Section Six
CHAPPTER XIII
Panthic Rehni (Facets of Corporate Sikh
Life)
Article XXII
The essential facets of Panthic
life are :
1. Guru Panth (the Panth's Guru status);
2. The ceremony of ambrosial initiation.
3. The statute of chastisement for aberrations;
4. The statute of collective resolution (Gurmata).
5. The appeal against local decisions.
Panth's Status of Guruhood
Article XXIII
The concept of service is not confined to
fanning the congregation, service to and in the Guru ka Langar
etc. A Sikh's entire life is a life of benevolent exertion.
The most fruitful service is the service that
secures the optimum good by minimal endeavour. That can be achieved
through organised collective action. A Sikh
has, for this reason, to fulfil his/her Panthic obligations
(obligations as a member of the corporate
entity, the Panth), even as he/she performs his/her individual
duties. This corporate entity is the Panth.
Every Sikh has also to fulfil his obligations as a unit of the
corporate body, the Panth.
a. The Guru Panth (Panth's status of Guruhood)
means the whole body of committed baptised (Amritdhari) Sikhs. This body was fostered
by all the ten Gurus and the tenth Guru gave
it its final shape and invested it with Guruhood.
Ceremony of Baptism or Initiation
Article XXIV
a. Ambrosial baptism
should be held at an exclusive place away from common human
traffic.
b. At the place where ambrosial baptism
is to be administered, the holy Guru Granth Sahib should be
installed and ceremonially opened. Also present should be six
committed baptised Sikhs, one of whom
should sit in attendance of the Guru Granth Sahib and the other
five should be there to administer the
ambrosial baptism. These six may even include Sikh women. All
of them must have taken bath and washed
their hair
c. The five beloved (Panj Piyare)
ones who administer ambrosial baptism not include a disabled
person, such as a person who is blind
or blind in one eye, lame, one with a broken or disabled limb,
or one suffering from some chronic disease.
The number should not include anyone who has committed
a breach of the Sikh discipline and principles. All of them
should be committed baptised Sikhs with
appealing personalities.
d. Any man or woman of any country,
religion or caste who embraces Sikhism
and solemnly undertakes to abide by
its principles is entitled to ambrosial baptism.The person to be baptised should not
be of very young age; he or she should have attained a plausible
degree of discretion. The person to
be baptised must have taken bath and washed the hair and must
wear all five K's-Kesh (unshorn hair),
strapped Kirpan (sword),. Kachhehra (prescribed shorts), Kanga
(Comb tucked in the tied up hair), Karha
(Steel bracelet). He/she must not have on his/her person any
token of any other faith. He/she must
not have his/her head bare or be wearing a cap. He/she must
not be wearing any ornaments piercing
through any part of the body. The persons to be baptised must
stand respectfully with hands folded facing the Guru Granth
Sahib.
e. Anyone seeking to be rebaptised,
having committed an aberration, should be singled out and the
five beloved ones should award chastisement
to him/her in the presence of the congregation.
f. One from amongst the five beloved
ones administering ambrosial baptism to persons seeking to be baptised
should explain the principles of the Sikh religion to them:
The Sikh religion advocates the renunciation
of the worship of any created thing, and rendering of worship
and loving devotion to, and meditating on,
the One Supreme Creator. For the fulfillment of such devotion
and meditation, reflection on the contents
of Gurbani and practising of its tenets, participation in the
congregational services, rendering service
to the Panth, benevolent exertion (to promote the good of others),
love of God's name (loving reflection on and
experience of the Divine), living within the Sikh discipline
after getting Amrit etc. are the principal
means. He should conclude his exposition of the principles of
Sikh religion with the query : Do you accept
these willingly?
g. On an affirmative response from the seekers
of baptism, one from amongst the five beloved ones should
perform the Ardas for the preparation of baptism and take the
holy Hukam (command) (Reading or Reading
out to others, including the congregation, of a Shabad (hymn)
or a unit of one or more slokas (short scriptual
compositions normally of Two to Four lines) and a pauri (short
stanza of of four or more lines) from the
Guru Granth Sahib after, or even without performing the Ardas
is an important Sikh ritual. It is called hukam laina (Taking the order or command), Vak Laina (taking
the Word), Awaz laina (taking the voice).
