A Question:
Consider this, dear reader, will you? Can we assert hand-over-heart that the human individual is truly free of all exterior influences? That essentially we are social animals/creatures not shaped by the externalities of community, nationality, shared belief and society? That somehow we have uninspired values which shape us as individuals? It is a mind-numbing question when considered impartially. The individual is the culmination of multiple biological, chemical, cognitive, historical and social factors all intermingling at a certain point in time. All influenced in one form or another by externality. So in this respect we can effectively conclude, the human individual is not free of outside influences.
Liberty:
So what liberty, if any, does the individual possess? This is a question tackled by the greatest of intellectuals and the like. Take for example Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Robinson is shipwrecked atop a paradisical island beset by cannibals and sets about surviving. What differentiates him from the man-eaters next to him? His weapons; his bible and his calendar. Crusoe prays to his societal God and even converts the redeemed savage Man Friday to his ways. Defoe’s attempt at envisioning an individual external to society breaks down midway just as the question of the hen before the egg and vice versa has proven a quandary for generations. Can a man truly ever escape the collectivity which shaped him?
More extreme is Dostoevsky’s Devils in which Kirillov kills himself to establish his own freedom. But such extremes aside, the necessary conclusion here is that the individual cannot be free from society as much as society cannot be free from the individual. Society moulds an individual. This output confluences with the individual’s actions in life to return to the collective societal matrix and further influence the society as a whole. Thus the sum is symbiotically attached to the whole and the whole with the sum.
So what liberty, if any, does the individual possess? In the Sikh perspective it is the liberty to decide one’s reaction to events as well as the company/society one keeps. This is evidenced by the faith’s philosophy as well as the complimentary history of Sikh forebears. Otherwise the Sikh is not to shun society for the impossibility of the entire endeavor. Even Hinduism with its emphasis on asceticism cannot evade the societal influence for asceticism too is an outgrowth of its societal tendencies.
Sangat:
Having established that the individual could not, in any sense of the term, divorce themselves from society in general Guru Nanak laid down the principle of SadhSangat or divine society. The term Sangat, fundamentally, defines the company of an individual or society. In Sikhi the concept of Sangat is understood to mean a learning institute with both a tangible and intangible form. The tangible SadhSangat is understood to be the assembly/nexus of virtuous Sikhs-the Khalsa-which lives its divinely gifted beliefs. The intangible aspect of this SadhSangat is the manifold virtues which its individual members cultivate and forward to the societal whole. These are acquired through personal interactions with Creation in the course of living life. The SadhSangat is the Sikh community in action. It is the institute of learning in which the Khalsa is shaped and then adjoined with the Satguru (truth). Otherwise, the Guru also cautions the Sikhs as to what company they keep in general for not every Sangat is SadhSangat though both serve the same purpose i.e. divest values to their members.
ਜੋ ਜੈਸੀ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਮਿਲੈ ਸੋ ਤੈਸੋ ਫਲੁ ਖਾਇ ॥੮੬॥
“As is the company one keeps so are the fruits one reaps.”
-Guru Granth, 1369.
Becoming party to an immoral Sangat detracts one from the path of virtue and inspires weakness. This is the path to atrophy, decadence and immoral values.
ਨਾਲਿ ਇਆਣੇ ਦੋਸਤੀ ਕਦੇ ਨ ਆਵੈ ਰਾਸਿ ॥ ਪਾਣੀ ਅੰਦਰਿ ਲੀਕ ਜਿਉ ਤਿਸ ਦਾ ਥਾਉ ਨ ਥੇਹੁ ॥੪॥
“The company of an idiot carries no value and neither love with an egoistical fool. They are like lines drawn in water; no trace of such lines ever remain.”
-Guru Granth, 474.
On the other hand, what is the hallmark of a truly virtuous Sangat, the SadhSangat?
