BUSINESS
ETHICS IN SIKH TRADITION
Ex Chairperson, World Sikh Council –
Director,
[This article by the author was written
for the students of his class on Sikhism in the
Sikhism
is the fifth largest and one of the youngest religions of the world with an
estimated population of 25 million. Guru Nanak founded this new way of life,
500 years ago when the subjects were oppressed by the tyrant rulers of the time
and the custodians of the two major religions of India – Hinduism and Islam,
being highly corrupt, failed to provide any direction. Guru Nanak fulfilled the
need of the hour by providing much needed spiritual leadership and direction to
the people. He traveled extensively preaching human equality, oneness of God
and to remove barriers between rich and poor, high and low castes, male and
female. Sikhism sets very high moral standards for its adherents to follow and
gives us a most ethical system. In a lecture delivered before the Quest Society
of
"
I am engaged here tonight in offering to your attention, a religion, which has
God and Soul,
which
presents no mysteries and which embraces an ethical system, such as, has never been
excelled, if indeed it has ever been equaled – I mean
the Sikh Religion."
Sikh Scriptures – Guru Granth Sahib is the character
building ground of a Sikh in which are firmly rooted his/her ethical values to
run the daily affairs. It emphasizes the importance of gun (virtues),
and obviously disengaging from any known vices in the society.
" nwnk Aaugux jyqVy qyqy
glI jMjIr ]
jy gux hoin q ktIAin sy BweI
sy vIr ]
AgY gey n mMnIAin mwir kFhu vypIr ] 4 ] 1 ] "
"
All the vices that we have are like chains around our neck. Virtues, however,
are our real
friends as they are the ones, which help us to cut the chains of all our vices. There is no
recognition of these vices in the next world. It is better to throw these Guru-less creatures."
In the
following hymn the need to develop virtues of contentment, humility and love in
order to achieve
" mnu hwlI ikrswxI krxI
srmu pwxI qnu Kyqu ]
nwmu bIju sMqoKu suhwgw rKu
grIbI vysu ]
Bwau krm kir jMmsI sy Gr BwgT dyKu ] 1 ] "
"Let your mind be the farmer, and good deeds the
farming; and let your body be the farm;
your hard work be the water; Let the sweet remembrance
of God Almighty be the seed;
and contentment the furrowing and let humility be the
fence. And by the Grace of God the seed will
sprout and will give birth to devotional Love.
Fortunate are those homes, where such a situation exists."[SGGS Page 595]
Therefore,
on the basis of the above-mentioned short discussion on virtues, I, as a Sikh
businessperson, is duty bound to make sure that my business ethics do not
conflict with the value system of my religion. ‘Truthfulness’ comes first in a
long list of business ethics one should follow. According to our Scriptures:
" schu ErY sBu ko aupir
scu Awcwru ] 5 ]"
" Truth, the Absolute Realty – God is the Highest
of all
Next in line comes the virtue of Truthful
living."[SGGS Page 621]
As per
Nicolai Hartman, " Truthfulness is an agreement of one’s thought or
convictions." Our Gurus added another significant item to it and evolved a
new definition and that is, " One’s actions must support one’s words and
convictions. The Virtuous Actions.
Wisdom,
as a fundamental virtue plays a key role in the ethics of the Sikhs. The Guru
says:
"Knowledge or wisdom or self examination is possible only when one has killed even the
hidden ego within oneself."
On
similar lines, Mr. Nicolai Hartman, author of ‘Ethics" defines wisdom as
recognition of "one’s own ethical non-being, failures and
shortcomings."
In
Sikhism, a family life is preferred to the life of an ascetic. And the
guidelines to run the family affairs are:
"
One should earn one’s living by honest means, share one’s earnings with the
needy and keep
God Almighty – the Creator always in one’s mind – that
is to be always thankful to Him."
Guru
Nanak refused a dinner invitation of a rich man – Malik Bhago, who sucked the
blood of people to earn his wealth. The Great Guru preferred to dine an
ordinary meal with a poor man – Bhai Lalo, who earned his bread by honest
means. Apart from this, sharing of one’s earnings must be done with the spirit
of responsibility towards our fellow human beings and not as a charity. Only
God Almighty gives charity to all of us, we only share His Gifts. Service to
humanity irrespective of their caste, creed, color, religion and nationality is
the Sikh way to love people and enjoy the revelation of God. For example, in
context with the present day business system, if, for some reason, we are
forced to downsize our company and cut our workforce, we should bear in mind
the principles of this rule. We should consider reducing the hours of our
employees rather than terminating the services of a few.
