By Ranvir Singh | Opinion |
Sikh translations of the 1980s commonly used the idea of “One God” and the pronoun “He” to explain Sikh teaching. It is not hard to see where this came from. The writers were familiar with the King James Bible and Shakespeare and had simply co-opted this usage. This could be interpreted as blind following but it should also be seen as an attempt to make the translation meaningful to a target audience. Sikh “theology” was something written by British conquerors of Panjab or Sikhs re-negotiating their position within that framework.
This is the background that I inherited in the 1990s as a British born Sikh. The simple truth is that, by design, there is nothing complicated about Sikh “theology”. Since the Gurus promoted a direct relation between the Creator and created there was no place for priests. If there are no priests there is no one to produce or benefit from a “theology”. All Sikhs know quite well what the religion is about, explaining it is the problem. If that is the case, why should I explain it? To navigate my place in the world and to change my own and its direction.
Guru Nanak assumes that a seeker wants to connect with Reality or Sat and fulfil themselves by becoming sachiara or ‘Real-i-sed’. The point is not right belief but right or real life. It is less about orthodoxy and more about orthopraxis (right living) and that is why “saints of other worlds” are as welcome as saints from religious traditions in this world. The role of right beliefs are that they may point a way, a direction. All the answers we need are within us as Life reaches out to us. This flow of love for us or Grace is called the ‘Guru’, the destruction of ignorance, bringer of Light. Guru is sometimes linked to Sat making SatGuru. Being and Love, the fundamental nature of life. People may follow other gurus, indeed the sum of our life choices reveals what we truly worshipped and valued. This is based on common sense. Either every single religious experience in human history is false but if even one is true the way of the mystic is real. If a mystic wishes to live her life fully, openly, socially then she will change the world around her. The authentic mystic, by necessity, is a revolutionary.
The easiest way to explain the Guru is 1ness. That is because the sacred text, the Guru Granth Sahib, even starts with the numeral 1. What is distinctive is that whereas the One is often contrasted with ‘other’ in other systems of thought here there is no other. Indeed the 1 is joined to ‘oan’ made up of letters representing the alphabet and then a graphic pronounced ‘kar’ which is the top half of a circle connecting the alphanumeric graphic to the rest of the text beginning with Sat, which is reality or being. All Reality is One, there is no other. As the Creator made the creation and the Giver gifts, there is a separation but this is not a binary opposition since the Creator is the “divine spark” of being at the root of creation, fulfilling itself through creation. The problem with the idea of fulfilling itself is the implication that it is not full, that it lacks, but this is not so for the divine is unique, the Creator is unique, the Giver is unique, a perfection that expands beyond itself through creation, where the simplicity and completion of 1 becomes 11 infinitely. But this infinite expansion requires the possibility of zero. Therefore, in Sikh thought 0 is the key to possibility, chances and choices, greatest among them Love for “only those who Love have got the divine.”
Unity between divine and human, mind and body, men and women, believers and unbelievers, self and society, society and nature replaces duality, marginalisation, exclusion, repression and oppression of the ‘other’. Union is a truth in our relationship to the divine, between our own mind and body, between different people and so on. Our being in the world represents another 1 or ‘I’ but since this is connected to The 1, what you have is 11 or put another way, ‘I’ becomes ‘we’. At least this is what happens when we live in the flow of Life. Another or ‘an’ other is one other, 1 and 1.
When we are in opposition to Life, we dam the flow to build ourselves. With the dam, there are boundaries or ‘othering’, treating persons as objects or things, draining them of Life and meaning. We are one and whatever we are rejecting is zero. These are the binary divisions of the world before the coming of Guru Nanak.
