Sikhi the Third Path After Abrahamic and Indic Religious Traditions
There are some harsh Words in Guru Granth Sahib for those who hide their Guru (SGGS Ang 308, 314 and 651 Panktis starting ਜਿਨ ਗੁਰੁ ਗੋਪਿਆ ਆਪਣਾ ). To misinterpret Gurbani to show closeness with other religious paths, no matter how well intentioned as in the interfaith area, is the same as hiding the True Guru, the Shabad or Word Guru.
Following a recent exchange with a colleague, once again, I was reminded, why Sikhi has been referred to as the Teesra Panth in classical Sikh literature. Another recent prompt to broach this topic is a longish article by a Sikh scholar who celebrated Janamashtami commemorating the birth of Lord Krishna by exploring relevant Versus by Guru Arjan Dev Ji. The article is dotted with colourful images of Vedic deities. Such misleading attempts to show that Gurbani authenticates Vedic literature would please those with Hindutva agenda to assimilate Sikhi, but are totally out of context in the allegorical sense in which they are mentioned in Gurbani and highly misleading.
Teesra Panth means the Third Path after Abrahamic religions and faith systems of the East and especially, the conglomeration of faiths under the umbrella of Hinduisim. Abrahamic religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam, They claim Prophet Abraham to be their common forefather. There are numerous Eastern faith systems, mostly originating from the Indian sub-continent. Tortuous attempts have been made to lump together and even assimilate diverse faith systems under Hinduism. In recent times a new label has been given to include Hinduism, Budhism, Sikhi and Jainism as Dharmic faiths. The only way to do justice to any religious system is to treat it as an independent system as intended by the founder.
Early reference to Sikhi as the Teesra Panth, the Third Path as distinct from Western and Eastern faith traditions, was to show that Sikhi is a distinct theo-temporal system of Guru Nanak for the New Age, which has given new meanings to old religious word-concepts. Early Western scholars recognised this when they studied Sikhi.
Late Dr J S Grewal, summed up the research of these scholars in his research, Guru Nanak in Western Scholarship. Some views are as follows: Max Arthur Macauliffe found it difficult to point to a religion of greater originality than Sikhi. The unity of God in Sikhi was conceived in such a way that it stood distinguished from both the semitic and the Indian tradition. Macauliffe feared that without concrete steps to safeguard Sikhi as a distinct way of life, it will also be lost in the great chaos of the Indian religious system.
According to J C Archer and C H Loehlin, who published their work in 1946, Guru Nanak imparted new significance to familiar terms. Name (Naam) for Guru Nanak did not mean Rama or Krishna. In Sikhi, conventional Hindu belief and Islam were not regarded as fundamentally right but fundamentally wrong. It is accordingly incorrect to interpret the religion of Guru Nanak as a synthesis of Hindu belief system and Islam. For Guru Nanak, Name (Naam) was the higher than the high, its truth the ultimate beyond any wisdom of the Vedas or the Koran.
Finally, unconditional Love (prema-bhagti) seeking union with the Timeless Being, perceived in own ways, is accepted as the thread common to all saints honoured in Guru Granth Sahib. Otherwise, Guru Nanak did show the way out of the thick fog (dhundh) of old dogma-based faiths more relevant to own times in history.
Gurmukh Singh OBE
Principal Civil Servant retd (UK)