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C H A P T E R - 111 Religious values. Relation between intrinsic and extrinsic values. Relation between morality and religion. Values form the basis of the entire cultural pattern of a nation. A sensitive study of the entire system o f values in Sankardeva and Nanak’s thought brings out their uniqueness and spiritualistic outlook. Sankardeva and Nanak’s thought exhibit a humanistic concern in making the problem o f universal suffering their most important preoccupation This frame of mind makes the concept of value the guiding principle of their religion Thus axiological concern constitute an important motivation of their religious philosophy Values reside in God. But the whole meaning and purpose of the conception of values is conditioned upon its utility to mankind. From this standpoint, their teaching is highly significant. Religion is inextricnbly bound up with n purpose, end or vniue Vnlur dcnotci n property possessed by a thing either o f conferring immediate satisfaction (or the opposite) or serving as a means of procuring it. The value of a thing presupposes a sympathetic universe behind it which somehow helps man in his endeavours to realize the highest good. In religious discourse, value is also identified with the quest for God God is the name of the cosmic power or force that helps the real satisfaction of values In modem times it is believed that religious affirmations are not expressions of theoretic insight. Unlike scientific understanding, philosophy and religion are concerned with value in an important sense. There are some purposes and ultimate goal controlling human life. Philosophy taking up the entire range of human experience, and religion standing o^the valid experience of religious consciousness, cannot neglect value The experience in which a religious believer finds God is value experience The judgment on the supremacy of God is a value judgment. Thus a typical religious attitude is an attitude towards value experience as a whole. This attitude consists in accepting that all value experience is somehow related to God who is the source of values and the supreme value1. An analysis of different value experience reveals different types of values It may be said that social values organize^ value experience from the standpoint of sharing, and intellectual values organized value experience from the standpoint of knowledge, so religious values organize it from the standpoint of worship2. It is the form in which the finite spirit realizes the presence of the infinite within it. It may be conceded that in the devotionalism of Sankardeva and Nanak none of the different types of values are considered to be autonomous or sovereign. A devotee is peculiarly conscious of the dependence of all values on their source, i.e., God. In Sankardeva’s thought, such a devotee is found to address to his God, “0 Lord, fulfill the desire of a devotee, bestow me 107 kama, moksa, dharma and artha”3, Likewise, in Nanak’s thought a devotee utters, “O primal word (the creator of) maya and the primal cause, hail to Thee, Thou that art truth, eternal bliss and beauty”4. God is the source o f all values. All other values are relative to and dependent on God. In Sankardeva and Nanak, the religious faith finds expression through the development of moral character. Moral values are in that way intimately associated with the religious values. Truth, a cognitive value, is for Sankardeva and Nanak, a religious value as well. Because it is in relation to God that everything is evaluated. It is in this vein Nanak says, “That alone is good which pleaseth my God”5. Objectivity of religious values ; For Sankardeva values are objective in the sense that the self has to realize them. To realize them is to discover them. Values are inalienably subjective qualities o f ideal entity or self in which they are rooted. This ideal entity or self is the spring o f value experience. Sankardeva depicts God as the source o f aesthetic, moral and spiritual values. As the repository of moral values, he is the cause o f the sansara, the protector of the devotees, the pure one and the destroyer o f sin. He subdues the demons and delights the gopis, lie i« tho blower o f Ihe fluid, the lord o f the wot Id, the bestowei o f salvation, the accompiisher of all, the ruler of destiny and the most compassionate one to the poor. He is pleased by devotion and dispels the sorrows. He is the lotus eyed, the destroyer o f fear6. As the spring of aesthetic values, God is eternally beautiful7 God, the source of moral 108 value is also the spiritual guide of the bhaktas. Sankardeva says, “The absolutely foolish people wander about aimlessly in this world for enjoyment in this as well as in the next birth. Such vile desires can be done away with by devotion to God. Let God be my spiritual Guru and wipe out the egoism from my mind so that I may escape from the drudgery of this world”8. This ideal self is the supreme bliss (parama ananda) and is found to utter the following words “I am the soul as such and the supreme bliss who resides in the person that entrusts ones mind to me becoming completely impartial towards all. The happiness or the bliss that such a person derives therefrom can nowhere be enjoyed by a person, whose mind is deeply engrossed in the worldly affairs”9. _ or Nanak, the name signifies all the auspicious qualities and the name and the lord who holds the qualities are synonymous. He has considered that the name and the lord should be regarded as a living entity. The name and the qualities are non different in the ultimate state. Nanak says, “I have assembled in my heart the capital o f the lords name. O God, whomsoever Thou blessest it with, he is emancipated. This treasure is neither burnt nor stolen, nor drowned, nor periseth”10. Here name is the supreme purusha. He is the supreme cause. He is the all good. He is the eternal truth. He is full o f kindness and grace11. Here, the name, who is the repository o f all the values is personified and is identified with the lord12. Thus, as in the religious thought o f Sankardeva, in Nanak also the values are grounded on the supreme self3. That the self is the supreme value is declared in the Brhadaranyaka text. It has been said that everything