Dear Editor,

Waheguru ji ki Khalsa,

Waheguru ji ki Fateh

India Abroad of New York published a number of letters in response to my article published as “Reader’s View” in the August 16, 1985 issue. Most of the writers tried to justify the links between Hinduism and Sikhism solely on the basis of how the Sikhs dealt with the Hindus in the past, ignoring the religious ideologies of the Sikh religion. The Sikh way of life, in the past, was very much influenced by their Hindu neighbors and was, not necessarily, according to the Sikh Code of Conduct and Sikh teachings. Therefore to draw an inference on this basis is not only wrong but misleading. The time has come to revive our religious beliefs, learn from our past mistakes, and get the Guru’s guidance to determine what is right. The Sikh history was written by Hindus & Muslims either under the direction or influence of the Hindus and Muslims. It is time to rewrite the true Sikh history without leaning towards either side’ weighing the validity of historical occurrences with the Sikh Scriptures Sri Guru Granth Sahib jee. Through the columns of your Newspaper, I would like to clarify some of the issues that were raised in these letters.

MOVEMENT TO DECLARESIKHS HINDUS:

In the preface of the six volumes of his book entitled “The Sikh Religion” published as early as 1920, Mr. Max Arthur Macauliffe has very rightly observed, “A movement to declare Sikhs Hindus, in direct opposition to the teachings of the Gurus, is widespread and of long duration. “This movement seemed to have its roots since the transformation of the Sikhs into, Khalsa by god of creation Brahma, god of preservation Vishnu, and god of dissolution Shiva, whereas Sikhism firmly believes that there is one and only one God. In order to express his stern monotheism, the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak prefixed the figure (1) instead of the word (one) to the monosyllable God in the very first composition Jap Ji of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. The Sikh code of Conduct defines a Khalsa as follows: “Jagat jot japey nis basur aik bina mun naik na maney, pooran prem parteet sajey, brat, gor, marhi, muth bhool na maney, teerath, daan, daya, tup, sunjam aik bina neh aik pachhaney, pooran jot jagey ghut men, tub Khalsa tahey nikhalus maney.” which means, “Khalsa may be considered a true and pure Khalsa only if he believes in and meditates upon one and only one God & the one who will not divert his attention towards any other lesser gods, the one who has absolutely no faith in baseless rituals like pilgrimages, worshipping graves etc., fasting etc……” Muslims also strongly believe that the faith in lesser gods amounts to “shrink” in ILA. has unwittingly proved that Sikhism is closer to Islam. Another difference in our fundamental ideologies is that we are strongly against the practice of idolatory. In the words of Guru Gobind Singh, “Tako kar pahan anumanat, mahamoorh kachh bhed na janat.” which means, “It is the height of foolishness to compare the Great God Almighty to a piece of stone.” Also in the victory letter Zafarnama written to Aurangzeb in persian language, Guru Gobind Singh says, “Manum kushta um kohiyan butprast, ki aan butprastando, mun butshikast” which means, “I have gotten rid of the idol worshipper Hill chiefs, because they were the idol worshippers and I am the breaker of idols.” By doing this comparisons, I am only trying to get my point across that the Sikhs do not subscribe to the beliefs of the Hindus and thus the claim of the Hindu leadership that Sikhs are Hindus or Sikhism is a branch of Hinduism is baseless and absurd. I am thankful to Mr. R.C. Dhanda (Sept. 27, 1985 L.A.) who concluded that Sikhism is a religion in its own right after giving a lengthy sermon to prove the closeness between Hindus and Sikhs as the religious similarities between Sikhism and and Islam irked him. We are fed up listening to such sermons from the ruling class Hindus, who do not practice our religion but try to tell us how we should live.

According to the Sikh Code of Conduct a Sikh is required to marry only a Sikh, but the brainwashing done by the ruling class Hindus has deviated a number of Sikhs from their traditional path. If Mr. Khurshid Alam Khan’s daughters are married in Hindu families, it does not mean that prophet Mohammed had approved it. If people want to gain some benefits by doing such in dignified acts, they should disassociate themselves from their religion. Unless the Sikhs maintain their separate entity, they face a potential danger of extinction. Guru Gobind Singh Ji cautioned through these lines, “Jub lug Khalsa rahey niara, tub lug tej deo main saara. Jub eah gahey bipran kee reet, main na karon inki parteet.” which means, “So long the Khalsa maintains its identity, I will not trust him anymore.” The Sikhs have no animosity against anybody; the thing that hurts us most is when somebody identifies us with any religion other than Sikhism in an effort to absorb us into its fold.

