Physics And Metaphysics Of The Guru Granth Sahib

Dr. Nikki Guninder Kaur Singh

Abstract

Unlike Plato who found poetry too captivating and therefore banished the poets from his Republic, the Sikh Gurus utilized the poetic medium to awaken their followers with an appreciation and love for the infinite Divine. Their source of course was That One Itself. How is the divine revelation so aesthetically powerful?  How is the spontaneous poetic flow so perfect in its alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, and meter? This paper seeks to analyze that wondrous hub where the physical beauty of the scriptural verse fuses with its metaphysical substance.

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Body of the paper

THE DIVINE MATRIX

Gurbani is traced to the divine One, Consequently it functions as both the medium and the source of revelation. Guru Nanak proclaims, “jaisi mai ave khasam ki bani taisara kari gianu ve lalo — as comes to me the Husband’s word, that is what I say O’ Lalo!” (GGS: 722); “ta mai kahia kahan ja tujhai kahaia — I only spoke when you made me speak” (GGS: 566); and “nanak kahai kahavai soe — Nanak speaks just as that One makes me speak” (GGS: 1331).

For the second Guru, the texture of transcendent light is the oral: “joti vic tun boleh – in the light is your speech”(GGS: 138). The Gurus repeatedly admit that they have no control over their orality; they utter only what comes to them. Guru Ram Das says, satigur ki bani sati sati kar janhau gursikhu hari karta api muhhu kadhai — truth, truth is the word of the true Guru, know it as the truth, O Sikhs, for the Creator Itself slips out the truth from the lips” (GGS: 308). In the same vein, the Fifth who put together the sacred text: ”bolia boli tera — I speak as you make me speak (GGS: 23); “nanak bole bolia tera — Nanak says what you make him say” (GGS: 743); and yet again, “hao ap bol na janda mai kahia sabh hukmao jio — I do not know how to speak; I only say as you command me to” (GGS:  763). The equivalence between the utterance and the Guru is consistently affirmed:  “bani guru guru hai bani vicu bani amrit sare — the Guru is the Word, the Word is the Guru, within the Word lie all elixirs (GGS: 982). The Guru’s communication and the divine revelation are identical.

Wondrously, the spontaneous speech ends up being most artistic! The words come in a gusty speed and form into lovely artistic designs, innovative similes, mesmerizing paradoxes, and brilliant metaphors.  They create perfect alliteration and rhyme, lyrical assonance and consonance. Their momentum produces geometric patterns, verbal arabesques, stair-like parallelisms, and dynamic somersaults, which can awaken the consciousness to the infinite reality permeating each and all. (As an undergraduate, I explored these literary techniques in great length. See my honors thesis, The Physics and Metaphysics of the Guru Granth Sahib.) [i] To take just one example, Guru Nanak says, “kar kari karta kangan pahirai in bidhi citu dharei — by wearing the bracelet created by the Creator, consciousness is held steadily” (GG: 359). The bracelet (kangan) is a symbol of dynamic action, and the word action (kar) recurs constantly in this line: her bracelet is made (kari) by the creator (karta) and worn around her hand (kar). Likewise the simple similes from the Punjabi landscape endow the familiar sights and sounds with enchantment, the paradoxes break the conventional linear mode of thinking, and the metaphors expand the human experience. The transcendent soil of gurbani gives new meaning to materials in this universe. Not fragmented by manmade walls of religion, gender, race, or class, it pours out of the Divine matrix through their deepest selves.  The Gurus’ orality revitalizes the senses, psyche, imagination, and the spirit.  Its impact can be discerned in the following dimensions:

1) SPONTANEOUS COMMUNITAS

The Guru’s divine experience transpiring without conceptual constructs ends up reproducing an ineffable togetherness amongst readers/hearers, something that the anthropologist Victor Turner categorized as “spontaneous communitas.”[ii] When Guru Nanak settled by the banks of the Ravi in Kartarpur, men and women from different religious and societal backgrounds gathered around to hear and recite his sonorous rhyme. As documented by Bhai Gurdas, the daily pattern of life in Kartarpur revolved around gurbani: “in the morning Japu was recited, and in the evening, Arati and Sohila.”[iii] Guru Nanak’s hymns were the powerful ligament that bonded men and women together in this first Sikh community, and to-date, they are part of the daily Sikh routine. The fellowship generated by gurbani is spontaneous — devoid of any deliberate cognitive or volitional construction. Starting in Kartarpur, men and women were attracted by his sublime utterances. Discarding hegemonies of caste, class, gender or creed, discarding conventional religious practices and rituals, they came to hear and recite Guru Nanak’s verse. Engaged in ordinary occupations of life, these first “Sikhs” affirmed a new sense of family. Mutuality and reciprocity, which marked their relationship, continues to be the driving force. Fixed identities and distinctions dissolve as men and women sit on the floor and together hear, recite, and sing the Guru’s words. In doing so they join contemporary Sikhs with those sitting midst Guru Nanak in Kartarpur; they join a congregation in rural Punjab with those in the Diaspora – be it Africa, UK, or the New World. Through gurbani “Sikh” subjectivity came into being, and through gurbani it is sustained.