health, wealth, son, father, husband, wife is for the sake of the pleasure that one derives from the atman. In the absence of this atman nothing can be of 109 any value. “This self is dearer than the son, dearer than wealth, dearer than everything else, and is innermost”14. The ideal self is called purukh, in which all the values are conserved. It is what is called God, lord etc. in religious terminology. The expression used by the Sikh gurus in respect of God is “Thou” or “Tudh”, Teti, Turn etc.15. In the compositions of Nanak, a devotee is found to utter “Thou O God, art Thy only attribute, Thou the one who utterest, hearest, and dwellest on it. Thou thyself art the jewel, Thou the evaluator (thought) beyond value art Thou. Thou art the honour and the glory and Thou the giver o f them”16. A devotee thus believes that there are certain vital religious values which are met by the character of God as goodness, love and wisdom. Nanak employs the expressions like “Kimat” (price, value) in the compositions of japjees to denote the priceless worth and excellence o f the principle o f truth which must be made real in one’s deeper experience17. The human beings are not capable o f fathoming the full worth o f the ultimate values which are divine^/T© quote one o f such expressions priceless the devotion, priceless the absorption. Priceless the law divine, Priceless the master’s court - his shrine. Priceless the approval, priceless the bounties, 110 Priceless the command, priceless his mercies, Priceless beyond word, beyond thought, As great he is as him it pleaseth, How great is he, the true one alone And he, who presumes and says he knows, Is a fool among fools, as such he goes” 19. These expressions are suggestive o f Otto’s conception o f the Numinous and its relation with the absolute values. Rudolph Otto suggests that in the consciousness o f the numinous there are two elements viz., the element o f the “mysterious” and the element of the “absolute”. He argues that those who believe God as absolute thinks that as an absolute reality God is the embodiment o f absolute rational values and man as created spirits relatively realize the same values as are embodied in God in their striving in life. The difference between human love, knowledge and goodness with that o f divine love, knowledge and goodness is only one o f form and not o f content. This distinguishes the absolute attributes o f God and “makes them mysterious” and “wholly other”20. The nature of the absolute attribute is such that they cannot be grasped by the human mind, because human understanding can grasp only the relative. According to Otto, the Numinous or the Holy o f our religious consciousness as “wholly other” must be beyond even the absolute values which belong after all to the sphere of reason and religious consciousness is entirely mystical and “non-rational”21. Here Otto made valuable contribution to the problem of the relation between God and the absolute a vulues and Nanak’s thought certainly offered the ground or the germ of the idea. The values have human significance : While stressing the objectivity of religious values in Sankardeva and Nanak's thought, we must guard ourselves against a very important point. When values are treated to be objective, they do not lose the kind o f human significance which confer the religious thoughts of Sankardeva and Nanak a practical discipline and not merely a theoretical belief or attitude about the world. The values reside in the supreme being, but they are not without reference to mankind. They are not barren and purposeless from a human point of view. To be more precise, the social orientation of their religious world view have made values conditioned upon its utility to mankind. Both the thinkers consider religion as a social force, the grounds for which are to be discovered in the character of the individual himself. It should be cleared however that this emphasis on the social aspect of religion should not mislead us into much contused thinking sponsored by such writers as Emile Durkheim, Westermerck and others who endeavour to explain it by the genetic method The concept of “Sarba mukti” or “emancipation for all*” as in Mahayana Buddhism has * This is to be discussed at length in the chapter IV. 1 1 made religion a social force emphasizing the manifestation of the socially oriented practical principles of religious life. ^ It is to be observed that the problem o f value is primarily the problem of the concrete in contemporary western philosophy22. But paradoxical as it may seem, the search for values by most of our philosophers has been a quest in terms of formal essences or abstract criteria. It may be observed that this is due to the fact that western philosophy is usually rooted in the formal side of Aristotle’s logic and so it has largely developed in the form of abstract concepts, notions of the mind and formal essences We have an analogous situation in the classical Indian thought in the vedic and post vedic period with the exception in Buddhistic thought. The thoughts of Sankardeva and Nanak are a clear deviation from this. They are interested in the concrete within the sphere of religion, ethics and aethetics. As a matter o f fact, all the values which are grounded on the divine are the values by which human character is to be perfected; they are concretised by their manifestation in the society. Of late, the doctrine of the subjectivity o f value in the sense that values are merely matters of human interests, desires, and passions have been put forward. On this view, values cannot be supposed to form the character and content of reality. Spinoza, Hobbes, and materialists in the past and existentialists in recent times put forward arguments in favour of subjectivity of values. The subjectivity of moral values leads to the docliinc ol ethical relativity in the field of morals. It has taken many forms, some showing that values are matters of individual taste while others trying to establish that they are not eternal and change from time to time according to the conditions and social demands However, no !1 arguments about the subjectivity o f moral values can be sustained. This is also true about religious values. For the religious man, the order of reality and the order of value cannot