Roundtable
The Nagar Keertan:
The Roundtable Open Forum # 80
by JAGDEESH SINGH & ATMA SINGH
It is nagar keertan season again as we 'celebrate' Guru Nanak's birthday.
Nagar Keertans have plainly become massive gatherings for the many who indulge in the fun and frolic of a good day of socializing, and the food and drink lovers indulge in the voluminous free junk food that is distributed by gurdwaras, shops and take-aways on the parade route. The participants leave behind a huge mess of paper litter, wrappers and cans behind. This is their wondrous gift to the environment as the great followers of Guru Nanak.
Guru Nanak must be looking down from heaven, amused at this massive, pathetic, unthinking mass, misled and goaded by their even more pathetic and sinister 'leaders' into these enmasse rituals and public displays.
Absolutely no public awareness, no public education, no public service, emerges from this mass process.
No homeless were helped today. No hungry were fed. No orphans given succour. No women, seniors or children requiring assistance given any.
These trendy nagar keertans which have today taken place in Southall - West London and Birmingham in the United Kingdom, attended by countless thousands; are an entire waste of human energy, spirit and resources. They are entirely ritualistic. They distract us from the ethical activism mandated by Sikhi. They bring forth nothing for the betterment of the world. They do nothing to inspire us to engage in seva to humanity.
After all the junk food, the bombastic ear-blowing speeches, the hollow slogans and shouting, the false gestures, everyone goes home feeling fatter for the fatty food and pop, leaving behind a load of litter. A typical India fun day out!
Nothing Sikh about it at all, though.
Some questions to all the tens of thousands who have attended these nagar keertans to celebrate Guru Nanak:
1 Did Guru Nanak organise or advocate such mass parades?
2 Or did Guru Nanak deliver his message through positive action and selfless activism?
3 How do these nagar keertans project and deliver the activist lifestyle exemplified by Guru Nanak: "Truth is high, but higher still is Truthful Living!"
These parades are a gross distortion of true Sikhi which, from beginning to end, is about social justice and activism. It is about global justice and global good. About sarbat-da-bhalla!
We have today failed the legacy of the Gurus, the shaheeds, the sacrifices of our elders and ancestors, and those who have given their all even in recent memory. We have reduced ourselves to disgraceful and morbid rituals and the dead living of brahmanized beliefs.
Let's simply test one of the above statements when evaluating how useful these parades are.
How many of us, out of the tens of thousands who have attended nagar keertans over all these years, have even once proactively approached a homeless and destitute person in the street and asked them if they need, or offered them, a meal?
If not, then, what have we gained from the rest of the hoopla?
We have drifted so far from even trying to see Waheguru's jyot in all living beings, let alone trying to achieve a life of Truth.
No doubt some youngsters or others may gain a bit from the 'spectacle' of the nagar keertan and be somewhat inspired, but I can assure you that much more can be obtained, easier and quicker, if we can actually practice what our Gurus have taught us to do. And we would save ourselves the waste and distraction that Maya brings into our lives.
The fragrance of Sikhi would enrich our lives and those around us.
Far, far, far away from the true kamayee (earnings) of naam, bani, seva and the practice of sarbat da bhalla, we are actually leading ourselves astray.
Modern day nagar keertans have turned into a perverse parody of what Sikhi is and what it stands for.
Are we turning into the very type that Guru Gobind Singh wanted us to counter: "The world is engrossed in diverse rituals and worship. However, none have realized the essence of the One!"
Have we, instead, merely proved the truth of Karl Marx' words? "Religion is the opium of the masses."
It is time to turn to the spiritual core of Sikhi.
POINTS TO PONDER
As part of this week's Roundtable Open Forum, we invite you to share with us your thoughts on the points raised hereinabove.
Do nagar keertans serve a purpose?
Are they cost productive?
What is the good they achieve?
What are the drawbacks and failings?
Can they be, should they be, improved upon? How?
Edited for sikhchic.com
November 9, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Nirmal (Saskatoon, Sakatchewan, Canada), November 09, 2011, 10:16 AM.
