Precursor:
Mardanna willed himself to gaze upwards. With the snow thundering down from the heavens, he desperately clung to the cliff face. Guru Nanak, meanwhile, stood atop him with his brow furrowed and sweat rapidly pouring down his face. With a burst of herculean effort, he managed to pull Mardanna over the ledge. The grey in his beard tinged with white snowflakes, his ever-present sword strapped to his back along with his rucksack, the Guru glanced at the seemingly infinite drop below. Both men sat down to rest. The Guru mirthfully asked Mardanna if he wanted to peek over the ledge. Mardanna grinningly refused confessing the climb had nearly ended him. This sent both men into peals of laughter; a joyful recourse to crack the gravity of their feat. Finally Mardanna somberly asked, “so your holiness what exactly are we doing here?” The Guru replied, “come Mardanna, let us meet the most useless creatures in existence.”
The Battlefield:
Traditional hagiographies mention that Guru Nanak confronted the ascetical Siddhs three times during his lifetime. While Sanataan chauvinists wilfully excise the more crucial parts to typecast the Guru as some renunciate, the unadulterated material and the Guru’s Gurbani present a wholly different image. Guru Nanak exposed the Siddhs for their degeneracy and hypocrisy on all three occasions and conferred upon them the epithet of futile beings-living corpses with no purpose in life. His words, on the matter, impart the same tone to us today in which he uttered them: sardonic and contemptuously. At the heart of the matter was the clash of views between the Guru and traditional Indic spirituality, especially the issue of worldly renunciation:
ਜੋਗੀ ਭੋਗੀ ਕਾਪੜੀ ਕਿਆ ਭਵਹਿ ਦਿਸੰਤਰ ॥
ਗੁਰ ਕਾ ਸਬਦੁ ਨ ਚੀਨ੍ਹ੍ਹਹੀ ਤਤੁ ਸਾਰੁ ਨਿਰੰਤਰ ॥੩॥
ਪੰਡਿਤ ਪਾਧੇ ਜੋਇਸੀ ਨਿਤ ਪੜ੍ਹਹਿ ਪੁਰਾਣਾ ॥
ਅੰਤਰਿ ਵਸਤੁ ਨ ਜਾਣਨ੍ਹ੍ਹੀ ਘਟਿ ਬ੍ਰਹਮੁ ਲੁਕਾਣਾ ॥੪॥
ਇਕਿ ਤਪਸੀ ਬਨ ਮਹਿ ਤਪੁ ਕਰਹਿ ਨਿਤ ਤੀਰਥ ਵਾਸਾ ॥
ਆਪੁ ਨ ਚੀਨਹਿ ਤਾਮਸੀ ਕਾਹੇ ਭਏ ਉਦਾਸਾ ॥੫॥
ਇਕਿ ਬਿੰਦੁ ਜਤਨ ਕਰਿ ਰਾਖਦੇ ਸੇ ਜਤੀ ਕਹਾਵਹਿ ॥
ਬਿਨੁ ਗੁਰ ਸਬਦ ਨ ਛੂਟਹੀ ਭ੍ਰਮਿ ਆਵਹਿ ਜਾਵਹਿ ॥੬॥
ਇਕਿ ਗਿਰਹੀ ਸੇਵਕ ਸਾਧਿਕਾ ਗੁਰਮਤੀ ਲਾਗੇ ॥
ਨਾਮੁ ਦਾਨੁ ਇਸਨਾਨੁ ਦ੍ਰਿੜੁ ਹਰਿ ਭਗਤਿ ਸੁ ਜਾਗੇ ॥੭॥
“The Ascetics, Mendicants and Renunciates beg in foreign lands. Why? Because they do not comprehend the words of wisdom which lead to the merit within them. The priests, the scholars, the intellectuals and the astrologers and those who endlessly recite scriptures-neither do they realize that their Maker is already within them. Some perform penance in forests; some reside forever in shrines. Unenlightened as they are-why are they renunciates? Some avoid sex and others undertake celibacy. But without living the words of wisdom they only come and go earning no merit. Then there are the Householders who being the seekers of the truth serve and attach themselves to its wisdom. They make the imbibing of wisdom and making others wise their purification. They remain forever awake in dedication to their Maker.”
-Guru Granth, 419.
For the Siddhs the issue was not one of directly silencing the Guru but converting him to their insidious course-the obliteration of the human family structure-after enveloping him in a serpentine embrace and utilizing him as a mouthpiece. They had realized the danger the Guru represented to their delusional way of life after their first round of clashes. After realizing that the Guru and his Sikhs were waging war on their religious sanctimony, they had prepared thoroughly. Observing the Guru and Mardanna walking towards them, they smiled at each other. “The boy,” a senior abbot mused loudly “does not know what he’s walking into.”
