The Religion of the Sikhs: Chapter III. The Doctrines of ... | Internet Sacred Text Archive

Sikhism
Wisdom of the East

CHAPTER III

THE DOCTRINES OF THE SIKHS

Main doctrines of all religions.—These concern God, His nature and attributes, and man, and the means by which salvation may be attained. There are three aspects under which the nature of God has been conceived. In the first He is omnipotent Being, Ruler and Creator of the world, the Father and Judge of men, In the second He becomes incarnate for the salvation of mankind or is specially manifested in some teacher or Guru. In the third he is Immanent Spirit, the Life and Soul of all that is. In each great religion, special prominence is given to some one feature of doctrine—all others being modified accordingly—and thus individual distinctiveness is obtained.

Their Comparative Importance.—For instance, in Judaism the unity and omnipotence of God receive most emphasis, so that we always associate the Jews with an exclusive monotheism. The same may be said of Muhammadanism—except that here the importance of the Prophet stands out almost as prominently. In philosophic Hinduism

[paragraph continues] Divine Immanence is the first essential, while in Christianity all else pales into insignificance beside the splendour of the Divine Incarnation.

Outstanding Feature of Sikhism: The One God.—Sikhism—in common with all great deistic religions—lays most stress on the unity and omnipotence of God.

"There is but one God, the true," is the constant reiteration of the hymns. He is the only Reality, beside which everything else is false. He is formless, great, all-powerful, absolutely holy, without limits of any kind, and He cannot be grasped by the finite mind. He has less definiteness than the personalities of Allah or Jehovah, and He is therefore more often described in terms of negation, calling to mind those used in the Vedanta. 1 For instance:

"By thinking I cannot obtain a conception of Him, even though I think hundreds of thousands of times."

"He hath no colour nor outline."

"He is not old, nor is He young."

"He feeleth nor heat nor cold."

"He hath no father and no mother,"

and so on. But yet He possesses many of the attributes of personality. He is an Ocean of Mercy, the Friend of Man, the Friend of Sinners, the Bountiful, Destroyer of Sorrow, Cherisher of the Poor. "He is wise, generous, beautiful, infinite." He "beholdeth" and "heareth" his servants whom He loves. He is both Father and Mother to man.

"God is the Father and Mother of all, and taketh care of them"; or He may be described as Lover or Spouse to the human soul.

Saith Nānak, "God alone is the Spouse of all." "My Spouse hath taken my hand and made me his Queen." This metaphor is the most usual.