2 - India's Hinduism and Sikhism

Hinduism is the religion of India, and it is also the oldest of all the great religions in the world. Some of its most sacred writings, the Vedas, are about 4000 years old, and nobody knows who wrote them. Unlike most of the other religions, Hinduism was not started by any one person, but just seemed to grow with the whole of the Indian people through the ages. So of course, like the human race itself, Hinduism is a huge mixture of all manner of things that contradict one another.

In its purest form it is a religion of only one God— Brahman. Yet Hindus themselves worship many thousands of separate gods. Also, it teaches the greatest possible love for everything on Earth, no matter how small or lowly, yet Hindus themselves are divided into different sections or 'castes'—and these castes are by no means loving towards one another. It is a religion of colour and festivals and joy, and of people having fun, like children at a party. Yet the highest goal, for a good Hindu, has nothing whatever to do with the material Earth. His goal is to become so closely united with God—or Brahman— that he is not a separate person at all, but pure spirit.

In short, Hinduism has grown from mankind, and it expresses mankind. It expresses his love—and his cruelty; his pride—and his humility; his small earthly interests— and his highest thoughts and feelings; his body—and his soul.

Many Gods—and One God

It is not difficult to understand why the Hindus worship so many gods. After all, as other people also did, they began by worshipping Nature—and the different forms of Nature are never-ending.

Then their wise men, meditating about this, realised that there must be something else—something much greater than the visible world around them—something that went on and on for ever, quite different from the constant starting, changing and ending of everything on Earth.

They realised that this greater thing was Life itself, unseen but all-powerful, and they called it Brahman.

When we think of God, we mostly say Father—or sometimes Father-Mother—but the Hindu speaks of his God as It or That, because he knows that Brahman is everything as well as being the creator of everything.

Now, of course, for the priests or teachers—called Brahmins—who spent most of their time meditating, this was easy to understand. But it was not so easy for other people to understand. After all, it is very difficult to imagine anything that goes on for ever, and fills all space, yet which cannot be seen. Ordinary people have to be able to see things, and touch things. So, in spite of what their wise men told them, they just continued worshipping their separate little gods much the same as before, only that now they thought of Brahman as the greatest of them all.

Then, even Brahman became divided into three parts. This happened because the wise men explained that Brahman had complete power in three different ways—to create, to watch over, and to destroy in order to create again. So the people began happily worshipping three more, separate gods, whom they called Brahma the creator, Vishnu the guardian, and Shiva the destroyer. And of course they made drawings and images of these three, as of all their other gods—and very strange beings they looked, often with several heads, and with many arms and hands, showing how much they knew and how much they could do.

Particularly beloved among the Indians is Ganesha, with the head of an elephant, and usually shown in the happy colours of yellow or pink—the god of wisdom and good fortune.

Then too, among innumerable others, there is Hanuman, monkey god and son of the wind, who is said to have been very helpful to the hero Rama—one of Vishnu's incarnations—in his war against a powerful demon.

Despite all of this separate worshipping by the masses of the people, in reality the God of Hinduism is only One, and that One expresses Itself in everything—birds, fish, rocks, trees, mountains, cows, thunder, people—everything.

There are certain questions that almost everyone asks himself at some time or other in his life: What am I, in reality? Why am I here? What is 'here'? What's the meaning of it all?

A learned Hindu would answer such questions somewhat like this: 'As Brahman is everything, then everything must be Brahman. So I am Brahman. And the part of me that I see—the same as everything else that I see—is maya. That's the outside world. That isn't Brahman, but it does come from Brahman. It lasts for about 4,320,000,000 years—and that, for Brahman, is only one single day. Then it is destroyed by fire or water, so that everything is pure spirit. Then it starts all over again, for another day of Brahman, or 4 320 000 000 years. And this goes on for ever.'

Castes—and Being Born Again

Many Hindus must grieve about death, and about beautiful things being destroyed, for that is the way of most humans. But those with a deeper understanding of Hinduism do not grieve, knowing as they do that nothing can really be destroyed—it is only ever changed. Also, they know that the death of a person's body merely sets his true self free, to unite with Brahman. And this uniting is the greatest of all joys. So death is something to rejoice over.

