Eternal Voice August 2009

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Eternal Voice Vol. 1 No. 3 A Kalgidhar Trust Publication
Eternal Voice
Vol.1 No.3 August-October, 2009 Rs. 100/$10/5
A Quarterly Magazine of Universal Brotherhood
Guru Granth Sahib as interfaith
Education - A Kaurs Perspective
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From the editors desk...

Does God exist? is a question that everyone asks. Is it possible to see God? And all religions strive to answer this question in their own way. Languages may vary; thought process can be different but the answer of all religions is unique and the same. Every religion aims at providing succor to its seekers. Varied in expression, one principle of life pervades everywhere. It is universally true that the words God and Mother are correlated. Mother may be called by different words in different languages and still she is The Mother. God may, likewise, be known by different words in different languages and yet He is the same Eternal Force, that provides security, salvation and peace to one and all. The eternal needs of the humans are the same and God fulfills these in many ways. It is the petty minds who demarcate man and religion; and create water-tight compartments. God is one and it is the various religions and sects that seek to establish their own identity in the name of religion. They use religion as a power tool. Left to themselves, common men have just faith in God with no bias to any particular religion. The Eternal Truth or the Brahm Gyan leads man to the same knowledge - God is within us and we need to seek him within only. Then why do we keep looking for him without? There is a story, which tells us that once God thought of creating a place of residence for Himself. He mulled over the thought for some time and came to the conclusion that if he established a physical home for Himself, different religions and sects would split the place into pieces in the name of owning Him up. So God decided that He would reside in the hearts of all human beings and in that manner it would not be necessary for anyone to split the residence of God. That is how God came to be within all forms of life. All religions acknowledge the presence of Atma (soul). Words and languages may differ, but the essence is the same - God is enlightenment in everybody. Enlightenment can be attained only through inner illumination. No one from outside can help us unless we kindle the inner light to see the path for ourselves. In Ram Chrita Manas, it is called Prakash; in Gurbani, we know it as Jyoti; in Koran, it is called Noor, while in Bible, we address it as Divine Spark. There is no point to emphasize the need for tolerance. The word tolerance is redundant and superfluous, when we get educated and enlightened. Thus, what we need today are the truly educated and enlightened minds, who acknowledge the supremacy of God in all, with no bias to caste, creed or religion. The world needs teachers in the true sense. Did not Guru Nanak say it emphatically?
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Gur saakhi jyot pargat ho-e. (13)
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Satguru mahima anant hai Anant kee-aa upkaar Lochan anant ughaa-ree-aa Anant dikhaavan haar.
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In this context, it becomes imperative that there should be an active inter-faith dialogue. It is all the more important when divisive forces are rampant all over. No religions divides human beings. No saint has ever done so. Only the zealots do it and they are not the real men of religion. They only wear the mask of religiosity. Therefore, a continuous inter-fath dialogue alone can control violence and madness that is being perpetuated in the garb of religion.
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Feedback
Guru Granth Sahib as a Maharashtrian Deity
Dr. Gurbakhsh Singh Gill, USA 'An Extraordinary Tale of Faith' depicting Gurdwara Sri Birdh Baba in Maharashtra, is a great article. It will be a news for many, thanks for the same.
Contents
Swami Vivekananda page 38
Love for Nature
Prakash Kaur, New Delhi The first person story 'Our Fig Tree' in May-July, 2009 volume by Gurmeet Kaur reminds me of my personal experiences in my kitchen-garden.
Taking care of our mother earth

Mile. S, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. Beautiful article from a beautiful soul! In Judaism, we call our Torah (holy book), our tree of life - it grounds us to life and it helps us to soar heavenwards.
Panorama Galore
Parveen, Dehradun I enjoyed 'Virtues in Guru Granth Sahib' compiled by Inderjeet Kaur. I feel it gave an interesting insight what Guru Granth Sahib reveals to humanity. The May-July issue contains an interesting blend of subjects. The feature on Kabir made an interesting reading. It is impressive how Eternal Voice finds new ways to showcase the different auras of Sikh faith.
Page for page information in Baru News

Narinder Pal Singh Arora, Amravati Baru News is a uniformly well-written and page for page better information on the activities of The Kalgidhar Trust. One only wishes you give a little more regular space to whole lot of things happening out there. It will be great if you could start the Punjabi version of Eternal Voice also.
Akali Phoola Singh page 60 Akali Phoola Singh page 56

Guru Granth Sahib as Interfaith Divine Scripture 4 ..............................................................
9 Crossing the Water .............................................................. 10 Interfaith Discussions and Sikh Faith ..............................................................
Broaden the horizon

Kavita Guliani, Jamshedpur Too much religion tends to bore a reader. Eternal Voice should strive to broaden its sphere by including articles on sports, current affairs, tours and travels and on youth.
The Way to Establish Everlasting Peace 14 ..............................................................

