DARBAR SHAHIB
I and Hema were
at Hari Mandir Sahib also known as Darbar Shahib the Golden Temple recently, the
view majestic incredibly stunning and exceedingly beautiful the temple Dome is
glided with 750 kg of pure Gold, the 2 storey temple located in the centre of
the Amritsar city having marble walkway, surrounded with large pool of water
“AMRIT SAROVAR” housing the sacred ADI GRANTH Holy Scripture. One of the most
remarkable features of the Guru Granth Sahib is that it contains the writing of
persons belonging to different communities, caste, faith for instance Kabir
the Muslim weaver/poet, Surdas (blind poet) Namdev from Maharashtra, Saint
Ravidass the shoe maker, Bhagat Sadhana
the butcher, Dhanna cultivator from Rajasthan these holy men cover a period of
six centuries from 12th to 17th century, all have equal
status as the hymns of the Guru. The main hymn the JAPJI, the Guru Manter was
written by Guru Nanak. The Gurus considered worship through music the best
means of attaining a state of bliss. There are basically three prominent
methods to recite Granth Sahib, one on a special occasion to be recited nonstop
from cover to cover by a string of readers in 48 hrs which is known as AKHAND
PATH, another SAPTAHAK PATH daily reading to be completed in 7 days and the
third SEHAJ PATH easy reading can be completed at any length of period beyond 7
days. The main theme of the Sikh region which I understood from my friend Jasbir Singh Matta are:-
a) To relieve subjects particularly Hindus from the caste system, to
worship non idolatrous God, free from meaningless form of rituals. Nanak said if
God is a stone I will worship a mountain. The easiest way to find peace was by
meditation and singing the hymns (Kirtans)
b) Spiritual life does not demand one to be ascetic by fasting or denial
of food; and believed that any person discharging his obligation to his family
and society had a good chance of attaining salvation.
Since God is infinite he could not die to be reincarnated nor could he assume
human form which is subject to decay and death. God, Nanak believed was NIRANKAR
(formless) hence could not be defined.
Darbar Sahib, feeds upto 1,00,000 people per day from the free kitchen
run by volunteers and this has been going on for 450 years. Women have complete
equality and can aspire to be the head of their religion.
Sikhism is very simple for the masses to understand the first 5 Gurus
and the Guru Granth was propounded by men who were too modest to claim kinship
with God, compared to Vedas, Upniashids and Puranas the masses knew little because
of sanskritisation the learning of which was exclusively with Brahmin, Saints
and Teachers; and the other five Gurus had to put up resistance against
onslaught of Islam which led to martyrs in Arjun, Tegh Bhadur and sons of Guru Gobind
and thousands of baptized khalsa
Sikhism has a semblance to Hinduism and some of Islam the Granth carries
simple spiritual message for the masses to understand which perhaps is not so among the
various world religion.
