by Owen Cole
Human beings are ignorant of their origin and their true destiny. The Gurus relentlessly informed their hearers:
You are blessed by being born human; it is an opportunity which has been given you to meet your God. (AG 378)
In other words, people are not animals who respond only to instinct. But the message often fell upon deaf ears.
The form that ignorance takes is that of holding a materialist view of the universe and basing one’s conduct upon that view, of behaving like intelligent animals, but animals none the less. At its worst it could mean a life of selfish luxury exploiting the environment and other people. It might, on the other hand, mean living a life of praiseworthy moral rectitude. Each would be equally fatal because they are really based upon putting oneself at the centre of life.
Haumai is the term that Sikhs use to account for the flaw in human personality. They will say that it comes from two words which mean ‘I-I’ or ‘I-am-ness’. Selfishness may be an adequate rendering of haumai in many cases, but when we consider the altruistic materialist we realize that it is not wholly satisfactory. ‘Self-reliance’ is probably a better interpretation of the word’s meaning. Often self-reliance is regarded as a great human virtue, but for Guru Nanak it was a condition which blinded people to their dependence upon God. It reduces them to the level of animal-like ignorance. The Guru even said:
We degrade ourselves from the human order because of haumai. (AG 466)
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Insight
Once Guru Nanak visited a village where a rich moneylender lived. Periodically he counted his wealth and when he passed another landmark on his way to becoming a millionaire he would erect another pennant to let everyone share in the knowledge of his success. The Guru gave him a needle and asked him to keep it safe until he could return it to the Guru in the next world. Only when the man’s wife ridiculed him did he realize that material objects cannot be taken with us and cease to have value when we die. The man’s ignorance was dispelled: he gave away his wealth to those in need and became the Guru’s disciple.
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The following verse probably sums up our discussion on haumai as adequately as any:
In haumai one fails to perceive the real nature of liberation. In haumai there is worldly attachment [maya] and doubt, its shadow. By acting under the influence of haumai humans cause themselves to be born repeatedly. If haumai is understood the door of liberation can be found but otherwise there is argument and dispute. Our karma is inscribed according to the divine will. Whoever sees the nature of the divine will perceive the nature of haumai too. (AG 466)
Human beings are man-mukh, self-centred.
Maya is a rich term in Indian philosophy. For Sikhs the world is not an illusion as some Hindu philosophers teach. The created universe that God has made for man to enjoy is real. Maya means the temporal world and human attachment to it, hence the translation ‘worldly attachment’ in the passage quoted above.
Attachments may be of a socially acceptable kind. Yet love of family, even service of the gurdwara, or patriotism, can be examples of maya, wrong attachment.
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Insight
Devotion to family can blind a person to the higher devotion, which is to God. ‘My country right or wrong’ can lead to the sanctioning of all kinds of atrocities. Sitting on gurdwara committees, looking after the accounts, preparing schemes for extensions to the existing building, can be so all-absorbing that one has no time to enter the diwan hall and listen to the bani. It becomes background music, relayed by the loudspeaker system.
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Usually when Sikhs think of maya more obvious manifestations come to mind, especially the five evils of kam, lobh, moh, krodh and ahankar. These are lust, covetousness, attachment, wrath and pride. Each one might be seen as an acceptable quality which has got out of control. Haumai turns love to lust or covetousness, as possessiveness replaces an affection that puts the beloved before oneself, and so it is with the other evils. As Guru Nanak said:
The love of worldly values stretches over the whole world. Seeing a beautiful woman a man covets her. With his sons and gold man increases his love. He considers everything to be his own. He does not heed God. (AG 1342)
The potential for attachment to maya is present from the beginning of time. The possibility of being attached to the world is the consequence of being born as a discriminating human being able to make choices. Maya, like the rest of creation, is the consequence of God’s will or hukam, but because we might fall victim to it we cannot blame God any more than an ambulance crew collecting a patient from a house in an emergency can be blamed for the actions of a young person who climbs into the empty cab, drives it away and causes an accident. Such attachment is the lot of most people. Guru Amar Das said:
A child is born when it pleases God and the family is happy. Love of God departs, greed attaches itself to the child and maya’s writ begins to run. God is forgotten, worldly love wells up and one becomes attached to the love of another [instead of God]. Those who enshrine love for God, by grace, obtain the divine being in the midst of maya. Nanak says, those who enshrine love for God in their hearts, through the Guru’s grace, obtain God even in the midst of mammon. (AG 921)
You might consider whether the word ‘delusion’ might be the most satisfactory translation of maya when the Sikh Gurus use it.
The remedy: the path to spiritual liberation
Put simply, what must be done to achieve liberation is to reverse the process which has led to a person being ensnared and so living under the rule of haumai. One must become gur-mukh, God centred, instead of being man-mukh, self-centred.
