THE VICE OF VIRTUE

The Tyranny Of Compassion

Consider the following two events:

Virtue at the Anandpur Court:

The early 18th century Sikh text the Mukatnamah relates an interesting encounter between Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, and a devout Sikh. The Guru is in his court when the Sikh comes rushing in weeping and prostrates himself before the perplexed Guru. ‘Master, master’ he cries ‘I have committed a grievous sin.’ The Guru replies ‘be at peace Sikh and tell me what cataclysmic transgression would see you disturb my court thus?’ ‘Master,’ the perturbed man explains ‘I saw a cow on my way here. A Brahmin asked me later whether I saw the beast. I pointed him to its location. Enroute to you, I witnessed the same Brahmin sell it to a Muslim butcher.’

A moment of heavy silence follows before the court bursts out laughing with the Guru shedding tears of mirth as the distressed Sikh watches on. ‘My Sikh,’ the Guru finally exclaims ‘it is but a dumb beast. Leave it to its fate. Maybe the Brahmin had to sell it. But why do you care so much?’ ‘But master’ the man exclaims, ‘what will the world say?’ ‘Why let the world define your virtue?’ The Guru questions. ‘It knows not neither what is good nor what is bad fleetingly transitioning from one to another. Do not allow the world to define your virtue.’

ਗਾਫਲ ਗਿਆਨ ਵਿਹੂਣਿਆ ਗੁਰ ਬਿਨੁ ਗਿਆਨੁ ਨ ਭਾਲਿ ਜੀਉ ॥

ਖਿੰਚੋਤਾਣਿ ਵਿਗੁਚੀਐ ਬੁਰਾ ਭਲਾ ਦੁਇ ਨਾਲਿ ਜੀਉ ॥

ਬਿਨੁ ਸਬਦੈ ਭੈ ਰਤਿਆ ਸਭ ਜੋਹੀ ਜਮਕਾਲਿ ਜੀਉ ॥੭॥

“Without wisdom, we tend to fear death more than is necessary. Careless and senseless, the common man runs helter-skelter and fails to seek out and discover the truth. Various goods and bads pull at him and through inner conflict he is finished.”

-Guru Granth, 751.

For the agitated Sikh, the issue was one of what the world would think of him if it emerged he had made such an error that resulted in a fatal outcome for the cow venerated by Hindus. This fear disallowed him from observing the hypocritical nature of worldly virtue i.e. transient virtue. It compelled him to fear the worse for himself during his lifetime and after death. The world, essentially, had defined his virtue.

Ancient Virtue:

An ancient Chinese chronicle relates how a sage sat meditating under a tree. Suddenly a youth happened upon him and fell at his feet begging for shelter explaining how villagers were out to lynch him mistakenly believing him to be a burglar. The sage remained in equipoise and pointed to the tree above him meditatively thanking his deity for allowing him to show the world the path of virtue. The youth hid himself in the tree’s branches profusely thanking the sage. The villagers arrived and requested the sage to hand over the youth if he was sheltering him. The sage considered the issue. His virtue would be impacted if he lied. He pointed to the tree above him. Soon, the youth dangled lifeless from its branches. When he died, his deity cast him into hell. Weeping at the tyranny, the sage inquired his sin. ‘You,’ the deity thundered, ‘allowed the world to define your virtue.’

Undercurrent:

A subtle truth emerges here. A Khalsa disallows the world from defining their virtue. The world’s transient conceptions and notions retain no sway over the enlightened individual able to confront reality head-on and live it on its inescapable terms. In the case of the Sikh and the cow, the Guru articulated the necessity of rejecting worldly concerns. The cow was innocent, but the cow was also a beast with less value than a human life. It could produce milk to feed families but it could also be used as sustenance for a family in the short-term. To stress over how it would impact one’s virtue in the eyes of the world was insignificant.

ਇਹੁ ਜਗਤੁ ਮਮਤਾ ਮੁਆ ਜੀਵਣ ਕੀ ਬਿਧਿ ਨਾਹਿ ॥

“Consider this world deceased, drowned by delusions. It knows not the way of life.”

