Vanishing Sikhs! Why are the numbers shrinking?
Some plausible reasons and suggestions
* Email: tkhalsa@yahoo.com.
Confusion
as to what is more important - The Punjabi or the Sikh way of life?
Unfortunately, after
proclaiming that Sanskrit is not a Deva Bhasha since the time of Guru
Nanak Dev Ji, we have now started claiming that Punjabi is a Deva
Bhasha. Therefore, instead of reaching out to the masses, with the rich
Sikh literature as the Gurus did, we wait for the thirsty seeker to approach us
for the wisdom of the Gurus. Similarly, after proclaiming that the Brahmins
were wicked in restricting the knowledge of the Vedas to themselves we have now
started practicing the same trade of not sharing the wisdom contained in Sri
Guru Granth Sahib Ji (SGGS) even with our own children unless they learn
Punjabi. And then we wonder aloud as to why our children are not respecting the
traditional Sikh values.
Suggestions
a) Try to teach the children, even when they are in
infancy, values of Sikh religion in any language that they are comfortable in.
Punjabi is not required to teach some simple concepts like As you Sow so
Shall you Reap; Naam Japna, Vand Chakkna, Kirt Karni; Awal Allah Noor
Upiah Kudrat ke Sab Bande; Sabna Jihan ka Ik Datta; Jo aiha so chalsi;
etc.
b) Teach
Punjabi, as a language when the child starts going to school.
Role
of woman ignored
The most important and
distinguishing characteristic of Sikh religion is the equality in religious
practice prescribed for both man and woman. After all, only in Sikh religion,
woman can take Amrit, wear the Kakkars, and go to sit in the
sanctum sanctorum any day of her life unlike in any other religion. Guru Amar
Das Ji granted nearly one-third manjis and pirhas to female
devotees in mid-sixteenth century, when the society still held women in very
low esteem. Also, the Gurus give sole credit to a woman in successfully
bringing up the child as a bhagat, surma or a datha. And
the historians as well as parcharaks, all males, seem to have
underplayed the roles of mothers of the Gurus, sahibzadas and the
historical Sikh personalities. None of us know the name of the mothers of the
Gurus, Panj Pyaras, Baba Budhaji, Bhai Gurdas, Bhai Nand Lal, Bhai Attar
Singh, Bhai Randhir Singh and Bhai Veer Singh.
Suggestions
a) Appoint women
on at least one-third of all administrative and managerial posts. These women
should visibly belong to Sikh religion like Bibi Jagir Kaur, President, SGPC.
Incidentally, one American Sikh lady brought to my notice that Sabat Soorat
Dastar Sira applies commonly to men and women, as does all the other parts
of Gurbani. She also felt that Indian Sikh men, in the tradition of
Manu, continue to subjugate their women, including depriving them the privilege
of tying dastar.
b) Allow women to
undertake duties of a Priest or Head Priest in our Gurdwaras, especially
historical Gurdwaras at Delhi and Amritsar.
c) Encourage and
train female Kathakars, Kirtani Jathas, and Dhadhis.
Ignoring
Gurudwara Sahib as a focal-point of Activities
It is noted in Sikh religion,
that no effort is made in a Gurdwara to explain the meanings or
implications of the Gurbani to the young child. Consequently, the young
child does not want to participate in the Kirtan/Sangat and if forced
to, then only disturbs others. It needs to be emphasized that if children do
not understand Gurbani Kirtan, they will never understand the rich
philosophy and may not benefit adequately from the time spent in Gurdwara
how can then we expect them to become a Sikh. In addition, in the times of the
Gurus, various educational events, medical camps, relief operations, physical
sports and literary competitions used to be organized and supervised by the
Gurus themselves. The Gurdwara Sahib served as a social and cultural center for
all the devotees.
Suggestions
a) It may be
necessary to advise the speaker or Ragi Jatha, to explain word meaning
of the crucial lines that they sing, may be before they start to do kirtan,
or illustrate their discourse with simple illustrations that even a child can
understand. One easy solution could be to follow the practice prevalent in the Gurdwaras/Ashrams
run by the American Sikhs where English translation of the shabad being
sung is distributed in the sangat, similar to the practice followed in India
of keeping a copy of the Amrit Kirtan Pothi in front during Kirtan
may be a similar Pothi in English/other languages can be provided in
the respective Gurdwaras, taking into account the location and spoken
language of the area, for the benefit of children and others who do not know
Punjabi. The other could be the installation of the electronic display screen,
with meanings of the hymns being sung then, in the Gurdwara.
