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OP-ED March 6, 2003 Amongst the classes strongly condemned by Guru Nanak and shunned most by all his successors is the clergy class. In the Guru Granth it is disapproved of mainly for four reasons. Firstly because it extorts money out of simple believers by spiritual blackmail thus robbing the people also of the most satisfying spiritual experience. Secondly, it spreads demeaning superstition, empty formalism and ritualism for the eventual selfish purpose of mind control and extortion. Thirdly, it thereby distorts religious truths and dwarfs the vision of prophets to serve its own sordid ends. Fourthly, the clergy class becomes a potent instrument in the hands of political and social oppressors, and helps in enslaving the people, whose spiritual liberation they are ostensibly seeking. In many verses of the Guru Granth, these failings and machinations of the clergy are explicitly brought out. Some of the more often quoted verses are reproduced here in parts. "After a ritual bath they perform worship and apply caste-marks on their foreheads. Whipping out the knives they extort alms. They chant the Vedas with sweet tongues but do not hesitate to murder people1." Verses like the eighth at p. 372 of Guru Granth2 were uttered to expose the exploitative policies of the Hindu clergy and the clergy in general. It reads somewhat like this: "people give alms to Brahmins for performing worship on their behalf. The Brahmin takes money as a matter of right and is not obliged. You alone will regret at God's door at which, you Brahmin, must present yourself eventually. Such Brahmins, who contemplate ill of the innocent, are drowned o brother! Filled inside with greed they go about as if mad. They speak ill of others thus placing the burden (of sins) on their own heads. Being steeped in greed of money they do not realize it, but in many ways he is mislead and deceived. Externally he wears many disguises (to seem pious) but inside him greed for money has completely besieged him. He teaches others but does not realize (the Truth) himself. Such a Brahmin never attains salvation. The foolish Brahmin must become aware of God, who hears all and sees all. If it were his destiny to be bettered he would accept the Guru's way, says Nanak." In another verse, Nanak says, "he accepts remuneration and determines the date for marriage. He unfolds papers to point the way out (of difficulties). People must see through the deception, namely that they are blind of mind who are known as the wise ones3." Bhagat Kabir is approvingly quoted by the Guru when he says, "Their (ample) loin clothes are three and a half yards long. They wear the sacred thread in triplets. Those who wear the rosaries around their necks must not be taken for God's worshippers but must be recognized as thugs of Banaras4." In a very severe indictment of the priestly class, Guru Nanak says, "Qazi utters falsehood which is equivalent of eating dirt. Brahmin kills living beings and washes the sins by ritualistic bathing. The Jogi is blind and does not know the method (of liberation). Together, all three constitute a perfect arrangement for the annihilation (of religion)5." Securing justice in all spheres to everyone was central to the Guru's religion. He perceives the clergy as accepting bribes to deny it. "A religious judge sits on the seat of justice. He tells the beads and utters God's name. All the same he accepts bribes and denies what is rightfully due. If someone questions him, he reads out an appropriate (verse from the scripture).6" There are several such verses but one in which the Guru
discusses the eventual fate of the Hindu, Muslim and Jogi holy men7 is
also worth noticing for the purpose of this paper. "They will all
be presented to God as sinners since they realise (the Truth)." The Tenth Guru put the final seal on the scripture and in addition declared it to be the eternal living Guru. This signified that the Sikhs in the future would need no other spiritual guidance outside the scripture. He went a step further and declared that his Khalsa would owe no allegiance to any mortal but must regard itself as the direct domain of Almighty. To guide the followers in the day to day affairs, in politics and social interaction under the scriptural provisions, he created the mystique of the Guru Khalsa Panth, the collective Guruship of all the believers. These measures were sufficient to obviate the need for the clergy as none of the core functions they perform in all religions were left to be entrusted to them. As will be obvious to the discerning mind, the Guru had unfolded a perfect plan for the complete spiritual and social emancipation of humankind. By nature acquired as result of the highly uncertain existence in the past, and because of other historical factors in the development of the human race, humankind is plagued by insecurity and the consequent sense of helplessness. This situation has ever propelled cleverer or better-placed amongst humans to seek power over others. The behavior has been glorified by Nietzsche (Will To Power) and is personified by Hitler among many others. The predicament also encourages the simple-minded ones to seek masters of various kinds. The Guru was aware of this seamy side of human nature and likened the transformation of individual nature as a result of treading the Guru's path (with the aid of the Nam), as elevation of "netherworld creatures and animals into celestial beings." This he made as the most important object of Sikhi8: "Complete Guru's greatness lies in elevating animals and ghosts into angels." II: The British, The Mahants, and Singh Sahba When the Sikhs were in political power, their social and
spiritual norms were adhered to in the natural course. For instance, there
are indications that during Ranjit Singh's time and before, there was
no tradition of uninterrupted singing of hymns at Darbar Sahib, Amritsar.
