How are Hinduism and Sikhism related, considering they both originated in Punjab, India?
11.06.2025 11:21
I serve the One Lord, and not any other. ||2||
As mentioned above Guru Arjan Dev was talking from the perspective Sant Kabir whose views we have discussed much earlier here. We know that Sant Kabir continuing in the Ramanandi Sampradaya went further away from the mainstream ritualistic Hinduism and was journeying more towards a SEAMLESS Dharma.
ਅਬ ਕਹੁ ਰਾਮ ਕਵਨ ਗਤਿ ਮੋਰੀ ॥
Where should I go? My home is filled with bliss.
ਰਾਮਾਨੰਦ ਜੀ ਘਰੁ ੧
ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਮੈ ਬਲਿਹਾਰੀ ਤੋਰ ॥
Look within your heart, for there you will find both Karim and Ram;
ਕਤ ਜਾਈਐ ਰੇ ਘਰ ਲਾਗੋ ਰੰਗੁ ॥
There, where millions of Krishnas stand with hands folded,
ਰਾਮਾਨੰਦ ਸੁਆਮੀ ਰਮਤ ਬ੍ਰਹਮ ॥
The divergence of Kabir’s views from Vedanta is seen in the fact that he fully opposed religious symbolism of ALL KINDS and not just IDOLS.
ਅਲਹ ਰਾਮ ਕੇ ਪਿੰਡੁ ਪਰਾਨ ॥੪॥
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ਰਾਮਾਨੰਦ ਸੁਆਮੀ ਰਮਤ ਬ੍ਰਹਮ ॥
One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:
ਹਜ ਕਾਬੈ ਜਾਉ ਨ ਤੀਰਥ ਪੂਜਾ ॥
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Sadhna (a Muslim butcher) and
The influence of Kabir is significant on Sikhism. The following Bani from Ang 1136 is attributed to GURU ARJAN DEV but if you observe at the end you can see that he was talking in the spirit of Sant Kabir.
ਊਹਾਂ ਤਉ ਜਾਈਐ ਜਉ ਈਹਾਂ ਨ ਹੋਇ ॥੨॥
Why do I smell bad even though I have good hygiene?
———————————————————————————————————————
All the men and women of the world are His living forms.
These morons know nothing, they wander about in ignorance,
What has been your best sexual experience?
Wherever I go, I find water and stones.
ਮੇਰਾ ਚਿਤੁ ਨ ਚਲੈ ਮਨੁ ਭਇਓ ਪੰਗੁ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
NOW…
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You have cut through all my confusion and doubt.
I do not perform Hindu worship services, nor do I offer the Muslim prayers.
I have searched through all the Vedas and the Puraanas.
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ਕਾਸੀ ਮਗਹਰ ਸਮ ਬੀਚਾਰੀ ॥
Ramanandacharya’s teachings were centered on pure and personal connection with the God Rama and didn’t believe in any kind of formal ritualism. He used the common vernacular language instead of Sanskrit so that everyone could understand.
If Ram be within the image which you find upon your pilgrimage,
What can I do to deal with disrespectful children?
Ravidas (a chamar shoemaker)
then who is there to know what happens without?
How can they kill the mother, whose milk they drink like that of a wet nurse?
Why do wives cheat on their loyal husbands?
Says Kabeer, this is what I say:
ਸਗਲ ਜਨਮੁ ਸਿਵ ਪੁਰੀ ਗਵਾਇਆ ॥
I ground up sandalwood, along with several fragrant oils.
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Sikhism is fundamentally rooted in BHAKTI tradition and thus ultimately in Sanatana Dharma. There is no doubt about it despite what modern McSikh acrobatics try to claim otherwise
From where did the word Maya come? Isn’t it a typical Vedantic concept discussed profoundly in Advaita? It definitely isn’t a concept pioneered by Kabir or even his teacher Ramanandacharya! It is ultimately from Sanatana Dharma!
Where spring, the lord of seasons reigneth, there the unstruck music sounds of itself,
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As long as the mind is filled with the desire for heaven,
The young and the old drink milk pudding, but these fools eat the cow's body.
