CHAPTER X
THE AXIAL RITUAL
This
is an account of the ritual and the certain rites and ceremonies by which a
Sikh is knighted as a Singh enrolled as a member of the Order of the
Khalsa.
The
following Rules and Regulations have received the formal approval of the
premier statutory Body
of the Sikhs, for managing the historic shrines in the Punjab, and. they also
have the general approval of the theologians, head-priests of Sikh Seats of
Authority, called ‘the Thrones, takhats, and Sikh congregations in
various parts of India, and other parts of the world, such as Malaya, Canada, Burma, U.S.A, and Africa.1 The Amrit
is administered to a Sikh, when he is knighted a Singh, enrolled as
a member of the Order of the Khalsa, in accordance with the procedure laid down
in these rules, which, substantially represent the procedure formulated and
adopted by Guru Gobind Singh, on March 30, 1699, when he enrolled the first
Five Beloved Ones, as the Khalsa.
1. For administering Amrit, a specially enclosed,
separate place should be reserved for the occasion which is not a public
thoroughfare, or otherwise public.
2. The
Guru Granth should be formally throned and opened there with due
ceremony and wrapped in ceremonious robes. There should present, at least six
Singhs as officiants, and they must be certified and adjudged as having been
not guilty of any un-expiated breach of Sikh .discipline and formularies. One
of these should sit on the throne in attendance of the Guru Granth, and
the other five should co-operate in preparation and, administration of the Amrit. They
all should have had a full
bath including the washing of head-hairs, and should be dressed in clean and
proper clothes. These Singhs may be of any sex, male or female.
3. None
of the five; who have to prepare and administer the Amrit, should be
physically defective, such as, one-eyed, lame, blind, paralytic, or suffering
from any unseemly, serious or chronic disease. They should all be of good
physique, good health and good bearing.
4. Every
sane human being, of adult mind, irrespective of caste, creed, country,
climate, race or sex, is entitled to be administered the Amrit, whenever
he solemnly makes such a voluntary request to be enrolled into the order of the
Khalsa.
5.
Such a petitioner should have had a full bath, including that of the
head-hairs, should be neatly and properly dressed, in possession of the five symbols
of the Khalsa, uncut hair, comb duly tucked up in the tress-knot of the head
hairs, the iron bangle on the right wrist, a sword in
the belt, and short breeches up to the knees. He should wear a turban on head. He should stand in front of the Guru Granth, with due
respect.
6. One
of these five officiants then should put the following questions publicly to
the petitioner : “Sikhism enjoins love and worship of the one Creator in
contradistinction to the creatures. The worship must be implemented through
selfless service of humanity and compassion towards all living creatures. Such
selfless service and compassion must be inspired by continuous and progressive
understanding of the ‘Guru’s
Word’ as recorded in the Guru Granth, broad-based on the discipline of
the Name. Holy congregation is the context of this great and marvelous discipline,
and the Khalsa is the Society pledged to propagate and perpetuate this holy way
of Life; through which the Universe shall be blessed in the beginning, shall be
blessed in the middle, and shall be blessed in the end, without end and
forever. Do you, after due consideration and voluntarily, accept this Way of
Life ?
7. When
the petitioner has answered, “I do” then one of the five officiants should
perform the congregational prayer, the ardas and the “orders”, the hukam of the Guru
Granth should be obtained. Then, one of the five officiants should stand up
and addressing the holy congregation in its capacity as the Acting Guru, Guru
Panth, should ask : “Have we the permission of the Guru to prepare and
administer Amrit to the petitioner?” On receiving the assent of the holy
congregation, that is, such members of the Order of the Khalsa, as are present,
which assent is usually given by some or all members of the holy congregation,
saying in unison, “The Guru giveth the permission,” all the five officiants,
the five Beloved Ones, who now are transubstantiated into the original Five
Beloved Ones to whom Guru Gobind Singh first administered Amrit on March 30, 1699, and who are now under
the miraculous captaincy of Guru Gobind Singh himself, should sit in a circle
on the already appointed place, where a round bowl of pure steel, full of pure
water, is placed in the centre. In this bowl of water should rest, handle
upward, a double edged sword of pure steel, and sugar plums or pure sugar
should be added to the contents of the bowl. All the five officiants, should then
assume the hero-posture, birasan2 which consists of placing
the right knee on the ground with its heel forming the
stool and seat for the body, while the left knee points heavenwards, and the
left toe is firmly planted on the ground. Then all the five officiants should
visualise in their minds the archetypal Form of Guru Gobind Singh, tall, erect;
dark blue clad, wearing an aigrette of pure dazzling gems on His turban facade,
with a white hawk on His left hand and a pure steel lance in His right, fully
armed, and with a dark blue steed as His vehicle. They should thus concentrate
their minds within ‘as the tortoise withdraws his limbs underneath his shell’.
