Irony Personified: Sikhism, A Religion That was Never Meant to Be

I grew in a time when the internet was a luxury and smartphones were fiction. Unlike the kids of today, my nights were devoid of any social media or sites like YouTube. It was a golden time when parents used to narrate stories to their children at bedtime. Those were the days when families used to sit together and talk, nothing like nowadays when each member is busy with their phone; I find myself guilty of this felony.

While growing up, my father used to narrate to me stories of various themes. Now when I take a trip down the memory lane, I realize that his stories had a motive – to instill me with virtuous traits. Having brought up in a religious household where trips to mandirs (temples) and gurudwaras (Sikh temples) were a part of routine life, my father was not short of any spiritual tales, reciting the accounts of our great Lords and Gurus.

Guru Nanak Dev ji used to be a protagonist in many of his stories. Today, I can very surely express that saakhis of Guru Nanak are certainly something with which the kids must be made acquainted. As I grew older, I myself started reading about Guru Nanak Dev ji and I realize that trying to get rid of the multi-religion polytheism philosophy, he, inadvertently, gave the world another religion wherein the messenger of God himself became the God.

Guru Nanak Dev ji is known all around the world as the founder of Sikhism. Guru Nanak was born to a Hindu couple in the village of Talwandi in 1469 in the present-day Punjab of Pakistan.

Nanak, who was named after his elder sister Nanki, as the saakhis tell us, was an extraordinary kid. He was extremely intelligent, a master debater, a quick learner, and an astute observer. As a child, he would often give answers that were unfathomable for someone of his age. After witnessing his exceptional knowledge and sense of spirituality, teachers and saints would bow down to him and sing his praises.

At the time when communal tensions were increasing, Nanak travelled far and wide to spread the message of love and unity. From Nanded in the south to Patna in the east, he sermonized all over south Asia. He even went as far as the Holy site of Mecca in Arabia. He was an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity. He spread the word of peace. Nanak preached and taught people to follow the righteous path. He professed the doctrine of a single God. He intended to bring about social reforms.
After Nanak left for his heavenly abode, nine more preachers were designated as the Guru. The 10th and the last living Guru, Guru Gobind Singh ji ended the system of nominating the mortal beings as Gurus. He prepared the second rendition of the holy scripture of Adi Granth and designated it as the final eternal living Guru. This holy work came to be known as the Guru Granth Sahib.

Starting with Guru Nanak Dev ji through to Guru Gobind Singh ji, people were mesmerised by the teachings of the Sikh Gurus. Because of their unambiguous and simpler philosophy towards life, the Gurus amassed numberless followers all over the subcontinent. This mass movement soon took the form of a cult and people started keeping enormous faith in it.

Sikhism was formed on the principles of fraternal love, virtuousness, and monotheism. Guru Nanak Dev ji, who, in essence, desired to bring an end to the multiple religions gave the world another one, which was again further divided into different sects at different points in time. Sikhism was never meant to be another religion but merely a way of life. Sikhism is irony personified.

The Sikhs can be identified easily in a crowd because of their distinctive appearance. Sikhs keep a long beard (they have to keep the hair uncut), wear a turban, wear a kada (a bracelet made of iron or steel) in their forearm, and also sometimes keep a small dagger. These features were incorporated after the events that followed the beheading of the ninth Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur, by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1675. His martyrdom was a turning point in Sikh history, as it led to the formation of the Khalsa. The concept of the 5 Ks, among other things, that most Sikhs follow today, which basically characterize them as a separate community, was started in 1699 by the last living Guru, Guru Gobind Singh ji, as part of this new tradition - the Khalsa. With Khalsa, the intentions of the Guru were to form an army of warriors who would fight against the Islamic fundamentalists to safeguard the people from religious prosecution. It was precisely this Khalsa tradition that brought the nomenclature of the Singh and the Kaur. Note that except for the last Guru, Guru Gobind Singh ji, none of the earlier nine Gurus had Singh in their name.

With time the followers of the teachings of the Gurus started to acknowledge themselves as someone belonging to separate faith and hence rose from the flare of enlightenment, Sikhism, the religion; a religion that was never meant to be.

P.S. 

I don’t know how much informed the reader would be and what would be the severity of their thought and allegiance. I understand and realize that any fundamentalist, conservative, or extremist might raise an eyebrow.   

Any well-read person would know that Sikhism was never meant to be a religion and Guru Nanak Dev ji spread the message of one God and tried to resolve the Hindu-Muslim conflict. 

I would like to state that Guru Nanak Dev ji gave the world Sikhism in the sense that it was him and his preaching that garnered a cult following which eventually transformed into a religion. After around 200 years of the first Guru, when the 10^th Guru, Guru Gobind Singh ji, formed the Khalsa to fight the Mughals, the typical characteristics of attire and naming were introduced. He abolished the system of nomination of the Gurus, and after making some additions to the Adi Granth (which was first compiled by the 5^th Guru) conferred upon it the title of "Guru of the Sikhs". One could argue that it was the actions of the 10^th Guru that ultimately resulted in the processes which gave a more pronounced form to the cult. But it would have never happened if it was not for Guru Nanak Dev ji.

For the sake of the argument, even Guru Gobind Singh ji did not intend to give it a form of religion. His motive was to put an end to the merciless persecution of the minorities. He wanted to avenge his father’s assassination; all of the children of Guru Gobind Singh ji were also killed by the Mughal army.

Sikhism was just an extension of Hinduism.

You can read a modified version of this article here, at Youth Ki Awaz. Spare some time to have a look at my blog there.