WHY SIKHS DID NOT STAY IN PAKISTAN:

First of all millions of Muslims decided to stay in India in spite of the formation of Pakistan and in spite of the fact that they were hated and treated like shudras by the Hindus even before the partition of India. The reasons were not because there is closeness between Muslims and Hindus, but because of the promises and declarations made by the leaders and representatives of Hindu community Mr. Nehru and Mr. Gandhi to provide safeguards to the minorities. Unfortunately, soon after independence, all this proved to be a hoax in order to grab a larger territory of Indian subcontinent. Very soon all the minorities including 40% of the Hindu Shudras came to know of the cunning moves of the Hindu leadership. The learned Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, father of the Indian Constitution and leader of the untouchables (Shudras) became so disgusted with the discriminatory policies of the rulers of India that he changed his religion to Budhism along with 75,000 members of his community. All the high sounding principles nonviolence, democracy, secularism were nothing but hypocrisy. In a confidential communication to the Deputy Commissioners in the form of a policy letter, dated Oct. 10, 1947, it was said, “…. The Sikhs, as a community were a lawless people and were thus a menance to the law abiding Hindus in the province.” It suggested that the motives which actuate them on a course of lawlessness are there, “desire for women and loot.” and directed them to take special measures against them. (Page 266 of “SACHI SAKHI” by S. Kapur Singh, Ex ICS) Sikhs were promised, “I see nothing wrong in an area and a set up ir the north, wherein the Sikhs can also experience a glow of freedom.” Mr. J.L. Nehru and, “No constitution will be framed unless it is freely acceptable to the Sikhs.” and a number of other promises that forced the Sikhs to come to India to become partners of the sovereignty of India. When the Constitution of India was framed, Sikhism was bundled up with Hinduism in the Hindu Code Bill. Sikhs were told that “The times have now changed.” The only two representatives of the Sikhs in the Indian Parliament rejected the constitution in the following words, “The Sikhs do not accept this Constitution, the Sikhs reject this Constitution Act. “And refused to append their signatures to the constitution. Recently there is a movement to abolish the Muslim personal law code in the name of unification of codes to common civil code. This is another attempt to fool the minorities.

AFTERMATH OF PAKISTAN:

Whenever the need arose, Sikhs were called the defenders of India and their talent is used in the battlefield, now they are denied their legitimate rights in the country for which they made supreme sacrifices out of proportion to their population and fought three post partition wars. These war heroes and the legitimate heirs of the sovereignty of India are branded as terrorists and extremists when they peacefully ask for their due share and preservation of their identity. The true extremist organizations like the Hindu a Mahashabha, Rashtriya Swaiam Sevak Sangh and Shiv Sena whose slogan is “Hindu, Hindu, Hindustan, Sikh aur Musallmaan ka kya kaam.” which means, “India is for Hindus with Hindi language. There is no reason for Sikhs and Muslims to stay here,” are let loose and allowed to do whatever they please. These paramilitary organizations hold their training sessions every week and are responsible for causing communal riots, massacring hundreds of innocent men, women, and children throughout the country. To this day not one miscreant had been brought to justice by the government of India. As a matter of fact there are concrete proofs published by a few God fearing and honest Hindus those Government officials and police is behind these happenings. The books that may be referred are: Who are the guilty, Hindu Sikh Conflict and a recently banned book by Judge Tarkunde.

We Sikhs always stood for justice, peace and love even for the people with whom our religious ideologies differed. Today we find Muslim, Christians and Dalits victims to the chauvinism of the ruling class Hindus along with the Sikhs. Ruling class Hindu likes to include Dalits with Hinduism another to maintain the Hindu majority, but the poor Dalitit had been the victim of the apartheid for thousands of years.

Today with what face the Government of India preaches to abolish apartheid in South Africa when they practice it in their own country. This is the height of deceit and arrogance. If equal rights and equal representation on the basis of population is the slogan of the Government of India, then we would like to ask as to what is population and percentage of the Brahamins in India and what the percentage of top positions they hold is.

RAJ KAREGA KHALSA:

The line “Raj karega Khals: rahey na Koeay” does not mean that the pure will rule and it also does not mean that only the KhaIsa will rule. It means that the Khalsa (an Arabic word which means Master’s own) of Guru Gobind Singh will rule. Khalsa is a term that refers to the Sikh Nation. If a Hindu can rule, Muslim can rule, a Christian can rule, then what is wrong in saying that the Khalsa will also rule and claiming that due to the high principles of Sikhism, there will be harmony and no hostility will exist under their rule.

After reading a number of letters by your distinguished readers, I came to the. Conclusion that most of them need to develop a better understanding of Sikh religion, Sikh history and Sikh way of life before they can competently respond to the issues at hand. It is very difficult to clarify the wrong notions about Sikhs and their religion in the form of a letter; we have decided to hold Educational Seminars on Sikh related topics throughout the country, which, hopefully, will create a better understanding about the Sikhs and their religion. We will keep you informed about such Seminars. Thank You.

 

Yours Sincerely,

Kuldeep Singh

National Secretary

Sikh Association of America

Article extracted from this publication >>  November 15, 1985