Much time was spent on interpretation of the scripture. (Exegesis of Gurubani
used to be regularly held in the afternoon for four "watches"
during the early period. Giani Surat Singh, father of the famous Giani
Sant Singh, a contemporary of Ranjit Singh, and his fourth successor Bhai
Pardumman Singh, who died on November 22, 1877, are known as two of the
very learned persons in the field9. Women preachers had been in vogue
since the time of Guru Amardas who established fifty-two women managed
"pirhis" or seats for disseminating religious instructions.
It is also certain that women singers of hymns would participate and lead
the congregations in prayer as a matter of routine. Vegetarianism becoming
a fetish is also a later development. Guru Nanak and Guru Angad are both
known to have eaten meat. We know from later history that meat was cooked
and consumed by the Sikhs in the very vicinity of the Akal Takhat up to
1725 CE. This new priestly order belonged essentially to the rival
faith and was steeped in the medieval, uninformed and irrational mindset.
It utilized its primacy in Sikh affairs to import certain rituals and
practices, which were perfectly in order in their parent Hindu faith but
militated against the basic and profound doctrines of Sikhi. These included
idol worship in the more prominent Sikh shrines and several other crude
and some very subtle rituals. It was then that the so-called low-caste
Sikhs were banned from making offerings of traditional krah-prasad at
Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar. These pujaris did not recognize marriage according
to Sikh rites. Sunder Singh Majithia's son Kirpal Singh married by anandkaraj
ceremony. The mahants at Darbar Sahib refused to accept that family's
offering.11 Several books were written, ostensibly by devout Sikhs, to
sustain these un-Sikh-like practices in place. (One such is Gurbilas Patshahi
Chhevin by an anonymous writer). The arrogant mahants treated the Gurdwaras
as their personal property. One of them at Nankana Sahib, the birth place
of Guru Nanak, went to the extent of declaring that women, who came to
worship in the shrines belonging to them, rendered themselves liable to
molestation and nobody had the right to interfere in the mahants' enjoyment
of this right. The British administration connived at such reprehensible
claims and perverted rights ostensibly for the `higher' purpose of keeping
the Sikhs loyal. It was, however, the molestation of women worshippers in two important Sikh shrines which infuriated the Sikh masses and provided the final impetus for reforms in the Gurdwaras. On January 24, 1921, a lady of Tarn Taran, whose own son had been drowned in the temple tank by the pujaris, related to the congregation at the Akal Takhat how women were being regularly molested and intimidated at the Gurdwara.12 It led to the congregation praying for liberation of the shrine, which happened within the next three days. To emphasize the right of every Sikh, regardless of caste, to make offerings at the central shrine led to emancipation of Darbar Sahib and the Akal Takhat from the clutches of the mahants on October 12, 1920. What was happening in the Gurdwaras controlled by mahants was reported in the papers of the times and is described in the literature produced by the Singh Sabha leaders. The mahants were totally opposed to the Khalsa ideals and identity. They spared no opportunity to make that known. They did not approve of the kirpan wearing Sikhs and would forcibly remove the kirpans from their persons.13 Mahant Mukand Singh of Panja Sahib refused to admit the Singh Sabha members into the Gurdwara for worship. In 1906 a pujari of an important Sikh shrine, Mukatsar, was seen dancing in the company of dancing girls. The mahants of Tarn Taran shaved, drank alcohol, ate halal and visited prostitutes, thus violating the entire Sikh code of conduct. One of them did not believe in Sikhism even for the sake of form and was a leader of the Arya Samaj,14 - a faith that criticized the Guru and sought to convert the Sikhs to Hinduism. This was a part of the British plan to make the Sikhs feel enslaved in every way. During this period (approximately from 1850 to about 1880), some inexplicable alien rituals came to be practiszd in the Darbar. Women were compelled by circumstances to hold back from participating in the daily routine there. The Singh Sabha movement, which aimed at purifying the faith of un-Sikh-like practices that had crept into the Sikh faith, addressed most of the aberrations and remedied the matter to a great extent. First important step was the removing of images of Hindu gods and goddesses from the very circumambulatory path of Darbar Sahib. Many of these alien practices