Insight Spring 2020

Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy in Sikhism and Hinduism Nikita Coppiseti ’22 Rumi once mused, “The lamps are different, but the Light is the same.”

This saying about observing similarities in differences can be translated onto viewing texts, more specifically Sikh and Hindu texts. Sikhism veers away from Hinduism in the sense that God is inherently part of everyone regardless of status, whereas Hindus’ connections to God are restricted by caste level. However, these contrasting religions are rather similar in many ways. Both the Guru Granth Sahib, the central sacred text of Sikhism, and the Bhagavad Gita, a section of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, stress that God is an all-knowing creator with the ability to demolish evil. The writings give prominence to similar orthodoxies about God. Furthermore, Guru Nanak’s three teachings highlight that to be on the path to God, one must share, remember God, and work hard to earn an honest living. Similarly, bhakti yoga and karma yoga focus on the way to God as loving God and acting without selfishness. In reading the Guru Granth Sahib through the lens of the descriptions of God in the Bhagavad Gita and in examining Guru Nanak’s three teachings through the lens of the practices of bhakti and karma yoga, the revelations uncovered suggest that the orthodoxy and orthopraxy of Sikhism and Hinduism emphasize related ideas, implying that the two religions are more fundamentally similar than they are different.

The Guru Granth Sahib and the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, “Divine Splendor,” both pronounce God an immortal who can terminate malevolent thoughts or actions. Where the Guru Granth Sahib states that God is “[t]he creator,” Krishna calls himself “the source from which the gods and sages / come” and “the Lord of all / creation,” another example of Sikhism and Hinduism agreeing on a major orthodoxy about God (Bhagavad Gita 52). Furthermore, the Guru Granth Sahib expresses God as an “Eternal Being… Beyond birth and death… [and ] Time / And Space,” and Arjuna describes Krishna as an “eternal spirit” who is “unborn / and infinite” (Fisher 444, Bhagavad Gita 53). These core ideas regarding God’s nature appear in both Sikhism’s sacred text and the Bhagavad Gita. Moreover, the Guru Granth Sahib proclaims that God is “[t]he ruthless destroyer / Of all pride and evil,” and Krishna declares, “I destroy the darkness / of [my followers’] ignorance” (Fisher 444, Bhagavad Gita 53). These two 60