Certainly, down through the centuries, it must have seemed a much happier state than living for the Out-castes or Untouchables among the Hindus, looked upon and treated by the castes above them as the lowest form of humanity.

Teachers and priests, called Brahmins, belong to the highest of these castes. Rulers and warriors belong in the next one down, and ordinary workers in the lowest of all.

Today, Indian law declares that all its people have the same rights, regardless of what group they belong to. But until quite recently, people of different castes could not marry, or eat or worship together, or mingle in any friendly way at all. And in spite of the new laws, it will surely be a long time before the feeling of caste fades out of the people's hearts and minds.

This state of affairs began many centuries ago, when tribes of light-skinned Aryans from the north swept down into India, conquered the darker-skinned people there, and established themselves as masters. In fact, the very word 'caste' comes from a word in the old Sanskrit language meaning 'colour'.

As time went on, the Hindu religion found its own explanation for caste. In the beginning, Brahma created the first of all men, called Manu. But Manu was not one man alone. Rather, he was humanity itself, with the highest class of people (the Brahmins) as his head, the warriors and rulers as his hands, the merchants and craftsmen as his thighs, and the lowest classes as his feet. Since then, it has been one long story of repetitions in endless time—of comings and goings, like the waves of the sea.

Just as the whole universe exists for 4,320,000,000 years before being destroyed and starting off again for another 4,320,000,000 years, so every living thing is born again and again, but not always in the same form. If you are a mosquito in this life, you do not have to be a mosquito again in the next one. If you have been a particularly good mosquito, you may be reborn as a frog or a grasshopper.

But if you have been an extremely bad human, you may be reborn as a mosquito. Or you may not go down as far as that. You may become a dog or a pig.

If, on the other hand, you have lived a truthful and unselfish life in the lowest or Untouchable caste, you will be reborn into a higher caste in due time. And if you live truthfully and unselfishly in this higher caste, you will later be reborn into a still higher one, until you become a Brahmin—the very highest. Then finally, a particularly good Brahmin does not have to be reborn at all, but becomes pure spirit, completely united with Brahman— and no happier state than this could possibly be imagined.

This is Heaven, or, as the Hindus call it, Nirvana. Being born again and again is 'reincarnation', and becoming either a higher or a lower creature because of your good or bad deeds and thoughts is 'karma'. Karma simply means that good is rewarded with more good, and that bad is punished with more bad. It is the law.

Utter Gentleness—and Many Divisions

Religion, with many of us, is something that we think about now and then when we haven't anything else to do. But, for a Hindu, it is the most important thing in his life. He may suffer endlessly on this Earth. He may be poor and hungry and despised. But none of this matters to him. He bears it all patiently, for he knows that it is only part of the outer world or maya, and will not last. The only thing that really matters is the spirit, and the wonderful promise of Nirvana, if he makes himself worthy of it.

Meanwhile, he looks upon everything around him with respect, and treats it kindly, for it is all part of Brahman's creation. A good Hindu would not damage a rock, or kill an animal—for food or any other reason—and he regards the cow as one of the most sacred things on Earth, for, as well as giving milk, it helps him greatly in his work, dragging ploughs over the fields and pulling heavy loads.

To kill a cow and eat it, would be one of the blackest crimes that a Hindu could commit, and his next reincarnation would be terrible indeed.

Considering all this, it seems a pity that Hinduism has become so much divided. Among Hindus today there are thousands of small sects, and two very large ones—for the people who worship Vishnu and Shiva.

They seem to have a special affection for Vishnu because, like themselves, he comes to Earth again and again in different forms or incarnations. Their two favourites of these incarnations are Krishna and Rama. But Hindus have a great respect for other religions besides their own, so they believe that Vishnu, in his tenth earthly form, was Jesus.

There are even larger numbers of Hindus who worship Shiva the destroyer. This is not as strange as it might seem, since a Hindu thinks of destruction only as a new beginning. But what is strange is that many of them also worship Shiva's wife, Shakti—a truly terrible character. She can be a gentle wife and a loving mother, but mostly she is cruel and violent. She is the goddess of storms, earthquakes, sicknesses, and other calamities, and she thirsts for blood.

