For twenty years it has been gnawing at me. Some of us were sitting around discussing for the umpteenth time the politics of our nascent Gurdwara in New York. One of us bright young ambitious highly educated better read on Sikhism than most of us but unfortunately not a recognizable Sikh blurted out “I am just as good a Sikh as any of you if not better. I have read more about it than perhaps all of you put together.” The boast rankled me. Quick as a whip I retorted “Any Sikh who claims to be a good Sikh is not.” It wounded apt and clever. It certainly hit the mark Everybody laughed except the poor victim. It has been twenty years but he never talked to me again Many times I have thought about that day and what it means to be a Sikh. A farmer dies and his farm goes to his child A tradesman leaves his shop and a businessman his business to his progeny. The shop and the profession continue. One can leave an inheritance of million seven a legacy of generations of Sikh history to one’s family. One can leave tons of books and libraries of literature on Sikhism. But can one leave the spirit of Sikhism to one’s children? There are families which have treasured for generations hand written ewers and documents by the Gurus. There are many who claim to be descended from one Guru or another. These are the so called descendants who travel around India collecting donations of a son of a son of a Guru. Can that make them good Sikhs? Can one will the grant of Sikhism?
It is true that you cannot take the material things of life with you; you can bequeath them to your descendant’s friends or worthy cause. If you don’t the government might confiscate. But it is also true that you cannot leave to anybody the spirit of Sikhism that you have integrated within your Self. One cannot inherit Sikhism for that is not how Sikhs are made. One can be born in a Sikh household. One can acquire the Sikh uniform. One can even learn the rituals that one masters and they remain exactly that-rituals. Only the individual prayer and the Gurus grace may transform them into sacraments and the best prayer is honest self-effort.
If the sons of Guru Gobind Singh were beaming with the spirit of Sikhism it was not because they were the sons of a Guru. Other sons of other Gurus have found no place in our hearts or in our history. Where others had failed the sons of the tenth Guru had learned the lessons of Sikhism they had eared Sikhism not inherited it.
By teaching by example and through the Guru Granth the Gurus have shown the student Sikh how best his individual efforts should be directed. But each individual has to discover the path by and for himself. This voyage of discovery is an inner journey which every pilgrim must undertake on his own. The lives of the Gurus and the teaching of the Guna Granth provide a map only.
It is no coincidence that the religion is called Sikhism and the followers are Sikhs. It is a constant reminder that the Sikh to be true to his label cannot afford to be anything but student all his life. He/She remains a student of the way of life as enunciated by the Sikhs. Quite simply then the emphasis shifts from being a Sikh to becoming one. A good student is he who was never yet failed an examination. But that record of success speaks only of the past the future is yet to be. Many a good student will also fail latest sometimes. The glory lies not in ever failing but in rising every time one falls. It is a never ending process.
“There are many stages in all aspects of one’s development be it physical mental spiritual or even financial. Life shows many milestones in its path rites of passage. In one’s professional growth a diploma is not the end of Teaming and growing; often it only marks the beginning of a lifelong career a commitment in which one continues to grow as one practices the profession over the years. By this reasoning even the rite of confirmation in the Sikh religion (Amrit) becomes a rite of passage an important rung in that ladder and a stage in the developmental process of becoming a Sikh For a confirmed (Amritdhari Sikh to become haughty or smug of his status or of his dedication is unbecoming. He or she has reached recognizable rung on the ladder but the ladder is tall and its end nowhere in sight. While we can commend him for his progress a little humility on his part will be more in order.
In essence every Sikh is a convert to the religion being born to it merely gives one a head start on the rules and the layout of the track if one so chooses: it does not automatically make one into a winner. Sikhs are not born but made.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 17, 1992
