The Guru:
A contemporary of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth Gurus the Sikh scholar Bhai Gurdas elaborates in his Kabits that the personified Guru’s purpose is not to solely liberate his Sikh but to do so by making them an emulation of himself. The physical Guru is a personification of the impersonal Gian (divine wisdom) Guru. As such, the physical Guru is the highest mystic divinely tasked with disseminating celestially valid principles to the world and forming more mystics.
ਬਲਿਹਾਰੀ ਗੁਰ ਆਪਣੇ ਦਿਉਹਾੜੀ ਸਦ ਵਾਰ ॥
ਜਿਨਿ ਮਾਣਸ ਤੇ ਦੇਵਤੇ ਕੀਏ ਕਰਤ ਨ ਲਾਗੀ ਵਾਰ ॥੧॥
“I am a sacrifice to the (Maker’s) divine wisdom for the rest of my days for it renders mere men into immortals without delay.”
-Guru Granth, Asa Di Vaar.
This aspect of Sikh metaphysics is driven home by Guru Gobind Singh to Bhai Nand Lal in the latter’s Rehatnamah. The Bhai inquires as to how the Khalsa can directly converse with their Guru if the Guru is physically deceased? The Guru delineates that he has three forms: the incorporeal or the Nirgun i.e. his soul arising out of the Creator. The Sargun or his physicality engaged within the temporal realm. The Shabad (word) of the Guru Granth that is his primary legacy.
The Sikh is to pursue history but more importantly, the Sikh is to read and imbibe the canonical Guru Granth-to make themselves a reflection of its divine essence just as their Gurus before them. Even if by some stroke of misfortune the Sikh was to be divested from his heritage, he can still renew its quintessence by living as the Guru Granth emphasizes. This is why the tenth Guru made the final injunction that a Khalsa adherent to the Guru Granth is the Guru Panth.
What unites the Granth and the Panth is the Shabad of the Granth. The fundamental (note: fundamental) lifestyle of the Panth is encapsulated in the discipline of the Rehat with 5 K’s and all. The Khalsa’s soul emanates from the divine Creator, its physicality resembles its Guru’s while the Guru’s injunctions (similar to his predecessors) in the Guru Granth solidifies its immortality via its legacy to inspire a successive generation of the Khalsa and its would-be initiates.
Naam:
Among a plethora of sources, Bhai Gurdas elucidates the nature of the physical Guruship. Guru Nanak devised a new unblemished faith rooted in the immanence of Naam or divine wisdom. The Guru’s Naam is not vocalized but immersive. It calls for the renewal of the Sikh’s self-existence. Whosoever selects to annihilate their base-mindedness and hubris within it emerges as an extension of the divinity imparted by the Guru.
ਮਨੁ ਸਬਦਿ ਮਰੈ ਪਰਤੀਤਿ ਹੋਇ ਹਉਮੈ ਤਜੇ ਵਿਕਾਰ ॥
“The mind that dies within the Shabad (the divine word) fully confident (of its ability) all its arrogance and vice is depleted.”
-Guru Granth, 162.
This path of self-renewal was tread by Lehna who was subsequently renamed Angad by Guru Nanak and declared his successor due to his ideological conformance.
ਵਿਣੁ ਨਾਵੈ ਹੋਰੁ ਮੰਗਣਾ ਸਿਰਿ ਦੁਖਾ ਦੇ ਦੁਖ ਸਬਾਇਆ।
ਮਾਰਿਆ ਸਿਕਾ ਜਗਤ੍ਰਿ ਵਿਚਿ ਨਾਨਕ ਨਿਰਮਲ ਪੰਥ ਚਲਾਇਆ।
ਥਾਪਿਆ ਲਹਿਣਾ ਜੀਵਦੇ ਗੁਰਿਆਈ ਸਿਰਿ ਛਤ੍ਰ ਫਿਰਾਇਆ।
ਜੋਤੀ ਜੋਤਿ ਮਿਲਾਇਕੈ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਨਾਨਕ ਰੂਪ ਵਟਾਇਆ।
ਲਖਿ ਨ ਕੋਈ ਸਕਈ ਆਚਰਜੇ ਆਚਰਜ ਦਿਖਾਇਆ।
ਕਾਇਆ ਪਲਟਿ ਸਰੂਪ ਬਣਾਇਆ ॥੪੫॥
“To ask for anything besides the divine wisdom is to invite the most horrendous of pains on oneself. (Nanak) struck a new coin in this world and established a (new) unblemished Panth. He blessed Lehna while alive and waved the canopy of Gurudom above his head. He merged his light with (Lehna’s) light and Satguru (the embodiment of the divine truth) Nanak altered his physical form. None could enumerate what he did such a marvel did the marvellous Guru perform. The body has been flipped, a new form made.”
-Vaaran, 1:49.
The nature of the Sikh Naam witnessed the changing physicality of the Gurus but ensured that their legacy and Nirgun essentiality remained unchanged. The solidification of Guru Nanak’s embryonic martial tradition under the fifth Guru, its ratification by the sixth Guru, and its perennial continuity under Guru Gobind Singh and later the Khalsa were all rooted in this principle of internal similitude. By the end of human Gurudom, Naam was consecrated in the Guru Granth.
What is Naam?
So what is Naam? The Noumenon of Sirdar Kapur Singh? The Immanence of Sirdar Daljeet Singh? What is Naam? How can it be acquired? After a near-century of genocide and state interferences, Sikh preaching lacks the level of philosophical analysis it should have reached to compete with other faiths. Is it the repetitive mnemonic of Bhai Raghbir Singh Bir? Is there a more profound depth to its pursuit as emphasized by the Guru Granth?
ਗੁਰ ਪਰਸਾਦੀ ਕਰਮ ਕਮਾਉ ॥
ਨਾਮੇ ਰਾਤਾ ਹਰਿ ਗੁਣ ਗਾਉ ॥੫॥
ਗੁਰ ਸੇਵਾ ਤੇ ਆਪੁ ਪਛਾਤਾ ॥
ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਨਾਮੁ ਵਸਿਆ ਸੁਖਦਾਤਾ ॥
ਅਨਦਿਨੁ ਬਾਣੀ ਨਾਮੇ ਰਾਤਾ ॥੬॥
ਮੇਰਾ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਲਾਏ ਤਾ ਕੋ ਲਾਗੈ ॥
ਹਉਮੈ ਮਾਰੇ ਸਬਦੇ ਜਾਗੈ ॥
ਐਥੈ ਓਥੈ ਸਦਾ ਸੁਖੁ ਆਗੈ ॥੭॥
“Do your acts through the Guru’s grace. Immersed in the Naam, live the Maker’s divine virtues. By serving the divine wisdom (through living it), recognise your own self. In this way, the elixir of Naam will ensure all joys for you. Immerse yourself in Naam through the Bani forever. Those who our Master joins are forever joined. Slay your hubris and awaken yourself through the Shabad. In this world and the next, you will forever be at peace.”
-Guru Granth, 415.
Naam can only be obtained through the Bani or the injunctions of the Guru Granth.
ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਕੀ ਜਿਸ ਨੋ ਮਤਿ ਆਵੈ ਸੋ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਮਾਹਿ ਸਮਾਨਾ ॥ ਇਹ ਬਾਣੀ ਜੋ ਜੀਅਹੁ ਜਾਣੈ ਤਿਸੁ ਅੰਤਰਿ ਰਵੈ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮਾ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
“Those who refine their intelligence as per the divine truth immerse themselves within the divine truth. The one who lives this Bani invites the Naam to reside within them.”
-Guru Granth, 797.
Naam is the divine principle underpinning reality. It manifests as wisdom for the mortal. The Gurbani of the Guru Granth is the key to acquiring it. When one lives Gurbani, Naam refines their base-mindedness into a higher form of mysticism. It is essentially a process that modifies that human animal into a higher form of being. An enlightened warrior warring against the trials and tribulations of life as well as base-mindedness degeneracy.
Satguru, Guru, and Naam-they can only be acquired through the Guru Granth. The entire journey from beast to man is enshrined in the life and ethics of the Khalsa as enunciated by the Guru Granth. To live as true, free men and not be encumbered by tyranny of the self and the other: this is the purpose of Naam.
The Path To Naam:
The path to Naam is strenuous. To allow it to remould oneself is akin to treading a path keener than the blade and finer than the hair. As aforementioned, it involves the annihilation of the base self by voluntary recruitment in the Guru’s army, the Khalsa. The discipline of a warrior was integrated with the necessity of Naam by Guru Nanak to produce the ideal enlightened man: the Gurmukh. The path to Naam sifts the wheat from the chaff allowing only the strong to survive.
It is the Sikhs’ greatest misfortune that an inapt generation of old fools, colloquially known as Boomers, and liberalised shoehorning from the diaspora has seen a majority of them adopt the notion that Sikhs do not seek converts. With Godlike Gurus, a sanguinary history of redressing wrongs inflicted on them, and a potent goal in the form of Naam they could convert half the world if they would start preaching their faith properly and emphasize self-betterment as in the past.