To some extent this can be achieved by human effort. The Janamsakhis contain many accounts which demonstrate this. For example, there was a man called Sajjan. He gave shelter to pilgrims, even providing a mosque and mandir as places for Muslims and Hindus respectively to pray and sleep. In the middle of the night he would kill them and take what possessions they had. Sometimes these might be considerable, carefully hoarded savings that they were taking to give at the place of pilgrimage. Guru Nanak and his friend Mardana accepted his hospitality but instead of going to sleep they stayed awake singing hymns well into the night. Eventually, Sajjan began to listen to their words and became captivated by the message of liberation that they contained. At last, he burst in upon the singers and asked to become a Sikh.
This story is pregnant with meaning. It speaks about the power of the bani to transform the listener; it implies the power of God’s grace; it gives some indication of the need for effort on the part of the would-be reformed person. Sajjan had to wish sincerely to be changed. It also affirms the Sikh belief that spiritual enlightenment should result in a transformed life, as the former murderer was required to pay restitution to the relatives of the people he had bereaved and, after building the first gurdwara (known in those days as a dharamsala), gave the rest of his money to the poor.
The effort that Sajjan made was to put his self-centredness behind him and refocus his attention on Guru Nanak, and through him on God in the form of the hymns that he heard. Human striving has its place but only up to a point. Guru Nanak taught that:
Good actions may result in a human form, but liberation comes only from God’s grace. (AG 2)
and:
God cannot be won through rites or deeds. Learning cannot give help in comprehending God. The Vedas and eighteen Puranas have failed to reveal the mystery. That comes only from the True God. (AG 155)
GRACE
The word ‘grace’ is used to translate a number of Punjabi words. One of these is darshan. This is used to describe or refer to the benign glance which a guru bestows on a disciple. It is more than a friendly look. It is powerful and transforming, conveying peace or energy, and enlightenment. Darshan cannot be obtained; it has to be bestowed. In other words, darshan is given by the guru only to those who are deemed ready to receive it. Simply to see a guru is not to receive darshan.
Five stages of de
velopment on the path to enlightenment
In his famous Japji, Guru Nanak described five khands, or realms, through which the personality passes on its way to oneness with God. Scholars have found it difficult to agree on their precise meaning so in other books you may come across different interpretations.
DHARAM KHAND
The first stage is Dharam Khand, the realm of duty or piety. This is Guru Nanak’s description of it:
God created the night and day, the days of the week and the seasons of the year. With them he created wind and water, fire and the regions established below. Amidst them all he set the Earth, the place where men are confronted by duty. Wondrous the creatures there created, boundless variety, countless their names. Each must be judged by the deeds he performs, by a faultless judge in a perfect court. Those who are justified stand radiant in glory, bearing upon them the mark of his grace. All who enter are recognized, Nanak, the false distinguished from those who are pure. Such is the Realm of Duty.
This is the world into which all human beings are born. This is where we are challenged to live according to our understanding of duty and responsibility. Those who satisfactorily live according to the basic standards of duty receive grace and proceed further.
GYAN KHAND
Gyan Khand, the realm of awareness or knowledge, is described as follows:
Hear now the Realm of Knowledge – the infinite variety of wind, water, fire, numberless Krishnas, countless Shivas, endless Brahmas creating endless lifestyles of form, of colour, of outward attire. All are present in infinite array – the Earth and sacred mountains, each with its Druva uttering sermons without end; the Indras, the moons, the suns, infinite spheres and lands without number; Siddhs and Buddhas, Naths and devis, gods and demons, men of silence, precious jewels and mighty oceans! How deep the mines, how varied the speech, how grand the dynasties of rulers and kings! Infinite forms of meditation, numberless those who perform them. Boundless, limitless, infinite, O Nanak. None can perceive its end. Enlightenment shines in the Realm of Knowledge, music and spectacle, wonder and joy.
Mind expansion seems to characterize this stage. Having passed beyond the narrow limits of dutiful, earthbound, mundane living, the devotee is mind-blown by a new vision of reality.
KARAM KHAND
Beauty prevails in the Realm of Endeavour, beauty of form, unique in its splendour. Words will not serve, for none can describe it. Were one to try one would surely be humbled. Perception is sharpened, wisdom grows deeper, powers far transcending the knowledge of mortals.
Human skill and effort reaches its limits as the new vision of reality includes aesthetic awareness. Knowledge becomes something much more profound: wisdom.
SARAM KHAND
Mastery rules in the Realm of Grace, for there God’s will prevails. There one encounters mighty heroes, filled with the spirit of God’s pervading power; and the virtuous women, praised as was Sita, women of beauty no words can describe. Death cannot touch them or any deceit, for God resides in their hearts. God also dwells in the hearts of his faithful, host upon host enraptured by his presence.
God’s prevailing power is grace. It is this that creates truly beautiful people and heroes who are exemplified by Sita, whose virtue overcame the evil demon Ravana in Hindu mythology, and her husband’s lack of trust that she had remained faithful during her imprisonment.