Right up to last century, there were men called thugi who went around strangling people to win favour with Shakti. (That is where our word 'thug' comes from). And even today, her followers kill harmless animals to please her, even though true Hinduism is, above all, a religion of kindness toward every living creature.

People develop wrong ideas about things, and become completely convinced by them. They 'dream up' evil powers, then commit evil deeds themselves in order to placate those 'powers'.

This is why it is so important to understand the actual teachings of each religion, rather than judging it by what people do with it.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, a wonderful man called Ramakrishna thought deeply along these lines. He studied the world's great religions, and revered all of them alike, for he saw every one of them as merely a different path toward the same goal—unity with God, or Heaven. He recognised no castes, he completely rejected the worship of many gods, and he reminded the Hindus that their religion was one of total love.

If you claim to practise Hinduism, he told them, you must think and act lovingly toward all other people, no matter what class of society they belong to, what work they do, where they live, or what they believe in.

A Great Hindu—Mahatma Gandhi

Of course, there are many people in the world who think, 'Ah yes, beauty and gentleness are nice enough to dream about, but they have no practical use. How could you possibly apply them, among the hard realities of human affairs?'

Yet the truth is that people tend to decide about such things without ever trying them out.

One of the greatest men in history, whose achievements were so amazing as to have seemed like miracles, was a small frail Indian—living as well as teaching true Hinduism. His name at birth was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but years later he became known throughout India and the whole world as Mahatma Gandhi, or 'Great Soul'.

Gandhi lived at a time when India was under British rule. At first it seemed that this would benefit India, for the country was industrially backward, and would surely gain much from Britain's help and guidance. But what happened in actual fact was that England grew richer while India grew poorer—and also, that India lost her independence.

Young Mohandas Gandhi had completed a Law course in London, and was at first in favour of the association between England and India. But later he realised with horror that his country had become enslaved, and from then on he devoted the rest of his life to freeing it.

This was indeed a task for giants, and Gandhi was no giant. At least not physically. It was a task which, anywhere else, would have meant war, with billions of dollars spent on weapons, and with countless people killed. Yet Gandhi had no plans for war. He planned that India should resist the British peacefully, merely refusing to buy their goods, or to obey their orders when unjust, but never once taking up arms against them.

Gandhi, in short, was a true practising Hindu, and as such could allow no violence towards anyone or anything.

Also, throughout his life, he worked untiringly against the cruel injustice of the caste system, and one of his greatest dreams was to see the coming of peace among India's teeming millions of Moslems and Hindus. Thousands of times he explained to them that there was no reason for their hatred of one another—that they had the one loved country, and the one loved God regardless of the different names they gave to Him.

Non-violence and gentle persuasion—these seemed strange weapons indeed with which to solve India's vast problems, yet they succeeded. Certainly Gandhi himself paid with his own life. In January, 1948, a Hindu fanatic, who resented his tolerance toward the Moslems, assassinated the 'great soul' on his way to prayer. But already the previous year, the British had agreed to withdraw from India, leaving her to govern herself—so Gandhi's famous non-violence had succeeded in freeing India from the rule of one of the world's great military and economic powers. What better proof could there be that the quiet, peaceful approaches of religion can truly move mountains?

Of course, Gandhi understood Hinduism deeply, and it was with this deep understanding that he thought and acted. But the same cannot be said of everyone who calls himself a Hindu. And it is because of this that, during the centuries, there have been other people, with special vision, who have felt that Hinduism did not provide the true and final answers to life.

The Story of Sikhism

One of these was known as Kabir the Poet, who lived about 500 years ago.

He started life very much the same as Moses did— floating in a basket. But whereas Moses was set adrift down the River Nile because he was threatened with death, little Kabir was placed in a lotus pool, and we have no idea why his mother abandoned him in this way. All we know is that he was a particularly beautiful baby.

Soon, however, he was found by a married couple, who loved children, yet had none of their own. They cared for little Kabir, loved him dearly and, when the time came, saw to it that he had an excellent education.

