Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin

learning about Sikhism. That is when I read Dr. Devinder Singh Chahal’s explanation of
‘Manglacharan’, commonly referred to as ‘Moolmantar’. Once I understood God as described by Guru
Nanak I had no problem accepting it. My beef was with the God/Gods of all the other religions that laid
claim to divine revelation and proclaimed man to be created in the image of God. In reality what they
have done is create God in the image of man. Within four years I had contact with enough concerned
Sikhs from many countries who also felt the same need to reform Sikhi. Our efforts culminated in a
World Conference in Chandigarh in October 2003.
While preparing for my speech for this conference I thought to look into European contemporaries of
Guru Nanak (1469-1539) because that was the period of renaissance in Europe. To my delight I found
Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543), a Polish Mathematician, called the founder of modern Astronomy. He
was the first to shatter the prevalent belief, supported by the Church, that Earth is the center of the
universe and that Sun revolves around the Earth. Here were two contemporaries, thousands of miles
apart, one a scientist and the other a prophet but both saying the same thing. So, those who claim
that Sikhi is also a revealed religion, like the other religions, are doing a grave disservice to Guru Nanak.
Would they also say that Copernicus received divine revelation too Copernicus himself makes no such
claim. The fact of the matter is that there is no such thing as revelation. Any religion making that
claim is false. Guru Nanak and Copernicus both used their bibek-budhi, an evolutionary gift that only
humans possess, even though they share 90% of their DNA with mice and 98% with chimpanzees.
Copernicus published his theory in 1530; Guru Nanak put his view of Universe more than a decade earlier
in jpu (Jap).
One of the strongest arguments presented in support of Gurbani as revealed is reference to Dur-kI-bfxI. S.
Gurbachan Singh Sidhu, in an article on that topic appearing in this issue (p.28), makes an argument that
that is not so. Also appearing in this issue is a review by Dr. D. P. Singh of a book by Dr. Devinder Singh
Chahal, ‘Nanakian Philosophy: Basics for humanity’. In this book Dr. Chahal repudiates the views of
copy cat scholars who claim Guru Nanak’s teachings to be based on Vedantic philosophy, the very view
being heavily emphasized, unfortunately, by the University in Amritsar that carries Guru’s name.
Hardev Singh Shergill
*****
EDITORIAL
[From March April 2012 Sikh Bulletin]
EVOLUTION OF GOD
By the time I stepped into my teenage years I had become a confirmed agnostic. I did not know much
about religion and concept of God to deny the existence of the latter so I could not be an atheist. But I did
know enough from observation and reading literature that God, as being described and worshipped, could
not exist. In the mostly Hindu literature that I read it seemed that any time someone with a long and hard
tapasya got within reach of God, he would send a heavenly prostitute (apasra) to make them fall from
grace.
It was in my sixties that I got introduced to Guru Nanak’s concept of God and that God, I thought, I could
accept because it was unlike any other God and whom everyone could accept. More on Guru Nanak’s
concept of God will be the subject of next issue of The Sikh Bulletin.
One of the writings that explained the meaning of Moolmantar/Manglacharan, the very first words in
Guru Granth Sahib, was that of Dr. Devinder Singh Chahal. Starting with the September-October 2011
issue of The Sikh Bulletin, in which we published a review of his book “Nankian Philosophy: Basics for
Humanity”, we have begun publishing chapters from that book in every successive issue. This issue has
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