Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, first Indian Sikh prime minister is undergoing a confidence motion as I write this. He invoked a war prayer by Guru Gobind Singh Ji while introducing the motion. The meaning of the prayer is very well narrated here. I quote below the relevant section:
“Daahay shiva bur mohaay eaahay sub karman tay kabhuun na taruun
Na daruun aar saun jab jaayaay laruun nischaay kar apuni jeet karuun
Aar sikh ho apanay hi man ko eah laluch ho gun tau uchuruun
Jab aav ki audh nidhan banaay aut hi run main tab jhonnj maruun”Shiva, God Almighty
Pray do confer
A blessing on me
From Pious deeds
I should not fleeAnd in a battle
There shouldn’t occur
Any fear in me
Determined I may spur
Myself to victoryAnd Pray Almighty
Let my mind gather
A lesson for me
A craving to utter
Praises of Your MajestyWhen the end is nigh
Let me then stir
Myself to ecstasy
And enter
The battlefield and die
(translation by J S Chadha)
In the prayer, “Shiva” stands for God Almighty, who is the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer. (Once you have decided Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are one and the same person, you can refer to him by any of those names.) Same goes for “Ram”, which literally means One who is Omnipresent.
An explanation in my own words: God, please grant that I may never back out from the path of good deeds. If I have to go to war and fight (towards the good cause), that I may be the victor. That I may have only one greed in my mind, which is for the utterance of Your Bounties. When the end of my life is near, that I may die on the battle-field fighting the enemy.
I wish the Akali leaders would support the Sikh Prime Minister. Issuing an Edict would be taking a political matter too much into the religious domain. All the best Mr.Prime Minister 🙂
Update: The Government has just won by a margin of 21 votes. Long live the king!
Sikhism is the real way of life, beautiful, absolutely beautiful….and we all are and should be so proud of what our Gurus have taught us and done for us, and for those who dont know “Deh Shiva Bar Mohe” is from Guru Gobind singh ji Dasham Granth Ji” , for people who think that SHiva means Shiv Ji please and I mean please look get some knowledge before saying, shiva mean Lord Almighty…if you have some knowledge our gurus have used many names to adress Almighty-Rama(Not Ram Chander), Murari(Not Krishan), Shiva(Not shiv ji), Allah, Jagdish and many more…they all mean God ALmighty Vaheguru,
Our Gurus had condemed people who worship brahma, shiv ji, vishnu, krishna not because they had anything against them but just because people specially hindus forget that they should worship him who has created them,,,u can only find true god by living life the gurus way ……….WJKK WJKF
I think Shiva is used for Lord Shiva who is belived to be almighty God in Hindu’s Religion. Guru Gobind Singh Jee also belong to Hindu family at that time there was only one religion hindu. I think it is difference between Hindu and sikhs since last few 20-30 years which has changed the minds of people in believing that Shiva word is not used for lord Shiva. Sikhism was not a religion it was more “way of life”. Guru jee always want to unite the Hindu or any others against Mugals or anyone who is “Aaki” They made Khalsa to fight against rulers of that time who was converting Hindu’s in to Muslims by Force. What ever they have done for India we should never forget and no one has done that type of sacrifice ever, not even any Hindu God’s has done that type of Sacrifice. We should respect Guru jee by our heart and should realise the message they always want to communicate “live togather with love and peace and always fight against unjustice not for yourself but for other’s also”. My eyes always become wet by listening to Shabads and stroies about how Guru Jee send his four Sons to fight in so small age with large number of evel forces, and when he saw his sons fighting with them from above the mountain till their last moments and he treated his Sons like other Sikhs in the battle. How much we need to Learn and why can’t we Learn after that many brave heart stories. My eyes always become wet when I think how big the difference has become in between hindu and sikhs who are the Sons’s of same mother and father. All politicans are to blame for this. Year like 1984 has changed every one They were not Hindu who killed sikhs in riots but some idots hired by politician to do that I wish all of them should die in brutal ways. Its good now a days people are more educated and I think India is going in write directions in the hands of our prime minister Manmohan Singh FIRST EVER SENSIBLE PRIME MINSTER. Hopefully he will always remember the teaching of Guru jee and will do his best for the nation.
Reliongs are made to make people act good so no religion or God in this world teaches wrong, its us who are manuplating religions and teachings to use for our personal benefits.