ਸਤਸੰਗਤਿ ਕੈਸੀ ਜਾਣੀਐ ॥ ਜਿਥੈ ਏਕੋ ਨਾਮੁ ਵਖਾਣੀਐ ॥ ਏਕੋ ਨਾਮੁ ਹੁਕਮੁ ਹੈ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਤਿਗੁਰਿ ਦੀਆ ਬੁਝਾਇ ਜੀਉ ॥੫॥
“How do we know SadhSangat (true Sangat)? The SadhSangat is that where the true wisdom involved in living life virtuously is observed. This wisdom, says Nanak, is gifted by the Satguru who has ordered it so…”
-Guru Granth, 72.
ਕੁਸੰਗਤਿ:
Opposed to SadhSangat is ਕੁਸੰਗਤਿ or Kusangat, the nexus of vice.
ਕੁਸੰਗਤਿ ਬਹਹਿ ਸਦਾ ਦੁਖੁ ਪਾਵਹਿ ਦੁਖੋ ਦੁਖੁ ਕਮਾਇਆ ॥੧੧॥
“Within the Kusangat sit the imbibers of vice. They discuss their endeavors which only ever result in pain.”
-Guru Granth, 1068.
SadhSangat and Kusangat being polar opposites, it is only natural that both are forever in conflict.
ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਕੂੜੁ ਨ ਭਾਵਈ ਸਚਿ ਰਤੇ ਸਚ ਭਾਇ ॥ ਸਾਕਤ ਸਚੁ ਨ ਭਾਵਈ ਕੂੜੈ ਕੂੜੀ ਪਾਂਇ ॥
“The Gurmukh (the Khalsa) does not tolerate falsity; they forever seek the truth and truth alone. The reprobates cannot tolerate the truth in any form. They forever seek falsity and falsity alone.”
-Guru Granth, 22.
Sikh history is witness to the fact that the Khalsa Gurmukh SadhSangat has forever warred against the base Kusangats of the world. It is the nature of both to clash with each other from time to time in a war of wills and otherwise; conflicts in which one seeks to annihilate the other.
ਗਿਆਨ ਖੜਗੁ ਲੈ ਮਨ ਸਿਉ ਲੂਝੈ ਮਨਸਾ ਮਨਹਿ ਸਮਾਈ ਹੇ ॥੩॥
“Armed with the sword of wisdom, the mind is finally subdued.”
-Guru Granth, 1022.
The above verse refers to both the militaristic battle arena as well as the internal, mental, conflict permeating mankind since the dawn of time. From an individualistic perspective it refers to mastering and subduing the base mind and transforming it into a hub of virtue. From an aggregate perspective it refers to conflicts between ideologies and peoples. Armed with wisdom, the SadhSangats war on both the mental and physical fronts to subdue the minds and powers of Kusangats. Who will win and who will lose? Fortitude is tested with the clash of arms and the intentions driving their wielders.
Ressurection:
The current disconnect which Sikh youth, particularly in the diaspora, experience with Sikhi is intimately linked to the fact that our current forms of Sikh Sangats today are not the SadhSangats envisioned by the Gurus which once fashioned the greatest of Khalsa warriors; the greatest of Khalsa intellectuals and leaders. We require practical initiatives to revitalize our SadhSangat building mechanisms as bequeathed to us by our Gurus. Those who conform to the Sikh way, the Panth of the Khalsa, should be able to seek and sustain the SadhSangat of true Gursikhs or the truly Guru oriented ones (Gurmukhs). The SadhSangats were once the societal building blocks of Sikhi. They served a militaristic, political and societal function which today lies in tatters. Redemption can only be provided by Sikhs themselves. The SadhSangat is our true political and religious form.
ਸਾਧਸੰਗਿ ਭੈ ਭਰਮ ਮਿਟਾਇਆ ॥੩॥
“Within the SadhSangat all doubts and fears are effaced.”
-Guru Granth, 193.
Sam Gat Resonating and having company or Aware Ness of universal TRUTH. Sat San. Gat or living in Non Truthful doubtful or fear state. Ku sam Gat.