Preetinder Singh Chatha is a junior at Hawkins High School in Hawkins, Texas. He is also serving as the reporter for his school’s Industrial Arts Club, a branch of the national organization: American Industrial Arts Students Association. In June, 1987, at the national A.I.A.S.A. competition in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Preetinder Singh and members of his club were awarded the “Best Chapter in the Nation Award”.
THE Sikh culture subscribes to an ethos of work, worship, and equality, i.e. sewa, simran, and love of the entire human race. It encourages individuals to lead wholesome lives by developing the spiritual, material, and intellectual aspects of life in conjunction with each other.
Spiritual progress is encouraged through simran, and the Sikh worship is a system of readings from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. The Sikh faith emphasizes that the Will of the Almighty is known through the Word and the Word is the Gurbani. Reading, singing, and/or listening to recitations from the Gurbani enable one to submit one’s will to the heavenly wisdom which penetrates one’s consciousness like nectar, enabling the soul to experience transcendental Joy.
Within the framework of the Sikh culture, material progress may be made through hard work and hard work alone. The most important form of hard work is sewa, work for the benefit of others. A devoted Sikh does not come to the Gurdwara to be blessed; he comes to earn his blessings through sewa and simran.
Sikhs condemn all devious systems of exploitation based upon Caste, race, economic status, and religious or political’ affiliations. The idea of the equality of all mankind is emphasized in the Gurbani, exemplified in the lives of the Sikh Gurus, and demonstrated! in the practice of langar of Sangat and Pangat. Sikhism encourages the intellectual growth by regarding education as a necessary pursuit. Schools, colleges, and universities are often funded by the gurdwaras, or even built on the gurdwara premises.
In the context of the Sikh ethos, heroism is viewed as an action that attempts to eliminate cruelty and injustice of all kinds and an action that restores dignity and freedom to the oppressed and the helpless.
By conquering the Five Evil Passions (Kam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh, and Hankar), a GurSikh can conduct himself according to the Sikh ethos of work, sewa, simran and equality. Through such conduct one can attain the intellectual illumination, spiritual elevation, and fideistic certainty of the Grace.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 31, 1987