16 Guru Manyo Granth Jagriti Yatra .............................................................. 20 The Guru & the Granth .............................................................. 28 Vices Negated in Guru Granth Sahib .............................................................. 31 The Book of Poems .............................................................. 32 Criticism - Helpful or Otherwise .............................................................. 34 Education - A Kaurs Perspective ..............................................................
Religion, a powerful tool

Indranil Banerjee, Mumbai The thought-provoking stories in Eternal Voice about spirituality reveal that religion has emerged as a powerful influence in the public sphere all over India. People are taken for a ride in the name of religion by vested interests. The use of religion for petty ends has substantially increased during the last few decades. It is true that violence is often committed in the name of religion. However, religion has a dual legacy in the human history of peace and violence. The illusion of God and religion is used by politicians to hoodwink voters. In a democracy, religion cannot overrule a nation's politics, administration and development. Yet, for strategies of peacemaking to be effective, systematic decision-making by religious leaders is a must. Let's be aware of all the conflicts in the world today and do everything in our power to bring peace to our communities in India.
Excellent distinctive information

Sukhjeevan Kaur, Amritsar I always enjoy reading Eternal Voice and associate it with high quality. It is the only magazine I read seriously. The ideas published in it are distinctive, well-documented, informative and impeccably reproduced. 'My Memories of Everest' by Capt. M.S. Kohli, as also the earlier articles on Himalayas were really fascinating.
Jagriti Yatra page 16
Swami Vivekanandas thoughts on Religion & Ethics 38

.............................................................. 42 Janaka, the Great ..............................................................
Gatka, The Sikh Martial Art 44 ..............................................................
Kudos!
Moneydeep Singh, New Delhi Eternal Voice is an ambitious guide to spiritual upliftment. The brick-bats and bouquets will keep pouring in. Keep up your pace. The piece on Anand Karaj is truly informative.
48 Guru Nanak Darbar, Dubai .............................................................. 52 Environment Protection in Sikhism .............................................................. 56 Akali Phoola Singh, the Saint Soldier ..............................................................
Green Gurdwara
Sonny, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. Beautiful piece that will hopefully inspire more of our community to be thinking like environmentalists, which, as you powerfully show, is at the very heart of Sikhi. It disappoints me each time to see the use of foam plates and cups in the Gurdwaras - a practice, which I know, carries on every day. We need a campaign to go back to steel Thaalis in our Gurdwaras.
Book Review - Scorched White Lilies of 84 60 .............................................................. Redemption...Amidst the Drug Wars 62 ..............................................................
67 Hope ..............................................................
Have your say...

Get your candid/critical comments published.
Mail your feedback at : ev@barusahib.org
Can You Really Forgive & Forget? 68 .............................................................. Assamese Sikhs 70 .............................................................. Tourism in Jammu & Kashmir 76 ..............................................................
Gatka, The Sikh Martial Art page 44
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For the Brahmin, the Guru has this to suggest:

(He alone is a Brahmin, who contemplates God.)
So Brahmin jo Braham beechaar-ei. (662)
Guru Granth Sahib

as interfaith divine scripture
By Iqbal Singh (Baba)
And for the Vaishnav, he has this to offer:

(The true Vaishnav, the devotee of Vishnu, is the one, with whom God is thoroughly pleased.)
In short, submitting completely to the divine by shedding ones ego, one can attain the stage of divine wisdom, i.e., helm of the Nirankar (figureless form, which is called all-pervading Almighty God). Whosoever reaches this stage, merges with God and gets the supreme divine bliss:
Baisno so jis oopar suparsann Bisan kee maa-e-aa t-ai hoe bhinn. (274)
{When you arrive in the sphere of the Formless Lord, you will lose your identity (ego) and merge in the Divine.}
Nirankar ke des jaahe taa sukh laheh mahal. (595)
For the Jogi he says:

