Thought for the Day BBC Radio 4 14/4/09

Author:  Dr Indarjit Singh

Today Sikhs throughout the world are celebrating Baisakhi: a popular spring festival in India. For Sikhs, Baisakhi has added significance as it was the day chosen by Guru Gobind Singh to announce an end to the line of living Gurus and the creation of a new community of equals pledged to live true to the teachings of Sikhism.

The Guru was the last of the nine that followed Guru Nanak. Their task was to show, by the example of their own lives, that it was possible to live true to the teachings of Sikhism, whatever the challenges.
It wasn’t easy and two of the Gurus were martyred for their emphasis on religious tolerance, and a third died serving the sick in a smallpox epidemic.

On Baisakhi day in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh decided that the Sikh community was now sufficiently established to stand on its own. He declared there would be no more living Gurus, and that henceforth Sikhs should pledge allegiance to Sikh teachings as contained in our holy scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, rather than to any individual.

The teachings are clear and unambiguous; belief in: one God, the equality of all members of our human family including the full equality of women; respect for other faiths and responsible living with a commitment to redress social and political injustice. In a last moving act of true leadership and humility, the Guru declared that he should no longer be seen as the leader, but as an equal member of the new Sikh community
It was a rare and inspiring sacrifice of power that underlined a total commitment to Sikh teachings.

I thought of the Guru’s disdain for the trappings of power as I listened to a discussion on religious leadership on this week’s Sunday programme. We all know that throughout history, those in a position of faith leadership have often succumbed to playing to the baser prejudices of their erstwhile followers. It is a path that can lead, and sadly has led to religions becoming competing factions rather than the inspiring guidance for positive and responsible living, taught by the founders of all our different faiths.

The message of Baisakhi is clear. We are not sheep waiting to be led.
We all have the guidance of our different faiths. If we live true this guidance, each one of us can make a significant contribution to the true purpose of religion: the betterment of the world about us.