I was absolutely delighted when I saw this question. In my opinion, Sikhism is 100% compatible with evolution as well as most scientific discoveries. This is definitely a biased opinion as I am very enthusiastic about evolution and have studied it. However, I am by no means an evolutionist or a Gurbani scholar, so my understanding of this topic is still quite limited. With the help of my Nanuji, who is a scholar, I found some references that may be of help in answering this.
Have you ever noticed that we don’t really have a creation story? Unlike other religions, Sikhism doesn’t emphasize “this” is exactly how everything began. We don’t really even try to because our religion is not about answering the unanswerable, but rather understanding when things cannot be understood and accepting those moments as well as rejoicing that we’ve been so blessed to be a part of all of everything, all of this. In fact, the structure of Sri Guru Granth Sahib is also vastly different from that of other holy books. The Bible or the Torah for instance starts out like a history book. It gives a creation story and then proceeds to detail how the religion came about, the adventures of prophets and etc and so explain how people are supposed to conduct themselves. Gurbani begins with a description of our creator. It gives us a direct purpose right off that our lives should be dedicated to seeking understanding and awareness of our creator. We are the eternal, insatiable students. Then Gurbani acts as our guide for achieving such awareness, to put it very crudely: it’s an instruction manual. Given its structure there are no direct references for creation, or any natural truths. Rather, the laws of nature are accepted, assumed as indicated through allusions made to them. Allusions that help us to better understand things that are unfathomable such as how truly omnipotent our Lord is. For instance, the Big Bang Theory is supported:
“arbad narbad dhundookarra, dharan na gagnaa hukam aparaa….avar na deesai eyko soee….aapay aap upaa-ay vigsai, aapay keemat paaida…jaa tis bhaana taa jagat upaaiaa, baajh kalaa aadan rahaiaa.” (AGS p1035-1036). Roughly translated: For a long time, there was only darkness, there was no one but the Lord. He created himself and rejoiced and He rules/ controls Himself. When he willed it, he created the world. He, alone, supports the world.
Clearly, Guru Nanak Dev ji voiced this thought ages before there was any concept of how the universe began. Sher panjabi’s beautiful shabad quote also supports the big bang.
As far as evolution itself goes, there are many allusions to
1) the vast diversity that it has given rise to: Raatee rutee titthee vaar, pavan paanee agnee pataal, tis vich dhartee tthaap rukhee dharm saal. Tis vich jee jugat kay rang, tin kay naam anayk anant. (SGGS p7) Translation: In the midst of night, day, seasons, and the elements, He created earth where Dharma (true path, the right way of living) could reside, upon it, he placed the various creatures, their names are uncounted and endless.
2) The uniqueness of each creature: Meyrai prabh saachai ik khayl rachayaa, koay na kis hee jehaa upayaa. Aapey farak karey… (SGGS p1056) Translation: My true lord has created a play, where no one is like anyone else. He made them different…
3) the individual roles or niches that provide impetus for evolution: Jee jant subh tudh upaay, jit jit panna <admin-profanity filter activated> <admin-profanity filter activated> laay. Sabh kich keeta teyra hovai, nahi kich asaarha jio. (SGGS p103) Translation: you have created all beings, you have assigned different tasks to all as it pleases you. Everything is your doing, we can’t do anything ourselves.
4) different modes of reproduction, the vehicle of evolution: Andaj jayraj saytaj ut-bhuj baho pakaree paalka (SGGS p1084) Translation: He cherishes all, those born from eggs, womb, sweat, or earth.
5) Finally, the strongest support of evolution that I have seen in our religion is our belief in reincarnation. Our souls move from creature to creature as our lives cycle in a quest for true enlightenment. They evolve. To me it seems completely natural that Waheguru ji would echo the growth and journeys of our spirits in the growth and metamorphosis of nature.
One of the greatest aspects of Gurbani is that it is truly universal, and completely in accord with our world and everything that happens on it. And it is that way because it’s our guide, it’s there help us understand and relate to large, complicated ideas about Waheguru and life. And it uses simple truths to accomplish that, things that we can understand like marriage, business, parenthood, even creation and evolution. Somethings like the big bang no one really had a concept of back then, but we do now. Just goes to show how the universality of Gurbani and Sikhi extend not only across genders, countries, races…but also generations. It’s timeless.
At the beginning of my post I stated that Sikhism is compatible with most scientific discoveries. Please let me clarify that I don’t think that all scientific technologies, or the applications of some of those discoveries are in accord with Sikhi. Knowledge is a powerful tool and for some reason Waheguru ji chose this time to gift it to us. I don’t know whether it is a blessing or a curse that we are the generations that are responsible for interpreting and applying the knowledge that God has given us through science. All that science really is though, like Gurbani is another attempt at describing or understanding a miniscule amount of the greatness of our Lord.
The topic of science and Sikhism is dealt with quite extensively in a treatise by Sardar G.S. Sidhu, in which I found many of the Gurbani references I cited here today. However, I do disagree with some of his analysis. The treatise is attached to this post.
Bhul chuk maf for any errors in translation or anything offensive. Waheguru ji ka khalsa, Waheguru ji ki fateh.
-Bhani Kaur
Sikh_Religion.pdf
