Almost all the religions of the world are based on the teachings of a spiritual guide known either as an incarnation, prophet, son, messenger or Buddha. According to Sikhism, God by the very definition cannot take birth through a mother’s womb. Sikh Gurus never proclaimed any special position for themselves except that they possessed the experience of being God realized. Through their personal experience and knowledge which they had, they were capable of leading their disciples to the path of eternal beatitude and bliss of the union with God.

The Sikhs (true disciples) who follows the Guru’s teaching will become one with the Guru. No difference will be perceived between the Guru and the Sikh. ( Asa 194)

This doctrine required complete surrender of the discipe to the Guru and his teachings. This is bound to come in conflict with disciple’s ego and a challenge to his intelligence. The glory of Sikhism has depended on those disciples who had surrendered their ego and will to the Guru’s commandment and had become one with him. Gurus repeatedly classified their disciples into two broad categories, i.e. manmukhs and gurmukhs or self-oriented and Guru-oriented respectively.

A Manmukh is a self-willed, conceited, egocentric and narrow minded individual who is living under the illusions and delusions based on ignorance of God’s decrees (hukam) or the moral and ethical laws which govern the cosmos. He is ignorant of the three “gunas" of rajas, tams, and satva which influence his mind and sway his intelligence. He is slave of his own passions and is mainly concerned with the pleasures of the flesh. He has scant regard for the higher values of life and very little faith in the Guru and his teachings. He is ever ready to exploit Guru’s teachings and institutions for his selfish ends. It is only after he suffers from his own deeds that he comes to realise his mistakes. He continues to grope in the dark till, by chance, he comes in contact with a Gurmukh who imparts him the true knowledge of the working of a human soul, as given by the Gurus. This knowledge contains the spork of divine light which illumines his Soul. But this knowledge may not come easily and he may waste a whole life in ignorance and goes on accumulating the dross and dirt of his deeds from birth to birth although he may have been born a Sikh.

A gurmukh is a liberated being who has achieved perfection and a fully developed personality based on living the life as per the teachings of the Gurus. He has attained a firm and unfliching faith in the all-pervasive and all-knowing God whose decrees rule the Universe. By constant singing of God’s praises in the holy company and loving remembrance of God through the practice of nam, he starts imbibing all divine and virtuous qualities in himself. He becomes a mirror - image of the Gurus and acts and behaves like them in thought, word and deeds. His mind is set on the Guru’s Word, on which he meditates day and night. He has no other desires except cherishing the love of God and service of humanity and saints.

The edifice of Sikhism was built on transforming a manmukh into a Gurmukh. The egocentricity of a Manmukh is gradually to be changed into obedience to the God’s will by a process of Nam through the holy congregations. Egocentricity and the Nam are inimical to each other, they cannot stay together. In ego one cannot serve God or his humanity. One cannot become a Gurmukh unlessone completely gets rid of his ego. In ego one cannot realise God’s will or worship him. Ego of man is bound to the individuality and God’s Nam cannot abide there. All the Gurus were imbued with the will of God and carried it out inspite of personal hardships and sacrifices. The example set by the Gurus and their early disciples became the fore-runner of true Sikhism. As explained repeatedly by the Gurus, the remedy of all human ailments is in the Name of God, but Name of God cannot be achieved when there is egoism and egocentricity present like an incurable disease. By transcending our egoism by the practice of Nam, we can cure ourselves from all the suffering and misery.

Unfortunately, we have lost all touch with these great teachings of our Gurus and have become power hungry, materialistic, individualistic people, too keen to abuse and exploit our holy places and religious resources for achieving short term goals of self-gratification. Even we don’t hesitate to misinterpret our holy scripture, or our history, to suit our purpose. A Sikh is supposed to be an enlightened person based on the knowledge of Gurbani. He is free from the darkness of ignorance and delusions of egoism. He believes in Akal (Timeless) whose divine ordinance (hukam) permeates the Cosmic order. God designs and re-designs the world according to His own choice. All rewards and punishments flow from him. He is giver of ‘Raj’ and ‘Yog’. Human efforts in themselves can achieve nothing. Everything is a gift of the Bounteous One whose ways are inscrutable.

After the line of ten Gurus, the divine authority in Sikhism was vested in Guru Granth and Guru Panth. The perpetual spiritual authority was given to Guru Granth Sahib but temporal authority was bestowed on the Holy congregation (Sadh Sangat/Sarbat Khalsa). The five chosen and revered Sikhs were given the authority to act on behalf of the Guru for initiation of new disciples. Traditionally they acted as the spiritual inheritors of the spirit of Guru, and all their commandments were accepted as Commandments of the Guru. They could adjudicate in all matters affecting the community impartially, invoking the spirit of God and Guru in the holy presence of Guru Granth Sahib. Their verdict was binding on all and no questions could be raised. Those who disobeyed were excommunicated. So long the whole Sikh Panth carried out this noble tradition, Guru’s spirit was with us and helped us to tide over various holocausts and critical situations in our struggle for existence. This faith in the institution of invoking the spirit of the Guru through five noble and revered Sikhs, which instilled discipline in the community, has undergone a change and received a great set back recently. It has lost its significance and importance because majority of those enlightened Sikhs who could appreciate and invoke this institution properly have ceased to exist amongst us. Its use has become confined only to the initiation of Amrit ceremony. Even this ceremony is left to be performed by the paid staff of the Gurdwaras and hardly any enlightened soul or a true saint soldier takes part in it. This has led it to be only as a ritual. The spirit has taken wings.

