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Understanding Essence of Amrit
Justice Mewa Singh (retd)
 The remembrance and celebration of Khalsa Sirjan Baisakhi-1699, can
be useful only if Sikhs make the determination to get the Sikh
initiation – Amrit, as prescribed by the tenth Guru. Its essence has
to be understood and not the mere stories surrounding it.
Sikh religion was
founded by Guru Nanak Dev and developed by his nine successors,
while Guru Gobind Singh, tenth Sikh Guru, completed its final phase.
He made very important and fundamental Divine declaration in that
process for Sikh religion to be mandatory for Sikhs and to be a part
of Sikh religion and to establish the separate Sikh identity. It was
to prescribe, the obligatory Sikh initiation of Amrit, five Sikh
emblems and the Sikh code of conduct, on Baisakhi of 1699. He
himself prepared the Amrit and administered it to Panj Pyaras. He
gave the authority to them to administer the Amrit to other Sikhs in
that very manner and also to any five initiated Sikhs strictly
adhering to Sikh code of conduct. He himself got the Amrit from
those Panj Pyaras to whom he administered it. He directed all the
Sikhs present there to get the Amrit at that time.
History records that
over twenty thousands of Sikhs got the Sikh initiation of Amrit on
that day who all had their keshas and hairs intact and unshorn and
that over eighty thousand of Sikhs got Sikh initiation of Amrit in
that week. It is more than sufficient to establish that Sikh
initiation of Amrit was meant for all the Sikhs.
Guru Gobind Singh
issued Hukam Nama to all the Sikhs in the very next month of Jeth to
get the Sikh initiation of Amrit and to keep the five Sikh emblems
and to strictly follow Sikh code of conduct as prescribed by him. He
made it very clear in his divine proclamations that there can be no
exemption to it, being mandatory for all the Sikhs and they must
maintain their separate Sikh identity. Recorded Max Arthur Macauliff,
the eminent British scholar of Sikh religion, that Guru Gobind Singh
instructed his Sikhs-
“He who weareth long
hair, without receiving baptism is a hypocritical and ignorant Sikh.
I will not show myself to him. It is best to adopt one religion and
not distract one's mind with others. They who call themselves my
Sikhs and stray to other creeds are sinners."
And "Let him who
calleth himself a true Sikh of mine, accept baptism and do good
acts, so shall his previous sins all depart on his seeking the
Guru's protection."The Sikh Religion, M.A. Macauliff, vol-5, pages,
157 and 159)
Guru Gobind Singh
had the authority to prescribe such Sikh initiation of Amrit and the
code of conduct for Sikhs. All the Sikh Gurus had the same Divine
Spirit. One who declares him to be a Sikh is bound to follow the
injunctions of Guru Gobind Singh, tenth Sikh Guru, including the
Sikh initiation and Sikh code of conduct prescribed by him, being a
part of Sikh religion and to strictly observe them..
The other divine
declaration of Guru Gobind Singh was to ordain the Sikhs to accept
Guru Granth Sahib, the Divine Spirit of Sikh Gurus, Eternal Sikh
Guru in perpetuity for all the times to come and to get the Divine
wisdom from its Divine proclamations with purity of heart, being the
Word of God. Every Sikh and even others admit it that Guru Granth
Sahib is Guru of Sikhs and there is no controversy over it.
There is no
controversy as well as to the belief of a Sikh in Sikh religion, in
one God, in ten Sikh Gurus and Guru Granth Sahib and their
teachings. It is obvious that the requisite qualifications to be a
Sikh are uniform and the same. There are no classifications or
categories in Sikhs. One is a Sikh or not and there is no in-
between. However due to the lack of the correct understanding of
Sikh initiation, Sikh emblems, Sikh code of conduct and of Sikh
historical perspectives, the self made classifications have been
propagated as of, Amritdhari Sikhs, Keshdhari Sikhs, Sehajdhari
Sikhs and Khalsa Sikhs, which can have no recognition in Sikhism, as
the Sikh forms are mandatory for all Sikhs without any exemption.
There can be no
personal choice or discretion in the mandatory dictums of a
religion. Every religion has got its own form of initiation, emblems
and code of conduct to be binding on its followers, besides its own
ideology, doctrines and religious practices. Every one is free to
follow the religion, which he prefers and once he decides to follow
a certain religion, he has to obey the dictums of that religion. He
can have no right to change or interpret any of the dictums to his
personal views as it may misrepresent that religion and disturb its
uniformity and consistency. These self created classifications or
categories misrepresent Sikhs and Sikhism. Some Sikhs and
particularly Sikh youth are drifting away from Sikh code of conduct
and Sikh way of life with the creation of such confusions.
