Columnists
“My Kirpan Is Longer Than Yours!”
Janam Da Firangee,
Sikhi Mai Mangee
FATEHPAL SINGH TARNEY
“My Kirpan is longer than yours! Therefore, I am a better Sikh than you are!”
I preface this column with this absurdity to make a point. I am very reluctant to criticize fellow Sikhs given my own shortcomings. I have always considered myself a work-in-progress. I am sometimes pleased with my behavior; at other times, disappointed in it, but always trying to improve.
However, one of the things that prompted this particular column was a very disturbing video I saw in which some younger Sikhs in India, mis-described as priests - Sikhi has no place for priests; it abhors the very idea! - were giving a severe beating to an elderly Amritdhari man.
My reaction was a combination of anger, sadness, embarrassment, and disbelief. What possible religious justification is there for this inhuman treatment? Does the wearing of the five Kakkaars, or nihang bana, or a nicely tied dastaar, make one a Sikh when such behavior is exhibited?
I think not!
What does such ruthless behavior convey to the world? There are powerful interests in India and elsewhere that relish disparaging the Sikhs and videos like this are just what they look for. Hopefully, this behavior was an aberration.
Is not Daya - compassion and mercy - of central importance to any and all Sikhs?
Another inspiration for this column came from a photo I received on April Fool's Day. It was a picture of a very popular and wealthy Christian televangelist in America claiming to be selling his palatial mansion in order to feed the poor. Of course, there was no truth is this at all.
I say most emphatically here that, consistent with my Sikh faith, I respect all religions, especially the Christianity of my beloved parents. I contend that the biggest problem atheists, agnostics and freethinkers have with organized religion has little to do with religious principles, dogma, or even rituals, but much to do with hypocrisy.
We Sikhs have a very effective way of explaining the root cause of hypocrisy. These are the five vices: lust, anger, greed, attachment, and pride, which tend to reinforce each other. I believe that pride and attachment often lead to anger and greed. We see this in the behavior of so-called leaders in all religions.
Did not Guru Nanak recognize that in all organized religions, spirituality gets pushed into the background as priests come to be seen as superior to the common people?
Priests often emphasize empty rituals, such as wearing of the Hindu janeu.
Guru Sahib rejected those practices which separated people from God and each other. What would he have said were he to have witnessed Sikhs beating fellow Sikhs?
I suggest his tears would have been such that he could not speak!
May 11, 2016
Conversation about this article
1: RunDeep Singh (Potomac, Maryland, USA), May 12, 2016, 4:39 PM.
Do not judge Sikhi by Sikhs. It can, unfortunately, be said about every other religion, as well. But the truth has always been known to true practitioners of spiritual endeavors, that the only way to change the world is to start by changing myself. Or, as a great teacher once said, "I don't mind what they say over my teachings in their own name. However, I DO mind them saying THEIR teachings in MY name!"