By Dr. I.J. Singh
A Review by Dr. Hakam Singh Candor in writing on subjects concerning Sikh religion by a Sikh is a rather uncommon phenomenon, specially, in today’s highly charged at mosphere created by unfortunate and violent events of the past decade in Punjab and their fallout in the West cm World, Dr. IJ Singh has done this job remarkably well in this book which consists of over twenty short essays that deal with a wide spectrum of religious and socio-political issues of prime importance to every Sikh in general and the Sikh migrants to the West in particular.
Dr. Singh has lived in the U.S.A. for over three decades and, like a scientist that he is, has observed the slow but steady influx of Sikh immigrants to the Western hemisphere. He has perceived the agony of these immigrants Excuse of the problems arising out of their interaction with totally alien culture. He has agonized over the betrayal of Sikhs by the so called secular government of India and seems to have clearly visualized the plight of Sikh youth born and/or brought up in the West who have to constantly face a myriad questions from their peers regarding their physical form, the so-called Sikh terrorism and their religious and social customs but who do not have adequately satisfactory answers because of a lack of pertinent information available to them from their parents or the keepers of our religious institutions established here. For such young Sikhs this book comes like a breath of fresh air. It endeavors to candidly discuss many such issues and provide answers to many such questions.
Dr. Singh’s knowledge of Judeo Christian traditions combined with a deep study of Sikhism enable him to successfully project Sikhism in a form that is palatable to a Westerner and easy for him/her to understand.
Throughout the book elegance of ideas and subtlety of arguments and comments have been expressed in a prose that seems to have 2 gentle natural flow. For example, for those self styled elite Sikhs who consider themselves superior simply because they have gone through the rite of confirmation (Amrit ceremony) he writes, “Even the nite of confirmation in the Sikh religion (Amrit) becomes a rite of passage, an important rung in that ladder and a stage in the developmental process of “BECOMING SIKH” (p. 14). On the recitation of Gurbani without understanding it just reading such a book is not going to assuage the hunger or cure any ailments” (p15).
Like a devout Sikh even when he is giving a word of advice he has kept the Guru in the forefront: “before we give a press statement, before we write a letter or raise a slogan, before we kidnap someone, plant a bomb or squeeze a trigger, even before we build another Gurdwara, lot each Sikh ask one question and only one question. Would the Guru approve of what I am about to do?” (255) Many “anti-Gurmat” practices have stealthily crept into our religious services because of the influence of surroundings and over the time we have started considering them our own. Now we got angry if someone tries to point out these bad practices to us. Dr. Singh has mustered courage to point out many such bad throughout this look. For example, on our undisciplined conducting the presence of Guru Granth Sahib (in the Gurdwara), he writes,” in the Gurdwara money or other offerings should be presented with devotion and not thrown as if at a beggar. One must give one’s soul before one’s money finds acceptance in the house of Guru. In a Gurdwara needless interruptions whether to announce lists of donors or to comment on (events) or programs are unwelcome” (p. 16).
The question of continuity of philosophy from Guru Nanak through Guru Gobind Singh, as raised recently by some Christian missionary researchers, could not have been answered more aptly than done by 1J.Singh (p.21). “However, much as one does not entrust a bank book to a child or a car to one who cannot drive, Nanak did not ask his followers to take up arms against tyranny and injustice. The followers had to develop maturity and discipline for that.
At the same time that Dr. Singh has tried to answer a number of questions that would normally occur to a young Sikh born and/or brought up in the West he has also posed anomaly Inrga number of thought provoking questions that need to be answered At the same time, however, he sit ions that it has to be done from the Sikh perspective. This to me means that we have to find these answers from Guru Granth Sahib Same of the questions posed are:
What will Sikhs be like in the twenty first century? Will the Guru Granth on floppy discs invoke the same reverence? Will there to pizza or peanut butter sandwiches in the community kitchen and English ballads to the accompaniment of guitars or banjos Issues such as peace and disarmament, divorce and family crisis, birth control and environment need to be discussed from the Sikh perspective.”
Although every essay in this book offers ample food for thought, a few have particularly excited my curiosity to the extent that I feel compelled to express my own “biased views on them. In the essay, “The Symbols of a Heritage” (p.39): “The intangible realm of faith is a symbolic reality that is best expressed through symbols”. Then on page 44 in the same essay he writes, In the final analysis, symbols are an embodiment of history, not sentiment.” If faith and symbols are inseparable, as expressed in the first sentence, then they cannot be dissociated from sentiment because faith is a phenomenon arising out of sentiments. How can we say that for Sikhs ‘kesh’ are embodiment of history and not sentiment?
In the essay, “What is a Head Worth?”(p48) “The question is asked a hundred times a day and in myriad ways. Three hundred years later the Guru wanis your head. Many will slip away, just as they did 300 years ago Many more will look away just as they did then. The question is: How are you going to answer the call?” A novel way indeed of looking at the oft quoted problem faced by many Sikhs in the West. However, the fact is that when a Sikh adopts the Sikh uniform” he does so only after presenting his head to the Guru as the five beloved ones (Piyare) did 300 years ago. The affable man or woman behind the desk therefore is not an instrument of the Guru but a usurper who is asking for something that already belongs to the Guru. To answer affirmatively to his/her call can at best be labeled dishonesty.
In his essay, “Dissent and Prior Restraint” (p.125), which deals, by and large, with censorship and freedom of expression, Dr. Singh has discussed in detail the specific examples of publications of Trumpp. Dayanand. McLeod and Pashaura Singh. While Trumpp and Dayanand are crude and blunt, McLeod is subtle, has Machiavellian cunning. He has utterly disregarded some fundamental rules of research although he constantly toots his horn as being a true researcher of Sikh history. He has ignored many scholarly works that, in any way would contradict his theses, I do agree that one should give the devil his due, but Dr. Singh seems to have given far more credit to McLeod than he de serves.
Similarly it is hard for me to agree with his commentary about Pashaura Singh’s, thesis and the ensuing controversy. I think that there is a definite line of demarcation between sloppy scholarship and blasphemy and at certain points in his thesis Pashaura Singh has, advertently or inadvertently, crossed this line, I do not condone the directive of S.G.P.C, enjoining Sikhs not to read Pashaura Singh (or Piar Singh) but I do feel that Akal Takhat (and not SGPC) has a right to declare a Sikh to be ‘tankhahiya’ (apostate) if sufficient corroborative evidence by learned Sikh scholars is provided regarding the blasphemy nature of his/her writings and he/she refuses to appear before the takhat to clarify his/her position.
It is a though provoking book that offers a lot to those young Sikhs who want to know about their religious and cultural heritage.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 24, 1995
