Sikhism: Have we served it justice?

On April 13th 1699, celebrations for Vaisakhi were in full swing, in the midst of this celebration, a new and exciting development was occurring: Guru Gobind Singh Ji was enacting the ideals of Sikhism. His simple act of initiating the “panch pyare,” (five beloved) personified the entire journey that had been begun with Guru Nanak Ji. Founded only 500 years ago by Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji (1439-1539), Sikhism is one of the youngest world religions. Sikhism was to “ideally” be a religion rested on the premise of equality: equality among caste, creed, color, religion and gender. In Sikhism, the Guru’s envisioned a unification of humanity. The principles were adamant, yet somewhere in the past 300 years the vision got tainted . . .blurred . . . lost!

On April 14th 1999, Sikhism entered into its third century of existence; however, my concern lies in how much have we truly accomplished when following in our Guru’s footsteps. The word Sikh literally translates into disciple; hence, the question arises “how much of the teachings have we absorbed?” Have we truly embodied the ideals –the way of life prescribed to us? I believe we have swayed a long distance and we have a long way to go to truly becoming the individuals that the Guru’s intended.

Lets look briefly at some of the principles that are a part of Sikhism. In Sikhism, all individuals regardless of their ethnic, racial or religious origins and beliefs are equal. This philosophy was revolutionary at its time since in India, caste and religion have been a basis of conflict throughout history. The ideas of equality were manifested by such acts as the “langar” or “free-kitchen. This small act allowed people to sit and eat together. In a langar, one does not distinguish special treatment for any individual, regardless of status or any other variable.

Another way in which the Gurus’ ideals of equality are vividly illustrated is in the construction of the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple or “the Harimandir” in Amritsar is considered one of the holiest of Sikh shrines. But more importantly the message explicitly given by this temple is the fact that by its four entrances, each symbolic for the four corners of the world, all are welcome.

Another revolutionary step was the Guru’s interpretation of women’s role in society. In the Sikh religion, a woman has equal rights and privileges to grow spiritually and participate in all religious ceremonies. Rejecting the idea of female inequality, Guru Nanak said:

“Man is nourished in the womb and born from a woman; he is betrothed and married to a woman. Friendship is made with women and civilization originates from a woman. When a wife dies, another wife is sought because family affairs depend upon a woman. Why call her bad, from whom are born kings? From a woman another woman is born; none is born without a woman.”

Guru Nanak further questioned such practices of widow “sati” (self-immolation on the pyre of her husband); in fact, he encouraged the remarriage

of widows, which was unheard of in his time.Maybe Sikhism greatest illustration of equality was in the actions of the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji. In creating the Khalsa, he continued to show us – by example– how we are all equal beings in this world. At the celebrations of Vaisakhi, at Anandpur Sahib in 1699, he asked for those who were willing to make the supreme sacrifice of their lives to come forward. At his call, five individuals, from various backgrounds, came forth. These five individuals were Daya Ram, Dharam Das, Mukham Chand, Himmat Rai, and Sahib Chand. Today these individuals are rightfully known as the “panch pyare,” or the ‘Five beloved.” The Guru, then, officially baptized these individuals and in turn had them baptized him; with this simple action the boldest statement of equality had been made. The Guru had showed us the true meaning of equality, his message: that in mankind no one individual was higher than another. Sikhism, hence, was open to all regardless of their background. Further, still ideally he wanted for all Sikhs to adopt the last name of Singh or ‘lion’ if they were male, and for females ‘Kaur’ (lioness/princess). This modification would eliminate one vital problem of caste. That is, in a nation where ones caste can be determined by names, the Guru had set forth a means to overcome that and enhance the equality of all.

I have to say, that as a Sikh I have a great deal of pride in what our Guru’s achieved and the messages they set out to spread. However, as the title of this write-up states: have we served it justice? Have we truly absorbed the teachings and more importantly do we practice them? Obviously, the answer to the question is no. Since if we did many of our problems today would be non-existent. It is so easy for us to say with pride that we belong to such a remarkable religion, and we can go to the Gurdawara every week and listen to the hymns and messages, but when . . . When will we begin to actually practice the teachings? Its so easy to believe in a religion, whatever the religion may be, but the true test comes when we can actually apply the teachings to our daily lives. In this area we have a great deal of work to be done, and as we celebrate 300 years of Sikhism maybe we ought to also consider are we the Sikhs the Guru’s envisioned?