The whole-life view of Sikhism, which is being emphasized by various learned scholars, takes into consideration the spiritual and temporal concerns of man collectively, but it requires an enlightened leadership and a central authority to execute these concepts. Here the votaries of Guru Granth and Guru Panth have to act in unison and act in conformity with a central authority which should command respect and obedience. ‘Bhagti’ and ‘Shakti’ must act together under one command, otherwise the neutral power of Almighty God symbolised in ‘Khanda’ which is a double edged sword, can become destructive for every one involved. I think we have to set out house in order before chalking out big programs for future.

The Tenth Master had clearly given us the purpose of his coming to the world in the following way :

To establish Dharma (true religion). To uphold the Saints and righteous ones. To destroy and punish the evil doers. To prevent foolishness in the name of religion.

The great Guru created a body of saint-soldiers in his own image, who were supposed to carry on his mission in perpetuity. He promised us ‘Raj’ and ‘Yog’ (Miri and Piri) so long as we follow his commandments. With the passage of time saints seem to have disappeared amongst us and soldiers have taken over the reigns. There is a great danger to Sikhism if this lop-sided development is allowed to continue indefinitely. There are many historical reasons for this development and such phase of ups and downs have been common in all religious movements. The spirit is very much alive, but we have to harness it in right earnest. It requires concerted effort in the part of all enlightened Sikhs all over the world to ponder over the situation and devise measure to cleanse the rot which has set in.

The chief causes of our downfall and degradation are that we have eroded the sanctity of the Akal Takhat and confined the institution of ‘Panj Pyras’ mainly to initiate the Amrit Sanskar ceremony. The saintly and revered Gurmukhs have been left with no role to play. The ideals set before the Panth by Guru Gobind Singh Ji have been replaced by mainly socio-political ends. True religious teachings have been forgotten and only ritualism and ceremonial part of the religion is being practiced. The SGPC which is an elected body of the Sikhs for the management of the historical Gurdwaras in Punjab, has assumed all the spiritual and temporal responsibilities. As the Panth has expanded vastly and spread to all parts of the world, there is no scope for the Sikhs outside Punjab to participate in the affairs of the SGPC. There is hardly any central Sikh authority which should command respect by all the Sikhs. many of the established traditions are being abused and nobody seems to protest. If we don’t take stock of the situation now, it may be the end of Sikhism and we will have to blame ourselves and nobody else. Most of the Sikhs talk about the situation but have no clue as to what can be done. The sanctity of the Akal Takhat was preserved till the period of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who submitted to its authority. But during the British rule, this sanctity was eroded considerably, yet retrieved during Akali struggle and during Singh Sabha movement. Since independence its sanctity has been reduced to a mere brick and mortar structure and used as a fort. The shock we all felt after the desecration of Akal Takhat and laceration of our heart s deepest feelings in 1984 was mainly of our own making and intransigence of our leaders who had no idea of its being a spiritual seat of Miri and Piri ,and held as much in high esteem as Hari Mandar. If the enlightened Sikhs who understand the message of the Gurus given to us in Guru Granth Sahib do not come forward and give a lead and direction to Sikh Panth, there is a grave danger of it being extinct in short time.

This is an age of reason. It is said that pen is mightier than the Sword. Gurus have given us enough divine wisdom to share with the rest of the world, but no central organisation which should disseminate Guru s wisdom. S.G.P.C. being an elected lawful body of the Sikhs cannot escape intrusion from the politicians and is bound to be embroiled in the politics of the day, to the neglect of spiritual and theological aspect of Sikhism. Time has come when this role has to be assumed by the Akal Takhat. The supremacy of Akal Takhat must be restored by the concerted effort of the enlightened Sikhs of the whole world. By remaining only a subservient institution of the SGPC it can become a harbinger of more and more disasters in times to come, which will be fatal for Sikhism. The Miri and Piri concepts as a philosophy of life were meant to be practised in the context of all humanity, where the noblest and God-realised men were to take over the command and control of all socio-political affairs so that justice and peace prevailed and welfare of all could be achieved. The Sikh ideology was defined as finer than a hair s breadth and sharp than a knife s edge. It wished to take into its stride the whole cosmic existence, with a vision of one supreme spirit of God residing in every heart. It is our faulty and misguided intelligence which takes us astray; but it could be brought to right path by the teachings of the true Guru. It is then that we can begin to see things in their proper perspctive. A Sikh is expected to be free from hatred and animosity, living a life which not only accords well with the Will of God but also is pure in thought, word and deeds. A Sikh is expected to be living in ‘Maya’ yet free from the bondage of ‘Maya’ and all its vices. As in practice it is difficult to find such a person of mental and spiritual perfection, the tenth master had entrusted the task of conducting the affairs of the Khalsa to five chosen ones, who represented the true spirit and ideals of Sikhism. We have forgotten this practice; individualism and party politics has taken its place. We have ceased to invoke the spirit of the Guru in all our affairs and have become Manmukhs. All our piety and virtues have vanished and Guru’s spirit is no more with us. We have no understanding of the teachings of the Guru Granth Sahib nor we care to know about it. The number of Sikhs present at the time of ‘Sangat’ (kirtan and katha) are insignificantly small as compared to ‘Pangat’ when langar is being served. Doesn’t it reflect on our true intentions. If this process continues, very few enlightened Sikhs shall remain to practice true Sikhism; priest class amongst us will take over Sikhism and we will be no better than Brahmnical Hinduism of which we are ever so critical. A time has come when all true Sikhs must sit together and take stock of the present situation and devise measures for a concerted corrective action.