(Those, who serve the True Guru, are the Yogis.)
Satgur s-aiv-ai so Jogi hoe. (223)
For a Muslim, the Guru says:

(To be Muslim is to be kind-hearted and wash away pollution from within the heart.)
Musalmaan mo-am dil hov-ei Antar kee mall dil t-ai dhov-ei. (1084)
Whosoever, reaches this stage of life, rises above the bondage of caste, creed, rituals and customs and merges with the Lord. All the God-conscious persons reach this stage even by following initially their own religious customs and way of meditation. This is the gist of the theme of spirituality. Whosoever follows the divine teachings and principles of Guru Granth Sahib, will become a member of the interfaith community, who have reached the kingdom of the Divine (Nirankar ke des), which has been aptly described as Begumpura (the city without sorrow) by Bhagat Ravidas, who was though a cobbler by profession, attained this kingdom and merged with the divine. Hence we pray with folded hands to the entire mankind that they should accept Guru Granth Sahib as interfaith divine scripture. On 10 December, 1948, United Nation's General Assembly passed resolution No. 217-A on human rights, stating, All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Guru Granth Sahib already preaches all this vehemently and in much clearer and stronger terms. Guru Nanak had declared as early as 16th Century:
Similarly to a Mullah, the Guru suggests:

(He alone is a Mullah, who struggles with his mind and through the Guru's teachings, fights with death.)
So Mullah jo mann se-ou larh-ei Gur updes kaal sio jur-ei. (1159)
For a Qazi, the Guru says:

(He alone is a Qazi, who practices the Truth.)
Sach kamaav-ei soyee Qazi. (1084)
For a Sheikh, the Guru has this to offer:

(He alone is a Sheikh, a preacher, a Haji and he alone is God's slave, who is blessed with God's grace.)
Soee S-aikh masaa-ik Haji So bandaa jis najar naraa. (1084)
ikhism is not an 'ism', as such, but a spiritual way of life for the entire mankind to become divine.
This is the universal truth and the divine path treaded by the mankind to become divine, irrespective of any caste, creed, religion, region, age or sex. Today, we hold many conferences and seminars for interfaith, but few have tried to explain the world that Guru Granth Sahib itself is the divine scripture of the 35 God-conscious persons, who belonged initially to different castes, creeds, religions and regions. The magnanimity of Guru Granth Sahib, in which the divine verses of six Sikh Gurus out of the ten Sikh Gurus, in addition to the divine hymns of 15 Saints, belonging to different castes, creeds, cultures, religions and social status have been incorporated, is beyond description. The Eternal Guru has advice for one and sundry. To an ascetic, the Guru preaches:
(He alone is a Sannyaasi, who serves the True Guru, and removes his self-conceit from within.)
Guru Granth Sahib the holy Sikh scripture, contains the divine
And to a Haji, the Guru preaches:

(He alone is a Haji, a pilgrim to Mecca, who purifies his heart.)
'Words' (hymns) of those God-conscious persons, who merged with the divine by treading on the divine path and by meditating on the Divine Name. The divine concept of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh faith, is:
Jo dil sodh-ei soee Haji. (1084)
{The Divine 'Word' is the Guru and the Surt(i) (tune of mind), which is egoistic, is the disciple of the Divine 'Word'.}
Shabad Guru surt(i) dhun chela. (943)
The Surt(i), by meditating on the divine 'Word', would shed its ego and become divine. One divine sentence incorporated in Guru Granth Sahib, sums up this concept:
{O Man! Shed duality (ego) and you will realize the virtues of Nirankar (God).}
Of the 35 contributors to the holy Granth, four were following the Muslim faith. Then we have high caste Brahmins, a King; and also a barber, cobbler, weaver, calico printer and a butcher, who were considered belonging to low castes. Besides, the divine verses of 11 Bhatts (high-caste Brahmins), who became divine after great struggle in search of truth, also figure in Guru Granth Sahib. These Bhatts met the Sikh Guru in Amritsar and they were enlightened by the Guru. No divine scripture of any religion has a single divine 'Word', by an individual belonging to the other religion, caste, creed or region. The reader may be astonished to know that whenever a Sikh bows before Guru Granth Sahib, he is not only showing respect to the Sikh Gurus but also to all those divine souls, who were born in different communities, castes and creeds. Guru Nanak has, thus, inculcated the gist of spirituality amongst his followers, i.e., Sikhs, who are the students of spirituality or seekers of truth. Any seeker of truth (Jagiasoo - student) belonging to any religion, caste, creed, age or sex can tread on the divine path by reciting Naam with full devotion and dedication.
(The divine light is within everyone; it is that Light which shines within one and all.)
Sabh meh jyot jyot h-ei so-e Tis k-ei chaanan sabh meh chaanan ho-e. (663)
So san-e-aasee jo Satgur s-aiv-ei vichhau aap gava-ai. (1013)
Dubidha chhod Bha-ai Nirankari. (685)
Guru Nanak considered everyone else better than himself. He gave them equal respect and regard, as he considered all having been created by the same Lord, whose light enlivened all His creation. The Guru had Bhai Bala, a Hindu and Bhai Mardana, a Muslim, as his companions for most part of his four long Udasis (spiritual travels). For him, no one was lowly:
For the Pandit, he says:

