Dr. Owen Cole
CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE
What can we do to bring your people back to the sangats? The challenge to parents and the morality of gurdwaras is not something that I can discuss, they are domestic matters with which I cannot deal. I can, however, consider the provision which sangats are making for their young.
English is the language which these ‘youngsters have as their first language. It is the language they need, it is their mother tongue. It has cash value. It helps them to become educated end find work. Punjabi has no cash value. It will not help them to become members of British, American, Canadian, or Australian society. It doesn’t ‘count! Now, please understand me. I know how important Punjabi is and how Sikhs should know it if they wish to engage with the gurbani as deeply as possible, But, I am expressing the reality as young Sikhs see it. And we must be realistic!
Therefore, it is no use beginning gurdwara education by tying to make children learn Punjabi and gurmuthi, They should be taught Sikh history in English, Eventually, as they reach their teens they may become so interested in their religion that they become motivated to learn Punjabi and gurmukhi so that they can understand Sikhi properly,
Gurdwaras should continue to provide Kirtan education and give children the added incentive to perform kirtan in the gurdwara. A couple of years ago in Perth, Australia, I observed a service conducted in English by children. They read poems which they had written about the Gurus and sang songs which they had composed, A few of them also made contributions in Punjabi and this may have acted as an incentive for other young Australian Sikhs emulate them.
Participation by young people in diwan and gurdwara life generally is very important. They must be able to ‘own’ their religion. They must feel that it is theirs that the Gurus belong to them and they belong to the Gurus.
Eventually, they will learn Punjabi I hope, and be proudly Sikh in the proper sense of the phrase, This, in itself needs to be given some thought. Often children learn about the militarism of Sikhs, the exploits of Guru Gobind Singhji for ex ample. They need also to discover their heritage of social concern and justice and be able to relate their religion to the needs ‘of the modem world. A bit more sant, perhaps, to balance the sipahi, for Sikhism’s message like that of all religions, is one of spiritual liberation, Here might enter aplea that as 1999 approaches the media may not be allowed to emphasize military aspects of the Khalsa ideal so that yet again Sikhs are portrayed as terrorists.
Tasks for the Sammelan: What can the Sammelan do about this? For it must not imply be another talking shop. It must produce results. It can do two things, I think. First, it can encourage grant his to be adequately educated to serve the needs of gurdwaras in the English speaking world. Too often they are despised, especially by the young who are far better educated than the bhai sahib. Remember that because so many parents are busy ‘earning a living, the educational work of the gurdwara, among adults as well as children, falls to the granthi. Where his main concern is to get a permit to stay permanently in the UK or USA the sangat suffers. Soon, I hope, Sikhs in Britain, Sikhs in North America, will train their own grant his,
Secondly, current translations of the gurbani into English are scarcely adequate, they use the language of Shakespeare which we no longer speak in England and which few of us understand unless we are university educated in English literature, the need for a modem version of the Guru Granth Sahib is not confined to young people. Sikhs tell me that not many of them can really understand the bani in the original language.
Professor Nikky Guninder Kaur Singh has produced The Name of My Beloved, an anthology of some of the most important passages of the bani, as well as Ardas, Tet us see how Sikhs respond to it when Harper Collins publishes it this November or December, It is a brave attempt to make the gurbani accessible to the non-Punjabi speaking world. Perhaps the SGPC will then finance a complete version, Manmohan Singh’s great work can no longer meet modem needs.
It is time for a new Singh Sabha type reform movement. The last one, a century ‘ago, was a response to the threat posed by Christian and Arya Samaj missionaries, ‘Western materialism is the threat this time. Iris one which faces all religions including Christianity. It challenges all of us who value religious beliefs to adapt so that our spirituality may be liberated in same way that Guru Nanak freed the spirituality of India from the formalism of his day, pray that my words may have helped Sikhs to take the offensive against those threats which prevent their children growing up as mature Sikhs who can live positively and overcome the challenges of the 21st century. I hope to speak on behalf of young Sikh people whose culture prevents them from ‘Speaking in presence of elders but when your return to your gurdwaras worldwide please listen to your young people and give them a place in the process of decision making.
[TS.C.1,Dr. Owe Cole, England].
Article extracted from this publication >> March 27, 1996