He was a keen student, eager to learn everything, but most of all he enjoyed studying Hinduism, the teachings of Mohammed, and the poems of Ramanand.

The main theme of Ramanand's poems was that only simplicity and truth can lead men into a state of perfect happiness, or Nirvana, and that in reality, instead of many gods, there is only One.

Kabir knew in his heart that all of this was right and, as he himself was also a poet, he wrote beautiful verse around this same theme—and enlarged upon it. Particularly did he condemn the belief in caste, and the pride of the Brahmins, who considered themselves superior to everyone else. In fact, his whole life became dedicated to the worship of One God, the destruction of idols, and to the teaching of equality and brotherhood among men.

Needless to say, Kabir had many followers, and among them was one called Nanak, born about 30 years later. Even as a young boy, Nanak showed a greater interest in the poetry of Kabir and Ramanand than in any other study. In fact, he was more interested in these than in any other activity, for neither his father nor his mother, nor later his pretty young wife could ever persuade him to work for a living. He would just wander off into the woods, reading poetry and meditating.

One day he returned home from one of these walks speaking strange things. First he declared over again, as so many times before, that there was One and only One God, that all idols were false, and that the system of castes was altogether wrong. Then he went on to say that, in searching for truth, everyone needed a teacher or guru, and finally he amazed his family by announcing that he himself was the first guru of a new religion.

From then on, being a guru became his life work. He travelled the length and breadth of India with a faithful companion Mardana, who had a lovely singing voice. Guru Nanak expressed many of his teachings in the form of poetic hymns. Mardana would sing these, to the accompaniment of the rebeck, and when a crowd of people had gathered to listen, Nanak would explain in spoken words what had not already been told in song.

Always his teachings were of the One all-powerful God, and they always condemned both idols and castes. In the sight of God, he said, there were no castes, any more than there were Hindus or Moslems. There was only the one great human brotherhood.

Expressing his own feelings—as well as the fact that his new religion, Sikhism, was a religion of love towards all men—he himself always dressed in a mixture of Hindu and Moslem clothing. And in return, the Moslems and Hindus both thought so highly of him that when he died, they both claimed the right to bury him. However, Guru Nanak had already left instructions that the Hindus should place flowers at his right hand, and the Moslems at his left hand, and that his body should be disposed of by those whose flowers were still alive the next morning. The story goes that the flowers on both sides were equally alive the next morning, but that the body itself had disappeared. So the Moslems built a tomb and the Hindus a shrine on the banks of the River Ravi. However, with passing time, the river washed both of these away.

Guru Nanak won about 100,000 followers, and one of these became the next guru. After this one came another, and another—ten altogether, counting Nanak.

It was Guru Arjan who collected all the writings sacred to Sikhism into a book called Granth Sahib. It was also in his time that Amritsar became the headquarters of the Sikh religion. And it is here that their wonderful temple Har Mandar stands—a golden building rising out of the Pool of Immortality—surely one of the most beautiful of all man-made things. But now, too, the troubles of the Sikhs began.

A new emperor came to power, who accused the gentle guru of plotting against him and of teaching a religion that was offensive to the Moslems and Hindus. And in spite of the absurdity of these accusations, Guru Arjan was tortured to death. Now the history of Sikhism moved into a new and altogether different phase, for its followers took up the sword to defend their faith, and they fought with great skill and bravery in many a battle, especially under the direction of the last of the ten gurus, Gobind Singh.

But it is said that they fought only to defend themselves, never out of greed or cruelty.

Gobind Singh wanted all Sikhs to wear certain things by which they could be recognised wherever they went—for instance, a sword, a turban, an iron bracelet. But today, although most Sikhs wear turbans under which they have long hair that must be combed at least twice a day, they do not usually feel that they should carry swords. For all their fighting history, and their reputation as fine soldiers, they are, after all, followers of the gentle Guru Nanak— glorifying the One God, and working toward unity and equality among all men, without hatreds and without caste.

The Sikhs of today—about 8,000,000 of them—know full well that war solves no problems, and brings no lasting peace. But they also know that these things could come about quite easily through the practice of true Sikhism, as of any other of the great religions; that is, through the practice of world-wide brotherhood and love.