Sikhism accepts followers of all religions and indeed unity is the idea. Sikhism is a way of life, but culminates in the Khalsa Panth which is a religion.
Guru Nanak in Japuji Sahib makes clear that the trinity work as per the wishes of the Universal, Formless Lord who is free from birth and death. Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the eternal Guru uses words from all religions: Allah, Ram, Rahim, Shiva to represent that One Universal God.
A religion is not just to “make people act good” but also to show them the way to meet God and that can only happen if we understand it well.
Dear Hardeep,
I am really happy to note that your postings such as this,are raising a healthy debate on such topics. Personally, I believe that God brought us into this world,to learn the way to go back to Him ! How we go,through which path we go,through which religious beliefs we go,is a personal matter and even there,Divine Will keeps one always guided- be it through teachings of Nanak,Kabir,Jesus,Mohammad..or any other religious leader.Kudos!
Jatinder Pal Singh
New Delhi
Hi there,
Not sure how I decided to get involved in this discussion!
I don’t belong to either religion, though I’ve studied both Hindu and Sikh mysticism, and find them both very fascinating. It is undoubtedly true that Sikhs have their own unique (and proud) identity distinct from any other religion. Nanak does talk about the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva being at a lower realm of reality than that of God. He also reminds people not to pray to any of these deities for worldly things, particularly when the human body is an opportunity to get connected with the One Supreme Being Himself. Having said all of that, the Guru’s first utterence (Ek Onkar Satnam) if correctly understood, will eliminate all conflicts and create a sense of oneness and universal harmony.
Best wishes,
Rebecca Barker
Thanks Rebecca, for joining the discussion and sharing your thoughts. Glad to have thoughts from a “neutral” point of view. I am surprised how accurate understanding you have, even without being a Sikh.
Dear All, If Guruji were to come back first of all he’ll probably tell us all off for having such a long discussion about the issue, and ask us to invest the same amount of time meditating on the One Lord! I love Rebecca’s very neutral point of view on the whole discussion though. Shiva means the auspicious one, btw, it has got nothing to do with Mahadev of the Vedic trinity. Since this shabad is a prelude to a war, the prayer to the auspicious one would make perfect sense as well. Also, one of the attributes of God, as per the Japji is nirankar (tu sada salamat nirankar) which means the formless one. If God is formless, then he cant be represented as Shiva or in any other way. Strictly speaking, if our Gurus were against idol worship, then man made pictures of the Gurus themselves shouldn’t be used as objects of meditation either. There are some Sikhs who make the mistake of doing that. We are all children of the same one Lord, let us not forget that (Sabna jiyan ka ek daata, so main vissar naa jaayi) Kind regards, Gurpreet
Hi there, I’m a punjabi hindu and simply love this song by Guru Gobind Singh Jee and sing it whenever I find myself in a tough situation. It makes people remember the lore of Sikhism, the fearless warriors with unmatched history on this earth. Of course, becasue the Sikh gurus were such great enlightened masters people from different religions want to claim them as their own, the Sikhs should take that as a compliment! Hindus want to show the Buddha as Hindu, show Sai Baba in a picture next to Krishna, and try to do the same thing with Guru Nanak as well! That is just silly. The truth is that an enlightened master cannot belong to any one religion, they belong to all humanity. Can you even imagine Guru Nanak or Christ rejecting someone because they belonged to a different faith? I cant. Also, Vineet with all due respect you’ve missed the point here. The Sikhs have shown throughout history that you dont mess with them, so they definitely need no sympathy! Even the British were careful with them during the Colonia rule. What happened in 1984 is something that every Indian should be ashamed of, and that to with the chief guardians of our nation’s military. Sheer cowardice to outnumber someone 500 to one and attack them. Publicly hang the perpetrators, treat them like Kasab the guy behind the Mumbai attacks. We are lucky that KPS Gill eliminated terrorism in Punjab and remember that he was a Sikh. Otherwise India would ahve lost the battle big time. My older brother was raised a turbaned Sikh (serves in the Army), we in our family see absolutely no difference between Sikhs and Hindus. My little sister is marrying a Jat Sikh based in Bathinda, need I say more! God bless everyone. Gaurav
Thanks everyone for comments, I cannot disagree with Gaurav. However, I feel enough has been said on this topic, hence I am closing comments. Please find something else to comment on this blog (there is a lot) and comment on that – each comment is valued. Click here:
Sikhism @ Digital Wealth