Roundtable
Challenges for This New Year
The Roundtable Open Forum # 58
by GURMUKH SINGH
The Roundtable Open Forum # 58
With the arrival of the New Year, we also bring forward outstanding Sikh issues and concerns. This is the time to reflect whether, as a community, we have resolved some issues and made any progress on others.
As the Sikh community becomes more global, many living in small and remote communities in distant places, Sikh organisation ("jathebandi") and central institutions are weakening. The latter have no clear strategy, no effective communication nor control mechanisms. Those holding high religious offices in Punjab are political stooges, incapable of interpreting Sikh ideology in the context of 21st Century issues and needs.
Challenges to Sikh identity and ideology - e.g., the global challenge to the Sikh turban - and the Sikh national Nanakshahi Calendar issue (which has now become a bit of a sad joke about shifting Gurpurab dates), spread of bogus deras and babas, are just some of the many running sores to which there is no effective central response.
Regarding challenges to Sikh identity, in the absence of any timely advice or high profile action, e.g. by lobbying governments and the United Nations, Sikhs have lost out on most fronts. Self-promoting individuals have taken over Sikh "representation".
Sikhs are still waiting to be counted as a distinct community in the UK and many other countries. The current opposition behind the scenes by individuals to disrupt the working of the Sikh Council UK is another example of why we are failing in our corporate approach as a community.
Let me digress slightly before returning to the main theme. I write from South Australia after attending Guru Gobind Singh's Parkaash Gupurab at the earest and oldest Gurdwara in Adelaide. I compare the current Sikh position to that of over 20 years ago in this city. Then there were a few professional Sikhs, mainly from Malaysia, who held religious functions at one small gurdwara. Now there are three gurdwaras run along different "maryadas", and centred around certain groups or individuals. The old Gurdwara was moved to a new, much larger site but is still run by the same core, influential and affluent group.
The gurdwara remains user-friendly for non-Sikhs, and the management team takes interest in the image of the local Sikh community, but seems to have little interest in wider Australian or global Sikh affairs. To some extent, the same position is adopted by gurdwara managements across the diaspora.
I mention the above because it is easier to study a smallish, remote Sikh community like that of Adelaide, in order to understand wider global Sikh problems.
Therefore, while our central institutions are weakening and remain out-dated regarding their method of operation, the Sikh community is becoming more widespread. The need for global Sikh direction and unity through effective means of modern communication has been ignored for many years. One
negative consequence is the total decentralisation of interpretation of Gurbani and Sikh personal and corporate "rehat" (i.e. way of life).
Panthic aims to promote Sikh corporate objectives and identity have come to a standstill. The milestone achievement of the British House of Lords decision in the Mandla case, effectively recognised the Sikhs as a distinct people with their own religion and socio-cultural tradition, identity and needs. Due to internal opposition by some, this legal recognition of Sikhs was not translated into the monitoring of the Sikhs as a distinct community in the UK, to be able to influence UK government policy in areas of equal opportunity, delivery of services and rights.
Earlier efforts at national level unity were frustrated by individual ambitions and factional divisions. The recent formation of the umbrella body, the Sikh Council UK, is a ray of hope in the New Year.
Sikh thinking needs to be guided by Gurbani as interpreted by the Khalsa Panth.
With the mushrooming of sant deras and bogus gurudoms, and the loss of the institution of the Akal Takht to outside political interference, the process of interpreting Gurbani has been decentralised and is creating yet more divisions due to different "rehat maryadas" (codes), encouraging bogus sant deras with spurious spiritual heads and ritualism.
We have seen how the achievement of the Sikh national Nanakshahi Calendar as a global Sikh need, has been frustrated by the very institutions of SGPC and Akal Takht, which should have been promoting Sikh theo-political nationhood worldwide. These institutions are leaning towards "bipran" (brahmanic) practices when they should have been preaching and promoting one Sikh Rehat Maryada and the Guru Granth - Guru Panth tradition.
