Articles
Religion, and the need of a Religion - Tarsem Singh
In the world there are many religions, knowing this, a fundamental question comes
to mind that what is a religion? And also why a religion is needed?
There are many definitions for a religion:
The basic one is that which binds a set of people to certain beliefs and directs
them to act according to them.
This definition is applicable to all the religions since all religions bind
people to certain beliefs.
There is another definition which Guru Nanak Dev ji has put forward in the
composition of Japuji Sahib in Sri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS) as thus;
The mythical bull is Dharma, the son of compassion; The Dharma, the bull has
maintained harmony and order over the earth.
In Hinduism there was a belief that a bull holds the earth on its horns but Guru
has enlightened that it is the religion which sustains the earth. Due to
religion only systems prevails on the earth and harmony exists.
Here it is absolutely necessary if a man has to be a religious to be a
compassionate; here compassion is indicated as the mother of a religion. For the
religion to prevail compassion in the hearts of people has to exist
DOl Drmu, dieAw kw pUqu ]sMqoKu Qwip riKAw ijin sUiq ]
Yet there is another definition for a religion: a man carries out the
responsibility or duty for which he is considered responsible. For illustration,
it is duty or religion for the parents to nourish their children.
The one above qualifies the one given for the Sikh religion above. If every one
attends to his duty or keeps up his responsibility, the harmony is bound to
prevail.
An other definition is that religion is only one and it is to firm up Truth
within one, this is forever since Truth is there forever.
Now coming to the need for the religion, some people question the need of
religion. Communism says that there is no need of a religion, it says it acts as
opium for the society and makes a man pessimistic and lazy. Some people decry
the religion due to its horrendous impact on humanity in form of killing,
plundering and looting and afflicting a lot of sufferings of mankind, occurring
on the name of religion This is true to a great extent, but still on the basis
of the definitions enlisted above, need of the religions becomes
absolutely clear and is fully justified. Because, if the religion is not there,
there shall only chaos be prevailing in the world. Whosoever has the power, he
will control and run the world, and there shall be no place for the meek in this
world. The tendency for helping each other are there in the beings out of
compassion, it shall be gone totally. A man shall live for his own sake without
bothering for others. A man takes another as true and trusts him, but if
religion is not there, there can not be trust existing between the individuals.
If one contemplates deeply he will realize that major religions are based on the
revelations made to the Masters and elevated souls by God Himself when they were
attuned to Him. In case of Islam and Sikh religion, the holy book Koran Sheriff
and SGGS are formed on the basis of revelations made to the prophet and the Sikh
Gurus. It is said that words in Koran were revealed to the Prophet in 23 years.
Revelation of Bani in SGGS took about 100 years. Gurbani states the Vedas were
revealed to god Brahma by God Himself.
Religion is rejuvenated or a new one is created, when God feels that existing
system has degraded sufficiently in a particular sphere of the world. Then God
either sent the Prophet with His power to rejuvenate a particular religion or
ask him to create a new one. In case of Sikh religion Gurus came to create a new
religion.
Due to religion, one believes in the words contained in the scriptures of the
religion as that of God and since God is supreme, All powerful, and a
provider of all and Nourishes all, people are afraid of Him and try to live
according to His directives or Will contained in them. So a religion helps in a
big way to live according to ethical principles laid down in the scriptures,
otherwise it is the very nature of a man to be selfish and work only for his
well being and to a limited extent for the welfare of his family and relatives.
In reality religion exhorts a man to live truly and for the well being of the
entire mankind. As was indicated earlier, the religion requires a man to be
compassionate, so as to feel for the pain and suffering of others; it also
inspires him to help others. So the religion makes one to realize his duty
towards each and every being and then to act according to it. Due to this only
whatever harmony exists in the world, is prevailing. So it can be said that the
religion exalts a man, fills him with virtues and makes him to work for the
welfare of the mankind. But for the force of religion, there is a no force which
can enforce a man to be true, to work with altruistic motto for the welfare of
the entire mankind and to eliminate the sufferings of the masses.
In Sikhism, it is said that God creates the creation, runs it and watches over
it.
The purpose for creating the creation is that a man here has to become a True,
the Gurmukh or a Saint and has to enjoin God and finally merge within Him.
Man has to strive against the force of Maya which tries to keep him away from
his purpose. Unfortunately a man is under the delusion of Maya and he is far
away from reality, even does not know the object of his birth in this world. He
requires thorough guidance on many aspects of his life. When God feels the
necessity of the guidance to be provided to the mankind He sends it through His
words, in SGGS these are denoted as Bani against the word Gurbani which means
the words of Guru, which came through the Gurus and the others saints whose
words are included in SGGS.