Thus, firmly postured and
self-controlled, one of the officiants should firmly hold the handle of the
double-edged sword in his right
hand grip and place the tips of the four fingers of his left hand on the edges
of the steel bowl, while the remaining four officiants should likewise place
the finger tips of both the hands on the edges of the steel bowl. All the five
officiants should fix the gaze of their eyes into the water of the bowl, and
the first officiant should then recite the Japu of Guru Nanak, all the
while stirring the contents of the bowl with the sword. In a similar manner,
the Japa of Guru Gobind Singh should then be recited by the second
officiant. And then the Sudha Swayyiyas and then the Bainti Chaupai, of
Guru Gobind Singh, and then the Anand (five first and the last stanza) of Guru
Amar Dass, should be recited in a similar manner, in a firm well modulated and
clear voice, by the third, fourth and the fifth officiants respectively. 3
The reciter should mean while keep on stirring the contents of the steel bowl
with the double-edged sword.
8. After these recitations are thus over, the bowl should be
covered with a clean white cloth, and one of the oficiants should lift the bowl
in both of his hands, and he should then again leading the ‘congregational
prayer’ every body present standing and facing the throne, in which the
ratification of Timeless God the Akalpurkh should be beseeched, of the Amrit
thus prepared.
9.
Then the Amrit should be administered to the petitioner or the petitioners in
the following manner. The petitioners should sit in the hero-posture in a
straight line, keeping the throne of the Guru Granth to their right. Then one
of the five officiants should carry the bowl of Amrit in both hands, and
another officiant should dip his right hand into the bowl and pour about an
ounce of Amit into the cupped right hand of the petitioner, which the petitioner
should hold up with the out-stretched left hand as its base. The petitioner
should then raise his cupped right hand to his lips and sip the Amrit, while
the officiant who poured the Amrit into his cupped palm, should bid :
“Say, The Khalsa is of the wonderous God, and Victory to God”. Bol, Waheguru
ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki fatahe. The
petitioner should then repeat: “The Khalsa is of the wonderous God, Victory to
God”. This process should be repeated five times in the case of each
petitioner. Then each petitioner
should be required to fix his gaze, with open unwinking eyes, into the open
unwinking eyes, of the Amrit administering officiant, while the
officiant, should throw a few drops of Amrit into the staring eyes of
the Petitioner, with some force, to cause the shut-reflex, and this should be
repeated five times, accompanied by the bidding and repetition of the formula : “The Khalsa is of the wonderous God, Victory
to God,” as aforesaid. Then, five times five drops of Amrit, should be
sprinkled into the tress-knot of the hairs of the head of each petitioner,
again accompanied by the bidding and repetition of the above mentioned formula
thus transubstantiating the hair of the petitioner into sacred keshas.
If
then some Amrit is left over, it should be sipped by all the
petitioners, one after the other, from the same bowl till it is drained off.
All this while, when two officiants are administering Amrit, one
carrying the bowl, the other passing it on, the remaining three officiants
should stand two steps behind, in a straight line, facing the petitioners, and
in the attention posture.
10.
When the Amrit is thus administered to the petitioner, the two
officiants should step back to join the other three officiants, and all the five
in unison, then should say :
“Wonderous God, One, Numenon,
Phenomenon, Truth, Name, Creator, Person, Without fear, Without malice, Timeless,
Form, Unborn, Self-existant-subsistent, Light, Gracious.”4 And the
petitioners should then repeat in unison, the same
formula. This should be done five times.