(He is a true Pandit, a religious scholar, who instructs his own mind.)
In Mathematical equation it will be:
So Pandit jo mann parbhod-ei Ram Naam Aatam meh sodh-ei. (274)
MAN - EGO = GOD
{Call everyone exalted; no one seems lowly. The one Lord has fashioned the vessels (human bodies) and One Light pervades in all the three worlds i.e., this planet and all the planets above and below this earth.}
Sab kau oochaa aakhee-ai neech na dees-ai koe Iknai bhaand-ai saaji-ei ik chaanan tih loe. (62)
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History is witness to the period, when Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb's army unleashed awful cruelty and tyranny on downtrodden and innocent people of the country. To defend the human rights of the weak and save the masses from these miseries, Guru Gobind Singh fought several battles with the Mughal army. In the battlefield, the tenth Master deputed his most devoted Sikh, Bhai Kanhaiya to serve water to the injured soldiers from both sides, irrespective of their religion, caste, creed or allegiance. The injured Mughal soldiers, after getting water, used to gain strength to fight the Sikh soldiers, which was not relished by the later, who complained to the Guru. When the so-called 'traitor' was summoned before the Guru, Bhai Kanhaiya humbly submitted:
(All humans form a common fellowship and are partakers of your grace. O Lord! You are alien to no one. )
That is why the great patriot and a revered leader of the Hindus, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya after consulting several Rajas, Maharajas and the renowned Saints requested the great Saint of the era, Sant Attar Singh to lay the foundation of the Banaras Hindu University. So much so that he went to Mastuana from Sangrur railway station barefooted by covering 8 kilometers to bow before the Saint and request him to lay the foundation, which the latter accepted. Again, on a specific request, he sent his beloved devotee Sant Teja Singh as the Principal of the Teachers' Training College for sometime. Later, Sant Teja Singh took over the reigns of Akal College, Mastuana. After Guru Gobind Singh, Sant Attar Singh was the first, who felt the need of holistic education and opened the first girls' school in the far-flung backward area, known as Mastuana in Punjab, a hitherto unknown remote place. Later on, a boys' school was also opened. He laid great stress on value-based education. Sant Teja Singh, M.A. L LB. (Punjab) A.M. (Harvard), following the footsteps of his mentor, continued the good work by carrying forward the mission. Sant Teja Singh discovered Baru Sahib, which was blessed by Guru Gobind Singh, when he visited Nahan with the hill Raja Medni Prasad. In the year 1956, Santji laid the foundation of the Brahm Vidya, which will become the Brahm Vidya center under the aegis of
Sabh-ai saa(n)jheewaal sadaa-i-n Toon kis-ei na diseh baaharaa jeeo. (97)
This is a unique example in the world, where a friend and a foe are treated alike. In fact through the gracious deeds of Bhai Kanhaiya, Guru Gobind Singh laid the foundation of the Red Cross, which is beyond the imagination of the present day Red Cross, founded by Sir Henry Durant about 160 years later, because the present day Red Cross is a separate neutral organization accepted by all, which treats the injured in the battlefield of both the armies of the fighting countries. If everybody follows the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib in letter and spirit, then there will be universal brotherhood and divine peace on this earth. We can only pray and hope that those days are not far when we, the entire world community, would tread on this divine path to establish heaven on this planet. In this context, we may cite the example of Sant Attar Singh Mastuana Wale, who was considered a divine person by one and all. He was born in 1866 and after meditating on Naam merged