Sikh Philosophy and Religion

This book strikes an intimate note in the contemporary mind as it relates the message to the evolved modern consciousness, and does not pull the reader backwards in medieval times. It answers some of its deepest questions, born of modern philosophy and theology, and provides the weary mind a feeling of tranquility in the lotus-feet of the Sikh Gurus. With simplicity and brevity the author brings out the magic and music of their universal spirit. The Gurus had to face bigotry at its extreme. This book presents their solution, i.e. 'active love, devoid of haumey', to the problem of bigotry that is most disturbing to the modern people. The author relates the ideas of the holy Gurus to the ideas of the western thinkers with as much honesty and spontaneity as he relates them to the ancient visionaries of India. He shows that the power of the Gurus had grown out of their definition of truth-truth is truth if it is beautiful and good too.

It is a saga of triple freedom - the freedom of the mind, i.e. reason, of the heart i.e. love, and of the body i.e. self- sacrifice. There are very few philosophic works that express with such clarity and precision, the profound questions about God, immortality and love.

The book contains the 11th Guru Nanak Memorial Lectures to Punjabi University Patiala, delivered in the winter of 1977. They were hailed as "a turning point in the study of the Gurus' message." This book has been a source of joy and inspiration to scholars and students in India and the West ever since its first publication. Its global popularity rests on its simplicity, clarity and profundity. Perhaps the readers find it closer to the spirit of the Gurus.

Nirmal Kumar is a modern thinker and creative writer. He has created original works like Philosophy of Being Human, Burning Sands of Sind, Stream of Indian Culture, Tao of Psychology, Cloud Carrier of Kalinga, Psychology beyond Freud, Culture and Mathematics and others. The western readers find his writings as near their experiences as the eastern readers. The rishis have said that originality of ideas in such abundance comes only by divine grace. And such genius comes only to one who realises the oneness of all life. The feeling of being the smallest of the small (akinchanatva) is a prerequisite for it. Each of his works is a history of the soul of man. He has indeed seen humanity's variety as different notes of the same song.

Besides novels, short story collections, dramas and poems, he has written on a variety of subjects, like history, philosophy, culture, science and psychology. He has given new ideas in each succeeding book, without repetition.

He has published 30 works in English and Hindi.

After the advent of Shankaracharya, the refined and sensitive Hindu mind had started withdrawing from 'the sturm und drang' of political life. Tulsi Das, who restored order to disintegrating social life, completely ignored the political life. It was so full of cruelty and macaberesque horror that poetry fled from it while sensitivity got stunned. It was therefore no small task that the Sikh Gurus attempted when they drew the attention of saints and siddhas, noblemen and laymen alike to the political obligations of man, and to the hard fact that without repairing the political ruins it was not possible to build a coherent and integrated society. The cleaning of the tank at the Golden Temple of Amritsar by the Sikhs of all ranks, with a religious zeal and fervour, is a symbolic activity, very much reminiscent of the medieval vow that the Gurus took to cleanse the political tanks and pools of those days.

**Contents and Sample Pages**