An important UK achievement, which deserves wider publicity, is the issue of guidelines relating to Sikh identity (kakaars and turban) which have been issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) towards the end of last year. Many nationwide Sikh organisatons contributed in an exemplary manner to produce these guidelines.
As mentioned above, one consequence of the weakening of the institution of the Akal Takht is that Sikhs in the diaspora have to increasingly rely on their own centres for gurbani research and interpretation. Cyber forums and networks are now well developed and are playing an important role in this process. Let us hope that this would be a blessing in disguise to return remote global Sikh communities to mainstream Sikh thought and practice.
I conclude this article with a positive musical note!
As and when I find time in my nomadic life, I listen to "Raag Ratan", a set of recently released 31 suddh raags in Guru Granth Sahib, sung truly in the Anand mode of "Raag ratan parwar paryia(n) sabad gavan aayia(n)", by the bibia(n) of the Gurmat Gian Group from the College of the same name in Ludhiana, Punjab. This is a trend setting exemplary achievment by a mother and daughter jatha of Bibi Gurpreet Kaur and Bibi Keerat Kaur for Sikh women in the diaspora.
I have yet to find time to "review" this great gift to the nation using my limited knowledge of classical raags. Nevertheless, this is a promise to Dr Manbir
Singh, the Group motivator, which I propose to keep.
DISCUSSION
I invite readers to share your thoughts on the aforesaid, as a follow-up on the preceding two discussions based on the excellent articles by Dr. I.J. Singh along the same lines. Please post your comments below.
January 19, 2010
Conversation about this article
1: Gurjender Singh (Maryland, U.S.A.), January 19, 2011, 8:40 AM.
First issue should be the Sikh turban. If some one loses his/ her turban, every thing (five Ks, kirtan, paatth) will disappear with time. I remember a court case in New York for covering the child head's in school. Parents went to court with the Gurdwara President (as the Bhai Sahib did not speak English). The Judge asked the Gurdwara President that when he could be without a turban, then why did a child in school need a turban. The case was dismissed. No Sikhs are not against non-turban Sikhs, but we need to educate people through the media because Sikhi is no more a state religion. One can spend millions of dollar on nagar kirtans, celebrations, etc., but the real problem is not solved until we use the right tools of the media ... TV, Talk shows, etc., to propagate Sikhi. Otherwise, all our efforts are going to go to waste with the egos.
2: Gur Singh (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.), January 19, 2011, 9:56 AM.
Divide even the greatest of the great communities into liberals and radicals. It will finish itself by fighting within itself. For how long will the 'moderates' survive in the jungle.
3: Jesroshan Singh (Malaysia), January 19, 2011, 11:22 AM.
I agree with the above article but we should not worry because we Sikhs will never go extinct. We have our Chardi Kalaa and 'Raj Karega Khalsa' to live up to. We are also a small community because only lucky souls blessed by Waheguru are born as Sikhs. If He doesn't love us, with one blow he can wipe us out ... but see, we are not doing too badly!
4: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), January 19, 2011, 7:04 PM.
A health conscious Bibi took her little unruly tyke who was excessively fond of gurrh (jaggery) to a Sufi Baba ('elder') known to have a panacea for all ills. He had a busy practice and told the Bibi to come back the next week when he would find a cure. Come next week, all the Baba did was to put his hand on the boy's head and told him to stop eating gurrh beyond a tiny bit. That worked. But Bibi had a question. "Baba ji, why didn't you say those magic words last week when we came to see you the first time?" The Baba's reply was: "Beta, I had that day myself eaten gurrh excessively. It took me a week to cure myself first before I could ask someone else to do it!" Therein lies our problem. The oft repeated saying is: "Be the change that you wish to bring about." The Gurdwara's President without a turban was hardly a suitable person to plead for a boy against the ban to wear turban in the school. This is a sad commentary. Just a hairline crack in a flute is enough to destroy the music. Let's each one of us be the example and we will find like-minded people to form a caravan. We have a weekly satsang and the number has been growing steadily, and we are now running out of space. There is no president, secretary, treasurer or Bhai ji. Just a goup of like-minded satsangis. The programme starts with a short ardaas, a hukamnama and simran for 10 minutes. We are now at pannaa 465 of Guru Granth Sahib, and discuss the shabad in depth, helped by the wonderful available commentaries by Bhai Vir Singh ji, Prof. Sahib Singh, Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha, and others. Let others look after the buildings and donations of the gurdwaras, etc. Let's be the change.
