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Im Folgenden sind persönliche Meinungen renommierter Persönlichkeiten über die Sikh-Religion zusammen gestellt. Es sprechen Nobelpreisträger, Historiker, Philosophen, Theologen und Schriftsteller.
At one occasion, when the nobel laureate Rabinderanath Tagorehe was being interviewed, he was asked which should be the International anthem which can express the whole cosmos. He turned ascetic and replied that the worshipping hymn composed by Guru Nanak Dev, “gagan mai thaal rav chand deepak banay taarikaa mandal janak motee” would be the best international anthem interpreting the whole creation. This short divinely hymn celebrates the glory of creator and his creation in a beautiful way. The creator and his creation are beautifully intermingled in this short but very deep verse. According to Tagore this is the superb piece of verse in the whole world literature.
— Rabinderanath Tagore
I have studied the scriptures of the great religions, but I do not find elsewhere the same power of appeal to the heart and mind as I find here in these volumes. They are compact in spite of their length and are a revelation of the vast reach of the human heart, varying from the most noble concept of God to the recognition and indeed the insistence upon the practical needs of human body. There is something strangely modern about these scriptures and this puzzled me until I learned that they are in fact comparatively modern, compiled as late as the 16th Century when explorers were beginning to discover that the globe, upon which we all live, is a single entity divided only by arbitrary lines of our own making. Perhaps this sense of unity is the source of power I find in these volumes. They speak to person of any religion or of none. They speak for the human heart and the searching mind.
— Mrs. Pearl S. Buck, Nobel laureate | “Translation of Guru Granth Sahib”, Vol 1, Page XIV
“If some lucky men survive the onslaught of the third world war of atomic and hydrogen bombs, then the Sikh religion will be the only means of guiding them.” When asked, “isn’t this religion capable of guiding mankind before the third world war?”, he said, “Yes it has the capability, but the Sikhs haven’t brought out in the broad daylight the splendid doctrines of this religion, which has come into existence for the benefit of the entire mankind. This is their greatest sin and the Sikhs cannot be freed of it.”
— Bertrand Russell, Philosopher, Mathematician 1872-1970
"Sikhism, indeed itself revealed something of what in the last analysis religion is. It is an independent and conspicuous order of its own. ... The religion of the Guru Granth is a universal and practical religion ... Due to ancient prejudices of the Sikhs it could not spread in the world. The world today needs its message of peace and love.
— John Clark Archer, Scholar of religions | “Hinduism and Buddhism”, London, p. 267
The more I dug into the pages of Guru Granth the more I fell in love with them ... It is enough for us to take as it comes to us, to hear the lovely music in the truths he sang, to try to live the life of inspired service and practical devotion which he taught. For these things the world will always be in debt to Guru Nanak and to those through whom he spoke in the succeeding generations.
— Duncan Greenless, Theosophist from U.S.A. | “The Gospel of Guru Granth Sahib”
Mankind's religious future may be obscure; yet one thing can be foreseen. The living higher religions are going to influence each other more than ever before, in the days of increasing communications between all parts of the world and branches of human race. In this coming religious debate, the Sikh religion and its scripture, Guru Granth, will have something special of value to say to the rest of the world.
— Arnold Toynbee | “UNESCO Selections from Sacred Writings of Sikhs”, foreword p. 10
The Sikh religion differs as regards the authenticity of its dogmas from other great theological systems. Many of the great teachers the world has known have not left a line of their own composition, and we only know what they taught through tradition or second-hand in-formation. We know the teachings of Socrates only through the writings of Plato and Xenophan. Buddha has left no written memorials of his teachings. Kung-fu-zu, known to Europeans as Confucius left no documents in which he detailed the principles of his moral and social system. The Founder of Christianity did not reduce his doctrines to writing and for them we are obliged to trust to the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Arabian Prophet did not himself reduce to writing the chapters of the Quran. They were written or compiled by his adherents and followers. But the compositions of the Sikh Gurus are preserved, and we know at first hand what they taught. They employed the vehicle of verse, which is generally unalterable by copyists, and we even become in time familiar with their different styles. No spurious compositions or extraneous dogmas can, therefore, be represented as theirs ... As we shall see hereafter, it would be difficult to point to a religion of greater originality or to a more comprehensive ethical system. ... It would be difficult to point to a religion of greater originality or to a more comprehensive ethical system than Sikh religion. The Sikh scriptures contain sublime truths the study of which cannot but elevate the reader spiritually, morally and socially. There is not the tinge of sectarianism in them. They teach the highest and purest principles that serve to bind the man to man and inspire the believer with an ambition to serve the fellow men, to sacrifice all and to die for their sake. The Sikh religion compared to other religions presents no mysteries and embraces an ethical system, such as has never been excelled if indeed it has never been equaled. It offers few points of attack than any other theological system.