with the Almighty Lord and served mankind irrespective of any religion, caste or creed. He perceived that scientific era is fast approaching and it would lead mankind to distraction from the divine path. He visualized that the Western world is teaching mere 'literacy' to explore scientific discoveries, which would ultimately tamper with Nature. He felt the need for combining the spiritual values and teachings (literacy) so that it becomes value-based 'education' (Vidya) for the betterment of future generations. A 'literate' person may be the most duffer, if he is selfish and egoistic. 'Literacy' without spirituality has been vehemently condemned in Guru Granth Sahib:
(That scholar who is full of greed, avarice, pride and ego, is known to be a fool.)
The Kalgidhar Trust.
Parhi-aa moorakh aakhee-ei Jis lab lobh ahankaaraa. (140)
On the other hand, Vidya (value-based education) has been eulogized in Guru Granth Sahib:
(True learning induces in the mind, the service of mankind.)
The most striking aspect of Sikhism as interfaith is that the Sikh Gurus never encouraged conversions. They always preached the followers of other faiths to remain committed to the values propagated by their respective religions and thereby become real seekers of truth. Again, whatever the Gurus preached to the Sikh disciples, they likewise preached their Hindu and Muslim brethren also. If Guru Nanak had Bala and Mardana as his companions, Lehna, a petty trader and a staunch follower of Mata Vaishno Devi, became his disciple and ultimately, owing to his sheer obedience became Guru Nanak's successor, as the second Sikh Guru. Similarly, Sain Mian Mir, a renowned Muslim Faqir was attracted by Guru Arjan and served him so much that he was asked by the Guru to lay the foundation-stone of Harmandir Sahib, in Amritsar. Guru Hargobind adopted Pende Khan, a young Muslim orphan, who subsequently became a great warriorGeneral of the Guru's army, by remaining a Muslim. History is witness to the fact that when the Guru developed a new township, Hargobindpura and established a Gurdwara for the benefit of the Sikh devotees, he also got a Masjid built for the Muslim community. Guru Tegh Bahadur scaled new heights, when, as a benefactor, he sacrificed his life for saving the Hindu religion. Guru Gobind Singh fought several battles, but did not annex an inch of the enemy's land. His followers included many Muslims, including Pir Bhikhan Shah, Pir Budhu Shah, Sayyad Beg and Sayd Khan. Another striking feature of the holy Granth is the use of many languages within the same text a multilingual phenomenon
Vidi-aa veechaaree taa(n) par-upkaaree. (356)
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typical of South Asia. It may be pointed out that another remarkable aspect of this text is its functional use of many languages, making it a text that signifies multilingual India even in the Middle Ages.
By Sri Ramakrishna
All the saints and sages used different languages to define spirituality. The dominant languages used are the Saadhu Bhaashaa, with Braj as base code and Punjabi - both Western and Eastern varieties. Then we find the use of Sanskrit, termed as Sahiskriti, a variety believed to have been the universal India-wide medium of exchange of serious thought between different saints. Persian, Arabic, Sindhi, Marathi, Bengali and various dialects of Hindi, particularly Braj have also been made use of.
Guru Granth Sahib, thus, reveals a symphony of different languages of the sub-continent. The numerous linguistic variations manifest the state of flux in which the Indian languages were, before they got stabilized into their present modern form.
he duty of a farmer's daughter was to carry fresh milk to customers in various villages; one of whom was a priest. To reach his house, the milkmaid had to cross a good-sized stream. People crossed it by a sort of ferry raft, for a small fee.
The rule of Lao Tzu

