Special / Unique Concepts of Sikhism:

Some Concepts which if not unique, are special and quite necessary to get an insight into Sikh Way of Life. Some of them are as follows:

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1)     Concept of GURU:

The concept of ‘Guru’, which is so commonly used in Sikh religion, is not easy to comprehend. It is totally alien to the western cultures and is also greatly misunderstood elsewhere. Its loose translation / interpretation as ‘teacher’ has added to the confusion.

It would be more appropriate to partly refer to idea of ‘guru’ as guide / facilitator who assists in understanding the true objective of human life. Teacher is someone who teaches his students about the worldly phenomenon and adds to their knowledge of the worldly existence. ‘Guru’ on the contrary, enlightens the seekers about the worthlessness of the worldly affairs. He, thus, in fact is the anti-thesis of the teacher. He makes the worldly knowledge redundant.

Literally, the word ‘gu’means ‘darkness’ and ‘ru’ means ‘light’. Thus the meaning of ‘Guru’ would be one who removes darkness / ignorance and brings / showers light / enlightenment.

Those who harbour the feeling that they know something, always remain unaware of the spiritual path. It opens only for those who come to firmly believe that they are ignorant and develop the urge to know the truth. Guru helps in strengthening such a belief through his guidance. Guru also partly plays the role of a doctor, by making the seeker realize the transient nature of the whole worldly creation and thereby shredding the veil of falsehood created in the man by the mind. For a true seeker mere sight of Guru or hearing a word of Guru would be sufficient to bring transformation. Guru is instrumental in making the seeker experience the progress on the spiritual path and finally attain the goal of self-actualization / God-realization. Perhaps comprehension of this concept would have been easier for Christians, if there had been ten Christs and for Muslims if there had been ten Mohammeds.

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2)     Concept of Baani / Gurbani (Revealing words of Almighty):

Baani in Sikh tradition is the name given to contents of ‘Guru Granth Sahib’. Literally it means words of a language.

Mardana, Guru Nanak’s perennial conpanion, always carried with him ‘Rabaab’, a musical instrument. Whenever Guru Nanak wished to sing any rendering, he would ask Mardana to start playing the Rabaab stating that ‘Baani’ has dawned, meaning thereby that Almighty’s revealing words have reached him and the same needed to be sung for others.

The fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev Ji collected the renderings of the previous four Gurus and alongwith his own, compiled them in the shape which is known as ‘Aadi Granth’. Recitations of many other saints were also made available to him at the time, but only those, which matched the Sikh philosophy, were incorporated in the Aadi Granth.

The tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who formally gave Sikhism the shape of a separate religion, added to the compilation, the renderings of Ninth Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur Ji and asked his followers to respect it in the manner of a physical Guru. It is now called 'Guru Granth Sahib'. Sikhs, therefore, treat Baani & Guru as synonymous.

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3)     Concept of I'ness (Haumai):

The word 'Haumai' is the combination of two words 'Haun' and 'Mai' literally meaning 'we' and 'I' respectively. I'ness is the concept of duality which a person harbours considering his own existence as independent and distinct from that of the Almighty. Thus mere self-consciousness itself is termed as 'Haumai'. It must not be confused with 'ego' or 'ahankar' which is only the crude & worldly form of 'Haumai'.

This concept of Sikh philosophy can be best explained by the examples of ignorance& knowledge or darkness & light. The former, in each case, has only conceptual existence in conflict with the later. The appearance of later, which is substantive, is sufficient not only to remove but also to prove the non-existence of former. Peculiarity of both is that they cannot co-exist. Similar is the case of I’ness. It is the only element that can be said to be closest to being in opposition to Almighty. In absence of God-realization sense of I’ness is something that develops automatically. Acquisition of worldly knowledge strengthens it. It can’t be wished away. It has to be understood and overcome. It has to be confronted with the weapon of Almighty’s Name. This has to be done effortlessly giving credit of success / all happenings to Almighty.

The state of I’lessness can be described as one of effervescence of Almighty within one’s own self.

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4)     The Concept of Hukam (Divine Ordain / Decree / Writ):

Almighty is both formless as well as in form.  To the true seeker, He is available in any or every form.

An example may be considered.  The fire in Sun, travels through light and warms the seed – a matter of Earth and combines with air & water.  All the four jointly fuse into each other and take the shape of a plant, which grows into a particular shape and occupies a definite space.  The plant matures and produces fruit & seeds, which are ready to repeat the cycle.  Parts / fruits of the plant are consumed by insects, birds, animals and the four elements then convert themselves into their flesh, bones, blood etc. taking separate shapes and occupying different spaces.  Some of these species are also then consumed by each other.  They too reproduce their own species.  When these creations end / die, they get dissolved and return back to the original elements.  In this way the entire cycle moves on and on.

It needs to be understood that all this does not happen on its own or by chance.  Every particle of each basic element is manifestation of Almighty Himself.  He is present in miniature / invisible form everywhere & in everything.  A system of interconnection like gravitational pull exists, not known to us, whereby every activity takes place according to a pre-programmed order.  On this account a great many features of this creation are able to move jointly or in combination with each other and often create upheavals.  This pre-programmed order is the Almighty’s ordain/decree/writ for all happenings and is called ‘Hukam’.  There is no good or bad in this Hukam.  It is the will of the Almighty.  There is no element of remorse or punishment in this order.  It should, therefore, be respected as such.

Human being is the special creation of Almighty.  It has been created as His own Self though with limited powers.  However, he has been given independence of decision making and provided with the liberty to perform in the environment of ‘Maaya’ & ‘Haumai’ (explained separately).  Depending upon the quality of one’s performance, his future opportunities are enhanced or restricted. 

It is thus possible for a human being to break the shackles of worldly existence.  Guru helps him by showing the way through the tools of ‘Naam’ & ‘Simran’ (explained separately) to reach the position of culmination.  In this manner he is one with Almighty and breaks free from the cycle of doing the actions and reaping the results as per the Hukam.

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5)   Concept of Maaya (Illusion / Mammon):

Maaya has been defined in various ways. According to some, this whole creation is Maaya, an illusion. As per Sikh philosophy, the universe being the creation & manifestation of the Supreme Being also has a touch of Divinity. It is the embodiment of Almighty Himself, the Eternal Truth. The creation is thus subject to the Divine Will and has no independent existence of its own. In this sense, it is unreal or illusory and is subject to decay & ultimate destruction. In Gurbani the world has been described as a mountain of smoke, a shadow, a dream, a drama, a bubble & so on.  At the same time it has also been referred to as habitat of the True Almighty.

Anything that is visible or appears to be in existence, but is not real / everlasting, is called Maaya.  Looking at not only our Earth or Solar System but also the entire cosmos, it has been rightly said that the only static element in this whole expansion is ‘change’.  Anything & everything that we see now, will not be the same after a given period of time.  Thus whatever we see is Maaya.  Whatever can be counted, measured or weighed is Maaya.  All this, despite being of limited existence, looks real to a person who is oblivious of Almighty – the only truth of this creation.  This illusion does not allow an individual to think of anything else.

Maaya has been regarded as the greatest dacoit as it robs one of the invaluable time, available to him, which ought to have been spent in pursuing the spiritual path.  Maaya casts a veil of ignorance around man that prevents him from seeking the truth.  Through such a fraud, it hijacks the analytical power of one's mental faculties giving birth to I'ness (Haumai) and thereby leads an individual astray.

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For detailed reading / understanding of these concepts, the book "JAPJI Sahib: A Complete Way of Life" may be referred. It is available free on Kindle.