— Max Arthur Macauliffe, British Historian | “Sikh Religion," published by Oxford University Press in 1909
Guru Nanak saved Sikhs from those blunders in which Indian society had been indulging for centuries and he instructed the Sikhs for the remembrance of God and truthful character and in this manner he founded the religion simple, clear-cut, independent and beyond the false rituals and rites. It was on these basic principles that Guru Gobind Singh formed such a nation which elevated everyone politically and religiously after doing with class system.
— J.D. Cunningham, British historian, “History of Sikhs”, London 1849
For Nanak there was no such thing as a God for the Hindus, a god for the Muhammadans, and a god or gods for the outer heathen. For him there was but one God, not in the likeness of man, like Rama, not a creature of attributes and passions, like the Allah of Muhammad; but one sole, indivisible, self existent, incomprehensible, timeless, all pervading - to be named, but otherwise indescribable and altogether lovely. Such was Nanak's idea of the Creator and Sustainer of the phenomenal world, and it was a conception which at once abrogated all petty distinctions of creed, and sect, and dogma, and ceremony. The realisation of such God shatters the sophistries of the theologian and the quibblings of the dialecticians. It clears the brow from the gloom of abstruse ponderings over trifles and leaves the heart free for the exercise of human sympathies.
— Frederic Pincot, British scholar
Guru Nanak had brought a practical religion. Guru Nanak had understood the basic knowledge which had not been understood by other reformers.Only that religion can survive which teaches practical way of life (as Sikhism) and not that how to flee from the worldly affairs.
— C.H. Pen, Scholar of religions | “Short history of Sikhs”
In Brahmanical Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism generations of teachers and commentators gave new shapes of religions and philosophical doctrines and sometimes changed them beyond recognition. The six schools of Hindu philosophy branched of into different groups of thinkers. The same process divided Jains and Buddhists into different and sometimes warring sects. The history of Islam as also of Christianity presents the same phenomenon of doctrinal disintegration. But Sikhism never succumbed to warring commentators; it preserved intact the heritage which Guru Nanak had left for it. None but a great and far-sighted founder can formulate doctrines capable of surviving the shocks of political and social revolutions for centuries ... His humanity is transparent in his verses ... The story of Guru Nanak's life and achievement has no parallel in the annals of this ancient land. It is not enough to call him the greatest of the sons of Punjab. He must be counted among the greatest of the sons of India. He was the founder of the last of the greatest religions of the world. He planted a poetical sapling which has blossomed into one of the great literatures of India. He laid the foundations of brotherhood which has enriched our national heritage by struggle against religious intolerance, social injustice and denial of political freedom. History must pay homage to one who – in serving God – served his country so well.
– Anil Chandra Banerjee, Professor of Guru Nanak Chair, Yadavpur University, West Bengal
Sikhism is a Universal world faith, a message for all men. This is illustrated in the writings of the Gurus. Sikhs must cease to think of their Faith as just another good religion and must begin to think in terms of Sikhism being the religion for this New Age ... The religion preached by Guru Nanak is the faith of the New Age. It completely supplants and fulfils all the former dispensations of older religions. Books must be written proving this. The other religions contain the truth but Sikhism contains the fullness of truth ... Guru Granth Sahib of all the world religious scriptures, alone states that there are innumerable worlds and universes other than our own. The previous scriptures were all concerned only with this world and its Spiritual counterpart. To imply that they spoke of other worlds as does the Guru Granth Sahib is to Stretch their obvious meanings out of context. The Sikh religion is truly the answer to the problems of modern man.
— H. L. Bradshaw, Scholar of world religions | “Sikhism – Sikh Review Calcutta”
Pure Sikhism (as enshrined in Guru Granth) is far above dependence on Hindu rituals and is capable of distinct position so long as Sikhs maintain their distinctiveness. The religion is also one which could appeal to the occidental mind. It is essentially a practical religion. If judged from the pragmatical stand point which is a favourite point of view in some quarters, it would rank almost first in the world. Of no other religion can it be said that it has made a nation in so short a time. The religion of the Sikhs is one of the most interesting at present existing in India, possibly indeed in the whole world.
— Dorothy Field | "The Sikh Religion”
Statement to the Deputy Commissioner of Lahore: We have heard and read about the cruel martyrdom of Jesus Christ and because of this evil deed the whole Christian world has been scolding the assassins even now. But today I have seen hundreds of Jesus Christ being chopped, burned, roasted and murdered in the form of these Sikhs. I am wondering and also satisfied that in their sacrifice there is no feeling of violence or revenge. They have sacrificed their lives according to the way of life shown to them by their great Gurus.
— C.F. Andrews, a witness to the bloody massacre of Sikh worshippers at Nankana Sahib
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