11. Then one of the officiants should address the petitioner or
the petitioners thus : Today you take a new birth in the House of the Guru.s
You have become a Knight of the
Order of the Khalsa. Guru Gobind Singh is the Father, and holy Sahib Kaur 6
the Mother of the Order of the, Khalsa. Your birth place is the Blessed Fort of
the Sacred Uncut Hair 7 and you are a citizen of the Town of Bliss
12.
The following five groups of men are actively and basically hostile to the organisational
purity of the Khalsa. Do not enter into any enduring social relationship with
any of them, such as marriage, till the individual duly joins the Khalsa
Brotherhood and undertakes to observe its discipline. A disregard of this
precept entails culpability, (literally, makes him a defaulter, a salaried
servant, tankhahia. 11
(1)
The Minas, the Dhirmalias, the Ram-raiyas, the Masands.
These in the past have tried to create schism in the historical growth of
the true Sikh doctrine, and also those who become patits.
(2)
Those who establish social intercourse of common dining or marriage
relationship, with any of these.
(3)
Those who dye their hair or use make-up, in vanity to appear other than what
they are.
(4)
Those who corrupt the institution of marriage by basing it on secular, monetary,
and somatic considerations.
(5)
Those who use intoxicants to
befog their minds to escape from reality.
Be
diligent and remain alert always to maintain your integrity and authenticity.
13.
After these instructions have been thus parted to the petitioner, then one of
the officiants should again lead the
congregational prayer, the ardas, and then the “Order” that
is, the sortilege guidance of the Guru Granth should be taken seeking blessings to and
ratification of the due enrollment of the petitioner to the Order of the
Khalsa, and the first letter of this “Order”, should normally, though not
necessarily, form the first letter of the new name, if it is desired to be
given to the petitioner.
14. The
sacrament, Karrahprasad, should then be distributed to those present,
and all the newly created knights then should partake of the sacramental food
from a common bowl.
15. The
ceremony of Initiation is now over and complete, and the congregation should
now disperse.
II
Here
are English translations of the opening lines from the five compositions which
are recited when Amrit is prepared.
The Japu.
“1. Absolute. Truth. Name. Creator. Person. Sans fear. Sans-malafides.
Time-less. Person. Without birth. Self-subsistent. Light. Gracious. The Japu
(begins). True, beyond the Flux of Time. True, at the commencement of
Time-cycles. True, without the Time Flux, and True shall also be, for ever and
evermore, says Nanak. By human mind He cannot be comprehended even though it
cogitated a hundred thousand times. Nor by suppressing and annulling this
cogitation doth the human mind reach the Silence (of Self-realisation), even
though it achieve single-pointed concentration without a break. By accumulating
the goods of all the worlds, tangible and intangible, the Lust for grasping
within is not satiated. No amount of profound wisdom or possession of know-how
availeth. (Then) how shall man come near unto Truth; how may the Veil of Error
be lifted up and rent? Nanak (answers) : “Living and acting (in social
context), in harmony with following the Law of God and His Will, accessible to
man as embedded in the depths of his own heart. 1. This Law createth the
archetypal Forms; This Law cannot be stated. This Law createth the life-monads
with urge to grow and evolve implanted in them. The lower and the higher is
determined by this Law. The Pleasure and Pain to all sentient beings is
apportioned by this Law. By this Law, some receive Grace and are thus
delivered, and others wander about, in cyclic existence. All that is, is within
the compass of the Law. Nanak (explains), he who understands the Law, never
then says ‘I am .2.”
The Jap.
“That which hath neither features nor characteristics, nor contour, colour or
caste, nor genealogy. There is naught to say for anyone, what its form, what its
complexion, what its physiognomy and what its dress. Stable Entity, the Light suigeneris,
without measure, so it be stated. Count countless gods, the Kings of gods,
earthly kings and their Emperors. (And) the lords of all the three worlds, the
gods, the mortals, and the titans, all these (together) (Still) every blade of
grass beareth witness to, “Not that,” “Not that, neti, neti.” Who can
make an all-true proposition sarvnam about Thee and the wise, thus,
utter adjectival statements (to refer to Thee). 1. Salutation to the Timeless. Salutation
to the Compassionate. Salutation to the Formless. Salutation to the
Incomparable. 2. Salutation to the One without a persuasion. Salutation to the
Measureless. Salutation to the One and Alone. Salutation to the Unborn. 3.
