Gurū Nanak and his successors endowed the Sikhs with an extraordinary legacy. From the spiritual treasures of Srī Gurū Graṅth Sāhib to the rich history of the Gurūs and their disciples, there is no dearth of inspiration to guide contemporary Sikh activity. We stand five and a half centuries from the birth of our tradition’s founder, owing in no small part to the fortitude and foresight granted by the One to withstand merciless state persecution throughout much of our history.
Yet five and a half centuries is not so long in the annals of the world’s religious traditions, and there remains much for us to rediscover, unpack, and build upon. Accordingly, we might profitably consider—in our respective fields and vocations, both academic and professional—what precisely it would mean to prefix them with the word ‘GurSikh’. For example, what might constitute GurSikh bioethics? What would make for a GurSikh conception of political economy? Again, what might one mean by ‘the great GurSikh novel’?
In speaking of ‘GurSikh’ rather than ‘Sikh’, I aim to sidestep the purely descriptive view. On this understanding, the opinions or actions of any given Sikh are taken at face value to define equally valid representations of the Sikh understanding of ‘x’. Sikhī, in other words, is whatever Sikhs think, say, and do. This of course kicks the question into the realm of ontology: what makes someone a Sikh? For the pure descriptivist, this question ought not be answered in terms of necessary or sufficient attributes. Self-identification, on this view, is the sole criterion for membership.
Yet nothing would then prevent there from being as many Sikh positions on topic ‘x’ as there are Sikhs. Even mutually exclusive positions could be affirmed as equally valid, rendering the word ‘Sikh’ semantically null. Mercifully, the concept ‘Sikh’ presupposes a further concept in relation to which it derives its meaning. As the existence of a master makes possible the condition of the disciple, the Gurū enables the possibility of a Sikh. The Sikh qua Sikh recognizes the Gurū’s authority as fundamental, and the term ‘GurSikh’ denotes the condition of the Sikh as transformed by the Gurū’s enlightening wisdom.
The Sikh as Sikh then recognizes the Gurū as Gurū and thereby becomes a GurSikh. This series of identifications averts the pitfalls of essentialism and reductionism, but can it likewise escape the charge of being a mere truism? Arguably, there is value in clarifying the formal dynamics of this fundamental relationship. GurSikhī obtains if and only if the Sikh as Sikh learns what the Gurū as Gurū teaches. It is then no presumption for Sikhs to speak of the Gurū’s wisdom; its realization in soul and city is the end of GurSikhī.
Speaking of the Gurū’s wisdom is essentially distinct from speaking for the Gurūs. As the Gurūs never arrogated to themselves the exclusive prerogative to speak on behalf of the One, so a Sikh ought not to arrogate to him or herself the exclusive prerogative to speak on behalf of the Gurū. In Srī Gurū Graṅth Sāhib we have an eternal and inexhaustible wellspring of guidance for smoothly navigating the ships of our lives back to the One from whom everything originates.
It is also necessary to distinguish speaking of the Gurū’s wisdom from speaking over it. In our presentist age, there is a danger of unreflectively championing whatever is most recent as best. It is particularly pernicious in distorting our capacity to understand the past and genuinely transhistorical truths. Bāṇī Gurū has the capacity to fundamentally reconstitute our vision of existence in light of our ultimate end. It is self-defeating to marshal the revealed utterances of the Gurūs to underwrite our unregenerate biases; our exegetical orientation towards Bāṇī Gurū must be one of sevā.
We are now in a position to return to our original question: what is the conceptual force of the adjective ‘GurSikh’? If the descriptivist approach would ultimately deprive the word of specific semantic content, a historicist approach would run the risk of sequestering us from the living force of concepts and identities from the past through a particular form of over specification. Such a failure could result from confusing the contingent with the essential, taking ideas as much as people to be captives of their times. Such a position, applied to the adjective ‘GurSikh’ might deny the existence of a transhistorical essence, yielding as many ‘GurSikh’ notions of ‘x’ as there are historical moments, effectively producing a variant of the purely descriptive view.
Veteran readers of The Vital Anjan will recall earlier essays in these pages on ‘A GurSikh View of Religious Liberty in America’, ‘Defining the GurSikh Ethos’, and ‘GurSikhī’s Interpretative Imperative’. They respectively may be characterized as a case study in the type of activity I propose, an attempt to more generally articulate what is distinctive about GurSikhī’s worldview, and methodological recommendations for undertaking interpretive projects drawing on Gurbāṇī’s riches. Indeed the conviction that GurSikh principles form a coherent and compelling vision of how we might better live together animates this journal.
As I imagine what a GurSikh contribution to bioethics or political economy might look like—sincerely hoping those with the relevant expertise in these and any other number of domains will take up the pen—I am struck by something less defined but no less valuable. The prefix ‘GurSikh’ renews my belief that unexpected solutions yielding sarbat dā bhalā—the flourishing of all—are possible. From Gurū Nanak onwards, resolving apparent paradoxes and transcending false antinomies has been the hallmark of GurSikh genius.
We have a duty to perceive the challenges of the world as it is without forgetting the reality of the One’s creative power. All victory belongs to the wondrous One who knows the innermost secrets of our hearts. GurSikhī is the convergence of transcendence and immanence, of Gurū and chelā, of the infinite and finite. In the equanimous balance where this is no fear nor animosity and celestial song eternally resounds, dry branches may bloom in fresh growth and sparrows may lock talons with hawks.
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Nihal Singh