Some of the Sikhs
who do not get Sikh initiation and observe Sikh code of conduct,
have gone to the extent of asserting that these requirements to be a
Sikh should be abrogated by Sikhs themselves as majority of Sikhs do
not comply with it, instead of asserting that they should comply
with these requirements and make other Sikhs to understand and
comply these essentialities, being part of Sikh religion.. They also
put forth the argument that in no country except India, Sikhs have
been given the legislative right to wear kirpan and to enter any
service with beard and turban and so it is not possible to keep the
Sikh emblems. It is on the face of it a misconception. The edicts
and emblems of a religion can never be defied on such a ground.
It is the historical
truth that in the Mughal regime Sikhs had been offered any service
of their choice in civil or military if they would give up their
emblems and adopt that of Islam, and otherwise they would be
tortured and killed but they out rightly refused such offers and
opted for death. It was this high spirit that they remained in
struggle for about a century against those tyrants and wiped them
out and established their own empire. Those autocratic rules are of
bygone days. It is now the era of democratic world.
Had the Sikhs
themselves not given up their initiation, emblems and Sikh code of
conduct in the countries to which they migrated, the governments Of
those countries would have long before accepted their rights in this
regard. Still if some one was prosecuted for carrying kirpan, he was
ultimately acquitted. If some one was discriminated for wearing
turban, it was ultimately undone.
If all the Sikhs
follow the Sikh initiation, emblems and code of conduct, their
rights will be accepted through statutes in all the countries,
automatically. There are considerable numbers of initiated Sikhs
observing Sikh code of conduct now in every country, so it can be
got done with a little lobbying. It will be done sooner or later.
The remedy is not to abrogate these mandatory requirements by the
Sikhs themselves, being suicidal to them, but to get the legal
recognition from the countries in which they reside. Sikh emblems
and Sikh code of conduct, prescribed by tenth Guru, are a part of
Sikh religion. No Sikh has any right to change it. Sikhs are rather
duty bound to follow it.
Scholars of Sikh
religion have held these to be mandatory for Sikhs. Suffice it to
quote British Scholar, Jeans Culler,"Eliminate your symbols, my dear
Singh, and watch the Khalsa crumble. Take off the turban, Shave the
beard, cut the hairs, throw aside the Kara, I can tell you
truthfully the result would be embarrassing as well as disastrous.
These five symbols had held the Sikhs in united brotherhood. They
serve to make a Sikh and act as a Sikh. They endow him with courage
to accomplish the feats, which otherwise would be impossible for an
average man. To make a long story short, these five symbols have a
psychological bearing on the man who wears them. They are
manifestation Of Guru, the Eternal."
Prof. Puran Singh,
the eminent Sikh scholar recorded, "It is very strange that when a
Sikh is baptized, he feels new life come to him as if the Guru lives
and sends in one glance a wave of life and inspiration."
British eminent
historian, J.D.Cunningham, commented, " It was on the basic
principles of Guru Nanak, that Guru Gobind Singh formed such a
nation which elevated every one politically and religiously after
doing with class system."
Sikhs had to suffer
a lot in the past due to their mistaken identity as they had ignored
their code of conduct, Sikh way of life and separate identity. The
identity of a religion and its followers can never be established
unless the followers of that religion strictly observe the code of
conduct of their religion and live in the way of that religion. Sikh
religion has already been highly appreciated by the scholars of
world religions. The eminent western scholars and historians have
commented it to be a religion of the present age, capable to solve
the problems of the modern man.
There could be no
problem for Sikhs to live in Sikh code of conduct and Sikh way of
life, though the immigrants have always to face some initial
challenges. . If all the Sikhs who had migrated to several countries
of the world had kept their hairs unshorn and their beards intact
and their turbans on their heads, all the people of those countries
had come to know long ago as to them to be Sikhs and the Sikh
religion and there could have been no mistaken identity. This is the
only way to avoid the mistaken identity.
As long as Sikhs
remained in Sikh initiation and Sikh code of conduct, they were
always victorious and even established their sovereign state after
wiping out the Mughals and Afghans in a prolonged struggle of about
a century but when they ignored it, they could not get their
ordinary demands conceded. Sikhs have to follow all the dictums of
their religion and become true Sikhs inwardly and outwardly without
any reservations. SGPC and the management committees of all
gurdwaras have to ensure it by preaching Sikh religion with honesty
of purpose.
18 April 2007
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