My dear Sikh brothers and sisters
I am currently reading through the Guru Granth Sahib and learning about the lives and teachings of the Gurus. I have read parts of the Granth before, in my general study of religious scriptures, but I'm trying to delve more deeply into the faith and really "penetrate" it so to speak.
I am so very inspired by the bravery of Guru Tegh Bahadur. I have never read in the annals of history of a religious leader giving up his life for the sake of a people who do not even share his own religious beliefs. I shared some of the following quotations with my Baha'i brothers and sisters on the interfaith section of their forum. These sayings really speak to me. Please share your own favourite verses (a hukam) from the Holy Granth or from the sayings of the Gurus (or other parts of the Granth ie Sufi and Hindu):
“…O Nanak a truly religious leader should be known as such only if he brings all people together…”
- Guru Granth Sahib
“…All have equal rights in affairs. Nobody is an outsider…”
- Guru Granth Sahib
“…Everybody is my friend and I am a friend of everybody…”
- Guru Granth Sahib
“…The world is going up in flames O Lord— shower it with Your Mercy, Save it, and deliver it from sin through whichever door (religion) humanity approaches…”
- Guru Granth Sahib
“…Hinduism may not be my faith, and I may believe not in the supremacy of Veda or the Brahmins, nor in idol worship or caste or pilgrimages and other rituals, but I would fight for the right of all Hindus to live with honour and practice their faith according to their own rites…For me, there is only one religion – of God – and whosoever belongs to it, be he a Hindu or a Muslim, him I own and he owns me. I neither convert others by force, nor submit to force, to change my faith…”
- Guru Tegh Bahadur [words spoken while arrested and standing before Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who subsequently had him martyred for the Sikh Faith - I am in absolute awe of this]
"...There is a garden, in which so many plants have grown. They bear the Ambrosial Nectar of the Naam [Name of God] as their fruit. Consider this, O wise one, by which you may attain the state of Nirvaanaa. All around this garden are pools of poison, but within it is the Ambrosial Nectar, O Siblings of Destiny. There is only one gardener who tends it. He takes care of every leaf and branch. He brings all sorts of plants and plants them there. They all bear fruit - none is without fruit."
- (Guru Arjan, Asa, pg. 385)
"...The temple or the mosque are the same, the Hindu worship or the Musalman prayer are the same; all men are the same; it is through error they appear different. Deities, demons, Yakshas, heavenly singers, Musalmans and Hindus adopt the customary dress of their different countries. All men have the same eyes, the same ears, the same body, the same build, a compound of earth, air, fire, and water. Allah and Abhekh are the same, the Purans and the Quran are the same; they are all alike; it is the one God who created all. The Hindu God and the Muhammadan God are the same; let no man even by mistake suppose there is a difference."
- (Guru Gobind Singh, Akal Ustat, pg. 275)
"Blessed is the place, and blessed are those who dwell there, where God's Name is meditated upon. The sermons and songs of God's praises are sung there and there is nothing but peace, poise and tranquillity."
- (Guru Arjan, Raga Bilaval, pg. 816)
"If the Lord Allah lives only in the mosque, then to whom does the rest of the world belong? …The God of the Hindus lives in the southern lands, and the God of the Muslims lives in the west. So search in your heart - look deep into your heart of hearts; this is the home and the place where God lives."
- (Bhagat Kabir, pg. 1349)
Sikhism was the first religion to proclaim in its scriptures the full, unequivocal and complete equality between men and women in all spheres/aspects of life, including the religious life. In this respect the Sikh Gurus, beginning with Nanak in the fifteenth century, advocated and encouraged a radical, innovative and revolutionary social egalitarianism that was far ahead of its time.
"We are born of woman, we are conceived in the womb of woman, we are engaged and married to woman. We make friendship with woman and the lineage continued because of woman. When one woman dies, we take another one, we are bound with the world through woman. Why should we talk ill of her, who gives birth to kings? The woman is born from woman; there is none without her. Only the One True Lord is without woman"
- (Guru Nanak, Var Asa, pg. 473)
To this end, Sikhism does not believe in women wearing veils.
"Stay, stay, O daughter-in-law - do not cover your face with a veil. In the end, this shall not bring you even half a shell."