The hymn or unit goes by the name of Hukam (order, command) vak (uttered Word) or Awaz (voice)). The five beloved ones should
come close to the bowl for preparing
the amrit (ambrosial nectar).
h. The bowl should be of pure steel and
it should be placed on a clean steel ring or other clean support.
i. Clean water and sugar puffs should be put in the bowl and
the five beloved ones should sit around
it in bir posture (Sitting in bir posture comprised sitting
resting the body on the right leg, the
right calf and foot gathered inward and the left leg upto the
shin kept in a verticle positon.) and recite
the undermentioned scriptural compositions.
j. The scriptural composition
to be recited are : The Japuji, The Jaap, The Ten Sawayyas (commencing
with Sarawag Sud), The Bainti Chaupai (From "hamri karo hath
dai rachha" to "dusht dokh te leho te
bachai"), Anand Sahib.
k. Each of the five beloved ones
who recites the scripture should hold
the edge of the bowl with his
left hand and keep stirring the water with a double-edged sword
held in his right hand. He should do
that with full concentration. The rest of the beloved ones should
keep gripping the edge of the
bowl with both hands concentrating their full attention on the
ambrosial nector.
l. After the conclusion of
the recitation, one from amongst the beloved ones should perform
the Ardas.
m. Only that person seeking
to be baptised who has participated in the entire ceremony of
ambrosial baptism can be baptised. One
who has turned up while the ceremony was in progress cannot
be baptised.
n. After the Ardas as per clause
(I) above, thinking of our Father, the Tenth Master, the wearer
of the aigrette, every person seeking
to be baptised should sit in Bir Posture putting his/her right
hand cupped on the left cupped hand
and be made to drink the ambrosial mix five times, as the beloved
one who pours the mix into his cupped
hand exclaims : say, Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh!
(The Khalsa is of the Wondrous Destroyer of darkness; victory,
too, is His!) The person being baptised
should after imbibing the ambrosia, repeat : Waheguru ji ka
Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh. Then five
handfuls of the ambrosial mix should he sprinkled into the eyes
of the person being baptised and another
five into his hair. Each such sprinkling should be accompanied
by the beloved one administering baptism
saying, "Waheguru ji ka Khalsa Waheguru ji ki Fateh", and the
person being baptised repeating the
chant. Whatever ambrosial mix is left over after the administration
of the ambrosial Baptism to all individual
seekers, should be sipped by all (men and women) baptised together.
o. After this the five beloved ones,
all together in chorus communicating the name of Waheguru to
all who have been administered the ambrosial
baptism, recite to them the Mul Mantar (basic creed, seminal
chant) and make them repeat it aloud :
Ik aunkar satnam karta
purakh nirbhau nirwair akal murat ajuni saibhang gur prasad.
p.
After this, one from amongst
the five beloved ones should explain to the initiates the discipline
of the order : * Today you are reborn in the true
Guru's household, ending the cycle of migration, and joined
the Khalsa Panth (order). *Your spiritual father is now Guru Gobind
Singh and spiritual mother, Mata Sahib Kaur. *Your place of birth is Kesgarh Sahib
and your native place is Anandpur Sahib. You, being the sons of one father, are, inter-se
yourselves and other baptised Sikhs, spiritual brothers. You have become the pure Khalsa, having
renounced your previous lineage, professional background,
calling (occupation), beliefs, that is, having given up all
connections with your caste, descent, birth, country,
religion, etc. You are to worship none except the
One Timeless Being (Waheguru) no God, Goddess, incarnation
or prophet. You are not to think of anyone
except the ten Gurus and anything except their gospel as your
saviour. You are supposed to know Gurmukhi
(Punjabi alphabet). (If you do not, you must learn it). And recite, or listen in to
the recitation of, the under mentioned scriptural compositions,
the daily repetition of
which is ordained, every day :(1) The Japuji Sahib, (2) The Jaap
Sahib, (3) The Ten Sawayyas (Quartrains), beginning "sarawag
sudh", (4) The Sodar Rahiras and the Sohila.