b) The most
important event of the time at Gurdwara is the Hukam which our
children do not understand. Can we read them just a translation, and not katha
please, from a standard accepted book of meanings (this minimizes the scope of
dilution/bias by the speaker) say for English from S. Manmohan Singh (eight
volumes are available world-wide) and for Punjabi from Prof.Sahib Singh (ten
volumes).
c) The visit to a
Gurudwara premises should be made attractive for young Sikhs. For the Sikh
children, our Committees should be encouraged to organize competitions of all
varieties - Gurubani, sports, poetry, music, painting, phulkari,
Karate, Olympic events like fencing, and then richly reward the winners. The
aim should be to make the Gurdwara activities so wholesome and interesting that
our children should begin to enjoy it as their second home.
Lack
of Marketing - World fears Uncertainty but respects Individuality
The Gurus had taught us to be
distinct (Nyara) but we have interpreted it as isolation. There is a big
difference in the two a) a lion is distinct but integrated in the animal life
of the forest, b) a rose is distinct but integrated in the plant and thorns,
and c) the Bani of Bhagats is distinct from that of the Gurus but
integrated in SGGS. We were taught by the Gurus to be distinct in our style of
life, conduct of business and pursuit of spirituality but we opted to shroud
ourselves in mystery, jealously guard the teachings of SGGS and do not share
the rich philosophy contained therein with others. This continues to result in
suspicion of our teachings leading to isolation from all others. In restricting
ourselves in a confined environment, we have created uncertainty leading to
fear in our neighborhood about our faith and purpose. All the Gurus were
transparent in their approach towards spirituality and taught universally in common
daily spoken language to the wider public. Perhaps, our lack of transparency
and communication skills betrays low confidence in our beliefs, which have also
led us into a ridicule trap - along with our infighting and washing of linen in
public happily portrayed in media. More we are ridiculed, more our children
suffer and tend to bend-over-backwards to look like non-Sikhs.
Suggestions
a) Please
advertise the basic tenets of Sikh religion openly in as many languages as
possible. Share with other non-Sikhs (i) our values of Sewa and Simran;
(ii) our concept of one God; and (iii) our concept of conduct of life (Rehat
Maryada). We should boldly spread the concept that Sikhism Teaches
universal religion a) Sarab Dharam mei shresth dharma, har ko naam jap nirmal
karm and b) permits to a spiritual seeker, to continue to be Sain
Mian Mir and even a Sikh of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, like holding two passports.
b) We should not
be shy of telling that Sikh men and women keep Kirpan to help and serve
people in distress. If Muslim men can be circumcised and women can wear Burka,
Brahmin men can wear threads and maintain a bodhi, Lord Rama can sport a
bow-arrow, Shiva a Trishul, and Krishna a sudarshan chakra then
why a Sikh should be ashamed of a defensive instrument like kirpan, which
is not a weapon but a deterrent for a rapist and a mischief maker. Also
publicize that wearing a Kirpan entails a responsibility to meditate at
least two and half hours everyday (A Sikh who is baptized and ordained to sport
a Kirpan has to do Simran, Nitname, Rehras and Sohilla
everyday). If some Sikh misuses the Kirpan (uses it for any purpose to
get political mileage or to spread terror), then before the law courts decide,
the Takths should hold that Sikh accountable and, if need be, dispense
severe punishment too, for having misused an article of Sikh faith and given
the community a bad name. This will endear us to our brothers and sisters,
within our faith and those in others. After all every way-led behavior and
misuse of Kirpan cannot transform a Sikh into a surma or martyr. The
justice dispensed from Takhts should take into account wider interests
of the community and not only of the individual and the family. Every Sikh,
especially young, should be made aware that misadventures would not lead to
picture frames in Sikh Museum at Amritsar.
c) Let us be
transparent in our approach to problems in every day life and help the needy,
poor and sick in the society. Today, we Sikhs seeped in riches have forgotten
to contribute one-tenth of our earnings for the welfare of the society. We have stopped funding shelters,
orphanages, widow-homes, hospitals and schools in many parts of our country
please count the Sikh run institutions in Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Sikkim, Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka, Northeast states, and other places like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,
Baghdad, where the Gurus traveled to spread the word of God. The focus should
be to encourage more Bhagat Puran Singh ji from amongst us.
