Foreword To 'Perspectives On Sikhism' By Prithipal Singh Kapur & Dharam Singh

If the first millennium has been the age of spiritual revolutions, the second millennium that passed into history recently, can be termed as an age of religious consciousness as well as strife. It has been observed by some scholars that Buddha, Zoraster and Jesus Christ sought to transform the individual to a higher way of life and to invest him with a spirit for fulfilment and perfection. Confucious presented a code of conduct that could lend meaning, strength and stability to human life. Christianity's, inspiring motive was sympathy and love. Hazrat Mohammed, the Prophet, guided the Muslims in accordance with the revelation that caine to him; the directive principle was the commandment of God (Allah).

By this time, the main thrust of all the religious traditions became the determination of correct beliefs and creation of institutions through which the way of life required by the beliefs could be established. This situation, among positive results, also led to the rise of orthodoxy almost in all the religions and also to the accentuation of religious strife. But some people in all the traditions believed that they must make effort on their own to understand spirituality, as distinct from dogma, directly from the source. Such people usually led the life of a recluse or a mendicant and came to be called mystics. The bhakti movement orientated mysticism towards emergence of the idea of spiritual unification.

Guru Nanak (1469-1539), the founder of Sikh religion, made significant contribution to the idea of spiritual unification as also common humanity when he put forth the monotheistic idea of God in contrast to the multiplicity of gods and goddesses. Added to this is the fact that Guru Nanak's was the only complete, but still open­ended, religious system that surfaced during the last millennium. Therefore it was thought imperative to have a fresh look at the impact of the life and teachings of the Sikh Gurus as also the achievements of their followers on the eve of the turn of the millennium.