The self or ego is an ‘I’ or 1. The aim of Life is not for it to become nothing — it has been called into being — but to join with the 1, as “water joins with water”. It is to align with the 1 within us living as “fire inside wood”, “reflection within a mirror” or “fragrance within a flower.” Such mystical union is not unique to Sikh thought but the idea that mysticism or spirituality is true religion is. Guru Nanak himself explains that his way starts “from the first breath.” It is natural and inescapable like breath. Represented, it could shown as:
11 You unite with I, fulfilling me
10 You reach out (grace) but I shut you out
01 You are outside the world, I am here separate from You
00 You do not exist and I am a projection of a bundle of chemical reactions
It is sahej or ‘just so’, natural and effortless, a submission to the flow of grace within us and Reality of Being outside that empowers and channels us. Heroism lies in following everyday and everytime common sense. We fear to walk on sunshine, come clean about the present of Presence since it is undeserved and undeservable and we do want to be powerful, justified, worthy, not the recipient of a gift, given for a reason we dread to learn, a whim, where Love blows, for then we could be unloved, rejected. We can seek to manipulate Love, to force it but in so doing we limit it, make it scarce when it is freely given and shared. A desire for self worth to guarantee the flow betrays a lack of faith or trust. The aim is to make oneself the idol, the source and so never dependant and empty again. Yet Love demands only Love, we can channel or deny it. It’s common sense and easy and that makes me angry because I want it to be hard, an achievement, I want to be a Hero, not Perfectly ordinary. When we begin the journey, leaving the shell of our prison there is no turning back or we risk losing ground we cannot walk again.
If there are saints from other worlds there is a universal spirituality for those of any tradition or none. In other faith traditions, 1 is alone and unconnected to us. The divine is not within us but outside in the heavens / skies. There is no Presence Here but the One lives in a particular home or temple to which we must make a special journey or pilgrimage. There is no Presence Now that will succeed in connecting with each of us (universal salvation) and will bend all Life to the Way it Wills. This sense that all will be good and well leads to the feeling of chardi kala or dynamic optimism that some see as distinctive of Sikhs. It is certainly different from the position that we must look back to a time when there was, an ideal from which we have fallen and we are in a dark age that continues to worsen till an End is drawn.
The universality and simplicity of Sikh teachings can be seen in the scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, which includes dialogue with Tantric Siddhas, among multiple writings of Muslim Sufis, Hindu bhagats and those of no faith, like Kabir. All of these sit together, worshipping in unity. The Guru Granth Sahib compares itself to a platter of food in which has been placed three ingredients: reality, satisfaction and dialogue. If mystics deny their own selves, their own reality they have nothing (0) left and that is equally true of the spiritually starved (0). If there is no trust in self there is nothing but the role of Grace is to kick-start the whole process. The spiritually starved will not be satisfied or fulfilled (11) by fantasy (01) nor by listening to a Voice that their own minds and minds of their spiritual seekers are not permitted to speak with (10).
The ikoankar of Sikh thought unites three elements — 1, 0 and Infinity. The ik is literally the numeral 1. The oan is a variant of the word ‘oam’ that contains all letters and sounds and ends in silence or void. Yet the Sikh scripture is adamant that the Void ‘Sunn’ is the 1. It is instructive that Tibetan Buddhists come on pilgrimage to the Golden Temple to revere Guru Nanak or ‘Rimpoche’. This void or silence is part of the interval in the infinite song of life. For the final ‘kar’ is a graphic symbol, the top half of a circle. It is a leap, a movement forward, with no end, no completed circle. The alphanumeric graphic ‘Ikoankar’ tells us about an infinite flow and this is reflected in the medium of the Sikh scripture, which is song, nearly 6000 songs to be more precise.
1 is often polarised against 0 but this leads to duality . As 0 is integrated into 1, Emptiness and Fullness Becoming 1 is an interplay that can go on indefinitely, 1 and 0 Infinite Reality or “ikoankar”, the Unity of Being.
The idea that there is one Sacred — literally the numeral 1, pronounced “ik” which is the same 1 as Sunnya, the Void, 0, and this penetrates our world giving it Sense and Life is the beating heart of gurmat or way of the Guru. The Guru is the Light of the 1, that lights candles — the ten Gurus, to burns in the scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib and the Guru is the Light/spirit/soul — “Jyot” — that makes us beings and persons and not merely chemical reactions — the Guru is the heart and mind of the universe as well as every being.
So far, so easy. Things often become more complex when applied to history or interfaith dialogue or other areas of life, what might be termed the gurmatification of knowledge, because at that point, Sikhs leave the Unity of Being and introduce new characters — 2s if you will, a duality that is alien to gurmat. Duality is a turning away from the 1.