What is the path to Naam if not self-betterment? To rise above human subservience to animalistic urges, to dismantle the world of revelatory religions, and to dominate their environs through the sheer power of their will. All this is possible through the aegis of divine wisdom or Naam. The Gurus tread the path of Naam prior to offering it to their Sikhs. They underwent its severity to become what they envisioned their Sikhs becoming: immovable Gurmukhs.
When being fried alive by the Islamic-Sanataan combine, Guru Arjan calmly continued singing:
ਤੇਰਾ ਕੀਆ ਮੀਠਾ ਲਾਗੈ ॥
ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਪਦਾਰਥੁ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਮਾਂਗੈ ॥੨॥੪੨॥੯੩॥
“Whatever you do is sweet to me, Nanak only wants the riches of your divine wisdom.”
-Guru Granth, 394.
The pursuit of Naam as a means of self-refinement entails the acceptance of reality or Hukam. Guru Arjan’s panegyric substantiates his immersion in divine wisdom and surrender to the Creator’s will. He refrained from blaming his Maker for his torturous martyrdom but instead celebrated the magnificence of death and the marvels of Creation in which the enlightened and the unenlightened clash to furnish the power of Naam. This system was sweet to him due to Naam.
The composure of Guru Arjan under torture is similar to Banda Singh’s serenity upon his execution. Both virtues emanate from immersion in the divine wisdom of the Guru Granth. The surrender of the self to the Guru is nigh impossible until or unless the Sikh embroils themselves in a battle with their greatest foe: their own self. It is only then that the path less traveled of virtue is set foot upon and internal resolve strengthened. Such are the qualities of the immovable Gurmukh.
The Warrior Father:
The Gurus embodied divine wisdom in all facets of their life, guiding their Sikhs to do likewise. They accepted reality on its terms fully conversant with the fact that the wisdom they were divinely mandated with spreading to the world was only relevant as long as one was physically alive. After the dissolution of the human body in death, the wisdom could not be lived. There were no second chances. To paraphrase the Roman philosopher Celsus in his criticism of Christians,
“If not silliness than what is it when Christians dream that while non-Christians are roasted by their God only they will survive? And not only do they claim they will live but also the long-deceased will also be raised alongside them possessing the same bodies as before. What is this if not the hope of worms? For what kind of human soul would have any use for a rotted cadaver?”
-Celsus, ‘The True Word.’
Naam is not a surefire way of guaranteeing the realisation of prayers. It is more nobler than desire and want. Rather, it frees the Sikh from all attachments and obsessions with the mundane. The Maker makes man the instrument of his own liberation and does not promise any undoing of reality for prayers alone. Paraphrasing the words of Marcus Minucius Felix:
“Neither do the blind take experience from the present, how the vain promises deceive you and make you hold fruitless expectations. Consider this you wretched beasts, you live yet so what is threatening you after death? The better portion of you is forever in want-labouring in hardship and allegedly your God suffers with you as well. He is but feigning his pain. He is either unwilling to liberate you or is unable to liberate you because he is weak. Where is that God who will supposedly help you when you come back to life if he is unable to help you while you are in this life?”
-Felix, ‘Octavius.’
The guidance of Naam tears asunder the cloak of illusion concealing reality from the mind empowering the Sikh to emulate his Guru in the pursuit of enlightenment and dominance. The archetype for this is the principle of the Warrior-Father, embodied by none other than Guru Gobind Singh the tenth Sikh Guru. A warrior and a father, the Guru sacrificed his four sons for the Panth’s advancement and domination over the baser and weaker faiths.
When we consider that the Guru opposed the exhibition of miraculous powers selecting instead to live as the most common of men, followed the Sikh dictum of rejecting post-life ressurection to the end, and perfectly carried out the duties of a loving father his sacrifice becomes all the more potent far transcending the western world’s Christ pitifully moaning on the cross or any eastern alternative. His role as the Warrior-Father proves his unquestionable superiority.
The Warrior-Father is not just the father of his biological progeny but also of the subordinate warriors who war under him. He fathers a vision of the future for which countless committed loyalists sacrifice their lives. His warriorhood allows him to command; his fatherhood allows him to accrue loyalty. The Guru well understood that the soul, the spirit, transcended the human physicality post-death. His sons would survive their martyrdom, emerging all the more stronger.
The more sanguinary his children’s demise, the more greater their impact on future generations inspiring them to shed their concerns for their bodies and fight for the liberty of their conscience. The Guru as Warrior-Father personified the enlightenment of Naam disallowing him from expressing grief over his sons. He later explained to Bhai Daya Singh that his boys had acquitted themselves honorably in the battle of life and would now guide others to do likewise.