-Guru Granth, 508.

The tale of the sage further underscores this salient fact. He was unable to establish the youth’s fault. He initially provided shelter in the name of virtue but then regressed again in the name of virtue. For what end? To appease the world. The result? His virtue was never truly virtuous but an attempt at appeasing the very world he sought to renounce. Similar to the Sikh attempting to ingratiate his Sikhi with worldly mores, the sage too attempted a balancing act that toppled him.

Samarth Ramdas:

When the ascetic Samarth Ramdas visited Guru Hargobind and witnessed the Guru returning bloodied from a hunt and ordering his Sikhs to prepare the kill for Langar, he caustically protested by acerbically remarking within earshot of the Guru ‘I heard that Nanak was a great sage but his successors seem no better than bloodthirsty princes.’ The Guru retorted without breaking stride ‘Guru Nanak discarded the ways of the world but not the world itself.’ The lesson for the humbled Samarth Ramdas was pertinent, the Sikh way of virtue outranked worldly virtue due to its permanency and firmness. It did not entertain any amendments. Although the Sikhs were to rule the world, they were to instill an unique example of life and death in its annals while rejecting its hypocritical devolutions.

ਕਬੀਰ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਿ ਇਕ ਸਿਉ ਕੀਏ ਆਨ ਦੁਬਿਧਾ ਜਾਇ ॥

ਭਾਵੈ ਲਾਂਬੇ ਕੇਸ ਕਰੁ ਭਾਵੈ ਘਰਰਿ ਮੁਡਾਇ ॥੨੫॥

“Kabir, when you adhere single-mindedly to oneness then all your doubts flee, irrespective of whatever pleases the world: unshorn hair or baldness.”

-Guru Granth, 1365.

Chakna:

It is no great secret that Sikhs confront virtual extinction in their own homeland today. Whereas the Khalsa of the past was proactive in expressing and expanding its interests; the Sikhs of today have been beaten into subservience and brainwashed into believing that their existence is only for selfless service. What does this service consist of? A sanctimonious inferiority-complex that witnesses them wreck their own hearths for the benefit of others. This has seen them alter their own history to negate its empire-building, Machiavellian and strategic aspects for the kitchen-boy image. The ludicrousness is telling. A large number can barely withstand hearing the heroics of the Gurus and Gursikhs in mercilessly slaughtering foes attacking them. Rather, they have constructed the falsity that the enemies past Karma was annihilated by meeting death at the hands of the Sikhs.

Others from the neo-missionary school of thought have obliterated their own roots by slavishly declaring existent Sikh history in its entirety both Brahminical and forged to strengthen the pernicious kitchen-boy narrative. They argue for selfless service, barely acknowledging that true selflessness in Gurmat runs contrary to their perversions. Their rapacity for worldly kudos has seen them deprive poverty-stricken Sikhs of long term solutions for their ills while depleting considerable resources on religious communities retaining over more than fifty nations aiding them. The stateless Sikhs remain forgotten. Their sin? Aiding them does not fit into the selfless narrative plied to the world at large.

ਲੋਭੀ ਅਨ ਕਉ ਸੇਵਦੇ ਪੜਿ ਵੇਦਾ ਕਰੈ ਪੂਕਾਰ

“In their rapacity, the rapacious serve only their delusions despite professing true religiosity.”

-Guru Granth, 30.

Consider the appropriation of Guru Nanak’s principle of Vand Ke Chakna or empowering others. Imploding western socialism has been shoehorned into Sikhi to contend that aiding others is a Sikh’s sole purpose in life. Our beloved shoehorners, in their wisdom, have failed in discerning that the western model has bred universal apathy and entitlement regressing western civilization. Vand Ke Chakna, in its purity, does not delineate such retrogression. The Guru Granth outlines two salient criteria for Vand Ke Chakna:

ਏਹ ਕਿਨੇਹੀ ਆਸਕੀ ਦੂਜੈ ਲਗੈ ਜਾਇ ॥

ਨਾਨਕ ਆਸਕੁ ਕਾਂਢੀਐ ਸਦ ਹੀ ਰਹੈ ਸਮਾਇ ॥

“What sort of love is that which renders one dependent on another? Nanak, true love is that which immerses one in oneself.”