This
should be the basis of all the professions – farming, business, manufacturing,
retailing, medicine, engineering or any other job. Any or all professions are
good, if one takes the guidance from a True Guru and follows the moral standards
and code of conduct as explained by the Guru. I quote from our Scriptures
below:
" nwnk siqguir ByitAY pUrI hovY jugiq ] hsMidAw KylµidAw
pYnµidAw KwvMidAw ivcy hovY mukiq ]"
Then,
while leading a family life of a householder, earning one’s bread by honest
means, one
can
get saved from vices." (The actual bondage) [SGGS Page 522]
No
profession is in any way a hindrance to our objective of reaching God or to
have a complete
" nwmw mwieAw moihAw khY
iqlocnu mIq ] kwhy CIphu CwielY rwm n lwvhu cIqu ] 212 ]
nwmw khY iqlocnw muK qy rwmu sMm@wil ] hwQ pwau kir kwmu sBu cIqu inrMjnu nwil ] 213 ]"
The
relationship between an employer and a employee should be:
The
mission of an employee should be to do the job sincerely with an objective to serve
the humanity and not to earn money to become rich and then claim superiority
over others. On the other hand an employer is duty bound to treat every
employee equally and fairly without taking undue advantage of some one’s
weakness. Age and/or gender discrimination is against the fundamental tenets of
Sikhism. To the people who criticize women, discriminate against women and/or
call them evil, Guru Nanak gave the most befitting reply:
" BMif jMmIAY BMif
inMmIAY BMif mMgxu vIAwhu ] BMfhu hovY dosqI BMfhu clY rwhu ]
"Why treat a women unfairly from whom we are
born; in whose womb we are shaped. To the woman
we are engaged; to the woman we are married. The woman
is our friend and fromwoman is the family.
If one woman dies we seek another, through the woman
are the bonds of the world."
- Asa ki Vaar Mahla Pehla, S.G.G.S. Page: 473
Ethics
are more important than other things. Cheating, lying, black-marketing,
profiteering, bribing are not approved by the Father of the Universe – God.
God’s displeasure can not bring peace and happiness in our hearts though
such unethical actions may bring more money, and give temperory satisfaction.
Riches thus collected increase our ego, which is the real cause of all the
problems in human beings. It acts like a thorn deep down in our heart that can
produce nothing but discomfort and pain and is the biggest hindrance on the way
to God. To deprive someone of his/her due share or wages is strongly
disapproved in the Sikh Scriptures:
" hku prwieAw nwnkw ausu sUAr ausu gwie ] guru pIru hwmw qw
Bry jw murdwru n Kwie ]"
" To deprive someone of his/her due share is like
eating pork (for a Muslim) and
eating beef (for a Hindu). The Guru will stand by you,
if you do not consume someone else’s share, which is
deadly for you."
-
Majh ki Vaar Mahla Pehla, S.G.G.S. Page: 141
Laws
are made by governments for people, who do not have any ethics. ‘Minimum wage
law’ is a good example of a law made by the government to prohibit people from
taking undue advantage of the weaknesses of people, who are ready to work at
any rate of pay below the minimum wages because of poverty, and to guarantee a
minimum salary to people. If we were ethical, we didn’t need any such laws. For
example, in
The
laboratories charge the physicians only a fraction of what was charged to the
patient by the physician. A Physician gets a CBC done by the Laboratory @ $3.00
to $5.00 whereas the patient is charged @$15 to $20. The tubes in which the
blood is drawn are supplied, salary of Technician is paid, and the reagent cost
is borne by the laboratories, where the blood is tested. However, blood is drawn
at the physician’s office for which the physician bills separately. What is
missing here? Ethics! How would they justify the huge profits for which they
did not work?
In
fact the best trade or business in the words of our Guru is:
" scu vwpwru krhu vwpwrI
] drgh inbhY Kyp qumwrI ]"
" The greatest business that will give you good
name in the Court of God is
your truthful dealing with absolute Truth – God."
-
Gaurhi Sukhmani Mahla Panjvaan, S.G.G.S. Page: 293