survived and continue to this day. Some of the readily identifiable ones include the practice of continuously burning a clarified butter lamp among the glitter of electric lights. Constant recitation of the hymns to the exclusion of exposition, taking out the presiding Guru Granth to kothasahib located in the Akal Takhat and washing the Darbar floor with milk in imitation of the shaivite ritual (in all probability it is also inspired by it) are some others. Continuous reading of the scripture (on payment) for the benefit of absentee devotees all around the circumambulatory path of the Darbar is one of the more disturbing ones. It is observance of one of these rituals that has caused the present controversy and the crisis in Sikh affairs. The concept of paid, permanent, institutionalized clergy also dates back to this period. Our ideal was Bhai Mansha Singh who was the scripture reader or a hymn singer at the time of Ranjit Singh but was well known to live only on his own meagre earnings.15 His duties consumed much time and in consequence he was so poor that he could not even afford an iron plate to bake his daily bread. Ranjit Singh, on hearing of his plight, was so moved that he invited him to receive ample gifts from him. The scripture reader would not come, so Ranjit Singh went to his humble hut to make the handsome gift. The Singh locked himself inside the hut and sent a message to the king that he was perfectly at peace with his poverty and wanted no remuneration for the privilege of serving his Guru. III: Equality of the Sexes The doctrinal position of equality of sexes, one of the fundamental beliefs of Sikhism, which again is at the heart of the matter, may now be discussed. Several interested parties have been projecting the Sikhs as steeped in the medieval mindset. The editor of the Hindustan Times recently compared our hero and Man of the Century, Baba Jarnail Singh Khalsa with Osama bin Laden,16 who is currently the most hated of the West. Just then another piece appeared in the Indian Express to say harp on the `archaic' forms and norms of behavior supposedly existing in Sikh society.17 Such journalists and others like them must be feeling quite let down that not a single Sikh from any walk of life has contended during the course of the recent controversy that women do not have equal rights in religious and civic matters. This is not surprising at all to those who are familiar with the religious training imparted to every Sikh from early age. The spiritual world before Guru Nanak was firmly in the grip of the Semitic concept of Original Sin that no thought could ever be entertained about the equal rights of both sexes to spiritual or social progress. In the Semitic religions women continued to pay the price of Eve eating the forbidden fruit.18 To begin with, Christianity was monastic in nature. An early Christian saint spent most of his life alone atop a tower presumably under a vow of renunciation and in demonstration thereof. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and the Order of Jogis in India continued much-emphasised tirade against women. Tulsidas, the proponent of the most popular form of Hinduism, declares her eternally liable to be beaten and kept under strict control at par with `a drum, an uncouth person, a shudra and an animal.' The Hindu superman for all ages is still the celibate Hanuman, some of whose minor feats include flying off about 6000 miles with mountains on his palm and eating up the sun. In the Middle Ages the original Shankracharya was excommunicated from the order of ascetics because out of filial affection and duty, he had touched the body of his dead mother to give it a ritual last bath. This was considered against the vows of the sect. The Great Buddha abandoned his beautiful wife, Yashodhra, and their little son, Rahul, renounced the world before setting out on a spiritual journey. Woman to early Buddhism was a temptress. At the deathbed the great Buddha, on the persuasion of Anand, reluctantly agreed that women could join his order of monks. He allowed it with a loud lament feeling that because of the concession, the Buddhist religion would not last the projected one thousand years, but only five hundred. Asceticism of Mahavira Jain and his followers is also well known to merit elaboration. It continues to be the Jain ideal. The Saivite Jogis, whose cult was the most popular one at the time of the Gurus, treated and likened the woman to a female serpent, a man eating tigress and a white ant, association with whom eats into the spiritual merit that any man may have ever earned. To them she was a seductress and a temptress. One prominent Jogi (Bhangarnath) had the audacity to chide Nanak for leading a