our be separated from one another. The dominant belief o f a religious eidook consists in the contention that the world has a moral purpose. “To doubt the objectivity of value is to adopt what has been called scepticism of the Instrument in so extreme a form as to make all intellectual efforts futile”23. Man has fascination for the concreteness and so the realisation of values seems to be effective for him only when they are personified by being associated to some reality. “God is held to be real because of man’s intuitive appreciations of aspirations to possess the highest values. Thus valuational analysis is made the foundation of philosophy of religion”24. Sankardeva and Nanak were ‘personal absolutists’ in the sense that they look upon reality as the inexhaustible treasure house o f values in the realisation of which religious life seeks its fulfilment. Even Bradley, for whom reality is an impersonal force, have interpreted it in term of values. He says, “If metaphysics is to stand, it must think, take account of all sides of our being. I donot mean that everyone of our desires must be met by a promise of particular satisfaction, for that would be absurd and utterly impossible But if the main tendencies o f our nature donot reach satisfaction in the Absolute, we cannot believe that we have attained to perfection and truth”25. He says further, "we must believe that reality satisfies our whole being. Our main wants for truth and life and for beauty and goodness must all find satisfaction”26. ) 114 Thus the realm of values form the common point of meeting for both an Absolutist and theist in that, for both, reality is all-inclusive and therefore, it has to provide some explanation for values ns well. Relation between intrinsic and extrinsic values : Theoretically speaking, values are distinguished into intrinsic and extrinsic. A value is said to be intrinsic when it is choosen for its own sake. Something is valuable because it is preferred. Hence the element of preference involved is regarded as ultimate or final, a value is said to be intrinsic27. A value whose basal preference is subordinate to some other preference is said to be an extrinsic or instrumental value. Thus, something is intrinsically valuable when it is judged to be valuable in its own right and which consequently can be said to be of absolute worth. An extrinsic value is one which is judged to be valuable because o f its relation to another value in respect o f which it is a means. Thus an intrinsic value is an end in itself, while an extrinsic value is a means to an end which is valued. Hence, the problem of the relation between intrinsic and extrinsic value is the problem of the relation between ends and means. Value is closely related to that o f the conception of end. The two ideas imply one another. Both rest upon and psychologically develop out of, man’s conscious activity28. Conative activity is always a striving towards some results. The satisfaction in the result or the enjoyment o f the result constitute a value-feeling. These elementary feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction are the rudimentary facts which make spiritual development possible. There is however one important distinction between value and an end. When we think of value we think of satisfaction in the result of a process; when we think of end we think of the process itself moving to its goal The end gives stimulus and direction to endeavour, while value denotes endeavour satisfactorily completed29. Theoretically, the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic value is not difficult to state. But it involves considerable difficulty to analyse and apply the distinction practically in the religious discourse. It may be noted that the term ‘extrinsic’ and ‘intrinsic’ are used relatively within the whole range o f extrinsic values. Their relativity is due to the fact that sometimes what is intrinsic from one level of our life becomes extrinsic when that level is transcended. But it may be pointed out that from the highest level of our spiritual develop ment the intrinsic values become identical with Absolute values30. In the devotionalism o f Sankardeva and Nanak spiritual realisation is a whole-some endeavour. In this, the practice of certain values are held to be necessary These values participate in the ultimate and ideal spiritual realisation. In connection with the pertinent question of the relation between intrinsic and extrinsic values, we would like to proceed to discuss the significance of devotion and the way in which it is preferred even to mukti. A clear understanding of this is expected to throw light on the relation between intrinsic and extrinsic values. For a devotee, the supreme object of interest is God. He is the supreme value All other values are relative to and dependent on God, their source. But this doesnot mean that they are equally removed from the supreme value. On the contrary, Sankardeva and 116 Nanak in their religious thought attach a special importance ta the value o f devotion S&nkardeva says, “All virtues lead to devotion. So he who resorts to Me by discarding his own form of religion subdues me, and lie l aver, O friend is really saintly"'1, Likewise, Nanak states that one who listens to His name with devotion acquires courage, contentment, holiness, learning, loyalty, truth and wisdom”32. One who obeys him, concentrates his name in mind and realises God in self, achieves a state of bliss which is beyond experience. He is virtuous, does not suffer punishment and is absorbed in God. He not only himself achieves salvation, but also saves his disciples and followers33. We have already stated in the proceeding chapter that bhakti is accompanied by an absolute self surrender to God and a feeling o f joy and happiness in serving or worshipping him. The superiority and efficacy o f bhakti in this Kali age has been maintained by both Nanak and Sankardeva. Thus Nanak says that in the Kali age*, the most sublime thing is the Lord’s name34. Sankardeva also states in a similar tone, “In Satya yuga man resorted to meditation, in Treta yuga he performed sacrifices. In Dwapara yuga he obtained the desired objects by worshipping God. In Kali yuga, the act o f singing Hari’s glory is the highest virtue”35. Devotion, or bhakti thus, is a special value o f Kali age (present age). Both the thinkers are unanimous in holding that in Kali age bhakti is the best mode o f worship in as * Nanak has mentioned the four ages like S&nkardeva. He goes further and states their nature : “for the spirit-filled human body there is a chariot and a charioter. A ge after age they change, yea, the w ise one knoweth it aU. In the age o f Satya, contentment is the chariot and religion the charioter. In the treta age, continence is the chariot and the power drives it on. In the Daapar age, austerity is the chariot and chanty is its driving force. In the kali age the chariot is o f fire and ‘tis driven along by falsehood” - N a n a k : Asa v a r : Tr. by Dr. G. Singh. Guru N an ak : P. 118. 