-Guru Granth, 474.

To argue that one loves the world and this incentivises them to go forth and serve Langar to communities and individuals with other recourses as well as depleting considerable resources able to be utilized on their own people in even direr straits is not love. Worldly love proclaims the virtues of selflessness yet selflessness is the breeding ground for self-betrayal.

ਧਰਮੀ ਧਰਮੁ ਕਰਹਿ ਗਾਵਾਵਹਿ ਮੰਗਹਿ ਮੋਖ ਦੁਆਰੁ ॥

“With the cry of righteousness those seeking to become righteous forfeit all shred of it in their search for their salvation.”

-Guru Granth, 469.

Selflessness, at its heart, is morally impossible. The Sikh Gurus were cognisant with this fact realizing that the truly selfless were pacifists unable to impel change through force. Selflessness for them lay in rendering the downtrodden autonomous and able to stand on their own feet. Not providing temporary slap-on solutions. The unceasing hunger for validation and self-gratification from non-Sikhs has witnessed an almost ubiquitous downfall of the Sikhs worldwide.

ਸਤੀਆ ਮਨਿ ਸੰਤੋਖੁ ਉਪਜੈ ਦੇਣੈ ਕੈ ਵੀਚਾਰਿ ॥ ਦੇ ਦੇ ਮੰਗਹਿ ਸਹਸਾ ਗੂਣਾ ਸੋਭ ਕਰੇ ਸੰਸਾਰੁ ॥

“The altruistic believe that contention is derived from charity and they debate thus. They give and give but clandestinely hunger for increased (validation) only enacting charades for the world.”

-Guru Granth, 466.

One may argue that altruism tainted with the need for gratification is erroneous and not altruism per se. The Guru Granth provides a significant rejoinder,

ਅਸੁ ਦਾਨ ਗਜ ਦਾਨ ਸਿਹਜਾ ਨਾਰੀ ਭੂਮਿ ਦਾਨ ਐਸੋ ਦਾਨੁ ਨਿਤ ਨਿਤਹਿ ਕੀਜੈ ॥ ਆਤਮ ਜਉ ਨਿਰਮਾਇਲੁ ਕੀਜੈ ਆਪ ਬਰਾਬਰਿ ਕੰਚਨੁ ਦੀਜੈ ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮ ਸਰਿ ਤਊ ਨ ਪੂਜੈ ॥੩॥

“Donate war mounts; donate elephants; donate women; donate land; donate your own very self! Donate, donate, donate and then donate your own weight in gold-none of these are equal to living wisely.”

-Guru Granth, 973.

What then is selfless donation in the Sikh purview?

ਨਾਮੁ ਹਮਾਰੈ ਪੂਰਨ ਦਾਨੁ ॥

“My greatest donation is divine wisdom.”

-Guru Granth, 1145.

This is true Vand Ke Chakna. Not wasting Sikh resources in the name of Sikhs on non-Sikhs while leaving Sikhs to suffer a worst fate. Self-empowerment is only realisable through wisdom. Not free food services. And to empower one’s own people is no crime especially when those people are at the brink of entering oblivion.

ਪਾਖੰਡਿ ਭਗਤਿ ਨ ਹੋਵਈ ਪਾਰਬ੍ਰਹਮੁ ਨ ਪਾਇਆ ਜਾਇ ॥

“Pretenses alone do not consist religiosity and nor is the Maker appeased like this.”

-Guru Granth, 849.

