The Sufi Connection

Pir, Fakir and Sewapanthi

Even the most elementary student of Sikhi cannot fail to notice the non-sectarian vision of the Gurus;

nw hm ihMdU n muslmwn] Alh rwm ky ipMfu prwn] pMw 1136
‘I am not Hindu nor Muslim, My body and soul belongs to the one they call Ram and Alllah’

Fresco at Gurdwara Baba Atal, Amritsar, depicting Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj at the gate of Sach Khand

This in essence is asking us to transcend the mundane labels we impose upon ourselves, the ‘I-identity’, and instead realise our true identity.

sb goibMdu hY sB goibMd hY ] goibMd ibnu nhI koeI ]
‘All is God All is God, Nothing other than God’

Obviously this vision is not limited to Sikhi alone. At such a level of spirituality the differences between traditions are vastly outweighed by the similarities. This vision of unity belongs only to wherever a ‘seer’ resides. A similar vision exists there in Yog Vashishta, to St. John of the Cross, to Meister Ekhart, to the Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia, to the Sufi poet of Maulana Rumi.

The Rustum Paca Mosque