Six Schools of Philosophy, But One Teacher of Teachers
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There are six schools of philosophy. Six teachers. Six sets of teachings — each with its own way of explaining the world, its own rules, its own followers.
But the Teacher of teachers is the One — the source that appears in all of them, taking so many different forms.
In Guru Nanak's time, India had six major schools of philosophical thought (the Shad Darshanas), each with elaborate systems, teachers, and traditions. Guru Nanak is not dismissing them. He is seeing through them to what they share: they are all forms through which the one oneness expresses itself.
This is radical inclusivity applied to knowledge itself. No single system of thought owns the truth. Each system is a form through which the one Teacher teaches. The danger is when a system mistakes itself for the destination and stops pointing beyond itself.
Have you ever had two people explain the same thing in completely different ways — and both were right? What does it mean that two very different explanations can both be true?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI