Kids Corner

People

Thought For The Day

Lord INDARJIT SINGH

 

 

 

Media hype over this week’s launch of the latest smart phone and the million ways it will help us connect to everyone and everything, leaves me a little cold.

I’m a bit wary about sophisticated gadgetry telling us what to do with our lives.

Admittedly I’m a bit of a Luddite about mobile phones, the social media and the internet. I envy those with the speed and dexterity of Madame Defarge who clicked away on her knitting needles while watching the guillotine in action. I can’t cope with lengthy texts demanding instant replies. 

My granddaughter recently said she would send me an email because ‘you can’t text’. Determined to prove her wrong I slowly and ponderously wrote a text message signed ‘master texter’- and then, inadvertently sent it to her puzzled aunt.

My relationship with the internet lurches between love and hate. I can’t get over the power of the internet that gives near instant access to detailed information on the vaguest of topics -- that is, when it works!

At the moment we have lost our wi- fi and have only intermittent internet access due to a fault on the line. We’ve all had similar experiences.

My real concern is that it is all too easy to get hooked on such gadgetry in a way that takes us away from due attention to those around us.

Guru Nanak too was concerned about the way people often neglected their responsibilities for more selfish pursuits. In his day, some people would leave their families and friends to go to the wilderness in search of God. The Guru once met some of these people on a mountain and they greeted him asking how the world below goes? He replied, the world is suffering and how could it be otherwise when those with knowledge and wisdom, desert it in a selfish way.

God cannot be found in the wilderness but in the service of your family and fellow beings.

Today there isn’t much wilderness left, but it is all too easy to drift into a virtual wilderness in pursuit of virtual friendships to the neglect of real people around us.

I am reminded of the poet’s words:

‘We flatter those we scarcely know, and rush to please the fleeting guest, but heap many a thoughtless blow on those who love us best.’

Now there’s a ‘Thought for the Day’ - in less than 140 characters!

September 14, 2014

Conversation about this article

1: Kulvinder Jit Kaur (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada), September 15, 2014, 8:21 AM.

Totally agree. "Charity begins at home." Social media comes with a price. The cost is the gross absence of "in person" relationships with the immediate family and superfluous communication with all and sundry. Sikhism is all about taking care of one's family first, serving the community and country one lives in. Lord Indarjit Singh ji, the fastest technology will never replace wisdom and common sense.

2: Ajit Singh Batra (Pennsville, New Jersey, USA), September 15, 2014, 9:20 PM.

Basically, our Gurus made the gurdwaras the center of all activities of the sadh sangat. History, politics and social traditions, all relate to spiritual values of Sikhism. The first thing in any gurdwara is to perform spiritual service leading to bhog (conclusion) and thereafter other activities are discussed, keeping to the universality of truth. Sikhi believes in preservation of the natural rights of human beings, rich or poor, which God has willed.

3: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), September 17, 2014, 10:21 PM.

As ever, Lord Indarjit Singh speaks wisely. Like with everything in Sikhism, we are taught there has to be a balance in everything we do and if the internet and technology is going to be used by humanity then, like with everything else, it is bound to be abused!

Comment on "Thought For The Day"









To help us distinguish between comments submitted by individuals and those automatically entered by software robots, please complete the following.

Please note: your email address will not be shown on the site, this is for contact and follow-up purposes only. All information will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Sikhchic reserves the right to edit or remove content at any time.