Besides, you should read from or listen in to the recitation
from the Guru Granth Sahib . Have, on your person, all the time,
the five K's :
I. The Keshas (unshorn hair),
II. The Kirpan {sheathed sword}
(The length of the sword to be worn is not prescribed.,
III. The Kachhehra (The Kachhehra
(drawers like garment) may be made from any cloth, but its legs
should not reach down to below the shins.),
IV. The Kanga (comb),
V. The Karha {steel bracelet}
(The Karha should be of pure steel.)
The undermentioned four transgressions
(tabooed practices) must be avoided
1. Dishonouring the hair;
2. Eating the meat of an animal slaughtered
the Muslim way;
3. Cohabiting with a person other than one's
spouse;
4. Using tobacco.
In the event of the commission of any
of these transgressions, the transgressor must get baptised again. If a transgression is committed unintentionally
and unknowingly, the transgressor shall not be liable
to punishment. You must not associate with a Sikh who had uncut
hair earlier and has cut it or a Sikh who
smokes. You must ever be ready for the service of the Panth
and of the Gurdwaras (Sikh places of worship). You
must tender one tenth (Daswand) of your earnings to the Guru.
In short, you must act the Guru's way
in all spheres of activity.
You must remain fully aligned
to the Khalsa brotherhood in accordance with the
principles of the Khalsa faith. If you
commit transgression of the Khalsa discipline, you
must present yourself before the congregation
and beg pardon, accepting whatever punishment is awarded. You
must also resolve to remain watchful
against defaults in the future.
q. The following individuals shall
be liable to chastisement involving automatic boycott:
1. Anyone maintaining relations
or communion with elements antagonistic to the Panth including
the minas (reprobates), the masands
(agents once accredited to local Sikh communities as Guru's
representatives, since discredited
for their faults and aberrations), followers of Dhirmal or Ram
Rai, et. al., or users of tobacco
or killers of female infants
2. One who eats/drinks Left-overs
of the unbaptised or the fallen Sikhs;
3. One who dyes his beard;
4. One who gives off son or daughter
in matrimony for a price or reward;
5. Users of intoxicants (hemp,
opium, liquor, narcotics, cocaine, etc.);
6. One holding, or being a party
to, ceremonies or practices contrary to the Guru's way;
7. One who defaults in the maintenance
of Sikh discipline.
r. After this sermon, one from among the
five beloved ones should perform the Ardas.
s. Thereafter, the
Sikh sitting in attendance of the Guru Granth Sahib should take the Hukam. If anyone from amongst those
who have received the ambrosial
baptism had not earlier been named in accordance with the Sikh
Naming Ceremony, he
should renounce his previous name and be given a new name beginning
with first letter of the Hukam
now taken.
t. And finally, the karhah prashad
should be distributed. All the newly launched Sikh men and women
should eat the karhah prashad together off the same bowl.
Method
of Imposing Chastisement (Tankah)
Article XXV
a. Any Sikh who has committed
any default in the observance of the Sikh discipline should
approach the nearby Sikh congregation
and make a confession of his lapse standing before the congregation.
b. The congregation
should then, in the holy presence of Guru Granth Sahib, elect
from among themselves five
beloved ones who should ponder over the suppliant's fault and
propose the chastisement
(punishment) for it.
c. The congregation
should not take an obdurate stand in granting pardon. Nor should
the defaulter argue about
the chastisement. The punishment that is imposed should be some
kind of service, especially
some service that can be performed with hands.
d. And finally
an Ardas for correction
should be performed.
Method of Adopting Gurmatta
Article
XXVI
a. The Gurmatta (Holy
Resolution) can only be on a subject that affects the fundamental
principles of Sikh
religion and for their upholding, such as the questions affecting
the maintenance of the status
of the Gurus or the Guru Granth Sahib or the inviolability of
Guru Granth Sahib, ambrosial baptism,
Sikh discipline and way of life, the identity and structural
framework of the Panth. Ordinary
issues of religious, educational, social or political nature
can be dealt with only in a Matta.
(Resolution)
b. A Gurmatta can
be adopted only by a select primary Panthic group or a representative
gathering
of the Panth.
Appeals
against Local Decisions
Article XXVII
An appeal can be made to the Akal Takht against a local congregation's
decision. -----
The above
text is edited and taken from the Book Sikh Reht Maryada
published by Dharam Parchar Committee (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee, Amritsar) in July,
1997.
NOTE: The above text is not for legal
use. ---