Guru Nanak noted that his method began with the “first breath”. There is a unity of mystical experience through history. Saints of all faiths and none are One. His argument was that the mystical water of life had to be dug out of the well of exoteric religions while the method he followed and promoted allowed it to flow like the rain. It is simply a focus on the One.
The options may be marked as:
11
10
01
00
Let us apply this to religions:
11 one God, one humanity, panentheistic Presence or Being
10 Semitic monotheisms and insiders/outsiders: gentiles (Judaism), pagans (Christianity), kaffirs (Islam)
01 Buddhism — no deity but all people are subject to the same laws of karma and may benefit from the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha
00 Hinduism — one deity is some traditions, millions in others, Indians divided by caste
Let us apply this to mental wholeness:
11 You in me
10 You Vs me
01 Me-ism
00 nothing matters, nihilism
Now is the time You Are with me, a voiceless certainty that silences the tossing and turning of the mind’s stories jumping from past to future, hidden in basement shadows of dread, shut out attics of light and hope rejected. Here is Your Presence, the gateless gate where all beings of light live, which is here in a heart opened, in an inclusive borderless world, part of an inclusive borderless cosmos.
If we know all the answers are within us, at the base of what it means to be, our sense of virtue and a well and good life may look like:
11 common sense, perennial wisdom, godliness
10 rules to tell us what is right/wrong versus guidelines to train us in virtue (the Rehat Maryada or code of conduct) and role model Gurus to show us
01 ego security making calculations, a myth of control, trading with life versus an attitude of trust with the ability to take a leap of faith
00 nihilism, nothing matters
Guru Nanak establishes a model community at Kartarpur and this becomes the Khalsa Commonwealth from 1699. Citizens pledge themselves to join a citizen militia, wear a uniform, become literate, to calling on their Creator and to human equality/opportunity. Our lives tell us what we really worship, what we truly seek.
What brings us into Life is Grace, 1ness could be 1Grace, an energy that animates and writes our base operation. This is a distinct methodology from traditional ego-centred religious practices — methods based on knowledge, action or devotion:
1 1 All 3 fail unless integrated, Grace empowers. Love for us enables us to actively know and love.
10 Mental knowledge about, lacking experience of is mere idolatry, fantasising
01 Devotion to something one does not know is also fantasising
00 Ritual/sacrifice — cleansing starts from a scarcity point of view, that something is wrong with us and we determine and limit the degree of happiness deserved which rejects the Giver of a generous universe that tends to the full flourishing of all beings in a world of universal grace
This tracks how we manage our social interactions if we apply it to Eric
Berne’s transactional analysis:
11 I’m ok, you’re ok
10 I’m ok, you are not ok
01 You are ok, I am not ok
00 We are not ok
This has implications for how we see the political and economic relation between self and whole in a borderless, post-tribal world:
11 we
10 me
01 society
00 we are animals, not beings
It is beyond scarcity and sacrifice — we are good enough and just need to make the right choices. Sat or Reality is about What Is, not mental understanding. It is about the metaphysics of being, not philosophy of religion. This is important as many non-Sikhs fail to grasp the centrality of meeri-peeri, social and spiritual transformation. God or religion inhabit a different space and time than us. From a Sikh lens the Presence and a Presence of Grace demands social change. If I see the Light of you, I cannot exclude you. Guru Nanak’s teachings can be seen as combining Universal Spirituality with a Spiritual Revolution.
In terms of the balance between individual and group we have:
11 friendship, fellowship
10 individual matters, group does not
01 group matters, the individual does not
00 bureaucracy, systems, data working on a purely formal rationality disguising the substantive rationality which it serves
In terms of metaphysics:
11 Being matters, this world is where Wonder, Wahe (wow) Guru (amazing grace) happens
10 that (heaven) matters, this (Earth/ kalyug) is fallen
01 that one does not exist, this (materialism) is real
00 nothing matters
Our choice in life is either to give birth to the Grace within and live a life of 10 Infinity making 11, or create a barrier to shut out 1Guru — Person and Force, to protect our ego. Our ego’s boundaries move from the being itself, to other people, and so on. Division and alienation in being sets up barriers in the world. It was borders and barriers which were broken around 1500 as the world evolved from local and regional areas to global.