2) EPISTEMOLOGICAL RESOURCE

Gurbani is a unique epistemological resource, igniting several intricate currents all at once. First of all it celebrates the singular One Nanak experienced. There is a certainty about Being configured at the beginning of Guru Nanak’s prelude to his Japji (ikk oan kar), and the Gurus continue to rejoice in its infinite magic and wonder. There is an utter lack of ifs or buts or proofs or arguments for Its existence. The One IS. Anybody and everybody can embrace that One, literally the numeral 1kk (1).  Profound joy surges throughout their verse and in turn boosts the confidence and emotions of readers/listeners. Furthermore, Guru Nanak goes on to articulate the Ikk Oan Kar as sat  (Truth or Reality). His verbal approach indicates his inclination to bring Being into language. By giving the name (nam)  — sat — a participle of as (to be), he identifies Truth as “existing,” “occurring,” “happening,” “being present.” And along with celebrating and naming that absolute One, the founder Guru puts in motion the threefold hermeneutic process (explored extensively by the literary critic Hans-Georg Gadamer): an understanding, interpretation, and application of that One.

Right after naming the One as Truth, the Guru tries to understand its nature. A host of personal and impersonal qualities without conjunctions or prepositions issue forth:  “karta purakh nirbhau nirvair akal murat ajuni saibhan gur prasad — creator person, without fear, without enmity, timeless in form, unborn, self-existent, gift of the Guru.” Known as the Mul Mantar (root creed), this prelude to his inaugural hymn “Japji” in the GGS, recurs throughout Sikh scripture. The rest of the 38 stanzas of the Japji, and actually the entire Guru Granth, elucidate Guru Nanak’s interpretation of the One, which is both metaphysical and theological.

Gurbani is a kaleidoscopic hermeneutics of the singular Reality. Opposite binaries between Hindu Bhakti and Abrahamic/Islamic worldviews are transcended: “Some call it Rama, some call it Khuda; some worship it as Vishnu, some as Allah” declared Guru Arjan (GGS: 885). Even the Buddhist Nirvana is not omitted from their hermeneutics: “eko rav rahia nirbani — the One pervades Nirvana” (GGS: 904). In the Gurus’ ontological understanding, there is no opposition between the One and the many, nor is there any dualism between unity and plurality: “ikkasu te hoio ananta nanak ekasu mahi samae jio—from the One issue myriads and into the One they are ultimately assimilated” (GGS: 131).

Rising above binaries and categories Gurbani reaches out to that singular Divine in a variety of personal relations as well — father, mother, brother, friend, lover. The Guru claims, “mat pita bandhap tun hai tun sarab nivas – you are our mother, father, relative, and you permeate us all” (GGS: 818). In such emotionally charged verses the Gurus embrace the One abiding in everybody in a range of family figures. The sense of plenitude strips off conventional stratifications and widens the spiritual experience.

Importantly the Gurus’ epistemic Absolute has a subjective significance: it is applied to existential meaning. As Gadamer observed, the cognitive and the practical are not different dimensions: interpretation, understanding, and application constitute a singular hermeneutic process.[iv] For the Sikh Gurus the knowledge of Truth is no different from its lived praxis. After naming the One as Truth, Guru Nanak raises the question “How to become Truth? How to break the walls of falsity?” Kiv sachaira hoi e kiv kure tute pal? There is a quick shift from the metaphysical Divine to the individual; from the timeless Creator to life lived truthfully here and now; from the Divine ideal to the everyday attitudes, behavior, and actions. Orthopraxy takes precedence over orthodoxy, for a truthful mode of existence is deemed higher than the conception of Truth: “Higher than everything is Truth but higher still is True living” (GGS: 62).  Guru/bani is the epistemological mechanism that brings the ever present Being into consciousness so that life may be lived authentically here and now. The Gurus were very sensitive to the hegemonies of caste, class, creed, race, ethnicity, and gender that prevailed in medieval north India. Their sublime verse makes readers cognizant of the prejudices and stereotypes they may hold.