Salutation to the Non-aggregate. Salutation to the Disintegrate. Salutation to
the Name-less. Salutation to the Non-resident. 4. Salutation to the Deed-less.
Salutation to the Law-less, Salutation to the Description-less. Salutation to
the Home-less. 5. Salutation to the Unconquered. Salutation to the Unsurrendering.
Salutation to the Un-fortified. Salutation to the Un-demolished. 6. Salutation
to the Space-less. Salutation to the Un-consumed. 7. Salutation to the
Non-aggregate. Salutation to the Disintegrate. Salutation to the Liberal.
Salutation to the Shore-less. 8. Salutation to
the One-alone. Salutation to the Many. 9. Salutation to the Substance-less.
Salutation to the Unyoked. 10.”
Sudha Sawaaiyyas. I went to Houses of the sravaks, the Jaina-monks, ‘the
True ones’, the Siddha-teams, the Yogis, and the Celibates, the
Sun-worshippers, the saints and anchorites of many persuasions. Throughout the world, I saw and
scrutinised, but I did not meet anyone with the Religion of the Lord of Life. Without the grace of the
Lord of the Grace, the Lord God, all sects are worthless. 1. The inebriated
war-elephants, covered with gold-cloth, bedecked with jewels, without a
compeer, protected with glittering mail coats, Countless war-steeds, nimble
like a deer, and swifter than wind. And mighty monarchs, with vassals and
allies, countless and without number. Such a mighty Emperor of men as this, and
yet what of it, for in the end he must depart unshod and unclad. 2. They may
subdue country after country, with bugles blowing and trumpets blaring.
Surrounded by herds of war-elephants uttering proboscisic cries, and thousands of horses neighing in
battle excitement. Such world-conquerors of the past, present and the future are so
numerous as to be uncountable. Without remembrance of God, all these lords of
the earth go in the end to where every thing goes in the end.3.”
Bainati
Chaupai. Protect us with Thy Hand as our
shield. May our aims
be fulfilled. May our minds rest concentrated at Thy Feet. Sustain us, knowing
us to be Thy slaves. 1. Destroy all the evil around us. Save us through Thine
own intervention. May
those, our allies and dependents, live in felicity. My aides and my disciples, all
of them, O, God, 2. Safeguard me with Thine own Hand: Destroy all my enemies here and
now. May my hopes be completely fulfilled. May I ever remain athirst for Thy Love. 3. May I love nought but Thee. May I receive every blessing from
Thee alone. Save my helpers and my disciples. Alleviate my ills and pains. 4.
Uplift me with Thine own Hand. Destroy my fear of the Hour of Death. By ever
our support. Lord of the Banners; grant us safe conduct. 5. Protector, protect me, Thou. The Lord,
the Guide-saint, the Ally and the Beloved. The Helper of the poor, the
Vanquisher of the evil ones. Thou art our
Refuge in all the fourteen Regions. 6. Brahma, the Creator-Demiurge, carne into
being with the Time-cycles. The Vishnu, the Sustainer, the Primordial Person, is also encompassed by ·Time. All this Phenomenon is grounded in Time. 7. The Time, which made Siva, the Lord of the
yogis. Which created Brahma, the knower of Vedas. The Time, which made all the temporal universes. To That, our salutations. 8. The Time that created
all the worlds. And created the gods, the titans and the genii. The Time, which
is the same one in the Beginning and the End. Verily, that is our Light and
Guide. 9. To Him alone we salute. He who hath created all the creatures; He
giveth unending joys to His own. He destroyeth them that deny Him.” 10
Anand
Sahib. “Brethren, the Light of God is my
Guide and peace is in my heart. The Light hath brought Realization, and my mind is instinct with joy. The gods and goddesses of Music
and cosmic Harmony have assembled to make heavenly music of bliss. Sing (ye also) the
praises of God, O, servants of God, Nanak sayeth, the peace hath descended into
my heart and true Light is my Guide, 1. O, heart mine, be with God ever. Remain
with God, O, my heart, and have sorrow and pain no more. He ,whom God accepts, his problems are
solved. Forget not Him, the God Almighty. Nanak sayeth, O, heart mine, remain
with God, ever. 2. True, Lord,
what hast Thou not in Thy House. All everything is there in Thine House. But he alone receiveth whom Thou
givest. (Thy greatest gift), Thy praises and Thy adoration, bestow upon us by
implanting the Name in our hearts. Where the Name resideth, in that heart the
divine music of the Presence of God is heard too. Nanak sayeth : True Lord, what hast Thou not in Thine House.3.”
