Spiritual and Religious Intolerance

I am often asked if I personally receive spiritual or religious intolerance. The answer is simple, yes. But there again, so do most people who seek a spiritual pathway. We all meet many people who are single, or narrow minded, those who are not open to the ideas or concepts of others.  In many cases they are bigoted and have no concept of ‘spiritual or religious acceptance’. Often these people have no thought of tolerance and believe they alone have the answers, and are wholly right!   In many cases, the so-called religious or enlightened-ones have held a leading role in the persecution of other people.

It would be easy to point out any one religion for intolerance, persecution, prejudice and discrimination, but there have been many forms of religion fanaticism throughout the anoles of time. I am aware there are some Spiritualists who haven’t gained spiritual knowledge, those who also have failed to learn the true message of ‘Spirituality’.

I have thought long and hard about religious intolerance and looked down the pages of history. But some time ago I heard a ‘Thought for the Day’ on BBC Radio 2. This reflection was from a Sikh leader, about the 5^th Sikh Guru, who’s name was Guru Arjan Dev Ji ; his whole life was dedicated to others through ‘religious tolerance, peace and oneness. The problem was, his actions of peace and tolerance to all people and religions made him very popular and masses of people left Islam and Hinduism to join the Sikh faith.  These actions caused problems with those who apposed his fine work, and so this lead to a drummed up charge, set against him.  The outcome was imprisonment in Lahore (now Pakistan) and eventually he was tortured. The method used was to make him sit on ‘hot plates’ under which fires were set alight, after three days, boiled sand was also poured onto him.  Eventually, he was chained and cast into the river Ravi, Guru Arjan Dev Ji became the 1^st Sikh martyr. This great spiritual man believed in tolerance and acceptance of others views.

In the words of my spiritual teacher “there are many paths, but only one horizon, once there we will come across another horizon”, this point refers to the time after we have passed from this life into the great realms of “Eternal Light”. This early teaching, given to me, may be of interest “There is nothing more dangerous that the man or women who knows, that they are absolutely right!” We know so little, but like Christ, Mohamed, the Great Buddha and the Guru’s the meaning and comprehension of “Oneness” is of great importance, the path we are on, is only for the purpose of gaining knowledge, experience and growth. Christ and his teaching moved away from the bigoted and narrow views of life. The Lords of Light, teach that we are an eternal family, united by one God, the supreme God of Light that touches us all and is central to every living soul.

There are many bible stories or religious teachings, often people miss the point and get involved in pointless arguments. Modern Spiritualism is not mentioned, because it was not wholly recognised until the late 1880′s. The after-life does exist, whether you call it ‘Heaven or the Spirit World’ it doesn’t matter, it is a simple continuum of this life, once there we shall meet again, all of our loved ones who are freed from the limitations of this physical life of matter. The true meaning of gaining simple truths and spiritual life is through love, peace, compassion and tolerance.

I hope this makes sense and dispels any fear, or negativity; this is another of my spiritual teacher’s lessons:

“Does not the water run under the earth and feed all of the flowers”

Chan Woo Ancient Chinese’s Philosopher

Guru Arjan Sahib Ji

Guru Arjan Dev Ji (September 1^st 1581 – May 30^th 1606)

Guru Arjan Dev Ji was born in Amritsar, Punjab, India on the 15^th April 1563 – and died on the 30^th May 1606 in Lahore, Pakistan. He was the fifth of the ten Gurus of Sikhism, becoming Guru on the 1^st of September 1581 following in the footsteps of Guru Ram Das before Guru Arjan Dev died, he nominated his son Guru Har Gobind as the next Guru of the Sikhs. The following is a brief summary of the main highlights of Guru Arjan’s life:

Born the youngest son of Guru Ramdas Sahib and Mata Bhani Ji, Guru Arjan Dahib he was born in Amritsar, Punjab, India on the 15^th April 1563. He learnt Gurmukhi and Gurbani script from Baba Budha Ji, gaining a good education in the languages of Persian, Hindi and Sanskrit. During his childhood Guru Arjan Sahib often talked of God and loved to sing. He had two elder brothers, Prithi Chand Ji and Mahadev Ji with the former proving to be the most selfish and the later mostly preferred utter silence. Guru Arjan Sahib was kind, humble with a perfect blend of devotion and sacrifice. He was hardly 18 years old when his father Guru Ramdas Sahib installed him as the Fifth Nanak. He was married to Mata Ganga Ji and had a son who later became Guru Hargobind Sahib.

