by: Kirpal Singh Nijjar
“Turbans on” (not hats off) for all those Singhs and Singhanees, who have sacrificed their lives for upholding the principals of justice, freedom and maintenance of human dignity, as advocated by the Sikh Gums, Guru Nanak Dev Ji through Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
In the present cra of our history, for the first time, we the Sikhs of our 10 Masters, are in the midst of two simultaneous “Ghaloogharas. One of them though very bloody is of the conventional type, and hence is taking a modcratc toll on us. However the other, the more dangerous type is totally bloodless but very sophisticated, and hence is proving [0 be very devastating.
In our fight in the bloodless “Ghalooghara”, unfortunately we have not fully comprehended the sophistication of its weapons, and hence we are losing in a very big way. This is in fact the biggest “Ghalooghara” of our history, perhaps much bigger than the ones faced by us in the 18th century or the one presently being witnessed in our homeland. This particular “Ghalooghara is progressing with leaps and bounds, and ironically most of us have not even noticed it!
Why? Because it is totally bloodless!
In addition, for our misfortune, the sophisticated and devastating weapons in the arsenal of this particular “Ghalooghara are absolutely invisible. Therefore a majority of the members of our nation have failed to comprehend the gravity of their dangers, and hence we are finding it very difficult to defend ourselves. As a result we are falling prey to these modem weapons al an alanning ralc.
Some of the most prominent of these weapons are the deceitful use of the Cinema, Electronic ,and Pont media to create disonentation and insecurity amongst our ranks through the use of psychological pressures, allurement through the dangling of the economic and power carrots, confusion through the spread of disinformation, encouragement of ignorance, and above all extermination through the barrel of the bottle.
DREAM OF OUR ENEMY:
Nobody needs to tell any Sikh that, if there was a possibility of a dream come tm for our enemy, then what he would like to do to us is the following;
- To disarm us.
- To cut our hair and snatch away our “Turbans & Chinese.”
- To take away Guru Granth Sahib and teaching of our Gurus [rom us and bury them deep somewhere.
Why? Because he, our enemy understands it very clearly and thoroughly that in the process of uprooting of the Sikh faith from its roots, if the above could be achieved to give it a start, then the rest of the extinction process will follow as a natural consequence.
Furthermore, it would be icing on the cake if somehow our enemy could talk us into mortally wounding ourselves, thus joining hands with him, to help him in his crusade of our extermination.
Therefore knowing all that, the natural question we need to confront ourselves with is:
“Are we smart enough to ward off such an eventuality or pretty stupid to fall for something like that?
To analyze and to find an answer to the above question, and to find out how well we are defending ourselves against the barrage of these modem weapons, let us have a look at the battle field and take the assessment of our casualties.
A GLIMPSE OF THE BATTLE FRONT:
Without the use of any sophisticated Statistical methodology, and just with a casual glance over the battle field, we can very clearly and easily see the following.
- MORTAL WOUNDS: In this modern-day battle, none of us have escaped injury, and a majority of us have gotten wounded mortally. It is visible from the very fact that, more than 80% of us have already lost our “turbans & Chinese”
maining 20%, only about 5% of us seem to have a little hang on our “turbans & Chunees”, whereas the rest of the 15% seem to be gripping theirs in a sort of halfhearted way and could lose them any moment in case of an increase in the intensity of the attack.
- DESIRE TO STRUGGLE: Further, like wounded and severely blending prey breathing its last breaths, only about 10% of the ones who have lost their “turbans, Chunecs & Hair” seem to be partially struggling to get them back. Whereas the remaining 90% seem to have passed from the wounded to the comatose state with no life or desire left to even struggle, let alone recoup. This is what has made the chances of any recovery only a remote possibility, and hence has made the generational death permanent and irreversible, It looks as though complete defeat has been accepted with no more desire left to even continue the struggle.
