Sikh Views of Other Religions and Worldviews

Overview

Recall questions on knowledge of the divine as experience, the rejection of priestly speculation, N K Singh and W O Cole on revelation, reason and evidence, humanist and rationalist critiques, and worldviews that reject the divine.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Why do Sikhs describe knowledge of the divine as experience rather than argument?

   Model answer

   Because the Gurus present Waheguru as encountered in the shabad and in remembrance, not deduced. Guru Nanak's teaching begins from an experience of commissioning, and the scripture repeatedly says the reality is beyond counting and description, so speculation about it is treated as effort spent in the wrong direction.

2. 2

   What exactly is being rejected when Sikhs reject the speculation associated with priests?

   Model answer

   Two things: the claim that a class of specialists holds the key to divine knowledge, and the idea that mastery of ritual formulae or metaphysical systems brings anyone closer to Waheguru. The Gurus directed the same criticism at the Brahmin and at the qazi.

3. 3

   What follows from the Sikh rejection of a priestly class for the way Sikhism is organised?

   Model answer

   There is no priesthood. The granthi reads and cares for the scripture but holds no sacramental power, and any competent Sikh of any caste and either sex may perform that role, so authority rests with the Guru Granth Sahib and with the sangat rather than with an office. Practice has not everywhere followed the norm: women are still not permitted to perform kirtan in the sanctum of the Harmandir Sahib, and the question remains live.

4. 4

   How does N K Singh describe the way Sikhs come to know the divine?

   Model answer

   Through the senses and the imagination as much as the intellect: hearing the sung word, seeing the scripture enthroned, tasting the sanctified food, being physically part of the congregation. She argues that Sikh knowing is aesthetic and participatory, which is why it resists being restated as a list of doctrines.

5. 5

   What does W O Cole emphasise about Sikh revelation and other faiths?

   Model answer

   That Sikh revelation is the shabad, communicated through the Gurus and now carried by the scripture, and that it must be understood in Sikh categories rather than through the Christian idea of incarnation or the Hindu idea of an avatar. He also argues that Sikh openness to other faiths follows from the belief that the one divine has always been available to everyone.

6. 6

   Explain how Sikhs respond to the demand that belief rest on reason and evidence.

   Model answer

   Many point out that the Gurus attacked inherited custom performed without understanding and required reflection on the shabad, so unexamined belief is not the Sikh ideal, and they see no conflict with scientific inquiry. They part company at the claim that reason alone is sufficient, since Sikhs hold that union with Waheguru comes through the Guru and by grace rather than by argument.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.