d) Ensure that
Sikhs are not ridiculed in media history books, novels, movies, theatre,
magazines, papers, etc. This ridicule impacts the young mind in a very profound
manner. The administrative Sikh units like SGPC and DSGMC should undertake all
steps, permitted by law in a civilized society, to stop the poor portrayal of
Sikh Gurus and practices in media. Ridicule of a complete community in a
civilized society should not be permitted or tolerated, be it of Parsis, Sikhs,
or Hindus.
e) The occasion of Nagar Kirtans on every Gurpurabs
should be used to distribute small pamphlets in different languages in
different parts of India. Our effort should concentrate on marketing our
viewpoint. The material that is distributed in different languages should
preferably originate from SGPC, so that there is uniformity of material
distributed across the world. When the fear of uncertainty about our beliefs
will be dispelled in our society, we will be respected for our individuality. Vand
Chakna does not only refer to food, but also to philosophy, beliefs, and
spiritual experiences.
f) In the modern times, advertisement and marketing helps to change
the perception. We should liberally use media, especially on occasions of
Gurpurabs, to spread the word of the Guru. The capsules provided for TV/Radio
programs/print material should be brief, focused and in different languages.
Time slots can be sponsored on Gurpurabs, if necessary.
g) TV serials, stage theatre, documentary films should be encouraged
on the life and times of Kabir Ji, Farid Ji, Baba Budha Ji, Sahibzadas,
Banda Singh, Sant Attar Singh Ji, Bhai Vir Singh Ji, Bibi Kaulan Ji, etc.
h) Sikh Art
exhibitions should be sponsored and Sikh artists should be encouraged in their
activities.
Lack
of Education in Divinity
Today, knowledge of Sikh
religion and the meanings of textual material of SGGS are not even understood
by many adult Sikhs. All those statements of Gurbani like bani virlo vichar
see, je ko gurmuk hoi or dhithe mukt na hovai jichar shabad na kare
vichar have been lost in layers of hypocrisy, rituals, superstitions and
dogmas that we have been practising in the name of Sikh religion, openly even
in Gurdwaras e.g. observing Saturdays (chana parshad) and sangrands,
and openly paying reverence/garlanding pictures of Gurus (e.g. Picture of Guru
Tegh Bhadur Ji at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib). This hypocrisy of singing Gurus
hymns but practising something else has not given us status, enlightenment,
acceptability or recognition amongst others that we so desperately desire. We
are no different from others for whom the Gurus used words like anay or
kanay. The tragedy is that we were cautioned and still we have fallen
in the same trap. How can our children respect us and promise us to follow in
our footsteps they have been taught to question everything, including our
hypocrisy. So now let us learn to be individuals with understanding Sikhs
and save our children and ourselves.
Suggestions
a) Teach Divinity
as taught by the Gurus in every Sikh school. Start from Na koi Hindu na
Musalman. Teach common brotherhood of mankind. Inform the children and the
world that the foundation stone of the Golden temple was kept by a Muslim faqir
and that SGGS contains hymns of Hindu and Muslim Bhagats and that the Gurus
hymns and the Bhagat Hymns were respected by the Guru alike. This reflects the
core Sikh philosophy Na koi beri nahe behgana, sagal sangh hum ko ban
aiyee. The same tradition is
followed by the Sikhs today. Our Divinity Teachers will then be invited by
other schools too, to teach other students. The degradation of moral standards
in general should encourage all religo-educational bodies to pool their
resources to contain the sad state of affairs.
b) No caste-based
Gurudwaras should be encouraged or promoted. This hypocritical behavior leads
to ridicule of the basic tenets of Sikh religion which dis-illusion our
children.
c) Teach
Tolerance and Mutual respect of belief of each other and that the Gurus
tolerated the tyranny of many a Mogul and Hindu kings. Teach that we never
fight nor believe in violence, we only defend ourselves, as did Lord Rama, Lord
Krishna and also Prophet Muhammad.
d) Train Divinity
Teachers and reorient them regularly. Accountability should be demanded of each
Divinity teacher, for their role is far superior to that of any other teacher
in the School. The pay scale of divinity teacher should be the higher than that
of other teachers and their selection also should be more rigorous. Divinity
Teachers should be of exemplary character, visibly Sikh in appearance and
conduct. To illustrate, a Sikh Divinity Teacher, who colors his beard or shapes
her eyebrows will do more damage then benefit. The post of Divinity teachers
should be treated with utmost respect.
e) An Advisory
board of Sikh scholars of repute from across the world should be established by
SGPC and DSGMC. The advice of these board members should regularly be solicited
on important matters pertaining to divinity. The constitution and tenure of
each of the board member should be limited to encourage wider participation.
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