householder's life. God naturally came to be portrayed as a male. In consequence, the denigration of women, constituting half the human race, came be built in to the spiritual system of all religions before Nanak. In the world so heavily loaded against women, it fell to the share of Guru Nanak to utter the most significant words ever recorded in all spiritual history. On page 685 of the Guru Granth, the most compassionate man of all ages says, "In the region of nothingness, presides a Jogi, who can say whether it is a female or a male."19 Thus he conceived of the Ultimate Reality as equally possibly being a female. Thereafter, he and his successors continued to address God both as Mother as well as Father. In the ramkali measure which was most used by Jogis, the fourth Nanak says at page 882 of the Guru Granth: "God is my Father and Mother and I am a child being brought up by God."20 In Gauri Sukhmani, the Fifth Nanak affirms: "You are Mother and Father and we are your children."21 The Bhatts were merely carrying forward the well established tradition when in Swaiye Mahalle Chauthe ke they wrote: "He himself is the male and again Himself is the female."22 Guru Arjun the consummate editor placed the composition at the very concluding part of the scripture to emphasize it all the more. Guru Nanak's own homecoming after prolonged missionary
tours lasting sometimes a decade, is touchingly described in the Janam
Sakhis. It stands in direct contrast to the narrative related of Adi Shankracharya.
One such story says, Baba ran towards his mother, fell at her feet and
`cried much and cried much' out of sheer joy of seeing her. Bhai Gurdas
the scribe for the original volume of Guru Granth calls woman `the other
half of man' and reflecting on her role as the foundation of the householder's
life, eulogises her as `doorway to salvation.' He says, `in the estimation
of people at large, according to the knowledge derived from fundamental
values, (woman) is the other half and is the doorway to final liberation.
It is certain that Truth oriented woman is the end product of contentment23.'
In contrast to the Jogis term her as narak ghor ka dwara `the doorway
leading to the most rigorous hell.' IV: The Clergy and the Hukumnamah of 1996 Sikh women were the first in the world perhaps to get an equal right to vote for electing the members of an elected body (the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee) in the year 1925. It is certain that women in England, the "mother of democracies" did not exercise that right at that time. All recent history has confirmed that the feeling of equality of sexes is well established in the Sikh panth. On March 9, 1940 the Religious Advisory Committee of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee gave expression to it when it adopted a resolution in favor of allowing the women to perform service inside the Darbar at par with men. It is signed by some of the most learned and the most devoted of those times. On February 9, 1996, it was followed by a formal order of the prominent religious persons. Unfortunately, the driving force behind issuing those instructions was not to uphold the Sikh ideal. The religious sentiment and principles were at best only exploited for some other purpose. This needs to be further probed. This order appeared to have been issued as a result of the convergence of the interests of four divergent interest groups. Had the intention been to restore the rights to women, a determined attempt would have been made to ensure compliance by calling a Sarbat Khalsa (a general assembly of all Sikhs interested in expressing an opinion on the issue and capable of doing so). Its declared purpose would have been to reiterate the principle and to oversee the implementation. This method was used when some prominent teachers of Khalsa College, Amritsar and social and political leaders gathered to restore the right of the so-called untouchable Sikhs to offer sacred food at par with others at the shrine. In the absence of that procedure, all actions become merely a part of the group struggle for assertion. This is what happened in the present case. One interest group consisted of the clergy, who are eventually appointed by an individual and are plagued by the eternal problem of acceptance by the panth. Their dilemma is inherent in the mode of appointment. It has created many a crisis in the Sikh panth but has never been adequately addressed. In issuing the February 9, 1996 order, the clergy were in part tackling the need (born out of insecurity) to project themselves as supreme movers in panthic affairs. They chose a proposition on which they could not be wronged. Equality of sexes could not be questioned from any Sikh