- (Bhagat Kabir, Asa, pg. 484)
I am currently reading through the Guru Granth Sahib and learning about the lives and teachings of the Gurus. I have read parts of the Granth before, in my general study of religious scriptures, but I'm trying to delve more deeply into the faith and really "penetrate" it so to speak.
I am so very inspired by the bravery of Guru Tegh Bahadur. I have never read in the annals of history of a religious leader giving up his life for the sake of a people who do not even share his own religious beliefs. I shared some of the following quotations with my Baha'i brothers and sisters on the interfaith section of their forum. These sayings really speak to me. Please share your own favourite verses (a hukam) from the Holy Granth or from the sayings of the Gurus (or other parts of the Granth ie Sufi and Hindu):
“…O Nanak a truly religious leader should be known as such only if he brings all people together…”
- Guru Granth Sahib
“…All have equal rights in affairs. Nobody is an outsider…”
- Guru Granth Sahib
“…Everybody is my friend and I am a friend of everybody…”
- Guru Granth Sahib
“…The world is going up in flames O Lord— shower it with Your Mercy, Save it, and deliver it from sin through whichever door (religion) humanity approaches…”
- Guru Granth Sahib
“…Hinduism may not be my faith, and I may believe not in the supremacy of Veda or the Brahmins, nor in idol worship or caste or pilgrimages and other rituals, but I would fight for the right of all Hindus to live with honour and practice their faith according to their own rites…For me, there is only one religion – of God – and whosoever belongs to it, be he a Hindu or a Muslim, him I own and he owns me. I neither convert others by force, nor submit to force, to change my faith…”
- Guru Tegh Bahadur [words spoken while arrested and standing before Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who subsequently had him martyred for the Sikh Faith - I am in absolute awe of this]
"...There is a garden, in which so many plants have grown. They bear the Ambrosial Nectar of the Naam [Name of God] as their fruit. Consider this, O wise one, by which you may attain the state of Nirvaanaa. All around this garden are pools of poison, but within it is the Ambrosial Nectar, O Siblings of Destiny. There is only one gardener who tends it. He takes care of every leaf and branch. He brings all sorts of plants and plants them there. They all bear fruit - none is without fruit."
- (Guru Arjan, Asa, pg. 385)
"...The temple or the mosque are the same, the Hindu worship or the Musalman prayer are the same; all men are the same; it is through error they appear different. Deities, demons, Yakshas, heavenly singers, Musalmans and Hindus adopt the customary dress of their different countries. All men have the same eyes, the same ears, the same body, the same build, a compound of earth, air, fire, and water. Allah and Abhekh are the same, the Purans and the Quran are the same; they are all alike; it is the one God who created all. The Hindu God and the Muhammadan God are the same; let no man even by mistake suppose there is a difference."
- (Guru Gobind Singh, Akal Ustat, pg. 275)
"Blessed is the place, and blessed are those who dwell there, where God's Name is meditated upon. The sermons and songs of God's praises are sung there and there is nothing but peace, poise and tranquillity."
- (Guru Arjan, Raga Bilaval, pg. 816)
"If the Lord Allah lives only in the mosque, then to whom does the rest of the world belong? …The God of the Hindus lives in the southern lands, and the God of the Muslims lives in the west. So search in your heart - look deep into your heart of hearts; this is the home and the place where God lives."
- (Bhagat Kabir, pg. 1349)
Sikhism was the first religion to proclaim in its scriptures the full, unequivocal and complete equality between men and women in all spheres/aspects of life, including the religious life. In this respect the Sikh Gurus, beginning with Nanak in the fifteenth century, advocated and encouraged a radical, innovative and revolutionary social egalitarianism that was far ahead of its time.
"We are born of woman, we are conceived in the womb of woman, we are engaged and married to woman. We make friendship with woman and the lineage continued because of woman. When one woman dies, we take another one, we are bound with the world through woman. Why should we talk ill of her, who gives birth to kings? The woman is born from woman; there is none without her. Only the One True Lord is without woman"
- (Guru Nanak, Var Asa, pg. 473)
To this end, Sikhism does not believe in women wearing veils.
"Stay, stay, O daughter-in-law - do not cover your face with a veil. In the end, this shall not bring you even half a shell."
- (Bhagat Kabir, Asa, pg. 484)
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