117 much as God can be easily pleased by bhakti alone. Further, it is easy to practise and accessible to all irrespective of caste and creed, the high and the low36. Sankardeva asserts the supremacy o f bhakti in the following lines. “Bhakti is mother, father, friend, brother,.... and the highest treasure of life. Bhakti is the movement (gati), the desire (mati) and guiding force of life. It is the highest desire and wealth (vitta) and the germ of liberation; it is the solace o f life, the vital breath of the body as it were. There is no other way of life save and except bhakti in this world and next”37. Nanak in his japjis, have repeatedly asserted that the true way is to hear and believe of Him with love, devotion and concentration o f mind38. When one dwells in the indwelling name and ignites it, his mind becomes more precious and illuminated than the gems, jewels, and rubies39. Certain virtues are enlisted on the various stanzas o f japjis. These virtues help man to concentrate on God. These are chastity, compassion, contentment, devotion, discipline, divinity, faith, humility, knowledge, patience, renunciation (non-covetousness), self-repect, truth, and understanding40. These virtues are in fact, religious values in as much as they are prerequisites to concentrate on God. In Sankardeva also, the universally accepted conducts o f right living and praise worthy virtues have been extolled, while vices have been deprecated. These qualities may be enumerated as truthfulness, indifference to worldly pleasures, kindness, hospitality, tem perance, contenment, patience, purity o f heart, humility, control over passions etc. But non-violence or mercy towards all creatures have been recognised as an excellent virtue41. 118 The devotional writings o f Sankardeva and Nanak regard bhakti as more important than mukti. It has been said that a true devotee never hankers after Slyujya mukti and considers the state of bhakti superior to mukti. It is again stated that the devotees of Krsna refuse even Salokya mukti in Vaikuntha (heaven) if it is offered without providing any opportunity for practising devotion42. Thus, between the two, i.e., devotion and liberation - the basal preference goes for the devotion. The terms devotion and liberation here should be carefully understood. In liberation, a blissful state is attained by the soul by merging itself in God, but looses its separate identity to taste the happiness and joy o f serving or enjoying the beautiful form o f God. In bhakti or devotion one can merge with God still living in the world but does not loose its separate identity so that he can serve and witness the beatific form o f God43. The choice for devotion over liberation strikes at another important point. To opt for devotion is also to opt for this world. This worldly life is not to be renounced but to be accepted with its fullness. “Religion, in theory atleast, requires us to renounce the world, the flesh asserts itself, the devil has its due and the world expects us to work in it, making it better or worse. Even religious leaders are worldly in spirit. Even if we are asked to withdraw from life, It is as a preparation for participating in life and reforming it...”44. In the religious thoughts o f Sankardeva and Nanak, the world is a positive value. One is required to denounce the world neither in theory nor in practice. Even if one is asked to withdraw from life, that is as a “preparation for participating in life and reforming it”. The Indian concept o f values is represented in the concept o f four-fold aim of human life (catuspurusartha) which consists o f dharma, artha, kama and moksa4S. The 119 special consideration for moksa dominates the philosophical activity in Tndin, It is a value of transcendental state which refuses to be harmonised with the so called emperical values. Because, on the attainment of liberation - the summum bonura, there remains nothing to be attained. This implies that in the face of the spiritual, other so called values must lose their value. The case is just the reverse in Nanak and Sankardeva, The summum bonum is not liberation, but devotion. This makes the significant difference. “The problem how to decide between competing values could only be solved by the acceptance of a standard of value; and a consistant standard o f value could not be secured unless a central or supreme value was presupposed. The possession of an ideal value as a standard made it possible to organise the values of life in a graduated system, where the lower stood to the higher in the relation o f means and end”46. The line o f thought developed by Sankardeva and Nanak represent values forming a system. There cannot be radical opposition among the various emperical values. This is not because o f the simple acceptance o f a central or supreme value, - but because, that supreme value is devotion itself. This is to be experienced in the emperical existence in a society o f selves. Thus as soon as devotion or bhakti is valued even to mukti, the other so called emperical values are automatically harmonised. This emphasis on devotion reminds one to an important principle o f religion to which Josiah Royce calls “Loyalty”. Loyalty is said to be “the will to believe something eternal and to express that belief in the practical life o f human being, Tt is a positive devotion o f the self to its cause.... it refers first to a cause to which one is loyal, secondly, it implies a whole-hearted, complete exclusive, unswerving, willing devotion to it. Thirdly, the