platform. In the bargain they hoped to assert their usurped right to issue a `hukamnamah' without consulting the Sarbat Khalsa. They sought to create the illusion that they were ordering their parent body about. They appear to have taken it as an opportunity to advertise their self-assumed and unsustainable supreme position in Sikh affairs. Harbhajan Singh Yogi who was the foreign inspiration, perhaps aimed no higher than getting some advertisement for himself besides aspiring to be a part of the historic process. His wife and devotee took part in the one time sewa. Yogi too has always been in need of legitimacy since his Yogic interpretation of Sikhi is ever and ever destined to remain in the grey area. It is rumored that due to Yogi's manuvering Bhai Manjit Singh garnered an international recognition for issuing the relevant order. It may have been the additional benefit all of the three active parties aimed at. A charitable view of the last mentioned motive is possible and will harm none. The third party was the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), which had its own pretension to uphold. It has usurped the powers of the Sarbat Khalsa for all practical purposes and wants the arrangement to continue forever. In the incident under discussion, Manjit Singh Calcutta, its then General Secretary represented the SGPC. There were personal motives also. He had been a friend of Harbhajan Singh Yogi for a long time and may have just thought of obliging him besides reaping the usual beneficial fallout valuable for a politician who supports an established sentiment widely held by the people. A person supporting such an ideal was bound to become popular with half the Sikh population at least. The fourth necessary party to the execution of the manuver, was the body of persons who consider it their birthright to go on performing sewa inside the Darbar from generation to generation. The aggressiveness of this group, uncharacteristic of their undertaking as it is, is rather notorious in Sikh circles. Everyday it is made clear at the shrine of humility that extreme rudeness and crudeness is employed to hedge their usurped right to perform `humble service.' This group did not protest too loudly once they knew that it was to be a simple one-time affair and that their right would remain intact thereafter. CONCLUSION: The problem built into the present case is not the equal
right of women to perform the sewa - that has never been in doubt. It
is the wrangle to wrest the powers which, in reality, very legitimately
belong to the Sarbat Khalsa. It is also the existence of many meaningless
rituals - a product of the colonial past - that have stealthily crept
into Sikh places of worship. These are the core problems. These rituals
have no place in Sikhism and must be shunned totally. A policy decision
regarding them must be taken soon before it leads to other difficulties.
For any meaningful resolution of the situation, involvement of the Sarbat
Khalsa is the pre-condition. People at large today are not as ignorant
now as they have been in the past. It would otherwise also be equally disastrous to reap
the clergy class. It will undoubtedly perform the functions performed
by their counterparts in all ages and all religions. One function will
be to spiritually and politically enslave the Sikh people liberated by
the Gurus with their own sweat and blood. There is no doubt that the Sikh
clergy (inclusive of new pretender gurus and fake saints.) will be as
heartless as their Hindu and Muslim counter parts in the medieval ages.
Three recent examples, which are pregnant with what will be delivered
in future, are worth remembering. On February 19, 2003, more than three
hundred people presented themselves at the Takhat of the most compassionate
Guru at the behest of the clergy and were kept waiting for the whole day
without any interaction of any kind. Eventually they were dismissed in
the evening without even exchanging a word. Such callousness is the natural
attribute of clergy who live on exploitation and have been characterized
by the Guru as cannibals (manas khaane). On February 22, 2003, the other
pretenders to inherit the legacy of the Sarbat Khalsa spilt the blood
of about five hundred people asking for a hearing. In the style of Narainoo
at Nankana Sahib on February 20, 1921, they let loose their musclemen
on the unarmed men women and children chanting satnam waheguru. The sexual
exploits and other doings of new pretender gurus and fake saints of Nawanshahar,
Sirsa and Noormahal have been publicly exposed too recently to need detailed
discussion. Notes 1. `rahau. pooja tilak kar ishnana. chhuri kaadh laivai
hath daana. Bed parhai mukh meethi baani. Jeean kuhat na sange prani.