ao Tzu became very famous; a wise man and he was without doubt, one of the wisest men ever. The Emperor of China asked him very humbly to become his chief of the supreme court, because nobody could guide the country's laws better than he could. He tried to persuade the Emperor, "I am not the right man," but the Emperor was insistent. Lao Tzu said, "If you don't listen to me... just one day in the court and you will be convinced that I am not the right man, because the system is wrong. Out of humbleness I was not saying the truth to you. Either I can exist or your law and order and your society can exist. So... let us try it." The first day a thief who had stolen almost half the treasures of the richest man in the capital was brought into the court. Lao Tzu listened to the case and then he said that the thief and the richest man should both go to jail for six months. The rich man said, "What are you saying? I have been stolen from, I have been robbed - what kind of justice is this, that you are sending me to jail for the same amount of time as the thief?" Lao Tzu said, "I am certainly being unfair to the thief. Your need to be in jail is greater, because you have collected so much money to yourself, deprived so many people of money... thousands of people are downtrodden and you are collecting and collecting money. For what? Your very greed is creating these thieves. You are responsible. The first crime is yours."
From Freedom by Osho
The selection of the Baani with cosmic ramifications from amongst the saint-poets hailing from different parts of the sub-continent not only makes this great Granth a pan-Indian text but also indirectly highlights the geographical boundary of India. Further, these selections spanning a period of around 500 years provide a unique philosophical depth that link the contemporary to the ancient times. All this makes Guru Granth Sahib as interfaith divine scripture. Hence Guru Granth Sahib is the only truly interfaith scripture of the whole world and can be said to be belonging to the entire humanity.
One day, the priest, who performed worship daily with the offering to God of fresh milk, finding it arrived very late, scolded the poor woman. "What can I do?" she said, "I start out early from my house, but I have to wait a long time for the boatman to come." Then the priest said (pretending to be serious), "What! People have even walked across the ocean by repeating the name of God, and you can't cross this little river?" The milkmaid took him very seriously. From then on she brought the priest's milk punctually every morning. He became curious about it and asked her how it was that she was never late anymore. "I cross the river repeating the Name of the Lord," she replied, "just as you told me to do, without waiting for the ferry." The priest didn't believe her, and asked, "Can you show me this, how you cross the river on foot?" So they went together to the water and the milkmaid began to walk over it. Looking back, the woman saw that the priest had started to follow her and was floundering in the water. "Sir!" she cried, "You are uttering the Name of God, yet all the while you are holding up your clothes from getting wet. That is not trusting in God!
The Flow
Every moment, particle - finite, infinite breathes, flows with life: My spirit yearns completeness, fluidity an onward momentum in you.
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By Reema Anand
(Spirit-2)
A short story
A short story
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Experience shows that in many cases the participants do not represent the mainstream of their faith, hence the masses generally remain unconcerned. References to the proceedings of some major interfaith gatherings are mentioned briefly for the benefits of the readers:
hymns, it set a special wave of peace in my mind. I wish, instead of discussing your paper, you could continue reciting and explaining hymns, the paper could be taken as read and handed over to the Chairman. iii. The First Centennial of the Parliament of World Religions was held in 1993 again at Chicago, in which the Sikhs took active part. More than one dozen papers were read by the Sikh scholars. The author was one of them who spoke on The five centuries of the Interfaith - Sikhism. The paper stated that the proponents of different faiths have come together today as a necessity to avoid inter-religious clashes, arising out of misunderstandings. Guru Nanak revealed that whole humanity was created by the Almighty Lord, who may be addressed by any name; Allah, Ram, Gobind, Guru, God, etc.; all refer to the same Reality. All humans are His children. All are equal; no one is high or low and no one is alien. iv. Another gathering of the Par1iament was held in 2004 at Barcelona, Spain. The institutions of Sangat and Pangat, which equate all people whatever their caste or creed, were effectively demonstrated by the large contingent of the Sikhs, the most visible participating community. All delegates and local residents were welcome to eat Langar together as equals. The gathering celebrated the fourth centennial of the first installation of Guru Granth Sahib in 1604, thus accepting it as a scripture for all people.
Parliament of world religions

