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The Sikh Vision of Heroic
Life and Death
What is the notion of death in Sikhism and what are the views of Sikhs in general and Sikh gurus in particular about a heroic life? How does Sikhism reconcile spiritualism with materialism? How does it synthesise the transcendental with the immanent? How do the Sikh gurus resolve the apparent conflicts in their theory and its praxis for the common man though not necessarily their followers? These and related existential problems like those of freedom, human action, voluntarism are the issues with which Nirbhai Singh is concerned in his present book. Nirbhai Singh, despite his claim that the "aim of the book is to carry out the clarification objectively", does not explain anywhere in the book as to what he means by the key terms like ‘voluntarism’ and ‘heroic life’. One can assume that by the former he apparently means "the theory that regards the will rather than the intellect as the essential principle of the individual or cosmos". Likewise, a lay reader in the absence of the explanation of the term ‘heroic life’ can take it to mean ‘gallant’, ‘laudable’ ‘valiant’ life. However, Nirbhai Singh has to explain why he talks of euthanasia – voluntary or otherwise, in the same vein as voluntarism. It is definitely wrong to say that a martyr and a hero lives a "euthanastic way of life". This is especially so when he himself asserts that "sacrifice has a hierarchy of values. This supreme sacrifice is a unique kind of commitment to the highest good". In euthanasia, on the other hand, one exercises the right to die with dignity, rather suffer a humiliating vegetative existence. It in no way implies overcoming the fear of death. A hero, on the contrary, completely banishes the fear of death from his life. He like "the gurmukh or khalsa is always ready to stake his life for truth". He imbibes the Sikh mool mantra—the cardinal doctrine, of being nirbhau – fearlessness. The book under review is a hermeneutic study of the teachings of the Sikh gurus. It resuscitates the revealed elucidations of the Gurus and the Bhaktas enshrined in The Guru Granth in the philosophical terminology that is in vogue today, without loss of meaning and without digressing from the essential spirit of the Sikh faith. In any practised religion there is invariably a gap between theoretical teachings and practices. While the theory prescribes its ideals, ignoring completely several practical constraints, its practices have to necessarily compromise with the ideals because of several human constraints and other social limitations. Sikhism with all its emphasis on realism is no exception to this. Nirbhai Singh because of his in-depth study of Sikh scriptures has very dexterously shown how the Sikh gurus resolve the perennial problem of bridging the gap in theoria and praxis. Nirbhai Singh has discussed in lucid language the basic concepts of Sikhism like kartapurakh, manmukh and gurumukh, human life, ethical life, morality, kaala – time, hukam, dharma, voluntarism, on the one hand, and its gurus’ vision of heroic action, the role of will, volition and action in formulating the Khalsa ideology, significance of violence in their philosophy and their world view, etc. Nirbhai Singh in the book has not just limited himself to the explication of these and related issues in Sikhism alone but has compared and contrasted them with both Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and other semitic religions and traditions of the world. This has enhanced the value of the book both for the researchers and the lay readers.
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ONE of the most
significant distinguishing characteristics of a community - especially
the warrior communities, religions or nations is their conception of
heroic life – a life which is worthwhile—and the attitude towards
death in accomplishing that vision.