Sikh Religion and Hinduism - An Interfaith Dialogue

Introduction

It is believed that Inter-faith dialogue will help the whole world to live in peace and harmony. There were conflicts and wars due to misunderstandings or misinterpretations of scriptures of other religions. The pioneer assembly to bring the religious leaders of the world together in a spirit of reconciliation was held in Chicago during 1893 under the banner of world Parliament of Religions. Swami Vivekananda participated in this assembly to represent Hindu religion.

Interfaith dialogue and religious pluralism are more relevant in the Indian context due to diversity of religions, languages and cultures. The first prophetic message of Guru Nanak after communion with God: “There is no Hindu no Musalman”, emphasized the universal human spirit revealed for the first time in the history of world religions. Guru Gobind Singh repeated the message of Guru Nanak when he proclaimed that all humanity is one in spirit1:

mwns kI jwq sbY eyko pihcwnbo ]

Sikh religion is universal in its approach as reflected in the teachings of SGGS. Acceptance of religious pluralism and tolerance is the hallmark in the lives of Sikh Gurus and Sikh tradition in general. Guru Nanak was revered by the people of all Indian creeds as is evident from the phrase: “Guru Nanak Shah faqir, Hindu ka Guru, Musalman ka Pir”. It is recorded in Janamsakhi that both Hindus and Muslims laid claim to the body of Guru on his death in Kartarpur. Guru Granth Sahib’s essential concerns are for the whole humanity and Gurbani proclaims2:

The Bani of God’s word is spoken by everyone.

bwxI pRB kI sB ko bolY]

According to Teja Singh3: “The holy Granth (SGGS) is the only inter-communal book in India, if not in the world.” SGGS contains the verses of 36 contributors belonging to different parts of India and representing almost all cross-sections of medieval Indian society. Bhai Mardana, a Muslim, was a life-long companion of Guru Nanak. He never distinguished between Hindus and Muslims. When Guru Nanak was questioned in Baghdad about the superiority of Hindus or Muslims, his emphatic reply4 was:

Without good deeds both will suffer.

SuB AmlW bwJhuM dovyN roeI ]

It is unfortunate that the message of Sikh Gurus has been unconsciously or deliberately misinterpreted by both Indian and foreign scholars due to the theological language of the Hindus used in SGGS. When Sikhism came to Punjab, Brahminism interpreted it as its off-spring with a view to holding it in its tentacles5. According to Puran Singh6: “Hinduism was once intolerant to Buddhism; it is now intolerant to Sikhism because it threatens to change Hinduism vitally.”

Contemporary Sikhism is becoming intensely aware of its ethno-religious, ethno-social, ethno-cultural, and ethno - political identity and corporate personality. Sikhism has to re-define its relatedness to Hinduism, as distinct from the earlier stress on rootedness in Hinduism. Sikh religion, despite its doctrinal newness and distinct identity, shares with the Indian commonwealth of religions certain recurring ideational archetypes that have shaped different cultures and civilizations arising in the Indian sub-continent7.

In my view, we have four categories of scholars commenting on the contribution of Sikh Gurus to Indian society. In the first category, one can include scholars who treat Sikhism as a Hindu reformist movement. In the second category, we can include scholars who treat Sikhism as a synthesis of Hinduism and Islam. There is a third category which considers Sikhism as a branch of Bhakti movement only. A new breed of Sikh scholars considers Sikhism as a unique religion with no link to Hinduism or Islam. There is lot of confusion in Sikh Studies due to these different approaches.

Our approach in this essay will be to establish the unique identity of Sikh religion and to explore its relationship with the mainstream Hinduism on the basis of some essential elements common to both the traditions. The unique character of Sikh religion is confirmed by the observation made by Prof. M. Mujeeb8, an eminent scholar of Aligarh Muslim University: “Guru Nanak was not a mere reformer. We know he was not a Hindu who appealed to the Hindu scriptures in order to reform Hindu society. We know he was not a Muslim trying to eradicate evils in Muslim society by appealing to the Quran. I do not find in his teachings any attempt at a reconciliation of Hinduism and Islam. In fact, he set both Hinduism and Islam aside to get to the source of religion itself. He was an originator, a founder.”

The reason for misunderstanding Guru Nanak’s message lies in the use of terms and concepts in his bani according to Grewal9: “The impression that Guru Nanak’s religious ideas present a good deal of similarity to the ideas which one can easily discover in contemporary Islam and Hinduism has a strong basis in the terms and concepts used by Guru Nanak in his compositions; but this impression is quite misleading. In the context of his theological thought, current terms and concepts undergo a significant change, so significant indeed that they acquire a new meaning.”