Maneuvers:
Guru Nanak penned the Siddh Gosht (debates with the Siddhs) as a summary of the ensuing outcomes that the Gurmat-Indic clashes produced. Some may inquire that is Sikhi not Indic? From a superficial purpose, yes. But a profound analysis disproves this myth if Indic is considered from a philosophical perspective. The Siddhs’ obtuseness and the Guru’s revolutionary resistance to their ideals are on full display from the onset of the Gosht.
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ਸਿਧ ਸਭਾ ਕਰਿ ਆਸਣਿ ਬੈਠੇ ਸੰਤ ਸਭਾ ਜੈਕਾਰੋ ॥
ਤਿਸੁ ਆਗੈ ਰਹਰਾਸਿ ਹਮਾਰੀ ਸਾਚਾ ਅਪਰ ਅਪਾਰੋ ॥
ਮਸਤਕੁ ਕਾਟਿ ਧਰੀ ਤਿਸੁ ਆਗੈ ਤਨੁ ਮਨੁ ਆਗੈ ਦੇਉ ॥
“There is One Creator, currently creating, who is revealed through the divine truth.”
Commentary: There is one sole Creator who is even now furthering creation and who can be revealed by synchronizing ourselves with Satgur or the divine truth emanating from Hukam (reality). What is required of us is total surrender to reality and the virtues we gain from therein.
“The coalition of Siddhs assembled and took seat proclaiming loudly that the gathering of saints had assembled.”
Commentary: Mobs of Siddhs were in the habit of crying that they were saints and worthy of respect. The Guru notes this point to depict their hypocritical shenanigans.
“I only acknowledge and recognize to the one who is truth encapsulated, unending and perennially beautiful.”
Commentary: Guru Nanak underscores his refusal, here, to pay his respect to the Siddhs as some divine entity. Rather, he proclaims, he recognizes a higher power.
“I sacrifice my head to that one for my body and soul are fully dedicated to that one’s path.”
Commentary: The significant military undertones of this verse convey the Guru’s strict disciplinarian dedication to upholding his beliefs and dedication to Sikhi. The sacrifice of the head has two meanings: the figurative alludes to admitting the human intellect (which resides in the head) is imperfect; the literal: he will prefer to die rather than concede ground on Gurmat.
-Guru Granth, 938.
The Siddhs attempted to maneuver him into traps of logic and other argumentative stumbles. But Guru Nanak was more than prepared to blunt their offensive and turn their own tactics on them. When the Yogi Charpat patronisingly asked,
ਦੁਨੀਆ ਸਾਗਰੁ ਦੁਤਰੁ ਕਹੀਐ ਕਿਉ ਕਰਿ ਪਾਈਐ ਪਾਰੋ ॥
ਚਰਪਟੁ ਬੋਲੈ ਅਉਧੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਦੇਹੁ ਸਚਾ ਬੀਚਾਰੋ ॥
“The worldly ocean is very deceitful and treacherous. How is one to traverse it? Charpat says think it over carefully Nanak, give your honest view.”
The Guru retorted,
ਆਪੇ ਆਖੈ ਆਪੇ ਸਮਝੈ ਤਿਸੁ ਕਿਆ ਉਤਰੁ ਦੀਜੈ ॥
ਸਾਚੁ ਕਹਹੁ ਤੁਮ ਪਾਰਗਰਾਮੀ ਤੁਝੁ ਕਿਆ ਬੈਸਣੁ ਦੀਜੈ ॥੪॥
“You proclaim yourself that you are self-realized so what reply can I give you? My honest view is this: if you have already traversed across then what can you be given?”
-Guru Granth, 938.
Charpat retreated into a humiliated silence only for his mantle to be taken up by the twice stung Luharepa:
ਹਾਟੀ ਬਾਟੀ ਰਹਹਿ ਨਿਰਾਲੇ ਰੂਖਿ ਬਿਰਖਿ ਉਦਿਆਨੇ ॥
ਕੰਦ ਮੂਲੁ ਅਹਾਰੋ ਖਾਈਐ ਅਉਧੂ ਬੋਲੈ ਗਿਆਨੇ ॥
ਤੀਰਥਿ ਨਾਈਐ ਸੁਖੁ ਫਲੁ ਪਾਈਐ ਮੈਲੁ ਨ ਲਾਗੈ ਕਾਈ ॥
ਗੋਰਖ ਪੂਤੁ ਲੋਹਾਰੀਪਾ ਬੋਲੈ ਜੋਗ ਜੁਗਤਿ ਬਿਧਿ ਸਾਈ ॥੭॥
“We stray away from the grand mansions and roads; we live in jungles among the trees. We consume berries and roots, such is the spiritual wisdom bequeathed by our predecessors. By bathing at pilgrimage sites you obtain peace and no filth sticks to you. Luarepa, the apostle of Gorakh, reveals this secret that is the true way of action.”
