By I.J.Singh
Three weeks ago, the World Sikh News carried the report of a gambling casino operated by a Sikh temple in the Washington D.C. area. Last week, the same weekly reported on a violent altercation between the two groups of Sikhs within the premises of a Gurdwara in Virginia. The Washington press had given extensive coverage to both issues.
Most Sikhs have not commented on cither problem. It is as if by ignoring them, such matters will go away. I confess to being totally ignorant as to why cither conduct occurred but that is not the question here. In these remarks therefore, I have nothing to say about the issues that may lie at the root. The behavior itself merits comment and discussion.
It is true that many churches operate bingo games for fund raising several hold a “Las Vegas night” for fun and profit. It is also true that fund raising is necessary for the survival of gurdwaras, but while we raise funds shouldn’t we also remain true to our tradition? While we learn what this culture has to offer, and profit from its opportunities we need not ape it mindlessly.
This reminds me of an incident years ago when I briefly served as the secretary of a local Gurdwara. The Gurdwara President who had lived in this country for over 50 years suggested that we host a champagne party for fund raising; the suggestion was quickly recognized as nonsense and rapidly buried. Foolish ideas rule all of us sometimes, but what bothers me is that the Sikhs of Washington D.C. or elsewhere for that matter have reacted and responded so anemically, if at all, In a sense they are saying, this is not our problem and we need not deal with it. If we refuse to acknowledge it! Maybe it will go away.
I do not know what happened at the Virginia Gurdwara. But! Know that after the fighting was over, nine people were hospitalized, some with broken ribs. The fighting occurred in the hall containing the Guru Granth. One enraged Sikh picked up the platter of Parshad and hurled it at another. Armed police marched in (of course with shoes) and separated the combatants. A local judge appointed an administrator (a non-Sikh) to temporarily administer the affairs of the Gurdwara, if | was speaking at the behest of Indira Gandhi and her cabal I would ask the Sikhs: “You had a minor problem in a Gurdwara and you called in the police, [had a bigger problem and I called in the army. What is the difference between what you did and what I did? How have I desecrated your gurdwaras any more than you have yourselves?”
I must add here that I pick on these low gurdwaras as examples only because these are recent occurrences which everyone knows. They are certainly not rare in what happened but they are in the nation’s capital. Fisticuffs have routinely occurred at many gurdwaras in the United States and Canada, particularly at election time; Gurdwara fund raisers have often featured open bars.
One prominent Sikh was upset with the Washington papers because they carried a report of the violence at the Gurdwara. He was chagrined that Sikhs attracted attention for bad news and not for the good they might attempt. I think that the fault lies not with the messenger of bad tidings but with those who create bad news. The job of the press is to report what people do and what they want to read. If we do not wish to see bad press about us, let us not make such news.
Such behavior as seen in Virginia and Washington D.C. obviously needs to be noticed and corrected, from where should the pressure for reform come? I suggest not from the judiciary or the police of this country but from within our own community. For these matters we need not look to the SGPC or to the Akal Takht for guidance. These are matters that affect us here and we should be able to resolve them here. | think it is ime we tried to evolve a mechanism of ecclesiastical courts of our own which can address such issues and provide binding arbitration. We are a living, vibrant people. Differences among us are natural and will arise. But we are also a thinking people, and most of these differences should be resolved by us, peacefully and consistent with the teaching of our religion of which we are so proud. The resort to secular laws and courts should occur only when all other means have failed. Violence and the police have no place within a Gurdwara.
In both events casino and the violence my concerns are obvious. If the community is to resolve its own disputes, the concept of a community needs to be examined.
The notion of Sangat needs to be explored; I think a Sangat is more than the random congregation of people who gather periodically to sing a few hymns they do not understand or hear a ‘sermon they could care less about.
A conglomeration of people becomes a Sangat only when the people are united in mindful prayer. And [emphasize the word ‘mindful.’ Then and only then the mystical presence of the Guru pervades in Sangat. Such a Sangat has some responsibilities. An individual any individual-canerr. It is the Sangat that provides. The corrective influence. The individual is like a wild horse, a powerful steed; the Sangat provides the yoke, the reins, and a direction. If the individual is the crude ore, the signal is the refining crucible, to my mind a more important concern is why are so many so silent? Why have Sikhs all across the country not responded? Have lecturers and gyanis in gurdwaras across this country talked about these matters in their sermons? Why not? The deafening silence makes me wonder if such matters are even worse than the w about which everyone talks but no one does any for a response of concern, not, Ber, The gentle nudge, not the whip an internal system of checks and balances.
Some introspection is necessary. We who are so preoccupied with so many bate in the name of our Gurus need to be reminded of some basics. Events in Virginia and Washington should arouse us 10° think, comment or hang our heads in shame, such behavior should repel us. Such incidents should incense us and spur us more than any writings in an obscure thesis or the frothing of some two-bit politician.
When I see what we do to each other in the name of our religion, I am compelled to repeat an overused statement which precisely expresses what it feels. “Indeed nothing divides us more than the love of our religion; nothing divides us more than the practice of it.”
Article extracted from this publication >> May 7, 1993
