The Doctrines Of Bhakti and Shakti

 (This article of mine was published in The Tribune dated October 31, 1998)

In the autobiographical reminiscences contained in Bachittar Natak, Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth Guru of the Sikhs, had specified the purpose of his coming to the world:

"The Divine Guru had charged me with the duty of upholding religion (dharma), and on that account I had come into this world for extending righteousness everywhere and for seizing and destroying the evil and sinful. Oh saints! Be clear that I assumed birth for getting the wheel of dharma moving, saving saints and exterminating all tyrants."

Because of the imperfect condition of man, he is not fated to be a human being and he has been rightly compared to chimera (a fire-breathing monster having a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail). Therefore, the invocation of religion becomes the only indispensable choice for taming the beastly instincts of a man.

According to the Sikh scripture, the aim of religion is to elevate man to the exalted level of an angel. (‘I hail my Guru many times a day who made angles of men and that too without delay.’)

In the epic age, the rishis involved in the spiritual affairs had always to look after the kings and princes for protection against the onslaught of demons. The rulers were also conscious that in no case could they find it safe and administratively prudent to permit the rishis or saints to overshadow their majesty, power and glory. In Khulaasa-Tut-Twarakh (Digest of histories), its author, Sujan Rai Bhandari, refers to the tragic end of saint Sayyadi Maulla at Delhi during the reign of Jalal-ud-din Khilji:

"Lakhs fed in his langar where 1,000 maunds of refined flour, 500 maunds of meat and 200 maunds of ghee were cooked daily. Sayyadi Maulla, with lakhs of followers, could be a threat to the Sultan. A Sultan has to be cruel and merciless in the interest of his subjects. He has to do some pruning like a wise gardener. If lakhs of men collect even without the intention of making a riot, it is proper to disperse them for the royal satisfaction. The admirers of Sayyadi Maulla were sent to different places for the leader to be trampled by the elephants."

The Sikh Gurus were of the considered opinion that the mixing of parallel currents of Bhakti and Shakti was a sine qua non for protecting the hermits from the evil-doers. They embraced the unique proposition, so far considered impossible, of blending spirituality with temporality in one human personality — a saint-soldier. Evil must be nipped, even if it involves the use of force. In 1708, Guru Gobind Singh, after protracted discussions and parleys with the Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah, the son and successor of Aurangzeb, came to the firm conclusion that "all means of peaceful persuasion" had failed, and it had, therefore, become the right and duty of the Sikhs to "move the hand to the hilt of the sword".

In medieval and post-medieval period, the blessings of Ganesha and Sarasvati, the evil-destroyers, were invoked before embarking on any adventure, but the Tenth Guru, through a new phenomenon, invokes the power of the double-edged sword:

"O sword, I can complete this volume if you help me. This sword cuts into pieces, destroys the evil-doers and remains to be the inner force of the battle-fields. This sword is the bestower of saints’ bliss and destroyer of the ill-will and evil tendencies. I hail this power and surrender before it which is the origin of this whole world.

"The sword, which symbolises Shakti in its supreme aspect, was not to be used as a butcher’s knife but as a surgeon’s instrument and it is the protector of saints, the scourge of the wicked and the scatterer of sinners. It is to be wielded by the selfless saint-soldiers ready to sacrifice their lives at the altar of truth and for doing away with once for all the Mephistophelean forces in society.

The confluence of faith and military expertise in the saint-soldier personality of the Khalsa had given a new dimension to the Indian philosophical thought. Religion bereft of political power degenerates into a mere study of philosophy. The fusion of religious and martial spirits, which are complimentary and supplementary to each other, is sure to strengthen God-centred forces.

The above two doctrines had assailed the concept of Avtarvad, according to which evil is destroyed by its own suicidal nature or else it must be destroyed by the direct intervention of Godly power. As per above doctrines, the evil must be routed root and branch with the help of God without waiting for the intervention of extra-terrestrial powers.

According to Gokul Chand Narang, after centuries of subjection, Guru Nanak was the first among the Hindus to raise his voice against tyranny and oppression. In this struggle against injustice and oppression, the importance of the above two doctrines assume great relevance and significance.