IkOankar (1-Force) is the nu­cleus of the Sikh world­view, but Sikh val­ues do not re­strict ac­cess to mem­bers of the faith only. IkOankar can be re­al­ized by any­one who is will­ing to dis­cover In­fi­nite Wis­dom through love. In the light of the events un­fold­ing in Delhi and the nar­ra­tive re­lat­ing to Nis­han Sahib, the US-based Sikh Re­search In­sti­tute un­der­lines the sig­nif­i­cance of the Nis­han Sahib and the Chakkar in­side the in­signia –Khanda.

SIKH PRIN­CI­PLES com­mand prac­tice that is ded­i­cated to se­cur­ing a plu­ral­is­tic so­ci­ety in which all peo­ple can thrive.  As such, the only con­crete “ban” in the Sikh world­view is any prac­tice or gov­er­nance that is op­pres­sive or pri­or­i­tizes the free­dom of some over oth­ers.

Sikhs strive to fol­low a path that is di­vine-ori­ented and prin­ci­ple-based; a lifestyle that is hum­ble and dis­ci­plined, and ever-ready to com­bat in­jus­tice through or­ga­nized re­sis­tance.

The Khanda em­blem adorns Nis­han Sahib—the Sikh flag—and cap­tures the Sikh world­view. The de­sign of the Khanda in­cor­po­rates four weapons that were used in Sikh his­tory.

In Sikhi, a bal­anced life in­volves a har­mony of the outer life, called Miri (po­lit­i­cal sov­er­eignty), and the in­ner life, called Piri (spir­i­tual sov­er­eignty). Miri and Piri are rep­re­sented by the two swords on the outer edge of the de­sign. The dou­ble-edged sword in the cen­tre, also called a Khanda, rep­re­sents the pas­sage one takes through life as il­lus­trated by the ten found­ing Gu­rus of Sikhi.

The cir­cu­lar throw­ing disc, known as a Chakkar, rep­re­sents the all-em­brac­ing and all-en­com­pass­ing na­ture of IkOankar. Taken as a whole, the Khanda rep­re­sents the cre­ative, sov­er­eign power of IkOankar, the force that gov­erns the uni­verse in its en­tirety.

May the Wis­dom-Guru be with us.

Nis­han Sahib Im­age cour­tesy: www.sikhmu­seum.com