People

Thoughts On Renewal & Resurrection At Easter & Vaisakhi

by Dr BIRENDRA SINGH HUJA

 

 

Today my wife and I went to an Easter service.

A friend of my wife was participating in the Hula dance at the service and she has been talking about it for some time. This morning I reluctantly yielded as I felt if it made her happy, so be it.

It is the first Christian service I have attended, after attending a Catholic mass about forty years ago which was a part of school graduation.

The Easter services impressed me, but not just for the beautiful choreographed presentation of dances and religious music, which was actively participated in by a large part of the congregation with enthusiasm. The pastor/priest had the most upbeat presentation, to say the least.

He clearly differentiated himself and his church from the Catholic doctrine of God being unapproachable and man needing the redemption. He emphasized that Jesus rising from the dead would be around forever to the end of life itself; all of us being God as he was within us always, etc. etc.

It was a string of thought that comes to me repeatedly when I read Guru Granth Sahib. Atma is part of Paramatma and it yearns to be with the Paramatma.

All that aside, I was quite fascinated not only by an hour of skillfully choreographed program (this was the third service of the morning and the church was jam-packed with people in the verandas on either side).

As the service was concluding every one was asked to turn to others within reach, introduce themselves and shake hands with them. Visitors were acknowledged and welcomed with flower leis, welcome packages, CDs and welcome breakfast. (This apparently is their tradition on every Sunday.).

The package gave a description of weekly activities from lectures and yoga, something for everyone. As the services were concluding the contribution bowl was passed around the congregation.

What an uplifting and at the same time an enticing event.

As I looked around there were some familiar faces including two of Muslim faith who are regular there. I also know of at least two Keshdhari Sikhs who frequent the church on occasions, these two Sikhs have profound knowledge of Sikhism and one of them is my mentor.

I have noted while frequenting Singapore that many Hindu and Sikh families have turned to the Christian Church for solace and guidance at their time of their need and eventually have become part of their flock. My wife is from Singapore and it gives me some insight into the local culture. The same may be true here.

Here in Honolulu we have monthly kirtan at our homes and more often than not it is held at my mentor's place. The sangat constitutes about fifteen to twenty people with an average of four keshdhari Sikhs (men and women). There are only about eight families of Sikh lineage with possibly only four turban-wearing Sikh men in Honolulu .

We sing a few shabads, non-Sikhs sing bhajans, we translate the vaak of the day, and translate some "paurris" of interest. The kirtan lasts one hour, followed by "langar", which usually is a joint effort.

Some Observations and Thoughts.
 
We Sikh families bring our culture and traditions to the place of our residence and do our best to be good Sikhs. Amongst us, we try to speak Punjabi as best as we can. Our children often can understand some of our language but when it reaches the third generation, we are aliens.

Most of them marry locally and they have the foggiest idea of their roots and the magnificent heritage they descend from. By the time the third generation arrives they may carry some Sikh/Punjabi features, but they often have no inkling of their roots and many could care less.

For them we (the previous generations) live in a different world and are misfits in this country, at best. Some of the second and most of the third generations possibly may carry on with some hints of traditions of ours and have some connection to our culture but they are far and few.

Let me cast the first stone. I myself married outside the culture and I have my doubts if my daughter has inkling of what is a Sikh, besides the fact that they look like her father. It is not her fault but mine.

I read Sikh literature in English with articles of the learned with profound exposes but I have reservation about the true readership numbers. I find articles too esoteric, often. I myself only learned to read Gurmukhi near the age of sixty and feel blessed to be able to enjoy gurbani.

I am thankful to online sites for making multiple translations and commentaries available.

Gurdwaras in U.S. and Canada are more of social places to meet friends and bring our children to gather. It gives us a good feeling of being where we can feel at comfort, a familiar place as we recollect from our past and for some a place of peace, being with the sadh sangat.

Then there is that occasional feeling of being close to Waheguru.

Like in all other places of worship there are few gurmukhs in the congregation to make the visit to the gurdwara a worth-while visit, but most of us cannot recognize one when we see one.

My observations of a recent visit to Delhi, Punjab and Himachal: I found very few turbaned Sikhs. I saw hundreds of (not very Sikh appearing) youngsters on motorcycles with orange cloths on their heads roving around Mandi and Manikaran during the month of Holi.

If I were not told that they were the children of Sikhs, I would have never known.

Some Conclusions

1    There is a disconnect between the Sikh religion and its flock. The flock is in rapid move for disintegration. The Sikh religion is possibly the most universal  and most relevant to any population at any time - past, present and future. I say so not because I am Sikh by birth but because of my studies and understanding  (though still very rudimentary), I feel more in harmony with the philosophy and feel blessed as I read and try to understand the beautiful verses daily.  Every time I feel elated I turn to share, only to find only myself to share with. I must confess I find myself capable of only the most basic functions in terms of practising our faith.

2     We who understand the Guru in various degrees, (I feel) are morally obliged to share our knowledge with our families, friends and like minded individuals. Fully realizing that there is dearth of such people who have no time for such not-so-worldly affairs,. I have no idea how to reach out.

3     It will be the saddest loss to the whole world, if Sikh religion, philosophy and the writings become only subject of curiosity to a few in the libraries of the future, whatever form they may be.

4    The time has come to stop talking in abstract and merely singing praises of each others’ writings. I pray that it is not too late to do something practical and if we can do so, it needs to be done urgently if we are to avoid relegation of Sikhism to a mere curiosity. Maybe we need to have a new direction like modern Jews who are proud to be Jews and have split from orthodox Jews where the traditions are very important.

A Sikh cannot be a Sikh if s/he does not understand what are the Sikh teachings, philosophy and the conduct of being a Sikh. Looking like a Sikh is not good enough. For that new direction we have to interpret Guru Granth Sahib in the common languages used by Sikhs all over the world and the interpretation needs to be relevant to the present times.

The person who has no idea of Indian mythology, has never seen a mendicant walking half naked smeared with ashes, never heard a melodic song of koels and papiha, will not be able to connect to a lot of the beautiful writings and the implied message. We need a new reader-friendly format with easy references, to which internet lends itself very well.

April 12, 2012

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