Gauri Mahalla 5, Guru Granth, p. 201 3. lai bhar kadhe viahu. kadh kagal dasse rahu. sun vekhu
loka eh vidaan. man andha nau sujaan.' 4. Guru Granth, p. 471. 4. gaj sadhe trai trai dhotian tehre payan tagg. gali
jinnah japmalian lotey hath nibagg. Oei har ke bhagat na aakheeae banaras
ke thug;' Guru Granth, p. 476. 5. `kaadi koor bol mal khae. Brahamin naavai jeea ghai.
Jogi jugat na jaanai andh. Teeno ujarai ka bandh. Dhanasari Mahala 1,
Guru Granth, p. 662. 6. kaajee hoe ke bahe niae. Phere tasabi kare khudai.
wadhi lai ke haq gavai. je ko puchhe ta parh sunai;' Guru Granth, p. 471. 7. Kaazi mullan hovai saikh.jogi jangam bhagvai bhekh. Ko girhi karma ka sandh. Bin boojhai sabh kharius bandh. Basant Mahalla 1, Guru Granth 1169. 8. (pasu pretho dev kare poore Gur ki wadiae). (manas te devete bhaie dhiyia naam hare'. Mahalla 5, Guru Granth, p.90) 9. See Karam Singh, Tawarikh Amritsar, Shiromani Gurdwara
Prabandhak Committee, 1998 (Reprint), Amritsar, p. 34 and Giani Gian Singh,
Tawarikh Sri Amritsar, (1923), Kendri Singh Sabha Committee, Amritsar,
pp. `h', & 40. 10. See Narain Singh, Jathedar Bhai Kartar Singh Jhabbar,
Singh Brothers, Amritsar, January 1988, p.31. 11. Narain Singh Op. cit., p. 99. 12. See Pratap Singh, Akali Lehar, Shiromani Gurdwara
Prabandhak Committee, Amritsar, March 1975, p. 94. In 1918, seven ladies
including a thirteen-year old child were molested at Nankana Sahib. Ibid.
p. 100. See also Narain Singh Op. cit., pp. 140 and 142. 13. See the incident quoted by Narain Singh, Jathedar
Bhai Kartar Singh Jhabbar, Singh Brothers, Amritsar, January 1988, p.
139. 14. Ibid. p. 145. 15. Giani Kirpal Singh, Sri Harmandar Sahib da Sunehri
Itihas, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Amritsar, March 1991,
p. 313. 16. See Vir Sanghvi's article in Hindustan Times of November
18, 2001 17. See Hartosh Singh Bal's, "Why are Sikhs trapped
in medieval morass?" Indian Express, November 21, 2001 p.8. 18. "The 47th session of the United Nations Commission
on the Status of women (CSW) was `suspended' yesterday in the absence
of consensus on the `agreed conclusions' relating to women's human rights
and the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls.
The final document - slowly and laboriously debated and negotiated (contained
an objected to) paragraph that read: `condemn violence against women and
refrain from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration
to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination, as set out
in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against women.'"
See, "Consensus eludes UN meet on women, " The Hindu, March
16, 2003, p. 9. 19. See the measure Dhanasari (ghar 2 ashatpadian), sunn
mandal iku jogi baisae. Naari na purakh kahhu kou kaise. 20. Nanak pita mata hai hariprabhu ham barik har pratipare. 21. tum maat pitaa ham baarik tere-Guru Granth, p. 268 22. `aape nar aape fun naari' Guru Granth, p. 1403. 23. lok ved gun gian vich ardhsariri mokh dwari. Gurmukh
sukhfal nehchau naari - Bhai Gurdas, Varan, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak
Committee, Amritsar, 1952, vaar 5, pauri 16, p.59. |