SGGS has a given a vast coverage to Bani, a very limited illustrations on
different aspects of it have been elaborated here. Since God is perfect and His
Bani is true like Him, it can be only received by the perfect and true beings
whose light has blended with the Light of God. These persons are considered as
Masters, Prophets, Gurus or God’s incarnates or Devotees or Saints. It comes to
them when they are fully attuned to Lord. These words are passed on to their
folks or mankind for their guidance under their names. This way a religion is
born with the followers of beliefs sent by God through His messengers. Mainly
these contain words of Lord indicating the true way of living so that a man may
become a True like God.
The True Lord is Himself forever True; He makes beings to listen His Bani and
His Shabad. || 20/21 ||5||14||912
scw Awip sdw hY swcw bwxI sbid suxweI ]20] nwnk suix vyiK rihAw ivsmwdu myrw
pRBu rivAw sRb QweI ]21]5]14] {pMnw 912}
The Bani of Lord comes through the spiritually elevated souls as was stated:
The Holy practitioners of Naam utter the Bani of the Word, as if springs of
nectar are flowing.
ijs no AwieAw pRym rsu iqsY hI jrxy ] bwxI aucrih swD jn Aimau clih Jrxy ] pyiK
drsnu nwnku jIivAw mn AMdir Drxy ]9] {pMnw 320}
Bani is true and in each age it is Gurmukh (those who has submitted to Guru) who
speaks about it.
True is the Shabad, and true is the Word of the Lord’s Bani. In each and every
age, the Gurmukhs speak it and chant it. The self-willed manmukhs are deluded by
doubt and attachment. Without the Name, everyone wanders around insane. ||
5 ||
scw sbdu scI hY bwxI ] gurmuiK juig juig AwiK vKwxI ] mnmuiK moih Brim BolwxI ]
ibnu nwvY sB iPrY baurwxI ]5/8]3]25] {pMnw 423-424}
Those who are attached by God to the Truth, are made to listen to the sublime
Bani of Lord and as well as His Shabad
God, the True Lord, has attached some to His True Name. They are made to listen
to the most sublime Word of His Bani, and the Word of His Shabad. True are the
deeds of the True Lord God. O Nanak, He is the Embellisher through His Naam.
|| 4 || 4 ||
iqin pRiB swcY ieik sic lwey ] aUqm bwxI sbdu suxwey ] pRB swcy kI swcI kwr ]
nwnk nwim svwrxhwr ]4]4] {pMnw 664}
Unfortunately in all the major religions, Bani revealed to the Prophets could
not be preserved in the form it was revealed since it was collated and compiled
much after the departure of the prophets from the world by their followers. In
this respect Gurbani, the contents of SGGS, is totally authentic since it was
preserved by the first four Gurus and was passed on to the fifth Guru who, along
with his own words, compiled it in the form of SGGS.
So it can be said that a religion provides guidance to man on many aspects. For
the illustration of this point some aspects from the contents of SGGS, shall be
presented.
Sikh religion states that a man is at the highest rung of the ladder of
evolution and he has reached to this state of manhood after having incarnation
in lower form of 8.4 millions life species. Gurbani enlightens that a man is far
removed from the reality as thus;
Simritees and the Shasta discriminate between good and evil, but they do not know
the true essence of reality. They do not know the true essence of reality
without the Guru; they do not know the true essence of reality. The world is
asleep in the three modes and doubt; it passes the night of its life sleeping.
Those humble beings remain awake and aware, within whose minds, by Guru’s Grace,
the Lord abides; they chant the Ambrosial Word of the Guru’s Bani. Says Nanak,
they alone obtain the essence of reality, who night and day remain lovingly
absorbed in the Lord; they pass the night of their life awake and aware.
|| 27 ||
The man, the poor fellow does not know even the object of his birth in this world
.He is not able to visualize this world in clear and correct perspective and its
impact on him He is also not very sure that there is a creator for this world
and even if he has a little faith about this, he does not know much about Him.
He does not know that why there are sufferings in the world and how can he
overcome these .He also not aware that why man exploits others and why there is
infighting between the nations and killing of man by man and why he can not live
peacefully in the world ? He does also not know that there is a potentiality
within him to evolve further.
Religion enlightens him with the answers for all the queries raised and prepares
him to work for the realization of the objective of his birth. Actually a man
has to evolve further in order to fulfill his birth’s goal. Religion provides
the means for this evolvement at a faster pace since a man is already being
evolved but at a very slow speed. Gurbani enlightens that a man is at the mid
way on the path of his evolvement and he will take as much time to evolve to
full as he has taken for evolving from the lower species of life. So religion
provides the technique to a man to evolve further at a faster pace to reach the
goal of his birth.
