One wonders, how the portraits of the Gurus and even their idols appeared not only in the houses of the Sikhs but also in many Gurdwaras. This is nothing but Brahmanical philosophy displacing the Sikh faith from Sikh homes and their places of worship.

According to the Sikh principles, not the physical features of his body, but the words said by the Guru are the “Guru”.

Hence, the holy hyms spoken by the Gurus, Bhagat, and other contributors, were compiled and installed as the living spirit of the Guru in the Golden Temple, Amritsar. No pictures or idols of the Gurus were allowed to be made. For making the environment aesthetic and soothing to the mind, flowers, geometrical figures and other art work is seen engraved on the walls of the Golden Temple. Portraits of the Guru are conspicuous by their absence.

It can be easily explained how portraits and statues of the Gurus entered the Golden Temple and Sikh houses. It is a matter of recorded history, what appears to be extremely difficult is, now, to throw them out of the Gurdwaras and the Sikh psyche. Not only credulous Sikhs, but some educated Sikhs also keep portrait of the Gurus in the house to obtain their blessings. Readers may be hurt to know that some Sikhs have been seen garlanding the Guru pictures and serving food to them, i.e. performing “Bhog ritual”.

Not all Sikhs, of course, have reached the stage of worshipping Guru Photos as Hindus worship their idols, but a large number of them are on their way to do that. Some scholars want these pictures to be destroyed whereas others suggest that only their worship prohibited and not their “Darshan”. They argue seeing a portrait of the Guru reminds them of the life of the Guru,

The most unfortunate aspect of this is that certain new pictures are being popularized by the Shromani Committee, Amritsar itself has “better” portraits of the Gurus. It is because they have been made by some famous painters based on their great imagination and artistic skills.

Sikhs, must ask themselves who is there to protect the Sikh principles from being destroyed under the influence of the Brahmans? ‘Well, the author thinks the correct answer is “YOU”, who reads Gurbani, understands its spirit and practices it in his/her daily life and does not just talk about it. To learn Sikh philosophy, Gurbani is the only source without dilution, distortion or damage by the Brahmanical influence.

Naturally the question arises why pictures and statues of the Gurus were accepted by the Sikhs when they were not there cone “the Guru’s period…

Keshadhari Sikhs during the 18th century were forced to leave villages and live in the forests. The non Keshadhari disciples took care of the Sikh Gurdwaras and historical places. These disciples did not board the ship of Sikh Faith but only held it by their hands and kept their feet stuck in the Hindu Boat. These Sanatani “Sikhs”, called Mahants, continued to believe in Brahmanical rituals even after associating themselves with the Sikh faith, Not only nonSikh but also antiSikh rituals were introduced by them in the Gurdwaras. Their Brahmanical thinking made them to depict popular mythological scenes on the walls of the Gurdwaras as they were traditionally depicted on the walls of Hindu temples. When the pictures of the Hindu gods appeared on the Gurdwara walls, the pictures of the Gurus had also to appear as a natural consequence. The pictures of the Hindu gods can still be seen in the Gurdwara at Manikaran (Himachal). Also, they were there at Dina Kangar (where Guru Gobind Singh wrote Zafar Nama: the old building with Hindu god paintings on its walls is said to have been demolished and a new Gurdwara has been constructed there) and maybe ail still there at Dera Baba Nanak and other old Gurdwara buildings.

All Gurus, of course, differed and were subject to the imagination of the painters. The pictures from the walls moved on to the paper and then were printed for mass production to reach every Sikh house and Gurdwara. Some vigilant managers, however, did not permit any kind of pictures, howsoever “superior” they were claimed to be, to come even near the boundary of the Gurdwaras. Once the pictures of the Gurus were accepted as “true” and “good” by the masses, how then could anyone stop them from taking the form of idols and statues? They are, it appears, here to stay, even though making Guru’s picture or idol is against the Sikh philosophy. 1849, they had time to turn their thoughts towards their faith. They were surprised to find Sikhism already pushed out of the Gurdwaras by the Mahants believing in Brahmanical rituals. The worship of any kind of idols, whether of Hindu Gods or of Sikh Gurus, is prohibited for a Sikh, However under the guidance of the Mahants both were worshipped by the “Sikhs” in the precincts of the Golden Temple.