1. Sikh Rahit maryada (Punjabi), published by Shiromani
Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Sri Amritsar, 1950, pp. 1-9.
2. Bir, or Vira, literally means hero, one who is
endowed with viryam, heroic efforts. Hero-posture is considered most appropriate for shooting arrows from
a bow, in battle array. The Ideal hero is portrayed in Indian sculpture and
iconography, by the carved figure of a tirthankar, such, for instance,
as is represented by the statue of Rsabhanath, at Mount Abu temples (11th
Century) and the stone colossus of Gommata at the Sravana Belgola mound (10th
Century). Here, the Ideal Man
stands erect in the attitude of, kayotsarga, “dismissing the body,” in a
rigid immobile posture, with arms held stiffly down, as in the “attention” military
exercise. He has a fully developed chest, a firm abdomen, normal and unbulged,
and otherwise an athletic figure of almost Greek proportions. He is a vira, a hero, for
he has conquered his lower self and achieved the supreme human victory. That is
why the twenty fourth Jaina tirthankar, is styled, Mahavira, the great hero. It
was a happy admixture of these two ideals, the physical and the spiritual, which Guru Gobind Singh had in
view on this occasion, with primacy of the spiritual.
Nanak vichon ahamakaran — declares, a hero is one and his is the heroic
effort, who destroys the enemy entrenched within himself, the evil self-centredness.
Nanak,
so sura varyam jin vichon dust ahamkaran maria — Guru Granth. Var Srirag. III.
3. English translations of a few first lines out of each of these
five texts, are given at the end.
4. Waheguru. Ek. Omkar. Sat. Namu. Karta. Purkhu. Nirbhau.
Nirvair. Akal. Murat. Ajuni. Saibhang. Gur. Prasadi.
“Waheguru is the focal Word
around which the Sikh discipline of the Name revolves. It was adopted as the
basic concept of the Sikh thought and the esoteric essence of Sikhism, from the
times of Guru Nanak. It is found in the revelations of the early Sikh Gurus, as
preserved in the Guru Granth. It was not a new concept, though the word
itself has been coined by the Sikh Gurus, for the concept is of an ancient
origin. The Chinese pilgrims, who visited India in the seventh century, testify
that, in the Buddhist congregations when any exposition was made of some
profound or basic metaphysical doctrine of the religion, it was customary for the member of the congregation to
murmur in appreciation, “Wahu, wahu,”
(Wonderous, wonderous) and an approbatory reference to this practice exists in
the Guru Granth itself, “Wonderous, wonderous is truly expressive of the waking reactions of the
religious-man.”*
* Wabu, wahu, gurmukh sada karhi. — Gujri
III
This writer has himself witnessed
this practice in vogue in the assemblies of the Namdhari Sikhs, at their
headquarters, Bhaini Sahib. In the occult Tibet, the expression, samyagya,
is uttered or written before all sacred knowledge, indicating that teachings
are too profound and esoteric to be taught to, or comprehended by, any save the
purified and the disciplined. The formula is itself regarded as a seal of
secrecy on the esoteric teachings. Samyagya is the exact equivalent of the
Sikh esoteric formula, Wahegruu. Samya, means infallible knowledge,
which is complete realisation of the Self, and gya word of the Tibetan language
is originally a Sanskrit word, which means, ‘wonderous’, wahu. The meanings of the
formula, Waheguru, have been given by the famous Sikh theologian, Bhai Santokh Singh, in his Nanak Prakash, (I. 1.62-63)
as follows : “Wahu means, wonderous, that which cannot be described by means of
propositions or syllogism, Gu, means, Inertia, Matter, Nescience. Transience,
and Ru, means, the destroyer of them, the Light that animates, and sustains Pure Consciousness.” Wahu nam acraj ko hoi, acraj te par ukat na
koi, gu, tam tan-agyan anitt, ru, prakash kio jin citta.” The formula taught to the initiate, when he is knighted to the Order of the Khalsa, prefixed by the esoteric utterance, waheguru, speaks of the basic Truth and knowledge
of the Sikh Religion and Pratice.