-Guru Granth, 938-939.
ਹਾਟੀ ਬਾਟੀ ਨੀਦ ਨ ਆਵੈ ਪਰ ਘਰਿ ਚਿਤੁ ਨ ਡਦ਼ਲਾਈ ॥
ਬਿਨੁ ਨਾਵੈ ਮਨੁ ਟੇਕ ਨ ਟਿਕਈ ਨਾਨਕ ਭੂਖ ਨ ਜਾਈ ॥
ਹਾਟੁ ਪਟਣੁ ਘਰੁ ਗੁਰੂ ਦਿਖਾਇਆ ਸਹਜੇ ਸਚੁ ਵਾਪਾਰੋ ॥
The Guru pointed out,
“In the mansions and on the roads, do not let negligence creep up on you. Within your own-self, do not covert another’s possessions. Without the divine wisdom you cannot still your mind, Nanak, your (internal) hunger cannot be satisfied. The Guru (divine wisdom as enlightener) has revealed the grand mansions and cities within my very self. It is within where I ply the divine trade.”
-Guru Granth, 939.
Luharepa and the Yogis portrayed themselves as being spiritually strong and at peace because they strayed away from what they identified as sources of temptation (families and society). The Guru effectively rebutted him underscoring that such hypocrisy was not required if one accepted divine wisdom and allowed it to enlighten one’s actions in life for the stronger man did not avoid temptation but its lures wherever it stood in his way.
To Distinguish:
While an exegesis of the entire Siddh Gosht is beyond the scope of this article, the Guru continued effectively silencing the frustrated Siddhs’ rapid salvos with colossal ripostes. The Siddhs screeched:
ਕਿਸੁ ਕਾਰਣਿ ਗ੍ਰਿਹੁ ਤਜਿਓ ਉਦਾਸੀ ॥
ਕਿਸੁ ਕਾਰਣਿ ਇਹੁ ਭੇਖੁ ਨਿਵਾਸੀ ॥
ਕਿਸੁ ਵਖਰ ਕੇ ਤੁਮ ਵਣਜਾਰੇ ॥
ਕਿਉ ਕਰਿ ਸਾਥੁ ਲੰਘਾਵਹੁ ਪਾਰੇ ॥੧੭॥
“Then for what reason do you wander thus? For what reason have you adorned these travelling clothes? What do you trade in? How will you carry others across with you?”
-Guru Granth, 939.
The first three lines reflect the Siddhs’ desperation: why does the Guru wander if he does not wander for any spiritual solace as they do? Why does he retain hard-bitten travel clothes if he does not journey to seek spiritualism? What does he trade in then to support himself and his followers if not the coin of blessings and spiritualism? And (importantly) how will he carry others across with him in his newfound endeavor? This last line indicates the Siddhs were well aware he intended to find a new faith; a school of thought at odds with Indic traditionalism and they were attempting to cast him as a hypocrite for emulating them while denying this mimicking. The Guru did not mince his words:
ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਖੋਜਤ ਭਏ ਉਦਾਸੀ ॥
ਦਰਸਨ ਕੈ ਤਾਈ ਭੇਖ ਨਿਵਾਸੀ ॥
ਸਾਚ ਵਖਰ ਕੇ ਹਮ ਵਣਜਾਰੇ ॥
ਨਾਨਕ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਉਤਰਸਿ ਪਾਰੇ ॥੧੮॥
“I undertake my journeys to seek out other Gurmukhs (divinely enlightened individuals). I retain these garments to seek out and observe them in their dwelling. I am a merchant trading in truth. Nanak, as a Gurmukh I aid others in traversing across.”
-Guru Granth, 939.
As progenitor Guru, Guru Nanak established Sikhi as the path of the householder. The Sikh was expected to uphold the loyalties and responsibilities demanded by faith, family and freedom. This, he elucidated to the Siddhs, is the only valid path to liberation and not that of rejecting responsibility.
Mukti:
The Gurmat-Indic clash, initiated by Guru Nanak, expressed another distinctive facet of Sikh theology: that of Jeevanmukti or liberation. Multiple Indic schools of spirituality continue to retain this principle but with minor variations though none are as radical as Sikhi in their departure from the status quo. The most influential of Indic schools that found root among the Siddhs was that of Sankara. The latter propounded that the only sole reality was the impersonal Brahman, the realization of which entailed negating the phenomenal world as falsehood. The world was false while the soul itself was a part of insentient Brahman and, resultantly, all empiricism and actions committed in the empirical field were inchoate and obsolete. True liberation was bifurcated into two hierarchical parts:
(a) Vairagya or detachment from worldly affairs while performing one’s caste duties.
