Miri and Piri~~~

[tana]

Om Sai Ram~~~

Miri and Piri~~~

MIRI & PIRI, compound of two words, both of PersoArabic origin, adapted into the Sikh tradition to connote the close relationship within it between the temporal and the spiritual. The term represents for the Sikhs a basic principle which has influenced their religious and political thought and governed their societal structure and behaviour. The word mm, derived from Persian mir, itself a contraction of the Arabic amir (lit. commander, governor, lord, prince), signifies temporal power, and pm, from Persian pir (lit. old man, saint, spiritual guide, head of a religious order) stands for spiritual authority. The origin of the concept of mmpm'is usually associated with Guru Hargobind (15951644) who, unlike his five predecessors, adopted a princely style right from the time of his installation in 1606 as the sixth Guru or prophetmentor of the Sikhs, when as part of the investiture he wore on his person two swords, one representing mm or political command of the community and the other pin, its spiritual headship. For this reason, he is known as mm pm da mdlik, master of piety as well as of power. This correlation between the spiritual and the mundane had in fact been conceptualized in the teachings of the founder of the faith, Guru Nanak (14691539) himself. God is posited by Guru Nanak as the Ultimate Reality. He is the creator, the ultimate ground of all that exists. The man of Guru Nanak being the creation of God, partakes of His Own Light. How does man fulfil himself in this worldwhich, again, is posited as a reality? Not by withdrawal or renunciation, but, as says Guru Nanak in a hymn in the measure Ramkali, by "battling in the open field with one's mind perfectly in control and with one's heart poised in love all the lime" (GG,93l). Participation was made the rule. Thus worldly structures the family, the social and economic systems were brought within the religious domain. Along with the transcendental vision, concern with existential reality was part of Guru Nanak's intuition. His sacred verse reveals an acute awareness of the ills and errors of contemporary society. Equally telling was his opposition to oppressive State structures. He frankly censured the highhandedness of the kings and the injustices and inequalities which permeated the system. The community that grew from Guru Nanak's message had a distinct social entity and, under the succeeding Gurus, it became consolidated into a distinct political entity with features not dissimilar to those of a political state: for instance, its geographical division into manjis or dioceses each under a masand or the Guru's representative, new towns founded and developed both as religious and commercial centres, and an independent revenue administration for collection of tithes. The Guru began to be addressed by the devotees as sachchd pdtsdh (true king). Bards Balvand and Satta, contemporaries of Guru Arjan (15631606), sing in their hymn preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib the praise of Guru Nanak in kingly terminology. "He constructed the castle of truth on firm foundation, established his kingdom and had the (royal) umbrella unfurled over Lahina's (Guru Arigad's) head" (GG, 966). The execution in 1606, of Guru Arjan, Nanak V, under the orders of Emperor Jaharigir, marked the Mughal authority's response to a growing religious order asserting the principles of freedom of conscience and human justice. The event led to Guru Arjan's young successor Guru Hargobind, Nanak VI, formally to adopt the emblems of authority. In front of the holy Harimandar he constructed the Akal Takhl, throne (takht) of the Timeless One {akdt). Here he went through the investiture ceremony for which he put on a warrior's accoutrement with two swords symbolizing assumption of the spiritual office as well as the control of secular affairs for the conduct of which he specifically used this new seat. He also raised an armed force and asked his followers to bring him presents of horses and weapons. This was a practical measure und~~~

Jai Sai Ram~~~