Excerpt from "The Punishment For Beadbi" Podcast Episode published by Bunga Azaadi:
This is an important concept that I don't think gets talked about enough and is overlooked. There seems to be a lack of general understanding regarding what our current Guru exactly is. Too often do I see lists of Sikh Gurus missing out the Guru Khalsa Panth for instance, often from Sikhs themselves! This is a tragic display of our Panth’s lack of awareness of our own traditions, but for more on this specific Vichaar, I encourage readers to view this post on the topic:
Khalsanama - The Khalsa is the Guru
It is imperative to understand the following things:
1) GuRu = Darkness to Light — "Enlightener”
What exactly the "Guru" is. It is not just a word for "teacher" as it is so poorly translated into these days. "Gu" means darkness (representing ignorance) and "Ru" means light (representing wisdom and knowledge). Therefore a GuRu could be seen more as a verb than a noun and describes a process of bringing light into darkness — enlightenment! The way it is used as a noun is to denote specific individuals who embody this verb and are able to share it with others.
When we believe in the Gurus, we are not revering the flesh body and bones, we are revering the the very thing that is enlightened to itself — Ik Onkaar, for which the vessel is a conduit for. That vessel does not always have to be a single human body either.
2) One GuRu, Many Vessels
Which brings us on to the second point. Technically, there isn't 10, 11, or 12 Gurus. There is only one Guru that passes its metaphorical "light" from one vessel to the next. This is known as Jotijot — passing on the light (jot) to another, like a lit candle lighting another.
3) Guru Granth & Guru Panth
For most Sikhs, this process is traditionally accepted to have occurred 10 times as the "Gurgaddi" (Guruship) was passed on through Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh, and then something special happened — the Guruship passed on to a non-human vessel and decentralised amongst many conscious Sikhs.
Most Sikhs today are consciously aware that the Gurugaddi was then passed onto to the Guru Granth Sahib (Shabad), but for some reason forget about the Gurgaddi given to the Guru Khalsa Panth. Therefore, it must be stressed that the current Guru for most Sikhs who accept and believe in the mandates of Guru Gobind Singh, is both in the form of the Guru Granth Sahib and the Guru Khalsa Panth.
4) Nirgun and Sargun
Lastly, there is the concept of Nirgun and Sargun mentioned in Sikhi. Nirgun refers to formless (no qualities, attributes), whereas Sargun refers to the opposite as tangible realities that possess qualities, attributes and forms. This is then how we can describe the seemingly dual nature of the Guru and the "vessel" I have been using as a placeholder [1]. The underlying Guru nature is the Nirgun aspect, whereas the outward "interface" / vessel is the Sargun aspect.
Applying this to the Guru Granth, the Sargun Saroop (form) is the physical "book" with the pages and ink etc we see enthroned in Gurudware (sort of, I have a personal qualm with this which will be covered later in this piece). During the time of the human manifestations of the Guru, the human bodies of Nanak→Gobind were the Sargun Saroop, but the inner Guru nature that was passed on between them (and eventually to the Khalsa) was the Nirgun aspect.
So now given the above clarification of my own personal understanding, we can tie this back to our discussion on Beadbi.
Read more here.
Share this post