expression o f such an attitude in the behaviour of the individual by being always 120 devoted to the service of the cause”47. The Indian word “bhakti” perhaps comes very near to Royce’s concept o f loyalty. Loyalty is a devotion to a cause, Royce defines the cause in the following words - “The cause for any such devoted servant o f a cause as we have been describing is some concieved, and yet also real, spiritual unity which links many individual lives in one and which is therefore essentially superhuman, in exactly the sense in which we found the realities o f the world o f the reason to be superhuman”48. Thus, devotion to a cause constitute loyalty. The cause in both Sankardeva and Nanak constitute spiritual unity. Devotion, in the sense o f loyalty to a cause possesses the character o f unifying all men in the spirit o f fellow-feeling or community. Devotion is thus the whole-hearted thorough going committment to a cause, that is, spiritual unity. Devotion, in this sense is identical with the pursuit of all such values and ideals which constitute larger and larger communities culminating in the brotherhood o f all mankind This parhaps explains why such a devotee prefers devotion even to liberation. He is as Royce says, “concretely loyal” . To quote him, “that is whoever wholly gives himself to some cause that binds many human souls in one superhuman unity, is just in so far serving the cause not only o f all mankind, but o f all the rational spiritual world”49. With this explanation o f the deeper implications o f devotion, w e are in a better position to enter into the understanding o f the crucial relation between intrinsic and extrinsic values. So tar as the question o f ends and means are concerned, for both the thinkers, bhakti is clearly stated to be the means to attain liberation. Liberation is to merge in God. In their thought we have seen that God is good in itself, in the all-embracing sense of the word. He is the true, the beautiful, the moral good, the life etc. So God is the allembracing absolute value. Apparently, bhakti is the instrumental value in the sense that it is a means to something desirable or good, The matter however, does not end here. At this point, the question o f the basal preference involved, deserves special attention On the one hand, it is stated that bhakti leads to mukti and on the other hand, basal preference is associated with bhakti. We have seen that bhakti is emphatically preferred even to mukti Does it involve any contradiction ? The contradiction so concieved is only apparent, noi real. Bhakti as loyalty to a cause is enough to show why the question o f basal preference is associated with it. Bhakti as loyalty is both a means and an end. What is important here is the way in which a devotee directs his efforts to realise the goal. It has become clear by now that devotees should not direct their efforts to the attainment o f salvation It would mean some sort o f selfishness on the part o f the devotee if his efforts were directed solely towards attaining salvation. Liberation can be achieved by way o f devotion, but this is not his intended aim. This is an unintended aim o f a bhakta which comes automatically in its own course. It is inherent in bhakti50. Hence the goal is bhakti, not mukti. Bhakti to whom ? It is to God or God’s name. Here the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic value shedes off. Bhakti with all its implications is intrinsic value along with God. Consequently, the worldly life has a great extrinsic value because it is in this life one can serve God through devotion. The catagory o f means and ends however, involves considerable difficulty Without going to the intricacies o f such problems two ambiguities associated with the 122 meaning of the word ‘end’ must be cleared, Firstly, an end is the result but not a mere result - it is a chosen and intended result. Secondly, an end may mean termination or climax51. In the present context, it is the latter which is considered to be important. Morality and religion: No account of the religious philosophy o f any thinker can be considered complete unless one dwells also on the interrelation o f morality and religion. With regard to the relation o f religion and morality, different views have been taken. (1) Religion and morality are inseparable and interdependent. (2) Religion is independent o f morality. (3) Morality is independent o f religion as an autonomous discipline. In the contemporary ethical thinking, the question of the autonomy o f ethics is a very hotly debated issue. Ethics is autonomous in the sense that it cannot be a branch of any other discipline. Goodness is its own reward. Without going to the intricacies o f such debate one observation must be made at the outset, that the problem of the relation between different disciplines arise only at a comparatively advanced stage o f culture. Morality and religion like science and art had proved themselves as normal aspects of human culture. Some sort o f connection must subsist between them, for each in its own way is a reaction of the human spirit on the facts o f experience. In face o f their common 123 origin, then, one would say that there must he bonds of affinity between them52 In the idealistic philosophies of S&nkardeva and Nanak, the two cannot be split into two noncommunicative territories. A brief analysis o f certain striking features o f the morality in the religious thoughts o f Sankardeva and Nanak will help towards a conclusion about the relation between morality and religion in their thought. The basic assumption that precedes every endeavour in Sikhism is the fact of underlying spiritual unity which sums through all. “Within us is God, without us is God too, yea, God is in the three worlds”53. As being created from this single source all are contained in God. It is thus concieved that all are spiritually related. The moral trouble lies in the human failure to discern this element o f unity54. The failure to discern this unity is ascribed to the influence of consciousness of individuation (haumai). The moral agent is required to direct his efforts to the realisation o f this underlying spiritual unity o f the self. In this respect, Nanak stresses on the need to realise the unity in terms o f actions. The