By Harchand Singh (Canada)
The planning in regard to participation of Sikhs in the parliament of world`s religions held in August September 1993, was done by the Sikh Religious Society of Chicago. As the results indicate, the Society acquitted itself well in the discharge of the onerous task it had placed on its shoulders.
This Society Currently presided over by S Jagdishar Singh, formed an ad hoc committee, designated as the ‘Sikh Host Committee,’ to look after all the aspects of Sikh Participation in the Parliament.
The success of any Project depends in the last analysis upon the involvement of right kind of people with it. Hence, the first and the foremost task before the Host Committee was to find out the night kind of people who could present at the August meeting the religion, the ethics and the culture of the Sikhs in a best possible manner. For this end in view, the Committee evolved a comprehensive criteria for the selection of the speakers.
Naturally, the speakers to be selected must be scholar’s individual’s expert in the field who has to their credit a high quality published material on Sikhism. But this = and rightly so was not considered as a sufficient test for the kind of men of letters, the Host Committee was looking for. Perhaps, the Committee members were not unaware of the presence of Judas Iscariots among the Sikhs the fact which found its expression, in the “The Enemy Within,” in the following few but eloquent words:
“Tradition has it that Jesus Christ was betrayed by infamous Judas Iscariot for 30 pieces of silver, On the threshold of 21st century the Sikh religion is witness to the sad Spectacle of some people wanting to sell Guru Nanak’s faith in return for state honors and populist accolade, as well as doctoral degrees and seats in Universities, even for an invitation to international conferences as authorities on the Sikh doctrine.” (Editorial, The Sikh Review, Calcutta, India, July 1993).
An additional selection criterion was required, The speakers must not only be men of letters they must also be Sikhs in the true sense of the term, with a clear, conspicuous and unequivocal record of allegiance to the Guru and of service to the community, This meant that a scholar having a very long and impressive list of published books to his credit, could be dispensed with, if he had a tainted history, or even had earned the reputation of being a controversial personality.
The Sikh Host Committee had barely six months at its disposal. The process of developing a sound criteria and the acts of selecting and then informing those who were selected, well ahead of time (some or of whom were sitting thousand miles away from the site of action), had all to be done within this light time frame.
In addition to the special role played by the Sikh Religious Society of Chicago, in relation to the Parliament of World’s Religions, there are some other facts about this organization which we wish to share with the reader.
Service; the organization tried its best to make as comfortable as possible the stay of the outside Sikhs in Chicago; this service was not limited to the scholar speakers. During the course of the Parliament, the organization provided to all outside Sikhs, two meals a day free of charge, in a Punjabi restaurant situated several miles away from the hotel where the conference was being held. The conveyance to the restaurant was also arranged by the organization with the voluntary help of the local Sikhs.
In this service rendered to the outside Sikhs, the local men and women Organizers were seen vying with each other. The total scene reminded one of the Nishkam sewa (selfless service) of which we read $0 much in our history books.
The participating Sikhs Left Chicago with the fondest memories and their hearts full of gratitude” for those men and women who were so generous and affectionate to them during their stay in the city.
Preparing the Youth for Future: The organization is fully conscious of the need for preparing Sikh children and youth in order that they lead a successful and satisfied life in a foreign land, with many of its social norms and standards at variance with those of the country they have come from. It wants to help achieve their goal of adjustment to the new sociocultural environment by inculcating in them the Sikh values, For this end in view, the organization has been operating for many years classes for the teaching of Punjabi language and tenets of Sikh religion to the young people.
Security of Gurdwara Premises The Sikh gurdwaras (temples) are not merely places of worship and learning of religious doctrine, In addition, they are places wherein the followers of the faith prepare themselves for active life in the world, by taking practical lessons in sewa, ‘Sewa’ (service) in Sikh religion is a comprehensive term which stands for providing bread to the hungry, clothes to the naked, sympathetic care to the sick, and protection to the weak and defenseless members of human society, These functions cannot be served at a place where the calm and sanctity of the temple are lacking. It is a sad fact that many of the Sikh temples in the West do not possess the conditions conducive for the realization of the above noted ends.
To be continued in the next issue.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 24, 1993