i. The first formal interfaith dialogue, Parliament of World Religions, was arranged by Rev. Jankin Lloyd Jones of the Unitarian Church in Chicago, USA in 1893. Hinduism was explained by Swami Vivekananda. No one represented Sikh faith. ii. Prof. (later Sant) Teja Singh visited Chicago in 1910 on his way to Vancouver, B.C., Canada and met Rev. Jones. During the discourse, Prof. Teja Singh told him about the revelation received by Guru Nanak. Listening to him, Rev. Jones was charged with emotions. Holding the hand of the professor, he involuntarily uttered, Brother Teja Singh! Light shall again come from the East. We, in the West, are quite unfit for it. After occupying his chair again, he told him (Teja Singh), Congress of World Religions is being held in Berlin. You must share this revelation with the delegates there.
Interfaith discussions and Sikh Faith

By Dr. Gurbakhsh Singh
he interfaith dialogue provides a chance to know the beliefs of other faiths. It can, therefore, help to create better understanding among the followers of different traditions and build goodwill in society. Interfaith gatherings, thus, can prove useful for maintaining peace; even if they do not succeed in developing the desired mutual love, they reduce mutual hatred.
During his short after-dinner speech to the delegates of the Berlin Congress, Sant Teja Singh said, There is only one Almighty Lord, the Father-Mother, who is reflected in every human being. We all are, therefore, brothers and sisters. It is our ego, which conceals this truth from our minds. This egobased ignorance leads us to mutual cockfights and thus makes us suffer unnecessarily. Unless we realize these facts, there cannot be peace in the world. In his talk, he explained the message of the hymn:
Sikh faith in other interfaith world forums

i. The theme for the 30th World Congress of the International Agency for Religious Freedom was 'Peace on Earth'. It was held in 1999 at the University of British Columbia, B.C., Canada. The topic chosen was Humanity - An Earth Community - Religious View. The Sikh view, submitted by the author of this article, was approved for this topic, while other speakers were assigned to talk of repression of minority communities and the treatment of native people by the aggressive immigrants to different lands, etc. The author stated, Today, we are convinced that it is a necessity for us to accept that we humans all over the globe are one big family, who has jointly inherited this earth. However, it is my great pleasure to share with you that for Sikhs, it is their faith founded five centuries ago in Punjab. The Guru revealed that we all, whatever our religion, race, nationality, ethnicity, culture, language, etc., are equal children of the Father-Mother, the Creator. The earth is our joint inheritance; therefore, service to society, irrespective of the above identities of the people, is the noblest religion. The statement was greeted with thunderous applause. During the break many members of different faiths met me to appreciate the talk and thanked me for endorsing the
(The whole universe sprang from one Divine light. Therefore, no one can be labeled as good or bad, high or low.)
Awal Allah Noor upaa-e-aa Kudrat k-ai sabh band-ai Ek Noor t-ai sabh jagg upje-aa Kaun bhal-ai kou mand-ai. (1339)
meetings at the interval of a couple of years by rotation in different countries. Their major objective is to build mutual regards between believers of different faiths so that interfaith clashes may be avoided or at least decreased to check the bloodshed of innocent people.
While he was still talking, one German professor got up and held his right hand firmly; shaking it, he uttered, This is the thing we want. Next day in the Conference, Sant Teja Singh talked about
Gurbani as the revelator of the Reality. After describing the
The first world-level interfaith meeting was held in Chicago more than a century ago. Today about a dozen interfaith organizations, some of them recognized by the U.N.O., conduct their
We have not been able to achieve the desired success so far. Political leaders are sometimes accused to whip up anticommunal feelings to serve their vested interests. Religious leaders also want to maintain the superiority of their faith and they are not willing to sincerely accept members of other faiths at equal level. Local interfaith gatherings are held regularly in some major cities to develop goodwill among the people.
contributions of the Sikh Gurus to the Indian society to develop mutual love among the followers of different faiths, he told them that those revelations were recorded in the Sikh scriptures, Guru Granth Sahib. He narrated hymns revealing the equal grace of God for all people irrespective of their faith or social differences. After he completed his speech and went to his chair, his neighbor delegate told him, When you talked about the
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mission statement of the Congress very logically and in impressive terminology. ii. I had already experienced the uniqueness of this philosophy while teaching at the Khalsa School (first of its kind), Vancouver, B.C., Canada during the mid-eighties. A T.V. reporter visited the school to interview me, being the Sikh Heritage teacher in the school. In her very first question, she criticized the opening of that school, It will put the clock of integration of your community back by one generation; these children will not develop the feelings of being Canadian children and thus remain segregated from the mainstream.
The reporter got awakened to this truth and responded, I am sorr y, I did not k now it. Finally, in response to my question, Would you dare to relay it on T V, what you have felt today? she murmured, Watch the 6 O' clock news, and gave me an assuring smile. My statement was relayed during prime news time. The positive response from many Canadians appreciating my comments confirmed the acceptabilit y of this Gurmat philosophy by them. iii. Russia and some other members of the dismembered empire, too, have also introduced Sikh studies in their countries, though many of us are not aware of it. A delegation from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, which were part of the former Soviet
When probed what had impressed them in the philosophy of Guru Nanak, many members of the delegation said, The philosophy of Guru Nanak was based on the principle of hard work, sharing and faith in God. Though Socialism was also based on such a principle, yet it was full of distortions:
(Work honestly, share your earnings and recite God's name.)
Kirt karo, wand chhako and Naam japo.
iv. The article, Sikhism: The Religion of the Third Millennium by Marcus Braybrooke, Joint President of the World Congress of Faith, Patron of the International Interfaith Center, Oxford, UK, endorses the universality of the message of Gurbani. The author, after giving many references, in the end of the article states: The truth that has been at the heart of Sikhism, that all people are loved by God enables us to value the other in his or her otherness....... We can give thanks that as we enter the third Millennium, the central message of Sikhism of our human unity in God's love, which as I believe, the interfaith movement has helped us to recognize as the message at the heart of all faiths, is now increasingly acknowledged by many of those who hold political and economic power. The challenge perhaps of this new Millennium is not only to hear that message but now at last to act upon it and to shape a world society which reflects the will of God.
Choose a healthy oil!
NEW
A caution for interfaith dialogue