effort through which the moral agent is to realise the underlying spiritual unity of the self, necessitates moral progress. This is an ethico-spiritual progress leading to an unitive experience. In this the conserted efforts o f the whole personality along with the grace of God is involved. The ethico-spiritual progress: The path o f spiritual progress described by Nanak at the end o f japji in the Adi Granth has been interpreted in the preceeding chapter from the standpoint o f the elements o f religious consciousness. The process comprising o f khands, is very important from the 124 standpoint o f morality as well. It points to a life o f progress towards the solution of the contradiction between man’s higher and lower nature which is accompanied by the transformation of the lower into the organ or expression o f the higher. This is a basic problem o f morality. The essence of the moral life in Sikhism consists in the renounciation of the private or exclusive self and the identification o f our being with an widening sphere of spiritual life beyond us55. Morality thus implies progress. This progress in Sikh ethics is concieved in the six fold stages. These are (1) A preparatory stage. Nanak has given no specific name to it. But its crucial importance lies in the way in which it describes the spirit of the proceeding seeker. (2) Dharam khand, the second stage is generally rendered as region o f customary or conventional morality36. (3) Gian khand, the cognitive dimension. (4) The Saram khand or the aesthetic dimension. (5) The Karam khand or the dimension o f action. (6) The Sach khand, the dimension of truth. In the first stage of the journey o f moral transformation undergone by a person, what is required to be of great importance is the spirit of renunciation of pride. It is in this spirit, the devotee utters, “No power to speak, or silence to keep. No power to beg, no power to give. No power to die, no power to live. No power to rule, or gather the soul. 125 No power to awaken the soul to wisdom, No power to find the way to freedom. He alone hath the power, He alone hath the way. And, of ourselves which high, which low, O none can say.” 57 The insignificance of the seeker is expressed in the following attitude - “...H e who thinks o f himself much, in vain, And will look small in God’s domain” .58 Sankardeva also stresses the spirit in which a person is to proceed. It is one of humility and equipoise. A devotee has no pride o f his achievements. There is not the slightest sense of pride in him59. In the stage of Dharam khand, the moral agent is to cultivate moral virtues and perform his social obligations60. It is the moral context in which the moral agent resides. There is no specific duties mentioned in connection with this stage. The fact o f situational peculiarities makes it not possible to lay down specific duties in each case61. In the next progressive stage, there is a process of gradual realisation in and through the dimensions o f knowledge, feeling and action. The apex o f the moral progress is to be reached through the integration o f knowledge, feeling and action. Nanak does not mention the apex, namely the Sach khand as an independent stage. It is an integral stage where knowledge, feeling and action are all fused. “The provision of the Sach khand shows that all these are not isolatory but are integrated62. This is the ultimate stage where 126 none but the true one manifests. This also indicates that the whole moral endeavour of the agent culminates in a spiritual realisation. In Bhakti-ratnakar, and also in Nimi-nava-siddha-sambada, devotees are classified into three classes on the basis of the nature o f the stage achieved by them in the ethicospiritual progress. They are (1) Uttama (Best), (2) Madhyama (Middling) and (3) Prakrta (Ordinary). The classification is not exclusive but integral. The three types differ in the possession of certain moral values. The difference is however, one o f degree. In short, one who sees God in all creatures, who does not inflict violence towards anybody, who is indifferent to worldly pleasures, who sheds off greed, attachment, desire, anger and who never acts in view o f results is the uttama bhakat63. One who is friendly with the society, have respect for the superior and bestows kindness to the inferior is the madhyama bhakat64. On the other hand, one who worships the image o f God with devotion but have no special feelings for the devotees of God and other persons is the prakrta bhakat65. Certain qualities like sacrifice, mental tranquillity, self control, forgiveness, faith, modesty, aversion etc. are possessed by the best type o f devotee in a maximum degree, the ordinary devotee in a minimum degree, and the medium type o f devotee stands in between. Bhaktiratnakara have recorded and Katha-guru-carita have referred to antaranga bhakti as the supreme devotion66. In this mental state, a devotee perceives the immanence o f God in all animate and inanimate objects and devotees. Under such a state of mind one develops respect for all objects and consider them as his own self67. In Bhakti-ratnakara, it is stated that God’s grace favours those who practise devotion in the association o f devotees68. Such a devotee achieves a mental state of 127 indifference to worldly pleasures and knowledge of God comes to him which in turn begets liberation. Like Nanak, Sankardeva also emphasises the importance of a preparatory mental state. The ground for the cultivation of the name of God is to be cleared first. It is only in such a mental state God’s name can be implanted. But until and unless God favours him with His grace, he cannot expect to attain knowledge69. Till this stage is reached, a man should perform such duties as are not in conflict with the path of devotion. The last stage or the ideal stage is the stage of complete detachment or indif ference to worldly pursuits70* . In the final stage, ordinary ethical laws of good and bad conduct cease to operate on him. But till the final and ideal stage is reached, a devotee should scrupulously observe prescriptions and injunctions of the sastras. Defiance or transgression of those sastric codes is adharma or sin. This gradual process of spiritual elevation towards the attainment of the ideal bhakti, has been