History:

Let us consider the past. Banda Singh, Nawab Kapur Singh, Jathedar Jassa Singh Alhuwalia-men who constructed empires and are heralded as the epitome of Khalsa discipline empowered non-Sikhs to make their own decisions and live the consequences. They never sacrificed themselves for others. Banda Singh armed peasants and ordered them to consolidate their own territories and feed themselves. Nawab Kapur Singh declined aiding others instead selecting a Sikh first policy. In 1783 Jathedar Jassa Singh and Sirdar Baghel Singh raided Delhi during what is considered North India’s worst famine. Ransacking granaries, they transported subsistence to their territories in the Punjab to feed Sikhs first and other citizenry paying them Raakhi. When the Delhites complained, they advised them to blame themselves for not being strong enough to alter their own governments to leave the Sikhs alongside preparing for famines. The lesson was prescient: the Khalsa only aided those willing to aid themselves.

Regression:

The rot runs deep. Historical precedents are embellished to subtly vilify the concept of Sikhs aiding Sikhs. It is claimed Bhai Taru Singh was slain not for aiding militant Sikhs but for rescuing some girl from her rapists. That Bhais Bota Singh and Garja Singh had a Langar going while fighting off and plundering the foe. One could barely imagine such an unworthy event. Taru Singh was reported for aiding fugitives and rebels. He proudly underwent scalping as a result. Bota Singh and Garja Singh plundered the poor and rich alike thundering that it was not their fault that the plundered were too weak to alter the government policy against the Singhs and also defend themselves against their wrath.

Lesson:

In our pursuit of worldly virtue we have forgotten the salient lessons of the past while starving our very own beloved Gursikh brothers and sisters. The whitebeards haunting our Gurudwaras dole out copious amounts of falsity designed to make the youth conform to their inferiority complexes where charity is some sure way to divine real-estate in the afterlife. The more politically minded uphold their worldly virtue as a symbol of their commitment to sacrificing Sikhs on the altar of political correctness while feeding the majority society not realizing that recipients are overjoyed at seeing Sikhs deplete their own strength and fracture themselves as a result. Others still believe that somehow this will net them Khalistan.

All of them have forgotten one crucial lesson that both our history and the Guru Granth teaches us. The Khalsa is autonomous because it helps itself. It makes an effort to empower all its members. For non-Sikhs, commitments are required. We witness this with the Dal Khalsa’s Raakhi taxation and contractual obligation for Muslims to forego Sharia and Hindus caste, integral aspects of their faith. Those who sought and accepted the Khalsa’s refuge are to be saved. Those beyond it to be rejected and left to their devices.

Help those who would help themselves. These are the Sikhs and non-Sikhs who have realized,

ਆਪਣ ਹਥੀ ਆਪਣਾ ਆਪੇ ਹੀ ਕਾਜੁ ਸਵਾਰੀਐ ॥੨੦॥

“Resolve your own affairs with your own hands.”

-Guru Granth, 474.

In pursuit of appeasing the world through a false conception of virtue, we are hastening our own doom. As the strategist Chanakya forewarns in his Arthshastra, a text that once echoed throughout Gurudwaras whenever statecraft was discussed,

“Never help the hapless unable to or unwilling to fend for themselves. They have no desire to become their own succour. Expend your efforts on those who would stand up for themselves. Observe the ocean. It only gives its water willingly to the clouds that then increase it a thousandfold and return it with excessive interest while at the same time undertaking their daily duty. Aid those who would be clouds and not barren rocks. The rocks will drag you down with them. This is the nature of the world. It serves no purpose to muse on why it is what it is. Rather, it is fruitful to consider what it teaches you.”

-Arthshastra, Chanakya.

The world’s communities provide temporary charity for others and permanent solutions for their own members. The Sikhs of Guru Nanak betray both their Guru and the lessons of ages past. They provide permanency for others but temporary fixes for their own fellow Sikhs. And then they moan, ‘the Panth is in danger.’ Empires, such as the Sikhs have been enjoined by their Gurus to carve, are not built through cooking fires but realpolitik and empowering those who deserve to be empowered. It is now in the hands of the Sikh youth to undo the damage wrought by the upholders of the kitchen-boy image and control their own destiny.