Hindu rituals and beliefs were thus preached by Mahants among the Sikhs under the garb of Sikh practices.

A statue of Guru Har Gobind was presented by the Raja of Chamba for the Akal Takht, Amritsar. Many Guru Idols and those of Hindu gods were there around Gurdwara Baba Atal and worshipped by the people. The suggestion of installing the statues of all the ten Gurusat the entrance of the Harimandir Sahib would have been implemented but for the strong protest and objections by the Singh Sabha.

In 1905, the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar was convinced, after hearing the translation of hymns included in the Guru Granth Sahib, that worship of idols is strictly prohibited in the Sikh faith. He ordered the removal of all idols, whether of Hindu gods or of Gurus. Thanks to the right use of authority by the Deputy Commissioner. How even the Sikh leaders do not now, dare stop anti Sikh practices, lest they lose their popularity. Rather they don’t hesitate to endorse them if it means getting votes from a section of the community or credulous Sikh masses.

One example is the preaching of the sanctity of the horses, in the stable of the Gurdwara Sach Khand, to an extent that many Sikhs collected their dung as “Parshad” to eat it, From Nanded the horses were brought to Punjab when Giani Zail Singh, then Chief Minister of Punjab, staged the vote catching drama of opening of the Guru Gobind Singh Marg. This name was given to the road which goes from Anandpur Sahib to Mukatsar representing the path on which the Guru Govind Singh travelled after leaving Anandpur Sahib. At first it was preached that they were the horses of Guru Gobind Singh and later it was said that they were not but were of the same breed. That statement too, is false and the leaders knew it. But even if it was true, how does it sanctify a horse or its dung? Only God knows how some of the leaders think, Instead of objecting to the collection and eating of dung, by the Sikhs, the leaders were feeling happy that the Sikh masses will return that favor with votes. They knew, of course, that masses were being made fool of by their political stunts. Let us not remain under the illusion that our leaders will each against the making, selling or worshipping of pictures, an apparently harmless act, when they did not stop the Sikhs from eating dung.

Because of the ignorance of the leaders, or because of their hesitancy to speak truth, the idols thrown out during the British Raj have come again with a big bang. One can find every day, not only new pictures or paintings of the Gurus but also their plastic and metallic idols which are made to look more impressive than those of the previous years. For the sake of obliging some selected painters, and simultaneously making the unwary Sikh masses happy, the Shiromani Committee Amritsar, itself started printing and selling Sikh Guru Paintings.

In Sikh homes and in Gurdwaras, with only a few exceptions, we find today, the pictures being respected and in some cases even virtually worshipped. Guru Nanak Birthday issue of all Sikh papers of America carries his big picture on the front page with many inside, almost with every advertisement. Out of sight is out of mind. Shabad got out of sight with the glare of the pictures. People now remember Nanak’s pictures and not Nanak’s preaching. This indicates the success of The Brahmans in their mission to mislead Sikhs, even those who recite Gurbani.

The picture psyche is so strong now that anybody who protests against the paintings of the Gurus or their exhibition, is considered anti Sikh. Majority of the Sikhs are up against him. The approval and acceptance of the picture by the general Sikh masses means losing one more front to Brahmanism.

What religious lesson can a person learn from the “darshans” of the pictures of a Guru when the physical seeing of the Guru or even being born to him is no assurance of becoming a religious person? Prithi Chand was born to Guru Ram Das. He also watched closely Guru Amar Das and played in his lap. It did not have any useful effect on Prithi Chand. He remained an evil person.

Gurbani says, not looking at the Guru but understanding Gurbani and leading life according to that, alone can release a man from the cycle of birth and death.

The cuscuta (paraoilic plau amarbel) of Brahmanism has infected the body of Sikhism, its history and it’s Rehat Maryada (Sikhs code of Ethics). The only thing safe is Gurbani in the Guru Granth Sahib. There too, fake Sakhis, are often extensively used to distort the meaning and spirit of Gurbani by placing it in a totally different context. Such conclusions are drawn for adoption from a shabad, which it is written to actually reject. Khalsa Ji beware of the net of Brahmanism around you. Tear it off to enjoy the glow of Gurmat. Not only the Sikh Nation, will the whole world be obliged to you.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 31, 1990