Do faith and rationality go side by side? Can a person be a believer and be rational at the same time? Faith stands on love, trust and complete submission, and is a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Contrary to this, rationality stands on reasoning and asks for evidence.

The basic concepts of faith and rationality seem so bipolar that those who follow a fundamental rational approach feel hostile towards religion, the expression of faith.

It was the transcendent vision of the Guru Sahibs that in addition to presenting Sikhism in a traditional approach of faith and belief, they instilled the highest level of rationality. With the advent of this reformation, the way religion was perceived and practiced in society was fundamentally changed. Religion was freed from the clutches of those who claimed to be the only authority over it. It was no more a fantasy accessible through the hands of the care takers of religious institutions; it became a reality accessible through the direct relationship of the creation with its Creator.

Introducing such a revolutionary concept to society was nothing less than war, the price of which was paid by Guru Sahibs with their own martyrdoms.

The philosophy instituted by Guru Nanak was constituted by Guru Arjan in the form of Adi Granth, and later organized and inscribed by Guru Gobind Singh by the formation of the Khalsa (Panth).

The evolution of the Sikh faith beckoned many traditions and symbolisms. Seeing everything superficially, through a lay person's eye, these traditions may look indistinguishable from those rituals which Guru Sahib themselves fought against. But there is a core difference between them.

Recently I had a two hour interactive session with Danish kids about Sikhism in a school here in Denmark. I showed an overhead slide where it was written "Guru Nanak Rejected Ritualism." Then, in another slide, I showed a picture of a Sikh woman carrying Sri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS) on her head. A student asked me a question "Isn't carrying SGGS on the head a kind of ritualism?" I was impressed by his question and his level of critique. I told him that there was a lot of symbolism in this. If this woman was carrying Sri Guru Granth Sahib on her head because she wanted to give respect to those 37 contributors (from different social, religious and economic class, some of whom didn't have any place in the society) to this holy book, then the symbolism was of equality. But if this woman was just by carrying the holy book on her head because she thought she would get favor from God, then that would a ritual.

Another student interrupted me when I was talking about the Amrit ceremony. He wanted to know if this was also not a kind of ritual. I could understand their curiosity and told them that these traditions, started by Guru Sahibs, were not meant to engulf the Sikhs into any kind of ritual, but were used as expression to give strong messages of social equality to the masses.

The Amrit ceremony is symbolic of the concept of Saint-Soldier. It is also symbolic of social equality. Whereas Guru Nanak broke the barrier between the Creator and its creation, Guru Gobind Singh went a step ahead in bringing the teacher and the student on the same platform (Waho Waho Gobind Singh Aape Gur Chela.) These were some of the unusual steps towards social equality that Guru Sahibs took at that time.

Today the Sikh youth are also not spared by the hue and cry for utmost rationality. It is a good sign but we have to be very cautious that we are not getting carried away by the same philosophy and rationalism defined by communists and atheists. Acceptance of a rationalistic view should not be accepted at the expense of our traditions and heritage, for these traditions are the gifts of our Guru Sahibs.

This reminds me of an incident at the Gurdwara in the University in Amritsar where I was asked by a newcomer what I thought about Sikhs doing 'charan dhoor' - kissing the manji, bowing in front of the Guru Granth Sahib again and again, etc. It was a genuine question that concerned many youngsters, and hence, needed a genuine answer. The only answer that I could think of at that moment was based on 'the expression of love' (shardha). I told him: we all love our mothers, but the intensity and ways of expressing our love may be different. Some prefer to hug, others kiss and hug again and again and some others just refrain from either of these. Similarly we have to see everything that we do and that others do in Gurdwara as 'expression of love.' This expression can neither be defined nor controlled.

When we love someone, we also start loving everything that relates to that person, even some materialistic things. But that is not called superstition. There may be a fine line differentiating tradition from ritual, but it is very much visible. If we love our Guru, we may do things to express it, but these are personal decisions, hence not written or defined anywhere, and neither a way to any kind of 'moksha' or reward. But once love goes out of our expression, tradition becomes ritual.

It was because of belief, faith and trust in the Guru that five Sikhs stood up and offered themselves on the Visakhi of 1699. The rational view of Bhai Taru Singh's martyrdom, when he preferred to part away with his scalp rather than his hair, would be that he cut his hair while in custody and grow it again when released. We can't understand his faith through the eyes of rationality alone.

Similarly, Guru Sahib asked us not to go to pilgrimages and bathe in rivers and ponds. But still Guru Sahib constructed sarovars and boulees. To an ordinary eye this may look like hypocrisy. But again we have to understand the lesson we are taught. There were places where people were not allowed to bathe together because of their different social status; and here the Gurus invited all to come and bathe in the same pond, irrespective of their social class. This is the highest level of equality that the Gurus bestowed upon society at that time.

Sikhs are not critical about rational view, but they are also not willing to accept a totalitarian view of rationality that does not have a basis in love and faith, and that does not respect Sikh traditions and heritage.

But again the onus is on us, the Sikhs, to interpret our philosophy and traditions correctly. It's our responsibility to inculcate the heritage bestowed upon us by the Guru to our coming generations.

We can't just reject traditions because we fail to understand their essence.

The author is a PhD student at the Institute of Human Genetics, University of Aarhus, Aarhus C. 8000, Denmark. Email: singh@humgen.au.dk