There is an anecdote from the life of Guru Nanak Sahib in which explains the Sikh concept of death. Once, Guru Sahib asked his musician companion Bhai Mardana to go and buy truth for one paisa (penny) and falsehood for another paisa. Bhai Mardana bought Death as Truth and Life as falsehood. My purpose is not to relate the whole story. The summing up of the story was: “Death is the a reality and life is unreal”.
Sikhism does not consider life as useless or meaningless, it is however ‘unreal’ because it is transitory. According to Sikhism life is a journey towards union with the Almighty. The process or the period during which we are trying to be one with the Almighty can not be meaningless, it may be transitory. The purpose of the life of a Sikh is to meditate in His Name:
This human body (life) has been given to you
This is your chance to have union with the Almighty
Other activities are of no avail to you
So, join the company of godly people and contemplate the Name of the Almighty
Make efforts for crossing the terrible world ocean
In the love for worldly affairs,
the human life is passing away in vain. (p. 378)
O mortal ! you have come to this world to benefit yourself
With what useless activities are you engaged ?
The entire night (life) is coming to an end (p. 43)
A Sikh considers death as the greatest reality of the world. One may not be certain about anything else but one thing is one hundred percent definite that the days of a human being’s stay in this ephemeral world are limited. One, who is born, is sure to die, sooner or later.
But, as it is “the reality”, one should always be prepared to accept it. One should not be afraid of it, though it is a truth that an average man fears death:
The people in the world like not death and (try to) conceal themselves from it,
Lest death’s courier should catch and take him away. (p. 447)
But those who know this as reality don’t fear it. When something is sure to happen and no one can stop it, then it should be accepted with a smile:
Only then one should worry if a thing, not expected, comes to happen
This (death) is the way of the world
O Nanak, none is ever stable (surviving) in this world. (p. 1429)
and
Kabir says, death, of which the whole world is terrified
Is pleasing to me.
It is in death alone that one is blessed with the Perfect Supreme Bliss.(p. 1365)
The moment of our departure from this world is predestined. We are born under the ‘order of the Almighty’ and we shall leave this world as per His Will:
O Nanak, the mortals come when they are sent (by the Almighty)
(they) depart when called back. (p. 1239)
and
This is granted that he who is born shall die. (p.375).
and
Who so ever is created, him death destroys. (p. 227)
and
The recorded time of marriage can’t be postponed
Explain (O man) this to your soul. (p. 1377)
No one knows how long one is going to live. One thing is definite that every day the span of life decreases by one day; with every breath we loose one moment of our life:
By day and night the span of life goes on decreasing. (p. 13)
and
The day dawn, then it sinks
The age diminishes but man understands not.
The mouse (of Time) is daily gnawing down the rope of life. (p. 41)
In Sikhism, death is not a matter of sorrow. It is the Bhana of Waheguru (Will of the Almighty). According to the Sikh terminology, death means final accomplishment. It means one has completed one’s stay in this world (Sikhism, however, does not believe in any ‘other’ world), A Sikh has a fixed duration of stay in this world. Hence, accomplishment of this role can not be a matter of sorrow. This is an extension of the Sikh concept of Charhdi Kala (euphoria). A man may live for a hundred years or fifty years or ten years or even just for one day. In Sikhism, completion of one’s stay in this world is not measured according to the length of one’s stay. It is evaluated according to one’s role in the world. One can accomplish his role in a short period, the others might not be able to perform it within several decades.
After physical death, according to Sikhism, there is no ‘other’ world. The next stage after death is that of oneness with the Almighty. The soul of a person leaves one’s body and becomes a part of the Supreme Soul (the Almighty). Union with the Almighty must be a matter of joy (and not sorrow). Guru Sahib have forbidden Sikhs to lament the death of a beloved one (the following is the command given by Guru Amar Das before his death to the Sikhs):
Let no one weep for me after I am gone.
That is not at all pleasing to me. (p. 923).
and
O Father, the mortals bewail for the sake of worldly objects
All bewailing is vain.
All weeping is vain
The world is forgetful of the Almighty and weeps for wealth. (p. 579)
According to Sikh way of life, the body of a dead person is usually cremated (however, conceptually speaking, there is no restriction about disposing off the dead body in any other manner). Human body is made of five elements. After death these elements again become a part of the world of elements and the soul becomes a part of the Supreme Soul:
The body is dust, the wind speaks therein
Consider O wiseman ! who is it that is dead. (p. 152)
and
The breath merges in the air
In fire, the fire mingles
The dust becomes one with dust
What support the bewailer has (himself) to stay forever here. (p. 885)
and
O clever and wise men ! know that the body is made up of five elements.
Be you sure, says Nanak, you shall blend with Him from whom you have sprung. (p. 1426)
and
As water gets blended with water
So does the light blend with the Supreme Light. (p. 278)
A Sikh must bow before the Will of the Almighty. There is no doubt that we cannot forget the positive points of our deceased beloved friends and relatives.
RITES: After the death of a Sikh, his body is washed and is, usually, cremated. Keertan (singing hymns) follows it. Singing hymns in His (Almighty’s) praise or about the concept of death is a reminder, to all those who are present, at such an occasion, asking them to remember that everyone has to die after all. Hence, we must live a Truthful life. When everyone has to die, why not to live it in a proper discipline and in an atmosphere of love and meditation. Those who live Truthful life, or die for a noble task, are accepted in the court of the Almighty:
Fruitful is the dying of the brave persons (who die for a good cause)
Whose death is approved by the Almighty. (p. 579).
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)