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| The following was sent by Prof Harbans Lal **************************************************** JUSTICE AS UNDERSTOOD IN SIKH RELIGION Bhagwant Singh Dilawari The whole Sikh movement CENTRES on JUSTICE, which includes: a) Resistance to tyranny b) Defiance by protests in suffering, martyrdoms and with faith in divine Justice c) Equality of all religious methods of prayer d) Equality of all human beings e) Equality of all prophets with FAITH, in ONE GOD of all f) Equality of women g) Total democracy in spiritual and temporal authority h) Love for all and service to Mankind without discrimination or expectation of any rewards i) Belief in and struggle for TRUTH against RUTHLESS POWER and Zulum. The tyranny of the landlord, of the policeman or of the powerful politician is easily understandable but when Guru Nanak was born in 1469 AD, he was faced with a peculiar system of tyrannising by religiously garbed Pandits and Maulvis torturing the famished and frightened Hindus and Muslims through religious edicts and interpretations. Indeed the general tyranny-infested rule of Muslim rulers against the Hindus was more power-oriented but the corrupt priesthood saw to it that both the communities were deprived of their dues and rights. What did Guru Nanak do? He set out to project that- i) A life of corrupt and idle living was irreligious and instructed that NAAM JAPNA, VAND CHHAKNA and KIRT KARNI (Recitation of God's Name, earning one's livelihood by honest work and sharing it with the less privileged) were to be the basis of his religions instruction. ii) To deprive someone illegally of his possessions or to have illicit relations with other women was POLLUTION of Heart and Eyes. iii) Illegally earned income was declared to be PORK (not sanctioned) for Muslims and BEEF (not allowed) for Hindus. iv) No one was to be considered bad, particularly on account of caste or other considerations. v) Friendship of the poor and the downtrodden was made a basic rule when Guru Nanak said: Neechan andar neech jaat neechi houn aat neech: Nanak tinke sang saath, vadian sion kya rees; Jithe neech samlian tithe nadar teri bakhshish. (The lowliest of the low and still lower is my caste, Nanak lives with such people, what has he got to do with the high-Placed? Indeed God's grace falls where the lowliest are cared for). Faced with Babar's invasion and the tyranny of his hordes, Guru Nanak had the courage to talk of his zulum in his hymns and forced Babar to change his ways by releasing the prisoners through his gentle resistance. And he had the courage to show a local Zamindar that his food was prepared with the blood of the poor people. Then he wandered around the country and abroad stressing the illegitimacy of priestly or other injustices and fought against them morally and non-violently. Guru Arjan preferred to lay down his life than to submit to Jehangir's injustice. Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, set up Harimandir (Golden Temple) with four gates on all sides for the members of all castes to come and pray there. With catholicity and universality of Truth and Mankind, the Guru attracted many Muslims to him. A great, Muslim divine, Hazrat Mian Mir, was asked to lay the foundation stone of the Temple. Similarly Guru Arjan compiled the Adi Granth and included not only the sayings of the Sikh Gurus but of many saints, Hindu and Muslim, besides some, who were foolishly called UNTOUCHABLES. The bigot in Jehangir, who had come to the throne with the help of biased Maulvis, could not tolerate Muslims accepting the equality of any other prophet or equality of non-Muslims, had Guru Arjan Tortured and put to death. The Guru fought against injustice by offering himself in martyrdom. Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru declared that henceforth the faith would be defended against tyranny with arms but himself never indulged in violence against others. He set up an AKAL TAKHT just in front of the HARIMANDIR (Golden Temple) and stressed that causes involving justice temporal work and other ceremonies would be held just in the light of the supremely sacred messages of the Adi Granth in the Golden Temple. Guru Gobind Singh had to fight zulum of Aurangzeb after his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, had been beheaded because he had resisted the Emperor s order to convert all Kashmiri Brahmins to Islam. Guru Tegh Bahadur had taken up their case and himself offered to be killed but declared that he would not let this injustice be perpetrated. The arrogance of power in the face of independence and self-respect of the Sikhs inflicted serious wounds on the Sikh movement but Guru Gobind Singh sacrificed his all to uphold the dignity of Man and fought injustice even when his four sons were martyred-two in the battlefield and two were bricked alive. Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred scripture of 1430 pages, now our perpetual guru, has innumerable passages dilating on justice and stressing the importance of resistance to injustice. As a symbol of universal truth and purity, non-Sikh saints talk of their own method, of prayer, insist on their own prophets for sel-realisation and yet come out with the one method of prayer of love for the attainment of one God in one's heart. Before 1 give passages on truth and justice from Guru Granth Sahib, I would like to quote Dr. Zakir Hussain about Gurus' sense of struggle against injustice and love of Mankind: "So long as the instinctive dread and hatred of tyranny is alive in Man, so long as quiet but unmistakable voice of his conscience that brooks no compromise under political threat and pressure, is not stilled in him, and so long as the disgust for social inequities, religious fanaticism and hollow ceremonies and rites remain an active condition of his wind, the world will not easily forget the name of Guru Nanak and of his supreme successor, Guru Gobind Singh." When Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa Brotherhood in 1699 AD, he asked his followers to he prepared to offer their heads. Five Sikhs, who later became PANJ PIARE (FIVE BELOVEDS) came forward and were administered amrit. When the ceremony was complete and the equality of Man was established (for all the five were from different castes and backgrounds) the Guru, in a true democratic fashion declared that all the Five together would be his Guru and he asked them to administer amrit to him. They had the courage to ask him what he would offer and the Guru offered the sacrifices of all his family. Here is a passage from Guru Gobind Singh: Hindus and Muslims are one: The same Lord is the Creator and nourishes of all; Recognise no distinction between them. The monastry and the mosque are the same; So are the puja and the namaz Men are all one. Incidentally Guru Gobind Singh's sayings are not included in Guru Granth Sahib, for, on account of humility, when he declared Guru Granth Sahib as our perpetual Guru, he did not want his own sayings to be included therein. There is a separate DASAM GRANTH. When Guru Gobind Singh was in dire straits on account of the pressure of Mughal forces, even then he wrote an EPISTLE OF VICTORY TO Aurangzeb and showed defiance in adversity and felt victorious mentally showing no signs of submitting to tyranny. The whole Sikh history is a saga of sacrifices against tyranny and Zulum. This spirit has sprung from the whole concept of the message of Truth and purity in Guru Granth Sahib: Here are some samples: 1. Kabir: The Allah (God) introduced His own light and all men are His: When everyone came from the same Light, how can one say this one is good and that one is not. 2. Guru Arjan: When I came into the company of holy people, I forget the difference between my people and others. Mine and not Mine does not exist. 3. Guru Arjan: I have no interest in any Kingdom nor even in Moksha; I just remain attached to your Lotus Feet. 4. Guru Arjan: I have made everyone my friend and I have become the friend of everyone. I have no enemies, nor am enemy of anyone. 5. Guru Arjan: So long as one has the feeling of 'friend' and 'foe', he cannot remain in equipose. Guru Gobind Singh, in his scintillating hymn begs of the Lord thus: Grant me a boon, Lord, I should never shirk fronm good actions or deeds. I should never be afraid of the enemy, When I fight for righteousness. I Must be always confident of my VICTORY I should instruct my own mind and should be greedy of singing Thy praises; and When the fight for Righteousness rages,I1 should plunge into it facing death in struggle. And this was Guru Gobind Singh's message to his Sikhs on death: "The one thing men dread most is death. I have always lived in its nearness and looked it in the face. So should every one of you who claims to follow me. I will ride to my, death as bridegroom does to the house of the bride, Do not grieve for me for where so ever are, the five pure ones dedicated to God there my presence shall always be." And here is another quote from Kabir on Justice in Guru Granth Sahib: "The valiant fighter is only HE who fights for justice to the poor; He is cut into pieces but never surrenders to the wrong." Guru Nanak, in upholding the honour and majesty of women says thus: One is born of women, one is conceived in women, the life flows through women thals and marriages take place through women; friendship runs with women; woman dies, man looks for another; ties are made with woman. HOW CAN THEN ONE SAY THAT THE ONE WHO PRODUCES KINGS CAN BE BAD? The whole concept of justice in Sikhism is based on the divine message of righteousness and right conduct. The Guru insists that TRUTH is the highest but HIGHER STILL is the truthful conduct. And the truthful conduct cannot be there unless justice is there. Guru Nanak, mocking at the current interpretation that the word stands on the horns of a bull, asserts that the interpretation IS correct but the meaning is different: INDEED THE WORLD STANDS ON THE BULL of DHARMA (Justice) and it will stay so long as it continues to be born out of compassion. And then only CONTENTMENT will let justice flow always. What the Sikhs do in practice is another matter but the philosophy of total justice; economics political, sex-wise and in dealing with Mankind as whole is clear. Guru Nanak says: I AM THE WORST IN THE WORLD, the whole world better than I am ************************************************************* |
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