SACH KHAND
God’s ultimate dwelling is the Realm of Truth, the ineffable home of eternal bliss. There the Creator keeps watch over all, imparting grace, bestowing joy. Within that realm are continents and universes, their vastness far beyond power of telling. Worlds upon worlds and endless forms, all of them acting as God has decreed. Joyously God watches, guiding their courses. To describe them, Nanak, is hard as steel.
The vision mentioned in the second stage becomes reality as the soul takes its place with God in the realm of eternal bliss. Infinity has been entered. The spirit seems to be seeing the universe no longer from a human, but a divine, perspective. This state can only be experienced, not described.
Jivan mukt
Liberation here and now. Guru Nanak didn’t offer pie in the sky when you die. Once the veil of ignorance is removed and God’s grace becomes active it is possible to achieve liberation in this present life. Self-centredness is replaced by God-centredness. A person becomes God-filled. We quoted earlier the words of Guru Amar Das that human beings are ‘brimful of the nectar of God’s Name’. Now that the self-imposed obstacles to being aware of that startling fact have been removed the potentiality for enlightenment becomes a reality. Such a person will accumulate no more karma. The consequences of earlier actions, however, will continue to have an effect, but death, when it comes, will be only like a snake sloughing off its skin. To change the metaphor, it is like the passing of the night as the soul enters a new day.
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THINGS TO REMEMBER
The analogy of human sickness can be used to explain spiritual liberation. The sickness of humanity must be diagnosed for the remedy to be provided and then finally health can be restored.
Humanity has great potential. We are ‘brimful of the nectar of God’s Name’ (AG 1092), a very potent statement.
Self-reliance which blinds us to the presence of God in our lives is described in various ways as being man-mukh, egotistical or self-centred. Haumai is its synonym in practice.
Maya does not mean illusion but attachment to the material world, delusion. We delude ourselves into making it the focus of our existence, thus becoming attached to the five evils.
Divine grace enables human beings to become gur-mukh, God-centred.
There is a path of spiritual development, the five khands or stages of spiritual life.
The state of jivan mukt, becoming fully liberated while in this life, though rare, is possible.
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14
Sikhism in the modern period
In this chapter you will learn:
about modern movements
about responses to external challenges
about definitions of orthodoxy.
The death of Guru Gobind Singh heralded a century of suffering for the Sikhs. It is said that during the eighteenth century the home of Sikhs was in their saddles. The declining Mughal Empire was faced with rebellion by many of its subjects, including the Sikhs. The struggle began as soon as 1710 when one of Guru Gobind Singh’s companions, Banda Singh, raised the standard of revolt in Punjab. The Mughal response was an edict that ‘disciples of Nanak’ were to be killed wherever they were found.
Warfare is never clean. Mughals would point to examples of the Sikhs not keeping to the rules laid down by Guru Gobind Singh. Sikhs, on their part, tell the story of the execution of Banda Singh and his followers after their capture in 1716. He was compelled to see his captured followers executed over a period of days, then he was tortured for three months because the Mughal officials believed that he had treasure hidden somewhere. His commanders and his four-year-old son were killed in front of him and when he finally refused the offer of his life in exchange for converting to Islam, he, too, was put to death.
Towards the end of the century, Sikh armies gained the initiative. In 1799 the city of Lahore fell to a 19-year-old general, Ranjit Singh, who made it the capital of an empire that covered the whole of the geographical area of Punjab and, on occasions, threatened to include Delhi. Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled an independent state until his death in 1849 when the British annexed the territory. Maharaja Ranjit Singh had been a tolerant ruler. He employed Muslims in important offices such as chief minister, personal physician and police administrator of Lahore. A Hindu was palace chamberlain. Westerners advised him on the organization of his army. Some Sikhs look back to this period with pride; others, however, note that he was so easygoing in matters of religion and personal conduct (for example, he had several wives, and the Hindus among them committed sati – that is, they immolated themselves on the funeral pyre – when he was cremated). Bearing suc
h things in mind, some historians consider his reign to have contributed more to the decline of Sikhism than to its consolidation.
In India, and occasionally in Britain, blue-uniformed and yellow-sashed men and women, and sometimes children, may be seen, heavily armed with bows and arrows, spears and kirpans. In Punjab they may carry automatic rifles. These people are nihangs. They fought almost as suicide squads in the army of Guru Gobind Singh, and, in the eighteenth century, operated as cavalry units against the Mughals and Afghans. Later, they were involved in the struggle to recover gurdwaras from Hindu control. They are often regarded as a relic of bygone days and their encampments in India, where they shun the comfort of houses, might best be avoided by non-Sikhs.
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Insight
The continued existence of the nihangs is a reminder of struggles in the past that Sikhs cannot forget and which no one who wishes to understand Sikhs today can afford to ignore.
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Religious matters
Perhaps the distinction ‘religious matters’ is somewhat Western and Sikhs might not accept it for there is usually no religious–secular division in Indian life; its discussion here is intended to help the non-Sikh reader.