Due to religion only, man has a trust in an other man considering him an honest
person. On this built up trust the entire world functions smoothly. In the world
when trust is lost there the problem starts and harmony is jeopardized and
disturbed.
A question may be raised that why religions are different from each others and
why are many. As was indicated earlier, religion is created by God by providing
His Bani as guidance. The guidance required depends on the age which is
prevailing since people’s mind set up depends on the prevailing age; hence
guidance has to be imparted accordingly.
Gurbani describes the behavioral situation of a man under the four ages by
considering the body as a chariot and mind as the charioteer as thus;
First Mehl-: O Nanak, the supreme body (the body of a man is considered supreme
in respect to bodies of lower species of life forms) acts like a chariot and it
has driver or charioteer. In age after age, the characteristics of both chariot
and the charioteer change; the spiritually wise understand this.
In the Age of Sat Yuga, the body, the chariot is characterized by contentment
and it is driven by righteousness, the charioteer. In the Age of Traytaa Yuga,
the body, the chariot is characterized by celibacy and driven by the charioteer
of prowess. In the Age of Dwaapar Yuga, the body, the chariot is characterized
by penance and the pure conduct acts as the charioteer. In the Age of Kali Yuga,
the body, the chariot is characterized by the thirst for the worldly items and
it is driven by falsehood as the charioteer. || 1/13 ||472
From above it becomes clear that a man behaves differently in each age, hence
the religion which has to provide guidance to him for realizing his goal of life
has to be tailored accordingly.
When the religion prevails there is a peace, prosperity and happiness in the
world and there is a good understanding between men and mankind.
In view of the above, even there is suffering of mankind due to religion, but
the good which the religion does for the mankind outweighs it. It is to be noted
that suffering is afflicted on mankind is not due to religion, it is due to man
not understanding the religion in a true perspective and not living according to
it, otherwise none of the religion permits to harm or kill a man.
Hence a man has to have a thorough understanding of his religion and then act
according to its tenets; he shall himself be peaceful and happy and also
contribute for the peace and happiness of the entire mankind.
196,1st.main, ISRO Lay Out, Vikram Nagar, Bangalore-560078
E-mail: singhtarsems@yahoo.co.in
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jvwb iek svwl dw
ies sNdrB hyT, AsIN Awpxy myNbrW nUM isK Drm bwry jwnkwrI dyx dw Xqn kr rhy hW [
AsIN hryk sMmprk dy ANk ivc iek svwl puCW gy qy ausdw jvwb BI nwl hI id`qw jwvYgw
[ ieh svwl qy jvwb,proPYsr siqbIr isMG di ikqwb,”sO svwl” ivcoN ley gey hn [ AsIN
ies sNdrB bwry quhwfI rwey jwxn dy ieCuk hW [
is`K dI aupmw kI hY ?
is`K auh hY jo s`c dI Bwl leI a`uT tuirAw hY [
mY bDI scU Drmswl hY ]gurisKw lhdw Bwil kY ]
ieh Sbd gurU Arjn dyv jI ny isrI rwg ivKy aucwr kyis`K dy ArQ s`c dw Fu`fwaU kr
id`qy sn [ is`K nUM jo iSS DwqU qoN inkilAW igxdy hn, auh mu`FoN hI Gu`Qy hn [iSs
hovy qW gurU cwhIdw hY Aqy iPr iSS nUM iksy gurU dw cylw bxwaux leI dOV-B`j AwrMB
ho jWdI hY [
isK auh hI hY jo ieko Akwl purK, d`sW pwqSwhIAW, gurU gRMQ swihb Aqy aunHW dIAW
smu`cIAW isiKAwvW Aqy AsU lW qy inScw r`Kdw hY Aqy iksy hor mq-mqWqr nUM nhIN mMndw
“
gur is`K Awn dyv, syv-rihq” hY [
mhW koS ivc vI iliKAw hY : “
jo gurU nwnk dyv jI dy d`sy rwh qy turdw hY [jo gurU gRMQ swihb nUM Awpxw Drm gRMQ
mMndw hY qy d`s siqgurW nUM ieko rUp jwxdw hY” [
Awpu Cif sdw rhY prxY,
Gur ibnu Avr nw jwxY koey [
KhY nwnku suxhu sMqhu, so is`K snmuK hoey [21 [ (AnMd swihb)
So is`K auh nhIN ijs gurU Dwrn kr ilAw hY, sgoN is`K auh hY ijs ny siq qy siqXwcwr
nUM srv-syRSt mMn ilAw hY [