termed as Pippalayana bhakti in Katha-guru-carita, because it is advocated by Pippalayana, one of the nine siddhas who gives devotional instructions to the Nimi71. It becomes clear from the above analysis that Nanak as well as Sankardeva in their own ways recognise a basic fact o f human life. The fact being that in man there is a discord between two natures - a higher nature - which is rational and universal and another which is particular, limited. The solution of the problem as to how this contradiction can HUhakli lias been classified into several types in the Assamese devotional scriptures. The Bluikli-ralnakara o f Sankardeva classifies bhakti into four types viz., (1) Saprema, (2) Nirguna, (3) Antaranga, (4) Uttama. We are not concerned here with the classification as such for two reasons. Firstly, they are not important from the standpoint o f morality as they are not suggestive o f moral progress or development o f the moral agent Here we are concerned only on those aspects which are significant from the ethical point o f view. Secondly, the classification is not based on any scientific differentiation o f the salient features o f Bhakti. The characteristics o f one type are not peculiar to that type - they overlap. 128 be solved furnishes the key to man’s life as a moral and spiritual being. Morality can offer only a partial solution to this discord. Hence it has to transcend to a still higher stage where this division in man’s nature can be healed. It is religion which can solve it com pletely. The achievement consists in a step by step process. Each step being a step of spiritual development. Incidentally, it is interesting to note that in Buddhism, though in a different background, the ethico-spiritual progress o f the seeker is conceived in various stages. These stages are four in Mahayana Buddhism and eight in Hinayana Buddhism. The stages are called Bhumis72 The seeker is required to shed his false notion prior to the commencement of the spiritual progress in the pre - bhumi stage, somewhat similar to the preparatory stage in Nanak’s thought. A Putthujjana is defined in the Majjhima Nikaya as “one who labours under the delusion o f I-ness and mine-ness. Not knowing the true law, he develops attachments to things which he should avoid”73. In Sankardeva, though the stages are not clear-cut, they are o f course discernible. Sankardeva shows how the seeker prior to the commencement of his journey affirms his insignificance in the total scheme74. In a way, asramadharma of the Hindus also describes the various stages o f spiritual progress. There is however, a difference between the two approaches. In Sikhism, the khands do not stand for controls as in Buddhism, and as implied in asramadharma, they cannot be described as division o f life75. The way in which JNanak and Sankardeva deal with the whole issue, we may find a fine exposition o f how the gap between morality and religion is bridged. 129 Here a very important question emerges as to whether in Sikhism as propounded by Nanak, the process of realisation of the three khands5 is simultaneous or not Interesting discussions may take place in this regard. We may however mention the views of three eminent scholars of Sikhism. They are Sher Singh, Surindar Singh Kohli and Avtar Singh. Sher Singh regards the process o f realisation of these three khands not as simultaneous process while he says : “The defect o f the intellect makes us emotionally alive and we enter a region of happiness”76. Surindar Singh Kohli also holds a similar view while he says, “This realisation takes him into the next region, i.e., the region of effort (saram khand), wherein he beautifies and purifies his mind and intellect”77. Here, progress in the realisation is conceived in terms of step by step process, that is, finishing one and then entering into another. Avtar Singh maintains, “Knowledge and feeling are to function in harmony with action. But in so far as the realisation of the ideal o f all these three is concerned, they mark a sort of continuity”78. The interpretation that the seeker first fur nishes with one and then enter another region cannot be held on the ground that the khands do not stand for the division of life as it is the case with Hindu asramadharma. Further, all the three khands of tri-dimensional progress have reference to three elements of human mind viz., intellectual, emotional, and affective. These three elements are not isolated fragmentary elements of human consciousness. Hence the view of Avtar Singh to consider the fact of simultaneous realisation instead o f continuous transition from one 1 The field of realisation is though six fold, the first two and the last One may not be called dimensions in the sense in which the remaining three can be so named. The predimension stage points the very spirit in which the seeker proceeds in his march to progress. The second, Dharam khand, reminds one that a ■ person must accept the situation in which he is placed. The last one, namely, the Sach Khand, is not mentioned by Nanak as an independent dimension. Though these are very crucial for the progress, they are not independent dimensions. Hence, we are left with three dimensions namely, Gyan Khand, Saram Khand, and the Karain Kliand. 130 khand to another seems quite tenable. Further this view presents us the whole scheme of progress as one of integrated progress of which Avtar Singh describes as “Integrative Spiritual Practicalism”79. Morality serves as the social dimension of religion : The religious thoughts o f Sankardeva and Nanak have a strong social dimension. This leads them to insist on the fact that pursuit o f religion is not at the cost o f the duties of the members of the society54. The devotee belongs to an environment or society of persons to whom he bears some obligations, Sankardeva and Nanak have repeated the point that without membership in the community, man cannot fulfill himself. Even salvation comes through service. In fact, the test of spiritual realisation is in the conduct of the person. This is called his Rahit (conduct)80. Nanak remarks, “when one dwells on the word, one’s mind flows out to serve the others.... On hearing guru’s word, one becomes jivan mukta. His conduct is pious (or true) and he is ever in bliss”81. In this, they