The first Assembly of World Religions was held in Chicago in the year 1895, Another Assembly of the same nature and of a much larger size was held in McAphee, New Jersey, US.A., in the third week of November, 1985. This assembly was organized by International Religious Foundation, Inc,, based in New York Of a total number of 800 invitees about 600 representing 85 countries participated in this grand event. The expenses of the delegates to the assembly, including their airfare, board and room at McAphee, were all paid by the host organization, While the event was on, all the delegates stayed for a week in the same hotel where the function was held. As a matter of fact, the hotel was exclusively booked for the delegates by the LR.F. for a period of one week.
To call this assembly a function or an event is perhaps an understatement, It was indeed a ‘Spiritual Fare’ which attracted the Merchants of Truth from all comers of the globe, who came to McAphee to share their spiritual wares with each other, All the invitees to this Grand Spiritual Feast which lasted for a period of seven days, went back home fully satisfied and enticed.
There are some aspects of this international convention which need comment. These aspects which relate primarily to Sikh religion are listed here below.
- The First Disappointment:
On November 15, the first day ‘of the convention, the printed program relating to the Opening Ceremony was handed over by the organizers to the participating delegates. The beautifully prepared brochure contained in its eight pages the prayer hymns printed in ‘original scripts of the scriptures of different religions. Each of these Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Pali, and Sanskrit hymns was followed by its English translation, I read the whole brochure from page 1 to 8, but could not find a Gurmukhi hymn from the Adi Granth. This Was the first shock that I received at McAphee.
The actual ‘Welcoming Ceremony’ consisted of reading, in turn, by representatives of different faiths, first the prayer hymns in their original languages, and then their English translations. Since there was no such hymn could be sung in the opening ceremony. The Sikh delegates present at the occasion had the feeling of being left out.
- The Second Disappointment: Between November 16 and 20, there were plenary sessions in the mornings as well as in the evenings, which were attended by all the delegates at one place. In these sessions, papers of general interest pertaining to different religions were read out by the scholars representing their faiths, Here are a few examples:
- The Contribution of Islam 10 Religious Preicament of Modern Man. Dr. AK. Brohi (Pakistan)
- Personhood, Peace and Justice HLH, Acharya Sushil Muni Kumar Ji Gain Muni from India)
- Resources from the Classical Heritage of Buddhism Venerably Samdhog L., Tenzin Rinpoche
- Hindu Women in Ancient India Dr. SS, Janaki (India)
In short, there were between one to three presentations relating to Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism. However, there was not a single presentation on Sikhism.
How and why the above noted two lapses did occur?
The International Religious Foundation, Inc., which convened the Assembly of World Religions, Spent about one year in the planning of the event and for this purpose it had constituted 21member Advisory Board, This Board had on it, two Sikh members, Of those two, one was an official of a prestigious Sikh organization associated with the name of Guru Nanak. This financially well off organization =which has an imposing and spacious structure, a library for research scholars and other modem. facilities at its command, is located in Delhi. The official of this organization served as a contact person between the organizers of the World Assembly on the one hand and the Sikh World as a whole on the other hand. Not much is known about the other Sikh member of the Advisory Board,
But for the lack of necessary input made by the two Sikh gentlemen on the Advisory Board, the two lapses detailed in the foregoing paragraphs could not have occurred. The Third Disappointment:
‘There was a great desire on the Part of nonSikhs to now about Sikhism, One Moslem gentleman from South America pointed out that he had seen a Sikh for the first time in his life at McAphee. Most if the delegates knew the Sikhs but were not sure what Sikhism is all about, Whether itis an independent and original faith or just a branch of some other religion? To satisfy the curiosity of these people, with the permission of the organizers, a question answer session on Sikh religion was arranged by a Sikh from U.K. This energetic young man holds an excellent record of promoting the Sikh cause in United Kingdom. This session was purely related to religious issues. However, some of convention’s participants with their background in India did not relish the idea. Demonstrating their utmost ingenuity and skill they got this session torpedoed at the eleventh hour. The worst part of this is that this nefarious objective was achieved by them with the active collaboration of two ‘Sikhs’, of these two persons who played willing tools in the hands of others, one hailed from Delhi and the other from Punjab.
For me this was the worst cut of all. [felt as if had been stabbed in my back by my own people.
What happened at McAphee provided us another example of meddling of NonSikhs in the affairs of the Sikhs, There, the two ‘Sikhs’ behaved in a manner which clearly indicated that they were not free agents, They were acting on behalf of others. (Let me make this clear that these two individuals ‘were not the members of the Advisory Board. As a matter of fact, none of the members of the Board attended the convention.
A Few Questions:
Sikh Foundation’s and Institutions come into being primarily as a result of the sacrifices made by the common man. The common man lays great hopes upon and expects much from these institutions. The sad fact is that such institutions are able to deliver the goods only when they are manned by the right people. By accepting offices in the ‘Ad. Board of the Assembly of World Religions, certain individuals took upon themselves the responsibility of overseeing the ‘Sikh interests. The Sikhs in general however, felt totally dismayed by their performance.
‘One may ask how much time does it take to write a Sikh hymn, translate it into English and then mail the same to New York? Ten, twenty, or thirty minutes? Again, is it too difficult to find a person who can write a 1500 word essay on a topic related to Sikhism? One need not go far beyond, In Delhi itself there are scores of Sikh scholars who could gladly have done this job, only if they were asked to do so, And if the persons concerned found this work of approaching the scholars too time consuming, they should better have entrusted this entire task to some other organization, like Kendri Sri Guru Singh Sabha, New Delhi, or the Dharm Prachar Committee of S.G.P.C, of Delhi. In the alternative, this matter should have been referred to Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle, Ludhiana, or Sikh Cultural Centre of Calcutta. Both of these organizations have Necessary resources at their disposal to handle projects of this kind,
‘The Sikhs got an excellent opportunity to interpret their generally misunderstood religion to the International community of scholars. They lost this opportunity solely as a consequence of apathy displayed by their own brethren. Let us hope his sad repeated for the rid Assembly, which is tentatively scheduled to be held in the year 1989 in San Diego, U.S.A.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 7, 1986