5: Aryeh Leib (Israel), January 20, 2011, 6:58 AM.
Sangat ji, are any of those commentaries available in English - on the net, if possible? I'd be interested in seeing Gurbani interpretation on a widely recognized authoritative level.
6: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), January 20, 2011, 9:05 AM.
Aryeh ji, may I commend you to our guide and mentor Manjeet Singh, in whose house we meet every Sunday. Apart from the English translations available, he himself writes some of the most erudite explanations and has a wide readership. I am taking the liberty of sending you his e-mail address, and will also ask him to include you in his 'satsang list' This would be a start of a very pleasant journey. Please drop him a line.
7: Kartar Singh Bhalla (New Delhi, India), January 20, 2011, 9:32 AM.
All our problems can be avoided if we concentrate on the three pillars of Sikhi: Naam jappo, Kirat karo, Vund chhako. Sikhi needs to be the liberal religion it was shaped by our Gurus.
8: Ravinder Singh Khalsa (U.S.A..), January 20, 2011, 10:17 AM.
Based on how things are going, there might be no alternative but to have a Jathedar in each country. This could be a model that could work considering how dangerous and poisoned Punjabi Sikh leadership has become ...
9: Mohan Singh (Toronot, Ontario, Canada), January 20, 2011, 10:50 AM.
Earlier, there use to be few Gurpurabs, but nowadays the number of such purabs and celebrations has increased: we now have a variety of kirtan darbars, nagar kirtans, simran samgams, etc., without real time spent on understanding gurbani. This is just to attract sangat to fill up the golak. I personally feel that our dasvand should also be used outside the gurdwara for the benefit of the poor and needy in our own circle of friends or relatives or for victims of disasters and other circumstances. I enjoy weekly satsang at the Guru Granth Sahib Academy, where there is no pradhaan or secretary. I have never seen any fund raising request at this academy, even no offering of grocery, etc. There is no cooking but langar is offered and served by the members of the sangat prepared in their home, and this is a real opportunity of langar seva. There is always a long list of such sevadaar on the notice board offering langar seva for the sangat. Sometimes I have to book my langar seva two or three months in advance. On top of this all, gurbani is very well explained by Prof. Singh Sahib and there is always pin drop silence and the sangat is like true sadh sangat. Discourse on Sukhmani Sahib and bani of Bhagat Ravidas is over and now discourse on bani of Bhagat Kabir is on going which is also completed till Raag Asa. All these discourses are available on the academy web site.
10: Mohan Singh (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), January 23, 2011, 11:21 AM.
Aryeh ji, Gurbani commentaries in English are available on YouTube by Prof. Sarabjit Singh (Gobindpuri), Principal, Sikh Missionary College, Ludhiana, Punjab.
11: Aryeh Leib (Israel), January 24, 2011, 11:29 AM.
Mohan ji - many thanks. I'll take a look.
12: I.P.S. Ahuja (Canada), January 25, 2011, 10:38 AM.
Jesroshan Singh ji: I agree with your following statement: " ... because only lucky souls blessed by Waheguru are born as Sikhs. If He doesn't love us, with one blow he can wipe us out ... but see, we are not doing too badly ..." But the only problem is He appears to love some Sikhs more than others and ignores the excesses of some, e.g., the Badals, who have not only effectively removed the authority of the Akal Takht, but also turned Punjab from the top state to a bankrupt state.