Dear Editor:
Please find attached a reply to my letter from Sardar Gurbaksh Singh Sivia who is a great fund Raiser in U.K for Pingalwara of Amritsar, In Canada most of the Gurdwaras have Pingalwara boxes on their Premises and do hated funds to Pingalwara, This Institution was established by a great Sikh Puran Singh who dedicated his entire life for the suffering humanity. They served all needy and handicapped people Irrespective of their cast, colors, creed or religion etc. Almost all the funds are donated and collected by Sikhs all over the world. When I saw their letter pad there was a line from Mahatama Budha that says:
First I asked myself, was Mahatama Budh a sick person that service to him is equivalent to Service to a sick person. Then the thought came that why Mahatama Budha will teach Sikhs to serve *the sick.’ Wasn’t there sick people before Guru Nanak’s coming, that needed to be served, and Mahatama Budh’’s teachings prompted the people at that time to establish Pingalwaras on the lines Bhagat Puram Singh did. How many Pingalwaras were ‘established by Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or English Rulers? One lady mother Theresa established noteworthy institution and she has been amply rewarded with a Nobel Prize because she was a Catholic and a foreigner. Sikhs do not need such recognitions because they believe in Nishkam Seva Seva that does not expect or accept anything in return. There was this thought that Guru Nanak told his Sikhs to perform Seva Simran, and wasn’t there any teachings in Guru Nanak’s Bani that says one must serve the suffering humanity to serve God. With these views I wrote a letter posing these questions to my dearest elder brother Sardar Sivia in England. A copy of his reply to my letters attached along with other papers that he wrote to Pingalwara and S.G.P.C. Guru Nanak’s words: “He who lives on honest earnings and share it with the needy, has recognized the right way, O” Nanak.”
It is regrettable that many so called Sikhs name Gurdwaras and Gurdwara Societies as “Temple,” staffing Hindu vocabulary in our religion Inspite of the fact that Gurdwaras do not allow statue worship that temples do. Ironically enough some societies name Gurdwaras as “Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara society” (The one is Surrey B.C, and many. others), Why do they have to say Sikh Gurdwara? Are there Gurdwaras of Hindus or others? When will the Sikhs learn to call their places of worship simply as Gurdwaras as our ancestors did? If Sikhs had to make any headway they have to stop borrowing foreign words to replace our own simple words of Punjabi. Baptism is not only wrong but misleading translation for Amrit. Wake up Khalsa and recognize your Guru’s ways. Ajit Singh
Nepean, Ontario.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 17, 1993