Now here in this verse
ਪੂਜਾ ਕਰਉ ਨ ਨਿਵਾਜ ਗੁਜਾਰਉ ॥
The Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy, is heaven. ||4||10||
I wasted my whole life in the city of Shiva;
=======================================================
Where millions of Vishnus bow their heads, where millions of Brahmas are reading the Vedas,
ਤੂ ਪੂਰਿ ਰਹਿਓ ਹੈ ਸਭ ਸਮਾਨ ॥
I am like a fish out of water,
Kabir, Ravidas and ultimately the NINE SIKH GURUS are a product of this very Sant Sampraday founded by Ramanandacharya!
One day, a desire welled up in my mind.
He accepted even women (Sursuri and Padywati) as disciples. Bhagat Pipa and Dhanna were Rajput and Jat who were also his disciples.
He who has highest Bhakti of Deva (God), just like his Deva, so for his Guru (teacher),
You are totally pervading and permeating in all.
We have searched the turaki Dharam (Turk's religion, Islam), these teachers throw many thunderbolts,
He does not dwell at the Lord's Feet. ||3||
There is a reason why I mention ROOTED and thus NOT implying that it belongs to one of the numerous sects in Sanatana Dharma like Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, Smartism etc…
Kabeer: O worthless mortal, do not lose the Naam, the Name of the Lord.
Kabir (a weaver)
But we have actually seen how much Kabir is also rooted in the Vedantic concept of “supreme realization” but in a non-mainstream path.
ਪੂਜਨ ਚਾਲੀ ਬ੍ਰਹਮ ਠਾਇ ॥
Kabir is the child of Allah and of Ram: He is my Guru, He is my Pir.
We can understand that Kabir despite being in favor of formless worship was very much embedded in the Dharmik fold but always preached in the spirit of the transcendental nature of Brahman to the point that HE LOST THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN HINDU AND MUSLIM.
Says Kabeer, the Guru and Ganaysha and Shiva all know
Hari is in the East, Allah is in the West.
We can see that great saints like Kabir and Ravidas etc… descended from the Ramananda sampradaya which is still the largest ascetic order in India.
Bhagat Kabir ji / Raag Gauri / / Guru Granth Sahib ji - Ang 325
From Guru Granth Sahib ji - Ang 1195
I would go there, only if the Lord were not here. ||2||
Bhagat Kabir ji / Raag Gauri / / Guru Granth Sahib ji - Ang 326
I have taken the One Formless Lord into my heart; I humbly worship Him there. ||3||
ਘਸਿ ਚੰਦਨ ਚੋਆ ਬਹੁ ਸੁਗੰਧ ॥
With inadequate devotion, how can anyone swim across? ||4||
I left Benares - I had little common sense. ||1|| Pause ||
ਕਬੀਰ ਨਿਰਗੁਣ ਨਾਮ ਨ ਰੋਸੁ ॥
ਗਉੜੀ ਕਬੀਰ ਜੀ ਪੰਚਪਦੇ ॥
Guru Nanak (right) and Bhai Mardana (foreground) with Bhagat Kabir (left). This painting is found in the B-40 Janamsakhi, written and painted in 1733. The painting was made by Alam Chand Raj
There is my Lord self-revealed, and the scent of sandal and flowers dwells in those deeps.
ਜਿਉ ਜਲ ਛੋਡਿ ਬਾਹਰਿ ਭਇਓ ਮੀਨਾ ॥
Where the demi-gods and the munis are unnumbered, where millions of Saraswatis, goddess of music play the vina,
ਕਹੁ ਕਬੀਰ ਇਹੁ ਕੀਆ ਵਖਾਨਾ ॥
Again we see that the originator of this Sant Sampraday himself talks about Brahman even in Gurbani.
The Sant Sampraday of Sikh panth integrates the warrior spirit of the Nihangs and Khalsa, the service of Seva panth and the renunciation of Udasi/Nirmala saints.
ਕਹੁ ਗੁਰ ਗਜ ਸਿਵ ਸਭੁ ਕੋ ਜਾਨੈ ॥
Kaashi and Magahar - I consider them the same.
