The divine word pertains to the world of the heart and the soul, and not the letter of the law which suffers mortality either at the hands of the selective investigating agencies, or slips into a coma amidst jugglery of eloquent words performed in the courts by the master court-craftsmen.
Any civil society hates moral policing. Enforcement of public morals, ethics and social norms by the police, in its crude and blunt ways, is a situation arising either out of our spiritual leaders and social reformers looking the other way, or enjoying a weak moral pedestal to set a personal example before embarking upon a routine precept.
The Guruta Gaddi tercentenary celebration of the Sikhs is a historic occasion for paying a sincere tribute to the divine word contained in Sri Guru Granth Sahib by taking a solemn vow to follow the Guru’s multi-faceted teachings.
Modern day crimes against women belie our spiritual heritage. Feticide and dowry deaths in Punjab are a pointer to our society turning a deaf ear to the divine word flowing through the medium of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. A society showing high tolerance level to the menace of women being subjected to rape, molestation, kidnapping, acid attacks, cruelty, discrimination and disadvantage is an indicator of its ethical numbness and spiritual bankruptcy.
The realm of the divine has a tremendous persuasive, preventive, prohibitive, cautionary and disciplining influence for curbing criminality against women, besides providing a platform for repentance, remorse and atonement for those who somehow divorced themselves from the divine word.
A recapitulation of the status of women and their empowerment as outlined in the sacred gurbani should trigger some soul searching in our society.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib reminds men that they are born from women and it’s the woman’s womb which shapes all men. There is none without a woman, as she is the procreator. Men are engaged and wedded to women in their life cycles. Woman is the nerve centre of the institution of family. Sri Guru Granth Sahib exhorts the ignorant not to dub woman as an evil because it is she who gives birth to the leaders of the world.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib, while teaching complete submission to the Almighty, outlines the pristine place of women when the Lord is first proclaimed as one’s mother, and later, as one’s father.
Coming down heavily on the evil of dowry, which takes away many an innocent life and brings matrimony to severe discord, as a misdeed committed by those divorced from the divine word, Sri Guru Granth Sahib prescribes the name of the Almighty as the true dowry. The gurbani declares any other dowry as sheer perversity, vanity and fruitless embellishment.
On the gory practice of sati, Sri Guru Granth Sahib beacons a ray of reform by disapproving the practice of widows burning themselves on the pyre of their husbands. Allowing an opportunity to the widows a respectable existence as against a gory death, the gurbani defines a widow leading a life of contentment and good conduct as a true sati.
Similarly, Sikhism disapproves purdah and female infanticide, and strictly exhorts the Sikhs to shun the kurimaars, i.e. the killers of girls.
Throwing the system of sangat and pangat in Guru Ka Langar open to women is one single decisive pronouncement which grants socio-religious equality to women vis-a-vis men. The gurbani leaves nothing to doubt when the women amongst the congregation are addressed as sisters, and are exhorted to meet together and meditate upon the name of the Almighty.
Further, Sri Guru Granth Sahib grants equality of woman and man in a matrimonial relationship by ordaining that a married couple does not qualify as husband and wife by merely sitting together. There is no such relationship of husband and wife unless there is one soul in two bodies.
Deprecating adultery, Sri Guru Granth Sahib declares an adulterous man as a blind person, who is like a parrot attracted by a simbal tree, but ultimately loses his life clasping it.
Are we on the virtuous track when we treat women with contempt? Is a welfare state treading the righteous path if women face scorn in its police stations, drop out from its schools and suffer disease and death for want of health facilities? Are we following the divine command if we exploit the poverty stricken infant girls in our households in the name of meagerly paid maids?
The entire fashion and cosmetic industry is unabashedly exploiting women as sex guns to fire the imagination of their target group. Some of the modern world advertisements would fall into the category of soft pornography. All this happens while we all swear by our spiritual legacy.
Can we give the women their due only by enacting laws? Laws relating to crimes against women are either the command of the sovereign or a legislative expression of the values of the people in majority. They define, with an element of punitive compliance, what acts and omissions are illegal, and prescribe punishments for various illegalities. The law takes its own unending meandering course, depending on the varying integrity of its implementing agencies.
Any civil society hates moral policing. Enforcement of public morals, ethics and social norms by the police, in its crude and blunt ways, is a situation arising either out of our spiritual leaders and social reformers looking the other way, or enjoying a weak moral pedestal to set a personal example before embarking upon a routine precept.
The divine word pertains to the world of the heart and the soul, and not the letter of the law which suffers mortality either at the hands of the selective investigating agencies, or slips into a coma amidst jugglery of eloquent words performed in the courts by the master court-craftsmen.
Religion is a potent persuasive medium for producing an ethically driven society where laws are best observed and implemented. We need to give a wake-up call to our spiritual leaders.
© Sarvesh Kaushal, IAS, Principal Secretary to Government of Punjab (India)