5. Compare, “Thou art now my son, born out of my mouth, the son of
Dhamma.” —Ittivuttakam. 100. Also, “Thou art my loving Son; this day
have I begotten thee.” — Luke. iii. 22.
6. A celibate wife of Guru Gobind Singh who was granted the
privilege of adding sugar plums to the Amrit, that was first prepared by
the Guru on March 30, 1699.
7. The geographical location of the place, called Takht Sri
Kesgarh Sahib, is on a spur of a mound in the town of Anandpur Jullundur
8. The name of the town, Anandpur, (Anandpur Sahib), is literal
equivalent of Mahayan Buddhist concept of Sukhvati-vyuh contained in the
Sukhvati-vyuh, of
Nalanda fame. Sukhvati is a luxuriant apocalyptic heaven situated in the
Dharamdhatu Region of Pure Forms, divorced from Desire and presided over by the Bodhisattava,
Amitabha. Into this heaven are born all those, who through faith, have
controlled and canalised their emotions to the Ideal. The paradise of Mohammed,
described in the Koran appears to be a somewhat hazy and fragmentary
reflection of this paradise of the Sukhvativyuh. Amitabha, the presiding-deity of this heaven, in his previous
life on earth, was a king, who moved by the preachings of the Buddha of his
age, renounced his throne and the world, to achieve the highest realization,
the Buddhahood. At
some stage of his spiritual quest and career, he made a series of famous vows, pranidhan, the eighteenth of which is as follows : “If after
my obtaining Buddhahood, all
beings in the ten Quarters should not desire in sincerity and faith, to be born
into my region, the Sukhavati, and if they should not be born only thinking of me ten times
(except those who have committed the five grave offences and are abusive of the
true Dharma), may I not attain the Nirvana.” (Quoted in, Pratt : The Pilgrimage of Buddhism, p. 480). Thus, Amitabha renounced the
reward of his efforts in order to preside over the Sukhavati, until all beings had arrived there. Citizenship Ideal of Amitabha, the
Bhakti Yoga, at its best, where the Ideal of the service of humanity is
grounded in a grand compassion, the deliberately cultivated power of self abnegation and Self-realisation,
where through Grace awakened within, the clamour and glamour of the illusion of the individual self dies away.
9. ‘Khalsa’
is a Perso-Turkish administrative term, which means,
royal, not subordinate to anyone, answerable to none subordinate, sovereign,
directly administered by the sovereign.
10. According
to the ancient Aryan Hindu tradition, only such meat as is obtained from an
animal which is killed with one stroke of the weapon, thus causing
instantaneous death, without exciting the fear glands secreting poisons into
its blood stream, and without causing harmful psychic waves to emanate from
the animal mind, is deemed fit for human consumption. Under the influence of
compassionate Buddhism, the flesh became taboo to the generality of the Hindus.
With the establishment of Islam, and the
Muslim political hegemony in India, it became an item of state policy in
India, not to permit slaughter of animals for food, in any other manner except that made
lawful by the Koran, which is the kosher method, of slowly severing the main
blood artery of the throat of the animal, while reciting religious formulae,
the main object of slaughtering in this manner being, a “sacrifice” to God to expiate sins of the slaughterer, and its flesh as
food being only a secondary object. (“Without shedding of blood is no remission,” Hebrew: 9
22 “It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” Lev:
17.1) Guru Gobind Singh took a rather serious view of this aspect of the whole matter, and while making it permissive to eat
flesh as food, repudiated
the whole theory of this expiatory sacrifice and the right of the ruling Muslims to impose it upon others. He made the ancient practice of obtaining meat
by instantaneous death jhatka as obligatory, but for food only.
11. In the Sikh slang, the sandhyabhasha, or the twilight
language, the term, ‘salaried servant’, is employed to mean a ‘defaulter’ or ‘one guilty of a breach of discipline’,
for the good reason that he who accepts salaried employment owes allegiance to,
undertakes to serve, a mortal, and therefore, is not a true Khalsa, a free man,
owing allegiance to none other than the Timeless One.
12. The Sikh Rahitmaryada, op.cit.,
pp. 32-37.
Related Documents On Importance Of Keeping Hair:-
No comments:
Post a Comment