Dear Editor, This is with reference to the letter by Sardar Jaspinder Singh and Sardar Satwant Singh, WSN, Jan. 3, 1996. These letters were to express their views about the articles of Dr. Devinder Singh Chahal, WSN Nov. 24, Dec. 8, 1995. Some of the remarks by Sardar Sawant Singh were offensive and insulting to quote a few. “It seems this gentleman has not read the whole Adi Granth.” “Some Sikhs Ph.D.’s like Dr. Chahal and Dr. Pashaura Singh have taken upon themselves to undermine the Granth Sahib, their writings are full of mischief.” “This gentleman thinks that he is smarter than Guru Arjan Dev Ji.

I submit most respectfully to all authors of the articles and letters not to be insulting in our writings and refrain from reading motives in each other’s points of view. If we do not agree with the opinions of an author, we would be better served by advancing our own and let the Readers make a judgments.

In his articles, Dr, Chahal is making a point which I feel is worth considering. According to him (and many others) Gurbani, literally, is the collection of the compositions of our Gurus.

‘These compositions were revealed to our Gurus by Waheguru for the benefit of all humanity, In this sense, the Bhagat Bani (as expressed in those articles) is not Gurbani, Since it is part of AGGS and AGGS is our Eternal Guru, we must show respect to this Bani as well. And this we all Sikhs do. ‘One may ask the question as to why Fifth Nanak Ji incorporated BH: Bani in AGGS. My submission in regard is that by including Bhagat Bani in AGGS, Guru ji has stressed, among others, the following two points: 1) Any God realized person irrespective of his other faith is worthy of our respect. Guru Ji has thus made it incumbent on all Sikhs to be respectful to other faiths and their followers and not to show intolerance in any way to other fellow beings. Rather we are urged to extend our hand in cooperation to all other human beings for the service and uplift of humanity. 2) Guru jihad preferred a Granth which was to be cosmopolitan and was to serve and guide all humanity in its search for Truth without consideration of religion, caste, color, sex and station in life, Hence the inclusion of Bhagat Bani.

Some readers may not like raising such questions while others may think that raising such questions tent amounts to “hair splitting”. They may have a point in that. But I am quite sure that ultimately what matters is that how much we Sikhs have absorbed the message of AGGS the message of Miri Pin (Saint Soldier) “way of life which AGGS wants us to inculcate. I have no doubt in my mind that the discussion about Gurbani in the letters and the articles referred to ‘was intended to remind us of that message.

In the end, may I point out that the reference in S. Satwant Singh’s letter to Bhagat Gurdas is, in fact, to Bhagat Surdass (p1253 AGGS); I also feel that S. Satwant Singh’s bracketing Dr, Chahal with Dr. Pashaura Singh is rather unfortunate. For Dr. Chahal’s writings are not to earn a Ph.D. degree. His is, I feel, a labor of love. Rajinder Singh Saskatoon (SK) Canada.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 14, 1996