They do not serve any purpose except in helping a few to maintain control of gurdwaras by creating the impression that they are indeed doing something for the community. Why does this work? These management committee people have a very good understanding of the public's mind-set, they know they come to gurdwaras as a ritual, for fun, socialization, or show off. These so called nagar keertans serve that purpose, and in a market-oriented world, it pays to listen to your customers and meet their needs. What we see in such gatherings is in reality what we are (which is different from Sikhi or what our Gurus wanted us to be). The reason is simple. I have been brought up in a family where paatth of Guru's bani was done by paid workers. If in the 40 years of my life I never got a chance to read Gurus' teachings or what they say, then what can you really expect from me? They are not cost productive. Ask any gurdwara management, they will provide unclear figures to distort the facts; ask them under oath, they will do the same. They have no fear except the fear of losing control. Whey these shows are not run with the goal of doing some good towards humanity or Sikhi, how could they produce something good? There is a law of nature that you achieve whatever you aim for, and the same is true about these shows because nature cannot work differently. The drawback is that MY money is used for these narrow political goal or fun of someone else. This is not what I made my offerings. The second drawback is of creating a distorted picture of Sikhism. This is because we have distorted ourselves. In the end, the question is not how many Sikhs contribute 'daswandh', but where and for what purpose? Yes, they can be improved upon, but in a democratic set-up where votes matter, we need leaders, not politicians. There is only ONE requirement that the public should be educated about - the teachings of our Gurus and these teachings should be straight from the source, not through false interpreters. Till Sikhs starting reading bani on their own and study our history, this barhamanvaad will continue and will corrode us from within.
2: Gurnek Singh (Manchester, United Kingdom), November 09, 2011, 10:50 AM.
You're absolutely right. They are a menace, a nuisance and a complete waste of time. They foment hatred in other communities who have to put up with the inconvenience and really do harm to race relations. Religions should be for the home and places of worship, not shoving it in everyone's face. How would we feel if every religion had their equivalent 'nagar keertan'? Councils and tax payers should not be funding the arrangements, gurdwaras should fork out for policing, security, etc. In Sikhism, because the history spans over 500 years, nearly every year is some centenary or other.
3: Prakash.Singh Bagga (India), November 09, 2011, 11:02 AM.
If we critically analyse the relevence of such activities, we can conclude that such celebrations are actually creating more ignorance about Sikhi. During a nagar kirtan we can observe that most of the bani recitation is not from the Guru Granth Sahib. I feel none of our Ten Gurus ever celebrated or advocated such activities. These are just to create an atmosphere of show of strength of the community in that particular locality. There is more of politics and less of any benefit to the community. I can appreciate the concept of celebrating, for instance, a Gurpurab related to each Guru in the form of a sangat doing vichaar or kirtan, etc., in an elegant way. That would make it truly fruitful.
4: Narayan Kaur (New York, U.S.A.), November 09, 2011, 11:19 AM.
Gurnek Singh ji: Other religions? Well, Protestants have their Orange Parades in every village, town and city they live in, across the world. So do Catholics. And how about the Santa Claus Parade, a definite Christian-inspired parade, albeit bereft of all spirituality or even mention of Christ. In Europe - Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece (to name a few) have oodles of religious parades every chance they get. The Hindus do it on every second day in some part of India or the other - in the West, you have their newly minted rath-yatras as well. The Muslims? Ever heard of their Muharram parades, which gave rise to the expression, "hobson-jobson"? I offer all of this info only to correct your misunderstanding, not to support or oppose the nagar keertans, though.
5: Gurjender Singh (Maryland, U.S.A.), November 09, 2011, 11:35 AM.
