CHICAGO: The greatest gathering of religious and spiritual leader Occurred at Chicago from Aug.28 to Sept.4, this year, It was a unique ¢vent the preparations for which had been started almost five years ago. More thin 125religious groups and organizations were represented on the Council for the Parliament. These included Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Confucian, Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Native American, Unitarian, Zorostrian and indigenous religions, as well as interfaith and nonsectarian organizations. Representatives from the diverse formed the council in 1988, five years before the Commemoration of the original Parliament, held ‘in 1893. Those who attended believed that it would be the first of a Sense of international faith gatherings.

There were over 400 speakers from various religions who participated in interfaith dialogues, lectures and seminars. Over 6000 people formed the audience and the event was covered by the world Press. At the 1893 Parliament, Sikh religion had no representative while the 1993 Parliament saw numerous Sikh speakers from all over the world speaking about the Sikh religion which is still relatively un known to the west. It was no ordinary task preparing for an event of this magnitude.

The World Sikh News spoke to when chairman of the Sikh host committee, Dr. Balwant Singh Hansra to let us know how the task was accomplished. Known to be a very modest, unassuming and humble person, Dr.Hansra reluctantly spoke about the work done by him and the members of the Sikh host committee and the Chicago Sikh Religious Society to make the Sikh participation at the Parliament of Worlds Religion 1 monumental success. Dr, Hansra had this to say, “It was a great event and I am glad we were a pan of it. The planning by The Council] for the Parliament of World’s Religions (CPWR) has been in existence for over five years, unfortunately no Sikh was a member of the Council, Information about the planning of the parliament appeared to have been received by some individuals but no initiative took place. During August of 1992 Dr. Richard Luecke called me to attend a meeting at this house to plan a plenary on the voices of the dispossessed for CPWR. Later part of the year I received some information about the co-sponsors of the Parliament, I filled Out the form and took to the President of Sikh Religious Society (then G.S. Sangha) for his sig natures and also asked him to write a letter 10 CPWR to appoint me as the contact person, He very graciously did that and I submitted the application, the fetter, and a check for $500 from Sikh Religious Society of Chicago as sponsorship fee to CPWR., In Feb.1993 Sikh Religious Society became one of the Sponsors of the CPWR. Since then T have been receiving mail from CPWR, attended various meetings held by them, and felt well informed about the proceedings and their plans. Toward the end of Feb, or early part of March I called a meeting of a few members of SRS to share the information. In this meeting we decided to actively plan our participation in upcoming parliament.

We expanded our committee by declaring it open to all interested people who could find time to at tend meetings regularly, and announcement’ about the meetings were frequently made from the Gurdwara stage, At the first meeting of this expanded group I officially was asked to serve as the chairman of the Sikh Host Committee, Then our meetings were conducted almost without fail every Sunday from 10:30 am to 12:15 pm. Besides conducting meetings every Sunday, attending various meetings Held by CPWR during the weekdays, beginning the month of May, I volunteered my services at the Parliament office in downtown Chicago ever Friday. I continued volunteer service till the beginning of the conference in Sept. During that span of time, I came to know a group of very hardworking organizers such as Dr.Danial Gomez Tbaniez, Dr. Nelvia Brady, Mr. Jim Kenney, Mrs.Barbara Benistein, Rey_Dirk Ficca and Daniel Dirk, and Jim later came to our Gurdwara Sahib to inform and answer questions about the Parliament. We developed a mutual respect, understanding and admiration for each other, The Sikh Host Committee worked very diligently and set up a enter in for the selection of Sikh speakers such as a speaker should be well versed in Sikh Religion and its history, must be a scholar, must have published some books or articles, must be a Gursikh, must be well known for his service to the Sikh community, must be noncontroversial etc. A preliminary list contained over 50 names. We intentionally decided to keep the local (Chicago) speakers out of consideration. Nominees were considered and a final list was prepared. The list included Dr. Mehervan Singh(Singapore), S.IndeqitSingh Editor of Sikh Messenger, London, DrJaswant S. Neki, Dr. Darshan Singh  Punjab University, Singh Sahib Jathedar Akal Takhat Bhai Manjit Singh, S.Hardial Singh  “Sarab Rag Ka Aukhad Nam,” S.Saran Singh Editor of The Sikh Review, Dr.J.W.Speliman, Dr.Gurbakhsh Singh Gill, Dr.Ranbir Singh Sandhu, Dr.Balwant Singh, Dr.Kanwaljit Kaur Scthi, S.Kuldeep Singh, Dr.Gurcham Singh, S.Sat Jiwan Singh Khalsa, Dr.Karamjit Singh Rai, and Dr.Amarjit Singh, S:Amarjit Singh was requested to give a presentation on Sikh Architecture, Dr.Gurinder Singh Mann was invited to participate in a seminar on Pluralism. A team of Sikh youth consisting of was invited 10 conduct one seminar on Sikhism. Dr.Gurmit Singh Aulukh was invited to speak on the voices of the dispossessed Dr, Rajwant Singh was asked to respond to a talk by Dr.Mueller on interfaith understanding. Sikh children dazzled everybody with their participation in the plenary on Next Generation, Bhai Mohinder Singh shared the stage with such religious leaders as Cardinal Bernadine and Dalai Lama. Bhupinder Singh Kalra very ably arranged a booth in the exhibition center, Before the opening of the Parliament, Sadh Sangat of Chicago under the leadership of SRS and its President SJagdisher Singh Ghuman organized a fabulous Nagar Kirtan which is still the talk of the town. It was unique and a historic first in Chicago, Overall, 1 feel Sikh image has been enhanced. Sikhs are better known now, it is probably the first time in the modem history of the Sikhs that so many Sikhs participated in such a large event attended by so many different religious leaders. Sikh participation before the Par Hament was negligible in various religious meetings, now, I hope Sikhs will be invited in future gatherings (as a separate entity). It is Up to us how sincerely and truly we share and spread our Guru’s message, not only through words but also by our deeds. My deepest appreciation to the host committee members for their excellent work, to the speakers for their participation, the Sadh Sangat of Chicago for ilsencour agreement and support, The World Sikh News for sending no correspondent and his daughter Rani to capture all the important moments ant record various lectures, my wife, and daughter for their much needed help during the parliament days. I take full responsibility of any mistakes and I apologize if they inconvenienced any one.

 

Last but not the least, nothing could have been done without the grace of Almighty “Wakeguru.” May Wahegura bless us all and guide us in our future endeavors.

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 1, 1993