Nirbhau
Nirbhao stands for fearlessness and autonomy. It
means that the truth is not deterred and influenced in its actions and that it
does not conform to any alien power in authority. The truth or
the ultimate creative cause of the apparent reality and it wields its own
supreme law, which is not subordinate to any other authority. If it were
subservient to any other regime, then it would not be the "ultimate"
in terms of supremacy and finality. In that case, the authority subordinating
it would be the ultimate reality and it would don all the attributes ascribed
to it. Thus, it comes at the end of the abstraction, after surpassing all the
subordinate levels of competence.
This attribute is significant and this hypothesis
is crucially important in the context of Guru Nanak's teachings. No one has
ever been able to establish superiority over the supreme laws of the ultimate
reality. No one has been able to violate, bypass or usurp the principles of the
truth as they transpire in the manifest reality. Those who were able to
overcome the hurdles created by its rules could do so not by confronting but by
conforming to their essence. They could not mold the rules by worshipping,
praying, begging, pleading mercy or seeking grace. Wherever they succeeded they
did so by contriving and manipulating them after a thorough understanding of
the phenomena. They rendered them ineffective by discovering some other rules
of the same supreme and ultimate reality, which could counterpoise to the
primary ones.
Thus, if heavier bodies sink in water, the
Archimedes’ principle tells how to make them float on the surface. If the
gravitational pull of the Earth prevents human’s gliding in the air,
Bernoulli’s principle shows the way to fly in the skies. If escape to the space
spatial bodies is not possible for want of a thick airy medium beyond the
atmosphere,
It shows that the ultimate is supreme in a
complex manner. While its supremacy is pliable to a limited extent in some
principled ways, it is not entirely refutable. Modern science is trying to
understand this complexity to find alternate paths of least resistance for
human action. It has discovered numerous principles to circumvent the
all-pervasive laws of the ultimate reality as revealed through manifest
reality, and it has invented various devices based on them. In fact, modern
technology is in an endless run to enlist more and more achievements in this
domain.
Thus, the humanity is, in a sense, helpless
under the operation of the supreme law of the ultimate reality. It has to live
with it, within it and in according to it. If it wishes to prevent an
earthquake, it cannot do that. If it wants to cause rainfall in the deserts, it
cannot do that. If it wants to increase the life span of human beings to 1000
years, it cannot do that. If it wants to make colonies on the seabed and wishes
to live under water like the fish, it cannot do that. If it wants to fly in the
air and live like birds in nests on the tree-tops, it cannot do that. It may
not be able to do an unlimited number of other things the way it would like to
do. However, these impossibilities are relative. Science has indeed enabled
people to go to the seabed, fly in the air, travel in the space and increase
the span of life by many years. Humanity is in a constant struggle trying to
discover new laws with a view to achieving more success in these and other
areas. Though the ultimate reality is aggressive against the breach of its
lawful volition, yet it remits its ire when it is circumvented scientifically.
It allows the manipulation of its laws through a set of alternative laws which
men need to research and discover through hard work.
This attribute makes the operation of the law of the "truth" supreme and objective. The supreme law is supreme because it cannot be amended, and it does not bend according to the whims of the violators. Its principles are objective for they are searchable, researchable and knowable through scientific method. They are also objective for their application and treatment are uniform everywhere. The supreme law does not yield to anything and it does not excuse anybody even by way of ‘grace’ or pardon. The prayers do not make it flexible and offerings of any sort do not earn exemptions from the consequences of its breach. The law does not recognize moral and social questions because, being beyond them, it is uniform and amoral. The ethical and moral norms are the products of the social system, so they are recognized only in society. Had it not been uniform and above morality, none of the honest people would ever drown in water and none of the truthful would burn in fire. If the law were compassionate, it would not kill the pilgrims in road accidents on way to religious shrines. Then, the devotees would not perish in congregational stampedes and the holy men would not suffer pain and adversity.
Incidentally, there
is no classified data on how many devotees of various religions die in
accidents and mishaps. However, incidents like the ones noted here are
frequently seen reported in the newspapers.
“Eleven pilgrims
were killed and 32 injured when the truck (RJ 13 G-2001) they were traveling
in, which was bound for Lehra Dhurkot in Bathinda district from here, met with
an accident reportedly due to the failure of brakes near Lal Dhang on the
Himachal-Haryana border today.” The
Tribune,
“All 302 members of
the
“Acting Chief of
Damdami Taksal, was rushed to a private hospital in a critical condition after
a road accident here yesterday.” The
Tribune,
“Prof Darshan Kumar
of
“Two scooter-borne
persons were killed when their vehicle was hit by a truck near Badbar village,
18 km from here, on the Sangrur-Barnala road today. These men were ragis who were going to Bahadurpur
village near Mastuana Sahib to take part in a religious function. Both were
named Makhan Singh.” The Tribune,
“Four young men
were run over and killed by bus” near Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur district of