(b) Total renouncement and rejection of good or bad (duality).
In essence, the system left no room for morality as it only attached one to a fallacious world. Life was to be lived, in the words of Gaudapada, as a senseless object experiencing nothing and denying all morality and immorality. This, essentially, was the driving point fuelling the Siddhs who attempted to convince the Guru to the alleged veracity of their path. For them, their mental state was the most elevated as they were Jeevanmukt: liberated (mukt) from the falsity of life (Jeevan) itself. For the Guru, though, Jeevanmukt signified an altogether different meaning: liberated (mukt) while living the reality of life (Jeevan). For the Sikh Jeevanmukt, the world was not false but one’s hubris was false and everything committed under its influence accrued a false result.
ਪ੍ਰਭ ਕੀ ਆਗਿਆ ਆਤਮ ਹਿਤਾਵੈ ॥
ਜੀਵਨ ਮੁਕਤਿ ਸੋਊ ਕਹਾਵੈ ॥
ਤੈਸਾ ਹਰਖੁ ਤੈਸਾ ਉਸੁ ਸੋਗੁ ॥
ਸਦਾ ਅਨੰਦੁ ਤਹ ਨਹੀ ਬਿਓਗੁ ॥
ਤੈਸਾ ਸੁਵਰਨੁ ਤੈਸੀ ਉਸੁ ਮਾਟੀ ॥
ਤੈਸਾ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤੁ ਤੈਸੀ ਬਿਖੁ ਖਾਟੀ ॥
ਤੈਸਾ ਮਾਨੁ ਤੈਸਾ ਅਭਿਮਾਨੁ ॥
ਤੈਸਾ ਰੰਕੁ ਤੈਸਾ ਰਾਜਾਨੁ ॥
ਜੋ ਵਰਤਾਏ ਸਾਈ ਜੁਗਤਿ ॥
ਨਾਨਕ ਓਹੁ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਕਹੀਐ ਜੀਵਨ ਮੁਕਤਿ ॥੭॥
“They who love the divine will (the existential reality fashioned by the Maker) are thus declared liberated while living. For them joy and sorrow are equally the same for in both they remain unperturbed and attached to their Creator. Gold and dust; elixir and venom; honour and debasement; the pauper and the prince, their way is to accept whatever the Maker wills. Nanak, only such individuals can truly be called liberated while living.”
-Guru Granth, 275.
The Khalsa Jeevanmukt accepts reality and flows with it. They make their Jeevan like water; conforming to the situation they find themselves in just as water conforms to whatever mold it is poured in. Happiness and tragedy; the beggar and the emperor-everything and everyone is alike for them because they are fearless and do not fear jumping wholeheartedly into the battle of life. They are liberated from fear, hubris, lust, obsession and wrath and thus have no cause to differentiate between whatever trials and tribulations they confront.
One can witness this state of being in the life of countless Khalsa warriors. Ratan Singh Bhangu illustrates the example of the 18th century Khalsa commander Gurbaksh Singh Shahid. Forever immersed in the arts of war and Gurbani, Gurbaksh Singh treated both beggar and emperor alike fearing no one and reciprocating respect where due otherwise letting his weapons do the talking for him. His life illustrates how the Gursikh does not flee from the world but rather lives in it unperturbed having realized its reality.
Conclusion:
In spite of the multiple attempts made by vested interests to shoehorn pre-Sikh era atrophy into the Sikh praxis, the words of Guru Nanak resonate just as strongly today as they did on the eve of their writing. The Siddh Gosht in particular reads as a clarion call to arms against spiritual stagnation, societal degradation and religious degeneracy. The reader, if able to reject the mournful recitational style practiced by our current crop of Granthis, is figuratively transported to the same Mount Sumer where the Guru and Mardanna held up the Siddhs’ own hypocrisy to confront them with. The progenitor Guru’s ideal of the Jeevanmukt was finally realized by the tenth Guru who ratified it in the form of the Khalsa. The Sikhs have for almost two centuries disallowed this Khalsa from spreading believing their faith disallows proselytizing. They have forgotten that Guru Nanak also climbed mountains to spread the fragrance of Sikhi. They should be doing no less themselves. True Jeevanmukti has to be spread in this world. The Sikhs have no right to conceal it. It has to happen by their hands.
Good work