Guru Nanak’s Concept of Sahaj
The concept of Sahaj is central and pivotal in Guru Nanak’s mystical
thought. It relates to the highest spiritual state humanly attainable
and has thus deepest connotations attached to it.
Though outcome of a most advanced and recondite experience within the
innermost sanctuary of the soul, the ordinary meaning of Sahaj is ‘just
what it should be’ or ‘just normal’.
In other words, a simple human proposition, that a man should become a man par excellence; a real man; no adhesions, no defaults, no accretions, no deviations.
But this
paradoxical word Sahaj does not go with mere ‘saying’ or verbal
expression. It is an actuality, a real human state, a tangible,
workable human achievement.
Bearing in mind the baffling nature of this term, it can safely be said
that the concept of Sahaj belongs to the realm of ‘Esoteric-mysticism’,
in as much as the meaning of Sahaj is invariably associated with its
manifestative aspect or its expressive quality which, in figurative
terms, we call Anhad Sabad.
Thus both the mystical content and its
configuration are essentially linked together in our ubiquitous reality.
It is only the experienced who can apprehend these two unitive states
within his soul, without being able to express them because these are
entirely ineffable realizations.
Guru Nanak himself, having experienced
directly the blissful union with God and the concomitant divine
manifestations attending such Beatitude, has mystically expressed these
visions in symbolical language, incorporating and using esoteric terms
already current in Vedanta or Yoga mysticism and in higher Buddhism,
investing them with new meanings.
As Niharranjan Ray says: “...in whichever manner one seeks to describe
the Sahaj experience, its real nature must elude understanding in
humanly communicable language. The articulation of an experience which
was essentially a mystical one and hence, according to Guru Nanak
himself, was incapable of being translated in communicable terms, was
indeed beyond human expression, had necessarily to be in traditional
mystical terms made current and somewhat understandable by his
predecessors belonging to various mystic orders of sants and sadhus, and
in well-known traditional symbols and images that had some meaning,
however vague and generalized, to those whom his words were addressed
to.”
In order to consider the concept of Sahaj in its mystical connotation,
it would be useful first to study its etymological meaning. Sahaj is
originally a Sanskrit word which means ‘having been born together’ (just
as human ‘twins’) and thus something inwardly perceived or intuited
along with one’s birth as a human being - a sort of indwelling mystical
principle of divine perception given to man as his birthright and
therefore, a natural and effortless heritage of divinity ingrained in
humanity.
Properly speaking, Sahaj is the very ‘mysticality’ (to use a new term)
of religion. It is the acceptance of inwardness and ‘intuitionism’ as
the true basis of religion, to the negation of all ritualistic
externalities.
In Guru Nanak’s thought, Sahaj comes to imply the
acceptance of Hukam as the first cardinal principle of Sikhism.
Sahaj in this meaning would be the mystical state of a man who has accepted the divine will (Hukam, Bhana, Raza). Sahaj, thus, is the highest spiritual state attainable in Sikhism.
It is the highest bliss.
Another writer on Guru Nanak defining Sahaj says:
“The word ‘Sahaj’ means natural fulfilment. Just as vegetables cooked over a slow fire retain their flavour, in the same way gradual and voluntary discipline of the mind and body will bring out the essential goodness inherent in the individual.”
In the meaning expressed above Sahaj connotes a natural slowness and
steadiness required for perfect action. Haste makes waste, has been
truly said, Sahaj is the opposite of inordinate haste. Sahaj is
compactness and self-sufficiency, while haste is flippancy and inner
weakness. A sure man is the ‘poised’ man.
In this anthropomorphic
sense (as distinct from the mystical one, discussed earlier), Sahaj
would mean equipoise, equanimity and equilibrium. It may be called
“balanced perspicacity” or sambuddhata, in the psychological sense.
All true balance and true actions (which may be called Sahaj-karam, as
distinct from the self-willed actions) engender aesthetic as well as
spiritual pleasure, while spiritual fulfilment produces infinite bliss.
Sahaj which is “the state of enlightenment achieved through
self-discipline” has been generally accepted to be “the ultimate goal
which is the religious and spiritual discipline laid down by Guru Nanak
was supposed to lead to”
Hence this term has been used to denote the
ineffable union with God.
Various expressions have been current as
synonymous with Sahaj, such as
- Sunn-samadh,
- turia-avastha,
- chautha pad,
- amar pad,
- param pad,
- maha-sukh,
- param anand,
- dasam duar,
- Anhad and,
- sach Khand,
- jiwan-mukti and so on.
The term sahaj samadh has also been used
by Kabir and the Sikh Gurus.
All this terminology connected with Sahaj was commonly used by all the
Nirgun-Sampradaya saints, Kabir, Namdev, Dadu, and others, along with
Guru Nanak, having borrowed it from the Sahajayani Buddhists (who in
their turn inherited it from the Mahayana-vajrayana Buddhist tradition)
and also from Tantrik Hathayoga and the Nathpanthi-Kanphata Yogis with
whom Guru Nanak came into direct and close contact.
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