Nagar keertan are just like: "jungle mai more naacha kissne dekha!" (No one sees the peacock dancing in the forest!) - simply because leaders give speeches in Punjabi, and neither the young nor any of the non-Sikhs have a clue as to what's going on. After 100 years on this continent, we've yet to teach our neighbours about our turban and Sikhi. Same situation in India. Around the time of the 400th Guru Gaddi Divas celebrations at Hazzor Sahib and all over India, I was traveling in the country and one of the non-Sikh co-travelers asked me about all the food and sweets Sikhs were distributing free, and about the processions, and the reasons behind it all. This is because everybody was busy celebrating and no one had cared to tell anybody why! Exactly the same scene is now being replicated in New York now. A total waste of money and time and resources.
6: Ravinder Singh (Mumbai, India), November 09, 2011, 11:51 AM.
The above raised points are of vital importance. Unless and until we start learning from our shabad Guru, we will remain trapped in all the things that Guru Nanak tried to remove us from. If we want to learn from our Gurus, they speak to us through the Guru Granth Sahib.
7: Manpreet Singh (San Francisco, California, U.S.A.), November 09, 2011, 6:46 PM.
I have been going to Yuba City Nagar Keertan for the last 3 years, except this year. The above raised points were in my mind and I decided to give the nagar keertan a miss this year. The event has the potential of bringing the whole local Sikh community onto the same platform, which can then be utilized to address some shared problems or to convey a strong message. But apart people are busy in either shopping or eating free meals and youngsters are busy in other cheap activities. It has taken the shape of a village mela rather than a spiritual celebration.
8: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), November 09, 2011, 10:04 PM.
Stopped going after my second nagar keertan! The Punjabis were mostly 'villager' type and 'taliban-like' and the women walked ten paces behind them. The arrogance of some of the participants was not very Sikh-like. We need to debate opening up gurdwaras to the needy and special halls for tea and snacks for the homeless regardless of theirreligion or faith and that will engage us with the world and make us more humble and less discriminating ... which Sikhs should not be in the first place.
9: Manjeet Shergill (Singapore), November 10, 2011, 4:33 AM.
A Buddhist friend suggested I attend the meditation center to learn how to meditate - how to keep mind in check and control - not easy - takes time and effort. the only thing missing at this meditation center was langar. When I took my friend to the gurdwara yesterday, she loved the langar and enjoyed sitting in the darbar doing her meditation and listening to gurbani. I think that's what's not quite right - we do easy effort like langar and neglect the tough one like mind control. I have decided to cook rice and dal and serve the very few meditation members at the Buddhist center next week while my friend says she will be happy to keep coming to the gurdwara with me because its lively and the food - delicious. Langar at the Buddhist center will bound to bring in more people - to learn how to meditate and control their lives.
10: Lakhvir Singh Khalsa (Nairobi, Kenya), November 11, 2011, 1:15 PM.
Baldev Singh ji's idea in his post, '... We need to debate opening up gurdwaras to the needy and special halls for tea and snacks for the homeless regardless of their religion or faith and that will engage us with the world and make us more humble and less discriminating ...' is a much needed one for us to revert to, considering that it is the real essence of what a langar and gurdwara are all about. But we have hoarded it all to ourselves. We really do need to open up the gurdwaras to the needy, otherwise we are just serving those who don't have any need.
11: Ajit Singh Batra (Pennsville, New Jersey, U.S.A..), November 11, 2011, 2:01 PM.
How old is the tradition of nagar keertans? I recall in the 1940's, Khalsa School and Khalsa College in Amritsar, students and teachers would form a gathering for Nagar Kirtan, proceeding from the college premises to Darbar Sahib, Amritsar(4 miles distance). Principal Jodh Singh, Prof. Sahib Singh and Prof. Ganda Singh, all eminent scholars of Sikhism, were part of the Nagar Kirtan. Other than shabad singing by students, the Principal and some professors accompanying the Guru Granth Sahib on a built-in platform on a truck, there were no rituals, such as 'langar'-eating. The nagar kirtan followed the band played by students. 'Bole so Nihaal' was heard at frequent intervals.
12: Bob Dhesi (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada), January 06, 2013, 9:24 PM.
It is entertainment for the ignorant and bored people. It is contradictory to the teachings of our Gurus.