depart from the traditional division o f life into four stages in the ethics o f the Hindus. According to the traditional Hindu ethics, in order to realise the supreme ideal a person should completely renounce the social context. But both Nanak and Sankardeva emphasised the %The folio-wing incident throws light on this. In one o f the Hariprasangas Sankardeva noticed that a noted devotee was absent. The reason for his absence was, it was learnt, that he was attending an ailing friend of his in the Kevaliyahati. On knowing this, some of the devotees were alarmed and expressed their concern over the behaviour of the devotee who so neglected the prayer. Sdnkardeva, however, reacted in the following way : “The devotee has done well. To serve a man is to serve God. He has done the real act of service. My 'dear children, follow his example and do social service”, - H.M.Das : Contributions of Sdnkardcva: P.i 25. i 131 need for a change in attitude; the context of this change must be social. Even in this stage, a devotee does not cease to work. The following remark well expresses the real import of such a state. “True self freedom can never think of the restricted self expression of any unit of life. His free instincts will revolt against such an idea. He will earnestly work to secure full realisation of free life for all.... He will do everything that leads to the highest good of all.... To work for highest life is to work for all life, for all is in that One”82. The relation between morality and religion in Sankardeva and Nanak is broad based upon this conception. We have seen that moral life implies progress. Now, it is evident that a religious life too implies a progress. But, unlike morality which is progress only towards the infinite, religion implies progress within the infinite. Hence, while morality is the pursuit o f an ever eluding infinite, religion is the ever deepening conscious ness of an infinite that is already in our possession83. Metaphysical basis of morality : Unlike the modem thinkers Sankardeva and Nanak were critical o f any system of ethics cut off from metaphysics. Morality is based upon certain metaphysical assumption. Man has to live for an ideal, for a purpose, or goal. The goal is to realise the unity of man. This ideal itself is a metaphysical character. Sankardeva and Nanak have recognised the basic truth that cut off from the ontological foundation morality degenerates into expediency and prudence. That is why the relation between morality and religion is very intimate in the religious philosophy of Nanak and Sankardeva. The general Christian 132 thinking is also in line with this. For a devotee, the idea o f perfect goodness and the idea of God coincide. That is why in obeying commands of duty and in the cultivation of goodness the devotee feels that he is obeying God. Here, one proceeds from religion to ethics rather than from ethics to religion. Here the following remark made by Dr. TrueBlood is significant: “Some o f the hardest problems of our day are moral problems, rather than economic or political ones but, moral problems as they are, many of them cannot be solved except on a religious basis.... we will not accept all man as brothers until we are really humble, and we are not really humble until we measure ourselves by the revealation of the living God”84. Practical M oralists. Sankardeva and Nanak were practical moralists. Their chief concern is not to discuss what goodness is, but how to become a good man. This led Nanak to say, “Truth is higher than everything, higher still is true living”85. Morality is not a question o f laws and conventions but one o f purity of mind and actions as its outward manifestations86. The all important thing is the realisation o f truth as it is encountered in the experience than in the striving after a theoretical, dry-as-dust, empty and abstract logical compatibility. 133 Sikhism as propounded by Nanak and Vaisnavism as propounded by Sankardeva are predominantly normative and it is natural for them to encourage the members of the faith group to move in the desired direction. The fundamental aim o f their thinking is to link the daily life of human beings with the eternal purpose of life, and inspire moral and spiritual unity amongst people. Religion, according to them is integration. It transforms the whole being of the individual self. But this transformation is not confined to the individual’s private self. It must spread to the community or social self. They realise the ethico-social importance of religion. Moral actions of a person is the necessary factor in self realisation. Moral actions and self realisation go completely together. It is because o f this reason morality and religion in their thought are complementary to each other. Consequently, each and every moral value is at once a religious value. The gap between religion and morality is bridged. All values are grounded on the absolute. But are to be realised subjectively by the self through his active effort. Sankardeva and Nanak were not that type of mystics who turned their back to the world. For Nanak this world is an abode of truth (Sac di kothdi), and a temple of righteous living (Dharamsal)87. Sankardeva too, maintains that this earth, though temporal, yet is instrumental to the realisation of highest value88. In these teachings, they were realists. Hence through the philosophy of activity they have offered a unique way of har monising mysticism with realism. 134 In their ethico-religious philosophy of values, both the thinkers are idealists; in the question of enforcing these values or principles they are relativists. They are relativists in the sense that according to them, absolute perfection can be achieved by means of relative goodness. This position reconciles the dualism o f idealism and pragmatism. They are pragmatists in the sense of being practical. But they never identify the truth with the use ful. We therefore come to the conclusion that morality and religion in Sankardeva and Nanak are never opposed to each other. Nor one is subordinate to another. Man’s awareness of infinity produces in them a desire (propensity) to realise this infinity fully in this life. This is both a religious and moral endeavour. 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