Guru Arjan Sahib was to complete the composition on two sacred tanks (Sarowars) Santokhsar and Amritsar. He got the foundation stone of Harmandir Sahib, laid by a Muslim Saint Hazrat Mian Mir Ji of Lahore on in 1644 (December 1588). He founded the town of Tarn Taran Sahib near Goindwal Sahib and also created a large tank and Gurdwara there. A house for lepers was also built. He also laid the foundation stone of the town Kartarpur near the city of Jalandhar city. Guru Arjan Sahib continued with constructed in many places including the Baoli later to be destroyed and re-excavated by the Maharaja Ranjit Singh after the partition of India in 1947.  The Guru had a very energetic and aspiring personality. In order to strengthen the cult of Sikhism he toured far and wide throughout India. He also stayed sometime at Wadali (now it is called Guru-Di-Wadali near the City of Amritsar), consolidating and extending Sikhism.

During the era of Guru Arjan Sahib the City of Amritsar city became the central institution where all the Sikhs used to gather. Sikhism spread to the provinces far distant from the Punjab and attracting a large number of followers.  For the first time the Sikhs began to call Guru Arjan Sahib as “Sacha Patshah”, with the number of Sikhs began to increase day-by-day making the situation difficult with orthodox Hindus and Muslims.

After the death of Akbar in 1605 both Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists moved the new head of state emperor Jahangir against Guru Sahib. Jahangir himself was also resentful about the Guru’s propagation of Sikhism. He promptly obliged the enemies of Guru Sahib and subsequent, baseless allegations were levelled against the Guru, one of those was helping rebels. Guru Arjan Sahib was then arrested and brought to Lahore where he was charged and implicated in the false cases. The Governor of Lahore was assigned the task of the execution. He handed over Guru Sahib over to Chandu, a petty businessman and an orthodox Hindu of Lahore city. He tortured Guru Sahib for about three days in a manner unknown in the history of mankind. It is said that Mian Mir (a Muslim Sufi Saint and friend of Guru Sahib) tried to intercede on behalf of the Guru, but the later forbade him. During the torturing period, Guru Arjan Sahib was made to sit on the hot iron plates and burning sand was poured over his naked body. When his body was blistered, he was chained and thrown into the river Ravi.  Guru Arjan Sahib died on the 30^th May 1606 thus embracing martyrdom for his work for religious and spiritual tolerance.  The martyrdom of Guru Arjan Sahib changed the entire character of Sikhism radically.

The Teachings of Guru Arjan Dev Ji

The Teachings of Guru Arjan Dev Ji included “equality of mankind, equality between a man and woman, equality in work and need to work and equality of and respect for all religions”.

The imp ortant tea chings of the Sikh Gurus were followed enthusiastically and significantly different from the then prevalent practices of dominant religions in India. Mainly these were the following:

a)    Equality of mankind the First Guru abolished the caste system. The second Guru started the practice of langar where all people in a Gurdwara could assemble to meditate, irrespective of their caste, and cook, serve and eat food together. The soul of every human was considered respectable and no human being was considered inferior to another. The caste system was abolished amongst the followers of the Gurus literacy for all was advocated

b)    Equality between a man and woman was practiced where every woman was considered capable of meditation, self-realisation and following all religious practices. Woman could independently follow their own religion and were not considered impure on any occasion as was also men. Therefore, women were prohibited from wearing a veil; a dowry was prohibited amongst the followers of the Gurus

c)    Equality in work and need to work was prescribed for all followers as also sharing of their income and wealth. Dignity of labour was stressed, where all walks of people gained their self-esteem and joined the new religion. The Guru himself would devote substantial time in charity and organize relief camps in famines and natural calamities. The Guru also abolished the priestly class

d)    Equality of and respect for all religions was emphasised. The importance of the Sikh philosophy was on meditation and purity of action, not on the rituals, pilgrimages and dogmas. Therefore, in the compositions that were accepted in Sri Guru Granth Sahib came the respectable saints that owed allegiance to Islam or to Hinduism. Precisely, that is why, the foundation stone of the Golden Temple was laid by a Muslim Faqir, in the presence of many established and respected Sikhs.

The conclusion is quite simple in that Guru Arjan Dev Ji (Ji literally means – enlightened one) teachings were for the benefit of all through religious, spiritual tolerance the way peaceful coexistence.

Sikhism

Sikhism is a progressive religion was well ahead of its time, when it was founded over 500 years ago. The Sikh religion today has a following of over 20 million people worldwide and is ranked as the world’s fifth largest religion. Sikhism preaches a message of devotion and remembrance of God at all times, truthful living, equality of mankind and denounces superstitions and blind rituals. Sikhism is open to all through the teachings of its ten Gurus enshrined in the Sikh Holy Book and Living Guru, Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

For information on Sikhism and religious and spiritual enlightenment please look at the website: www.sikhs.org