It is generally argued that there are three forms of immortality for posterity. That of the kin, the soul, and the word. The soul is intangible, the word is impersonal while the kin is a continuation of the bloodline. Men have forever valued the kin over the soul and the word for the soul is uncontactable, the word hard to form. Offspring are one’s mark on the world, imparting their forefathers and parents’ legacy in the form of the values they continue to live by.
For the Guru to wholly sacrifice his own bloodline, his own mode of personalised immortality, for the preservation and sanctification of the Khalsa and bequeath it the Shabad of Gurbani elaborating he valued it more than his blood signifies the power of divine wisdom when fully accepted in all its glory. The Warrior-Father comprehends his duty to his mandate which becomes his own offspring. He wars not to show his own prowess but to inspire the humblest of man to seek redress.
The acceptance of death is man’s greatest virtue. True life starts when one accepts the inescapabilty of death; not expressing weakness by seeking a post-life resurrection arguing that God or his own child had to undergo death to undo it. Neither is the acceptance of death valid if one sees it as a gateway to a heaven filled with carnal pleasures denied on earth just to increase their otherworldly enjoyment. The Sikh accepts death for what it is, not what he wants it to be.
The Warrior-Father in Guru Gobind Singh had trained his sons to engage themselves in the battle of life with honor. They were content with their lot in life and thus well-prepared to die both on the field of battle and in the wall of Sirhind. They shed no tears at their fate and met it head-on. The Guru himself expressed no grief because he knew the momentous nature of their sacrifice and their ensuring of their own immortality through their martyrdom.
The Sikh is his own liberator through Naam and through Naam alone he realises that the soul does not require the body. For him, death is a temporary absence. The dissolution of the human body is a cause to celebrate if he has refined himself as a Khalsa. Grieving is only for the Manmukh or the base-minded who express sorrow at desires unfulfilled. This world is not a stepping-stone to another but a key to unlocking self-potential. Such is the way of the Khalsa.
The Warrior-Father Guru Gobind Singh knew this ergo his establishment of high standards for future generations. The childless might muse that his sacrifice was insignificant but the steadfast parent trembles at his legendary resolve. The Guru would later elaborate that there was no cause to weep if four died but a thousand more still lived pointing at his Sikhs for the principle is forever more valuable than the progeny for it refines both Sikh and son alike.
Naam furnished Ajit, Jujhar, Zorawar, and Fateh. The essence of Naam allowed them to discern reality and lay down their lives for their cherished liberty of conscience. The same Naam lent the Guru and his Sikhs superhuman resolve. By dying in the Shabad they emerged as paradigms of divine perfection, celebrated by immortals and mortals like. They unlocked the path to immortality and created a new breed of men, one destined to rule the world and annihilate the base faiths.
The Challenge:
Whether one accepts Sikhi as a result of preordained writ or one’s own enlightened choice is moot. It is undeniable that the Guru Granth is not solely intended for the esoteric reading that many alleged Sikh mystics, falsely retaining the title, indulge in. Naam is the progenitor of the Warrior-Father ideal and is the refining process that rebirths the Sikh as a Khalsa. It can only be obtained through the Guru Granth and Rehat. Not from anywhere else.
Naam is the root of Sikh supremacy. Only the Sikh by becoming Khalsa can be considered truly liberated for Naam’s liberation is true liberation. It is not the false salvation of the Christ, the carnal freedom of Muhammad, the ascetic retreat of the Sanataan, or the evasion of the Buddha. It is the true unchaining of the mortal from his bestial nature and his transformance into an immortal, surviving death to forever guide others in this world. In the words of Giani Ditt Singh,
“All non-Sikhs irrespective of their creed, whether it be Hindu or Muslim, are all mistaken in their beliefs. They can be said to be on ships doomed to be swept away from the true path to God. Ours is the ship of Vaheguru’s Naam and the one abroad it will be safely ferried across. It is open to all irrespective of their birth as Hindu, Muslim, or Christian but as long as they become Sikh for Sikhism is open to all. Whosoever becomes Sikh by taking the holy elixir (Pahul) is purified.”
-Giani Ditt Singh, ‘Khalsa Akhbar,’ c. 1900.
For all their braggadocio about their past, the current crop of Sikh youth are still to accept Naam and plunge into its infinite depths. Will they do it? The challenge calls out to only the strongest. With each and every youth considering themselves strong, it is high time they be pushed to accept it.