Ballé Ballé
Where Are We Heading?
by JAGJINDER SINGH
It was a chilly morning of November-December 2009, and winter was starting to dive down the deep slope on the mercury.
After I parked my car, I started walking towards my work. The windchill was at its peak and I was wondering about the birds and animals who were to seen nowhere ... probably migrated to a warmer place.
When I was about to reach the work-entrance, I noticed that a couple of guys were planting saplings of Lilies, Tulips, etc., and making a complete mess of the garden as the ground was dug up all over to plant the new seeds.
Not sure about the process, I thought why on earth are they planting seeds at the approach of winter? The snow is on its way, and it ain't gonna nourish anything for a long, long time.
It was late Fall!! And those guys were planting flower saplings! I thought they were crazy, because I was not sure what they are doing. Probably, my farmer friends would know why.
Then I thought, if that is a trick, that when the snow melts and spring comes, the seeds in the ground will get fresher water and air!
And yes, a couple weeks ago, small buds did sprout from those very saplings and last week, Lilies blossomed in those plants!
My thoughts went back to my Punjab, the land of the five rivers, where I used to lose myself in the beautiful fields of flowers ... especially before Vaisakhi, the harvest season, when the wind caressed the ocean of mustard plants.
It looked like the farms were all dancing to the wind! Vismaad!
I am writing for the first time on this topic as I realize that we narrate the stories of Vaisakhi to our kids, but don't really recognize the meaning behind Vaisakhi!
So, why did the Tenth Master, Guru Gobind Singh, choose the beginning of the month of Vaisakh as the day to create the Khalsa?
I reached for Mahankosh, the monumental encyclopaedia by Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, and found that he quoted a gurbani verse: "Vaisakh suhaava taa(n) lage, ja sant bBhetae" while describing the season.
Why the month of Vaisakh - the month of the vaishyas - the hindu worker class' harvest season?
Who is the farmer and what will be harvested?
I realized that before Vaisakh, it was Basant. Is this only a coincidence, of the Guru choosing Vaisakhi as the day, or could there be some reason behind this?
The Guru says that the season will be blessed if the pious make their offering. What kind of offering is to be made so that the month of Vaisakh is blissful?
In 1699, the Tenth Master was testing if the month of blossoms, the Basant, has produced any buds which have blossomed with the spirit of spreading the fragrance of Truth?
He was testing if those blossomed ones are ready to dedicate their very existence in order to make a flower bed for the ones who are walking on the path of Truth?
He was testing if the crops are ready to be harvested as the scorching heat was on its way?
He asked for a head, a head to stand up for the sake of righteousness. No questions asked, no reasons given ...
All silent ... wind blowing ...
One by one, five souls stood up to bow before the Guru. No questions asked, no reasons given ...
I don't know what History says, whether they were beheaded by the Guru or not, but what strikes me as the only important fact, that they offered themselves, no questions asked ... and thereafter became the Punj Pyare - The Five Beloved Ones!
We sing shabads like, "Gursikh meet chalo gur chaali/ jo gur kahey soyi bhal maano/ har har katha niraali..."
Are we doing that? Are we walking on the path that the Guru has showed us? Are we listening to the teachings that our Guru taught us?
I see, every year, we all get together to celebrate the day which created us, unified us. Yet, we have failed to fulfill the Guru's desire - to see and treat everyone as equal with no discrimination ... and every hour of every day, we are doing some discrimination with one or the other ... be it caste, gurdwara politics, the Dasam Granth issue, the meat issue, different jathebandis ... the list is endless!
We are still not realizing that we have missed a lot on nearly every field in life!
We do not want to sit and discuss the foremost important task given by the Guru - discussion and comtemplation on the Guru's teachings within the sangat!
We are too busy with ourselves to help other communities!
We do not want to do what our strength used to be - cultivation, and just want to sing, dance and drink liquor!
We do not want to fight for the victims of 1984!
We do not want to talk about female foeticide!
We do not want to talk about the ill-treatment of women in our community!
But, we want to discriminate with each other on the basis of caste!
We want to fight with Sikhs who eat meat and Sikhs who do not!
We want to take over our local gurdwaras!
We want to celebrate Vaisakhi by drinking liquor!
We want to wear T-shirts of Jujharoo (warrior) Singhs, but do not want to walk in their shoes!
We want to create a Khalistan, but not go to India to fight against the human rights injustices committed by the government!
We want to put our FaceBook status as "Happy Vaisakhi" for a day, and then forget it for another year!
Where are we heading?
April 15, 2010
Conversation about this article
1: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), April 16, 2010, 2:33 PM.
"Hun vatai har naam na beeji-o agai bhukhaa ki-aa khaa-ay" [GGS:450.9] - 'Now, in this most fortunate season he does not plant the seed of the Lord's Name; what will the hungry soul eat, in the world hereafter?'
2: Amandeep Singh (India), April 16, 2010, 3:19 PM.
That's true ... Well said, Big B!
3: Hardyal Singh (Singapore), April 19, 2010, 11:50 PM.
Bha ji, very well said. Good.
4: Davinder (Delhi, India), April 20, 2010, 12:11 AM.
Truly said: "We all have forgotten the real meaning of Vaisakhi!"
5: Jagjinder Singh (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.), April 20, 2010, 10:01 PM.
Thank you, everyone. Let us strive towards finding the solution of stopping the down-trend in the current situation. Any ideas what we can do together?
6: Hardeep Singh (New Delhi, India), May 02, 2010, 12:00 PM.
Well said, bro. The problem we face today is that gurdwara committees are busy counting money, many of the raagis are in the business for money, our panth's leaders incapable of leading and the ones who are capable are busy doing full time jobs with companies.