The dialogue between 1 and 0 is a central idea. The 1Mind talks with the 0Ego, the inner dialogue of divine and self. The mind and body are, at the same time, one person and separate areas so that medicine can treat the body while psychology is the study of mind. One humanity does not imply a monolithic world culture with one world religion, whether Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam or Christianity but an interplay between one spirituality and one love-infused politics. This specific balance between 1 and 0 is what Sikhs refer to as meeri-peeri, the balance of spiritual and material life, a shadow of the reality that 1Spirit and the material world are 1 and yet 0, not 1. The dialogue of 1 and 0 is not simply within the person, but in their relations with other persons.
Gurmat is about panentheism not monotheism; Grace not human effort; virtue ethics through emotional and social intelligence not rules; spiritual-worldly transformation not the brainwashing of priests and kings; and a borderless Now, not idolisation of fictional lines and narratives. This has been obscured by Singh Sabha activists trying to influence a Christian audience and by Sant Babas writing for a Hindu one.
Let us apply this to love for “only those who love know the Lord.”
11 Love shared and fulfilling as Grace intends, wills, desires, supports
10 Love betrayed as we limit ourselves
01 Love within discovered, Love and desire have spun us into being
00 Loveless
Let us apply this to the journey of life, to the pilgrimage to the Light — the tearing and supporting of our chemical world by Being. This is the journey of the hero or “sura”, whose armoury of virtues, represented by spear, sword, arrows, enables us to overcome our five enemies — anger, lust, pride, greed and selfish attachment (where we neglect the rights and wellbeing of the other person):
11 me hero, you hero
10 you hero with me — our journey
01 accept hero within
00 nothing heroic
Accepting our inner hero, that we were made from love abundant, for joy and success is hard for many of us to believe as our ego tells us that we are not worth it, and society has been organised to reinforce that story. Spiritual and social change go hand in hand.
This idea of self or ego overcoming makes gurmat a type of virtue ethic where the divine is seen in the godly as “the cow is seen in the calf.” While people might disagree about religious laws and rules — whether to eat beef, pork, fish or vegetables — there is no disagreement about Spirit born virtues — love, faith, patience, forgiveness to name a few.
11 virtue ethics, a dialogue and birthing of the Spirit in the saint
10 deontology, rules through the divine voice to humans
01 utilitarianism, no divine guidance, people choose actions that maximise happiness
00 nihilism, nothing matters
The simplicity of 1 and 0 is also seen in the Khanda, which is often used as a symbol of the Sikh faith as an alternative to the ikoankar. There is a range of weapons, reflecting the hero’s journey within and without. The Khanda is a sword, representing 1, the chakra is a circle representing zero. The twin curved swords in the flanks are usually taken to represent meeri-peeri, the connectedness of social and spiritual life. Joined together they make the arch that is the “kar” of ikoankar and which the Infinite Creativity.
The sense of self is a jail from which we can trust and choose freedom. We can follow the 1 – manifesting as the guiding Light within, the Guru, that comes when It chooses - to unity and wholeness. Missed opportunities or temptations and compulsions can lead us to wrong turnings, to dead ends, to nothing, to 0. But that is not the end. The frequent intervention of serendipitous chances, the Guru without manifested in the cosmos, are calls to unity in our lives, reminders that both mind and matter are 1Matrix powered by Guru (grace) expressed in lovingkindness. Our responses to 1ness, our choices, create the maze of our lives. When selfishness and the ego is silenced our hopeful and loving response is a 1. When our decision-making is poor or we are prisoners of fears, addictions and compulsions, we sell ourselves for nothing. Behind and Through it all is 1ness driving to Infinity
Writer, activist. Architect para 67 of UN Declaration Against Racism 2001, introduced ‘worldviews’ in UK RE education. PhD International Studies, FCollT, FCIEA. The article was first published here.
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ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond. You can leave your comments at our website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We will delete comments we deem offensive or potentially libelous. You can reach us via WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 or email: asia.samachar@gmail.com. For obituary announcements, click here