That God showed me the Guru, within my own mind. ||1||
My body and breath of life belong to Allah - to Raam - the God of both. ||4||
To him who is high-minded, these teachings will be illuminating.
ਮਰਨੁ ਭਇਆ ਮਗਹਰ ਕੀ ਬਾਸੀ ॥੩॥
Now that my time to die has come, I have come to dwell at Magahar! ||3||
Because in my previous life, I did not practice penance and intense meditation. ||1||
Shvetashvatara Upanishad (6.23)
ਮਰਤੀ ਬਾਰ ਮਗਹਰਿ ਉਠਿ ਆਇਆ ॥੨॥
Bhagat Kabir ji / Raag Sriraag / / Guru Granth Sahib ji - Ang 92
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
———————————————————————————————————————
I do not make pilgrimages to Mecca, nor do I worship at Hindu sacred shrines.
ਜਹਾ ਜਾਈਐ ਤਹ ਜਲ ਪਖਾਨ ॥
Gauree, Kabeer Jee, Panch-Padas:
For a superficial McSikh who is interested only in separation and not enlightenment the views of Kabir can be easily shown as a denouncement of Hindu practices.
I am not a Hindu, nor am I a Muslim.
Ramarchan Paddati gives more info about his teachings.
ਗੁਰ ਪੀਰ ਮਿਲਿ ਖੁਦਿ ਖਸਮੁ ਪਛਾਨਾ ॥੫॥੩॥
So in the same spirit Kabir finds pilgrimages to holy cities futile as his mind is fixated on Rama!
Ramanandacharya was a 14th-century Hindu Vaishnava devotional poet saint who amalgamated Advaita with Vaishnava Bhakti. He was the pioneer in validating NIRGUN and SAGUN Bhakti as parallel paths.
ਬਹੁਤੁ ਬਰਸ ਤਪੁ ਕੀਆ ਕਾਸੀ ॥
Here ਰਾਮੈ is Rama and not just lord. Kabir died chanting the name of Rama DESPITE him not finding any result of penances done in holy cities in his previous birth. Another example to show how much Kabir valued personal devotion to Rama in his own NIRGUN style.
ਬ੍ਰਹਮ is Brahm i.e the Brahman of vedanta but it gets interpreted as an all-pervading lord god.
ਸਾਧਸੰਗਤਿ ਬੈਕੁੰਠੈ ਆਹਿ ॥੪॥੧੦॥
Meeting with the Guru, my Spiritual Teacher, I realize God, my Lord and Master. ||5||3||
— Kabir, III.2, Translated by Rabindranath Tagore
Without looking into one's heart, how can one reach paradise?
ਨਾ ਹਮ ਹਿੰਦੂ ਨ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨ ॥
Raamaanand's Lord and Master is the All-pervading Lord God.
Let’s look at the most used verse by McSikhs to show that Sikhs are neither Hindus nor Muslims.
At the time of my death, I moved to Magahar. ||2||
For him Dharma was beyond everything physical including the desire for heaven because was fully into the NIRGUN . The last verse shows that according to him the company of the enlightened Sadhus is heaven which is again a typical teaching of Sanatana Dharma.
ਤਜੀ ਲੇ ਬਨਾਰਸ ਮਤਿ ਭਈ ਥੋਰੀ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
———————————————————————————————————————
— Kabir, Ramaini 1, Translated by David Lorenzen
Let's look at the views of Sant Kabir
ਪੂਰਬ ਜਨਮ ਹਉ ਤਪ ਕਾ ਹੀਨਾ ॥੧॥
ਮੁਆ ਕਬੀਰੁ ਰਮਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਰਾਮੈ
ਓਛੀ ਭਗਤਿ ਕੈਸੇ ਉਤਰਸਿ ਪਾਰੀ ॥੪॥
Sikhism is a NIRGUN path descending from the Sant Sampraday of Ramanandacharya and traces its ideas to VEDANTA!
ਏਕ ਨਿਰੰਕਾਰ ਲੇ ਰਿਦੈ ਨਮਸਕਾਰਉ ॥੩॥
I went to God's place, and worshipped Him there.
