Sikhism: Difference between revisions

The ''Ādi Granth'' was compiled primarily by [[Bhai Gurdas]] under the supervision of [[Guru Arjan]] between the years 1603 and 1604.<ref>{{cite book |last=Trumpp |first=Ernest |date=2004 |orig-year=1877 |title=The Ādi Granth or the Holy Scriptures of the Sikhs |publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers |isbn=978-81-215-0244-3 |page=xxxi}}</ref> It is written in the [[Gurmukhi|Gurmukhī]] script, which is a descendant of the [[Laṇḍā]] script used in the Punjab at that time.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grierson |first=George Abraham |author-link=George Abraham Grierson |date=1967 |orig-year=1927 |title=The Linguistic Survey of India |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-85395-27-2 |page=624}}</ref> The Gurmukhī script was standardised by Guru Angad, the second guru of the Sikhs, for use in the Sikh scriptures and is thought to have been influenced by the [[Śāradā script|Śāradā]] and [[Devanāgarī]] scripts. An authoritative scripture was created to protect the integrity of hymns and teachings of the Sikh Gurusgurus, and thirteen Hindu and two Muslim bhagats of the [[Bhakti movement]] sant tradition in medieval India.<ref>{{cite book |first=E. |last=Nesbitt |date=2014 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies |editor1-first=Pashaura |editor1-last=Singh |editor2-first=Louis E. |editor2-last=Fenech |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-969930-8 |pages=360–369}}</ref> The thirteen Hindu ''bhagats'' whose teachings were entered into the text included [[Ramananda]], [[Namdev]], [[Bhagat Pipa|Pipa]], [[Ravidas]], [[Bhagat Beni|Beni]], [[Bhagat Bhikhan|Bhikhan]], [[Bhagat Dhanna|Dhanna]], [[Jayadeva|Jaidev]], [[Bhagat Parmanand|Parmanand]], [[Bhagat Sadhana|Sadhana]], [[Bhagat Sain|Sain]], [[Sur (poet)|Sur]], [[Bhagat Trilochan|Trilochan]], while the two Muslim ''bhagats'' were [[Kabir]] and Sufi saint [[Fariduddin Ganjshakar|Farid]].<ref name=shapiro924>{{cite book |last=Shapiro |first=Michael |date=2002 |title=Songs of the Saints from the Adi Granth |publisher=Journal of the American Oriental Society|pages=924, 925}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Mahinder |last=Gulati |date=2008 |title=Comparative Religious and Philosophies: Anthropomorphism and Divinity |publisher=Atlantic |isbn=978-81-269-0902-5 |page=302}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=H. S. |last=Singha |date=2009 |title=The Encyclopedia of Sikhism |publisher=Hemkunt Press |isbn=978-81-7010-301-1 |page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mann |first=Gurinder Singh |date=2001 |title=The Making of Sikh Scripture |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-513024-9 |page=19}}</ref> However, the bhagats in context often spoke of transcending their religious labels, Kabir often attributed to being a Muslim states in the ''Ādi Granth'', "I am not Hindu nor Muslim."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eraly |first1=Abraham |title=The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate |date=2015 |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=978-93-5118-658-8 |quote=The main thrust of Kabir's mission was to unite Hindus and Muslims in a common quest for god realisation. 'Hindus and Muslims have the same god,, he held. 'God is the breath of all breath&nbsp;... Look within your heart, for there you will find [God]&nbsp;... All men and women in the world are his living forms.' Although many of his sayings had a strong Hindu flavour in them—presumably because of Ramananda's influence—he made no distinction between Hinduism and Islam Similarly, though he usually referred to god as Hari or Rama, he used those words as synonyms of god, and not as the names of particular deities. 'I am not Hindu nor Muslim; Allah-Ram is the breath of my body,' he stated, and went on to declare that All that lives and dies, they are all one. The this and that haggling, is done.}}</ref> The Gurusgurus following on this message taught that different methods of devotion are for the same infinite God.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Susanne |first1=Scholz |title=God Loves Diversity and Justice |date=2013 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-7318-3 |page=16 |quote=The Sikh Divine comprises every imaginable theological ideal! Hindu, Buddhist, Tantric, and Islamic views that were current in medieval India come together in the wide-ranging literary spectrum of the GGS. The stereotypical oppositions between the Indic and Abrahamic worldviews of the day are transcended: "Some call it Rama, some call it Khuda; some worship it as Vishnu, some as Allah" (GGS: 885). Interestingly, even the atheistic Buddhist Nirvana is not omitted: "Itself Nirvana, It itself relishes pleasures" (GGS: 97). "God" or "gods" or "no god" alike are recognized as part of the infinite One! "Always, always you alone are the One Reality&nbsp;– ''sada sada tun eku hai''" (GGS: 139). Persian terminology is used to emphasize the unity of being: "''asti ek digari kui ek tui ek tui''&nbsp;– Only the One is, there is none other; Only you, you only" (GGS: 144). Again, "''hindu turk ka sahib ek'' &nbsp;– Hindus and Muslims share the One sovereign" (GGS: 1158). (The term "Turk" referred to all Muslims in this period.) Since everything is a manifestation of That One being, all the manifestations would be a part of it. No god, no body, and no thing is excluded from this all pervasive being}}</ref>