3.OUR IDENTITY:
Leaving the loss of our permanent identity of “turbans, chunces, and hair” aside, in this melee, many of us have Just even our lesser important identity of our “names” in favor of becoming, Rogers, Charlies, Bobs, Bills, Sues, Amys, and Debbics, etc. Furthermore, “Singh” and “Kaur” as the main and the most important part of our names has almost gone out of fashion and become extinc. 4.GENERATIONAL DEATH: To laugh away our defeat, in this self-inflicted, bloodless “Ghalooghara”, and to avoid recognition of our fall from the pedestal of the Guru (1.¢.becoming “Pauls”), and to take the sung out of these reminders of our defeat many of us are trying hopelessly lo categorize ourselves as Sahajdhani” Sikhs. We are trying our level best to close our eyes to the “writing on the wall”.
We are “Sahjdharis” alright, but not “Sahajdhan” Sikhs anymore. If in India, we have become “Sahajdhari” Hindus, if in the lims, and if in the west, we have become “Sahajdhari” Chnstans. Why? Because those are the direcions into which we are slowly (Sahje Sahje), but surely moving our future generations, for complete extension.
5.MOTHERS OF THE FUTURE :Our daughters of today, who are the mothers of our future generations, do not even hesitate anymore to openly declare their preference for a clean shaven “Gandhian” face, over the bearded and turbaned image representing “Guru Gobind Singh Ji”. To see it for yourself, open the matrimonial columns of any newspaper.
This desire of hers has given binh to the coining of a very interesting new term.. “Clean shaven(Sikh??7HD”.
6.BARREL OF THE BOTTLE: “Botue”.. the biggest and the only “fungus” with which the Bntish were able to tame us after the fall of the Sikh Empire more than 140 years ago, has become the most gluons and permanent feature of our modem day existence. That is why many of us take lots of pride in saying that, “‘O Jee, if the Singhs won’t drink then who else will?” Thus without evaluating the profit or loss work sheet, we have fully adopted the taming process started by the British, and have given it a permanent and everlasting roots amongst us for eternal impotency. We have even forgotten as to what did we really stand for once upon a time.
Today we are finding ourselves totally hooked, intoxicated, and lost. We do not even seem to know as to where we are today, and where we are going. While in our homeland, our brothers are being hunted every day, our mothers, Sisters, and daughters are being raped right in front of our eyes, we the decedents of the protectors of the honor of others are finding ourselves incapable of protecting our own. Could that possibly be the reason that we are trying to find our solace in the bottle, and thus trying to drowning our sense of “Helplessness” in it?
along with our Hair. Of the remiddle east, “Sahajdhan” Mus— Orisit, that our increased dependency on the bottle is the cause of our “helplessness?”
7,.0UR ILLITERACY: We have made very big strides in practically all the fields of human endeavors like, Engineering, medicine, law, business, an, defense, farming, and transportation etc,… you name it, and we have it, excepting one,.. Familiarizing ourselves with the teaching of our Guru Granth Sahib. All of us find all the Ume in the world to educate ourselves in the fields of our economic interest, but when it comes to educating ourselves in the “Guru Granth Sahib” or teachings of the Sikh Gurus, more than 90 of us do not or cannot find any time.
Thus by showing our lack of interest in our Guru Granth Sahib, and by letting ourselves become illiterate m its teachings, we have allowed our enemy to snatch away our Guru from us and to bury it somewhere according to his sweet wishes! Because if we cannot find any use for the “Gum”, then why should our enemy ?
Haven’t we lost our grip completely on our “Gum”?
8.0UR DISARMAMENT: Looking in the battle field, we find that our disarmament is more than 99% complete. Once in a while you may get the glimpse of someone still trying to hold on to the glorious institution, we once used to call “Amrit”. Otherwise, for all practical purposes, through OUR active participation and ignorance, the disarmaments nearly complete.
In our infinite wisdom or stupidity, it is we who are trying to advocate against the usefulness or necessity of our glorious institutions like “Hair” or “Amrit”. It is we, who in an attempt to cover up our OWN impotence are joining the ranks of our enemies in dubbing such persons who still have the courage and conviction lo carry out the Gum’s teachings, as crazy, fanatic, old fashioned, or fundamentalist.
to be continued
Article extracted from this publication >> January 29, 1993
