think of the body of their loved ones being treated in this way, so they are only slowly accepting the idea of donating parts of the body.

  Let the maximum number of Sikhs donate their eyes and other usable parts of their bodies after death by legally signing such donation papers in collaboration with local or neighbouring hospitals. In the name of the Guru, let the Sikhs sacrifice a portion of their bodies after death which he did while living. (Two Gurus were martyrs. Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur sacrificed their lives for their faith.)

  The Guru Ram Das Mission is a United Kingdom organization that enables hospitals and eye clinics to be set up in rural Punjab. (From S
ikh Phulwari, vol. 6, no. 1, July–September 1988)

  AMNIOCENTESIS

  Amniocentesis is a modern clinical test that can be used for determining the sex of a child while it is in the womb. It is creating a problem in India where parents sometimes ask for an abortion if the child is a girl, because Indian cultures tend to prefer boys to girls. Sikhs reject this trend but some individuals may be tempted to use the test and then arrange an abortion if the foetus is shown to be female. This would be classed as infanticide, a practice which, as has already been stated, the Gurus condemned.

  The Punjab census for 2001 states that the ratio of women to men in the population is now 874 per thousand. In 1991 it was 882. The most widely given reason for this is the abortion of female foetuses. The practice, as in the UK, is unlikely to be confined to Sikhs but certainly includes them.

  GENETIC ENGINEERING