Clearly Gurbani does not whisk readers away into some world of Plato’s Pure Forms; it is not headed towards heavens or another world out there. Their universal lyrics help make sense of particular social, economic, political, and religious problems that arise at any historical moment. But they convey knowledge through the aesthetics of gurbani. As Guru Nanak said, “Only the relisher of fragrance can recognize the flower —rasia hovai musk ka tab phul pachanai” (GGS: 725). Recognition (pachanai) requires a physical act as well as a cognitive realization, so the sensuousness of gurbani is the way to gain knowledge and insight. Teaching without teaching, the verses reach into the visceral hub where dictatorial rules and regulations never quite make it. According to Guru Angad, “ambrosial word reveals the essence of existence; it comes with knowledge and contemplation —amrit bani tat vakhani gian dhian vici ai” (GGS: 1243). For the Gurus hearing/reading/singing their aesthetically charged lyrics would produce positive energy within the individual, and ultimately make its way to all others around. Cognition of the singular Infinite would dissolve egotistic obsessions and promote love and compassion towards all beings in the world. The material and affective textures of the Gurus’ verse aspire to heighten moral and ethical sensibilities.

3) DAILY SUSTENANCE

And so the inspiring poetry provides sustenance for the Sikhs. As the textual sources demonstrate, the Gurus were prolific. A segment from each feeds the community on a daily basis.  Just to give one example:

Guru Nanak’s Japji is the morning hymn. It is recited at the break of dawn when the mind is fresh and the atmosphere is serene. Described as the ambrosial hour in the Japji, dawn is considered most conducive to grasping the singular Reality named as Truth at its outset. The hymn launches readers into a deeper intensity through the realms of Dharam, Gyan, Saram, Karam and Sach — Earth, Knowledge, Aesthetics, Action, and Truth. This fivefold journey is not an ascension into some higher regions beyond life and the world, but rather, a pulling of the Divine into the human situation. That One is known by refining moral, intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual capacities. Thus life is lived in the truest sense — freely and expansively — as it would be in Sach Khand, the Realm of Truth. The Name of the Absolute is no different from experiencing Truth. This first prayer in the GGS encapsulates the fundamental philosophical and ethical beliefs of the Sikhs.

To conclude, gurbani sets the spiritual process in motion. I call it a SPIRITUAL SPARK PLUG . Every passage in the Guru Granth Sahib fuses the physical and metaphysical elements, which have profound practical effect. Pulsating with a passion for the Divine, the rhythmic beats move readers into a deeper intensity and communion with something much larger. Indeed, the Sikh Gurus open up the universal horizon: through their aesthetic verse, readers, listeners, and singers can relive their wondrous intimacy with the Divine Infinite.

 

 

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Author Bio
 

Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh is the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies and Crawford Family Professor at Colby College. She has published extensively in the field of Sikhism, including books entitled

1. Of Sacred and Secular Desire,

2. Sikhism: An Introduction,

3. Cosmic Symphony

4. The Birth of the Khalsa:

5. The Feminine Principle in the Sikh Vision of the Transcendent 65. .

6.  Sikhism  (translated into several languages including Japanese)

7. The Name of My Beloved: Verses of the Sikh Gurus

8.  Metaphysics and Physics of the Guru Granth Sahib

 

Her views have also been aired on television and radio in America, Canada, England, India, Australia, and Bangladesh.

Professor Nikky Singh was born in India, and came to attend Stuart Hall, a Girls’ Preparatory School in Virginia. She received her BA in Philosophy and Religion from Wellesley College, her MA from the University of Pennsylvania, and her Ph.D. from Temple University. Over the years she has received many awards including Phi Beta Kappa, Durant Scholar, Best Paper, Daughters of the American Revolution Award, Outstanding Young Women of America Award, and Senior Fellow at Harvard University. She has received many honors from the Sikh community for her distinguished scholarship including the Outstanding Accomplishments Award (presented by Sikh Association of Fresno, California), Sewa Award by the Sikh-Canadian Centennial Foundation for Scholarship on Sikhism (Toronto), and Guru Gobind Singh Foundation Lecture and Award (Chandigarh, India).