3 questions about Sikhism

Respected Ismael Butt ji,
Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh!

In response to your question, the undersigned wants to say that when the First Guru Person, Guru Nanak Sahib was born, there were only two communities in India i.e. Hinduism and Islam. He was born in a Hindu family but at a very young age, he refused to wear the janeu, which was considered necessary for all Hindus, except Shudras. Not only he refused to wear the janeu, rather he asked the Brahmin/Pande/Pandit, a number of questions about janeu, emphasizing on good deeds.

So, instead of subscribing to Hindu rituals and karamkands, his teaching was for doing good deeds, becoming a righteous/virtuous person, getting rid of vices, achieving the stage of spiritual equipoise and spiritual bliss. The final goal was ro achieve spiritual emancipation/salvation in this life time itself.

These teachings of Guru Sahib is what came to be called Sikhi and he was considered the founder of Sikhism.

The first Guru Person Guru Nanak Sahib was given a mission by Akalpurakh to connect the entire humanity directly with Him and teach a life style, which had nothing to do with superstitions, hypocrisy and rituals.

For fulfillment of the mission, Akalpurakh gave first Guru Person Guru Nanak Sahib lot of strength to travel far and wide, which are called Udasis, to spread and fulfill the mission given to him by Akalpurakh.

During these travels, he touched the lives of a large number of persons, who were ‘seekers of truth’. They became Guru Nanak Sahib’s Sikhs
and treated him as their Guru. This is how he became to be called Guru.

The subsequent Guru Persons (The selection of Guru Persons was made by the predecessor himself and was done during the lifetime of the predecessor), who followed him, carried forward the mission and when Tenth Guru Person, Guru Guru Gobind Singh. Sahib felt that the mission had been fulfilled, he finally closed the lineage of living Guru Persons and formally bestowed Guruship to ever living Guru, Guru Granth Sahib.

Here the undersigned will like to add that, in his discussion with Yogis, the First Guru Person, Guru Nanak Sahib, had made it clear that his Guru was Shabad. Therefore, from the very beginning, in Sikhism, Shabad and not the body of the Guru Persons has been Guru.

Now coming to your question reincarnation (i.e rebirth after death) is not a Sikhi concept but is of Hinduism. As per Sikhism, Akalpurakh lives in every living being as what is called ‘Atma’ and gives it strength. However, when the strength is withdrawn, the physical death takes place and the five elements of which the body is made of, merge with the five elements and the ‘atma’ merges with Akalpurakh. Thus, nothing is left.

In Sikhism, the mind gets into the cycle of reincarnation, when it gets stuck into the material world. To make it more clear the undersigned is just quoting two Pangtis of a Shabad of Bhagat Namdev ji at Panna 693 of Guru Granth Sahib:-

ਇਹ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਤੇ ਤਬ ਹੀ ਛੂਟਉ ਜਉ ਮਾਇਆ ਨਹ ਲਪਟਾਵਉ ॥ ਮਾਇਆ ਨਾਮੁ ਗਰਭ ਜੋਨਿ ਕਾ ਤਿਹ ਤਜਿ ਦਰਸਨੁ ਪਾਵਉ ॥੩॥ (ਪੰਨਾ 693)
ਅਰਥ: ਇਸ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਦੇ ਬੰਧਨਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਮੇਰੀ ਤਦੋਂ ਹੀ ਖ਼ਲਾਸੀ ਹੋ ਸਕਦੀ ਹੈ ਜੇ ਮੈਂ ਮਾਇਆ ਦੇ ਮੋਹ ਵਿਚ ਨਾ ਫਸਾਂ; ਮਾਇਆ (ਦਾ ਮੋਹ) ਹੀ ਜਨਮ ਮਰਨ ਦੇ ਗੇੜ ਵਿਚ ਪੈਣ ਦਾ ਮੂਲ ਹੈ, ਇਸ ਨੂੰ ਤਿਆਗ ਕੇ ਹੀ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਦਾ ਦੀਦਾਰ ਹੋ ਸਕਦਾ ਹੈ।੩।

In these Pangtis Bhagat Namdev is guiding us that by not getting stuck in the material world, one doesn’t have to go into the cycle of births and deaths (every now and then) and by imbibing the philosophy i.e. teachings of Shabad Guru one can having ‘Darshan’ of Akalpurakh and Shabad Guru, as both are spiritually embodiment of each other.

Now coming to your question, as to why Sikhism came so late. The undersigned is unable to answer this question and you may have to ask answer to this question from the Almighty (Akalpurakh).

Hope it helps. If you have any further questions please do ask and if you find any deficiencies please point out the same to enable the undersigned to improve in future.

Regards,
Your Brother