ਜਬ ਲਗੁ ਮਨਿ ਬੈਕੁੰਠ ਕੀ ਆਸ ॥
The views of Kabir are very much in parallel to the Advaita philosophy and it is obvious that as the disciple of Ramanandacharya he will carry forward with his chosen NIRGUN BHAKTI.
ਕਹੁ ਕਬੀਰ ਇਹ ਕਹੀਐ ਕਾਹਿ ॥
ਮੁਆ ਕਬੀਰੁ ਰਮਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਰਾਮੈ ॥੫॥੧੫॥
I am a sacrifice to You, O my True Guru.
ਨਾ ਹਮ ਹਿੰਦੂ ਨ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨ ॥
Here ਨਿਰਗੁਣ is Nirgun and not just lord. This is just another example to show that Kabir himself continued in the NIRGUN BHAKTI path.
The Word of the Guru's Shabad eradicates the karma of millions of past actions. ||3||1||
Raamaanand's Lord and Master is the All-pervading Lord God.
ਏਕੋ ਸੇਵੀ ਅਵਰੁ ਨ ਦੂਜਾ ॥੨॥
Ramananda accepted disciples without discriminating against anyone by gender, class or caste and they included even people from humble origins like
If God be within the mosque, then to whom does this world belong?
I am not a Hindu, nor am I a Muslim.
ਬੇਦ ਪੁਰਾਨ ਸਭ ਦੇਖੇ ਜੋਇ ॥
Says Kabeer, unto whom should I tell this?
ਏਕ ਦਿਵਸ ਮਨ ਭਈ ਉਮੰਗ ॥
यस्य देवे परा भक्तिः यथा देवे तथा गुरौ । तस्यैते कथिता ह्यर्थाः प्रकाशन्ते महात्मनः प्रकाशन्ते महात्मन इति ।
ਸੋ ਬ੍ਰਹਮੁ ਬਤਾਇਓ ਗੁਰ ਮਨ ਹੀ ਮਾਹਿ ॥੧॥
Recklessly they display boundless pride while explaining their own aims, they kill cows.
My consciousness does not go out wandering. My mind has become crippled. ||1|| Pause ||
ਗੁਰ ਕਾ ਸਬਦੁ ਕਾਟੈ ਕੋਟਿ ਕਰਮ ॥੩॥੧॥
ਤਬ ਲਗੁ ਹੋਇ ਨਹੀ ਚਰਨ ਨਿਵਾਸੁ ॥੩॥
— Kabir, II.57, Translated by Rabindranath Tagore
Bhagat Kabir ji / Raag Gauri / / Guru Granth Sahib ji - Ang 325
How can people understand You, when they are entranced by Maya? ||1|| Pause ||
Now tell me, Lord, what will my condition be?
CONCLUSION:
For many years, I practiced penance and intense meditation at Kaashi;
Bhakti movement began in South (Tamil Nadu to be precise) and slowly spread to Northern parts of India. This movement was extremely popular because of its simple fundamentals which could be understood by even commonfolk. Vaishnavism, Shaivism etc… were already connecting with commonfolk from a long time and this Bhakti movement reinforced it by making the devotee feel a personal connection with the deity.
Where millions of Shivas are lost in contemplation, where millions of Indras dwell in the sky,
That Kabeer died chanting the Lord's Name. ||5||15||
Actually, this part of the Ang 326 is widely used by McSikhs to show that Sikhism considers Hindu pilgrimages as useless and thus drives home the point again that the “religion” has got NOTHING to do with Hinduism.
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Sain (a barber)
ਜਿਨਿ ਸਕਲ ਬਿਕਲ ਭ੍ਰਮ ਕਾਟੇ ਮੋਰ ॥
Let’s see what Gurbani has about Ramanandacharya’s views.
ਕੈਸੇ ਬੂਝੈ ਜਬ ਮੋਹਿਆ ਹੈ ਮਾਇਆ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
There the streams of light flow in all directions, few are the men who can cross to that shore!
Raamaanand Jee, First House:
Sant Kabir was staunchly against cow slaughter.