Hinduism: Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism

The most fundamental law of the universe is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It states that the entropy/disorder of a system always goes on increasing. And its corollary is: The only way to reverse this increase in disorder is to supply energy to the system. This law is about physical systems – but it also applies to society. That is – as time passes, a society/culture tends to decay. This is true for all societies/civilisations. India is the world's greatest civilisation not because it is immune to this law (it is not) – but because it makes use of the law's corollary. That is – whenever Indian/Hindu civilisation has shown signs of decay, it has produced great men who injected fresh energy into it and reversed the decay.

The first instance of this happened about 1000 years after the Vedas were composed – ie, around 500 BC. Hinduism had decayed – it had lost touch with Dharma and become filled with empty rituals and ceremonies. Then two great philosophers were born – Gautama Buddha and Vardhamana Mahavira. They founded two new religions – Buddhism and Jainism. By doing so, they restored Hinduism to its foundation of Dharma and thus rejuvenated it.

The second instance happened about 1300 years later – around 800 AD. Buddhism had become widespread but it had decayed – and was weakening Hinduism. Then another great philosopher was born – Shankara. He re-constructed Hinduism on its foundation of Vedas-Upanishads and thus revived it.

400 years later – around 1200 AD, the Turks from Central Asia conquered North India. They started massacring Hindus and demolishing temples – and continued to do so for 300 years. Once again, Hinduism was in crisis. If ever Hinduism needed a reformer and saviour – it was now. In 1469 AD, yet another great philosopher was born – Guru Nanak. He founded a new religion Sikhism and infused new life into Hinduism.

Around 1500 AD, another Central Asian people – the Mughals – conquered North India. They continued the Turks' project of massacring Hindus and demolishing temples. Since Sikhism was revitalising Hinduism, it became a special target. In 1606, Jahangir tortured and executed the 5th Guru Arjun Dev. In 1675, Aurangzeb tortured and executed the 9th Guru Tegh Bahadur. Finally in 1699, the 10th Guru Govind Singh built the Sikh community into an army, fought against the Mughals – and saved Hinduism from being wiped out.

Today on the sacred occasion of Guru Nanak's 550th jayanti, let us remember the sacrifices of the Sikh Gurus and their followers for the sake of protecting Hinduism . . .