Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin

If Guru had come across the faith that holds its redeemer to be the only son of God and who was
resurrected from death for a second coming sometime in the future he would have rejected that belief by
saying that for the birth of a human to take place it needs a man’s semen and a woman’s egg in side her
womb and the clock of death cannot be turned back.
Long before the modern scientific thought developed Guru Nanak sowed the seeds of it in the opening
verse of Guru Granth Sahib and the bani ‘Jap’ that follows it. This editorial is followed by some
selections from GGS to illustrate these points.
The opening verse:
< siqnwmu krqw purKu inrBau inrvYru Akwl mUriq AjUnI sYBM gurpRswid ]
“God is ONE. His name is Truth. He is the creator. He is fearless and not inimical. He is without death
and without birth. He is self-existent. Humans can attune to him through Guru’s grace.”
What does it really mean What does it describe Certainly it is not anything akin to a human. It is
formless and timeless and yet is self-existent. In the opening line of ‘Jap’ Guru unequivocally
reasserts his firm belief that what he is saying is an absolute truth.
ਆਿਦ ਸਚੁ ਜੁਗਾਿਦ ਸਚੁ ॥
ਹੈ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਹੋਸੀ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ ॥੧॥
ArQ:- hy nwnk! Akwl purK mu`F qoN hoNd vwlw hY, jugW dy mu`F qoN mOjUd hY [ies vyly BI mOjUd hY qy AgWh ƒ BI hoNd
vwlw rhygw [1[
True In The Primal Beginning. True Throughout The Ages. True Here And Now. O Nanak, Forever
And Ever True. ||1||
There is a single English word that describes what Guru is saying and that word is ENERGY.
Referring to death Guru asks what has died. Then he answers his own question; nothing has died.
Body has simply gone back to its elements. The breath mixes with air, body becomes dust and the
spark of ENERGY merges with the ENERGY.
I see seeds of E=MC 2 .
*****
Hardev Singh Shergill
EDITORIAL
PRAYER - ARDAAS
[From the January-February 2013 Sikh Bulletin]
Practice of prayer has a universal presence in all societies, primitive to very advanced and in all the
religions. Whether it helps or not is another matter and depends upon an individual’s beliefs. One thing is
certain, however, prayer might help a person if it is about self and that not because of any divine
intervention but because of the placebo effect, well known in the field of medicine. To pray for someone
else’s good health and rainfall during drought is a fruitless exercise.
Dr. Chahal, in his article on Ardaas (p.2) with extensive quotes from Gurbani has come to the conclusion
that Guru Nanak’s belief about prayer was different from what his followers are now proclaiming and
practicing, and it is best summed up by his quote by Albert Einstein, “Scientific research is based on the
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