A saint criticising a saint! Why would a religious person who is supposed to have achieved a higher level of consciousness do so?
Sant is basically a person of great holiness, virtue and benevolence. The word “sant” is said to be derived from “shant”, meaning “quite” or “at peace”, especially with oneself.
In the Guru Granth Sahib, sant is defined as the one who is not only a holy person theologically but is an ideal spiritual person having the qualities of humility, compassion, truth, generosity and without any enmity.
The sant while performing his secular or worldly duties ever remains engrossed in sadhana through meditation on “Shabad”.
In Sanskrit there is another connotation of the word “sant” — that is “sunn” referring to “void” or “emptiness” and is applicable to God. But in Sikhism sunn does not mean nothing or an empty void. It is not a negative concept but rather reflects a positive attribute of the cosmos.
Guru Nanak’s notion of sunn is like the emptiness of the vase, the essential intrinsic nature and quality of the pot. Sunn is within us and with practice we have to attain the stage to view every-one and everything without any discrimination — whether it is pleasure or pain, good or bad.
The light of the formless Creator or sunn pervades the world and the sant, with the realisation of His supreme hukam (will), becomes the manifestation of the ultimate reality.
He alone is the learned pundit who has realised the divine truth, says the Guru. The first step towards this state of realisation or sunn is to rid oneself of false ego or pride. Haumai, just the opposite of humility, makes man ignorant of the existence and interests of others and leads to selfishness.
Guru Nanak says, “The door of salvation is narrow and he who is humble passes through it. How can the mind that has grown gross with ego pass through it?”
In the Guru Granth Sahib, the sant is defined as the salt of the earth and the hope of mankind. “He knows God to be close to his heart, name alone is the sustenance of the sant; A sant considers himself to be the dust of the feet of all. This, brothers, is the sants’ way of life”, says Guru Arjan.
Kulbir Kaur teaches sociology at Shyama Prasad Mukherji College, Delhi University