Union, visited Punjab during April, 1997. It included writers, artists, musicians, and academicians. Socialism in the Soviet Union and elsewhere was devoid of spiritualism and that is why it failed, said Valentin M. Sidorov, President of the International Association of Peace Through Culture and Yury A. Ageshin, President of the Legal Chamber of Inter-regional Association of Some interfaith discussions aim to create peace by searching out common denominators among different religions. They are more likely to fail. Basic principles of morality are common to all cultures. The differences arise regarding the description of the Supreme Reality and the mission of human life preached by different faiths. Even if we can find 90% beliefs to be common among all faiths, just one thought, my God (faith) is superior to those of the others, is enough to destroy peace. The belief of the inferiority of the other Gods and hence other faiths, will generate strong mutual hatred and result in violence and wars, the way it is happening today. To create mutual love among different religions/traditions practiced in the world, the belief in one common FatherMother of humanity (of course, with multiple names and multiple rituals depending upon the culture of a region/community) is the practical approach. This exactly is the message preached by the holy people who had communed with God. Their hymns in original were compiled four centuries ago (1604) in the scriptures, Guru Granth Sahib. Mutual love among different sections of society was actually demonstrated for the first time in the world through the institution of Sangat and Pangat.
My response in her terminology was, Madam, Canadian clock is out of order. You do not accept Russians, Vietnamese, Indians, and other nations as equal partners of humanity; your belief in this philosophy causes mutual problems and even wars among the countries. Recently, Americans bombed Vietnam mercilessly, making hundreds of thousands of their children orphans, for no fault of theirs. Thousands of soldiers did not return home, making their own children orphans. In this school we teach students the truth that whole humanity is one earth community; therefore, we should love all people and respect their different cultures. Political boundaries of the countries are for administrative convenience, they are not to divide humanity into superior or inferior nations. These bounda ries a re ma n-made a nd a re not permanent, they continue to change.
Central Russia.
We had an atheist model of Socialism, whereas we needed a spiritual model of Communism, continued Sidorov. The members of the delegation said they were moving around the world to find out what sort of spiritualism would suit the people of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, who had remained without it for over 80 years after the October Revolution of 1917. Principles of Sikhism and its founder Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh are appealing to us more than any other spiritual way of life. These principles are very close to the philosophy of those, who propounded theories of Socialism, concluded Prof. Sidorov.
Jivo matlab health bhi, taste bhi
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The way to establish everlasting peace

By Dr. Khem Singh Gill
an has reached the moon but has not been able to know his own self. Deep seas have been explored by him but not the fathoms of his own consciousness. Science has shrunk the physical boundaries of the world but has not been able to control Man's ego, lust, greed, anger and attachment; which are detrimental to his own peace within and without, i.e., the peace of the world. As a result, Man faces problems, stresses and strains at individual, family, national and international levels. There are a number of problems confronting the world to-day, the sharp dichotomy between affluence and poverty, between nations and within nations; the problems of the benignant and malignant use of the forces of sciences, the conflict between the necessity for the emergence of the world order and the oldfashioned traditional Nationalism. There are many such conflicts in the world today. The causes, of course, are many: Historical reasons, geographical factors, economic and social determinants and political and ideological differences. Then, how can we bring peace to this strife-ridden world? This could only be achieved through training of mind with spiritual education and honest search for the Eternal Reality,
The only real world is the spiritual world. The truth is that neither matter, nor force nor any physical thing, but mind and personality is the central fact of the universe. This is now supported by all the renowned physicists, like Albert Einstein and Kirtler F Mather. Unfortunately the Real looking within, and the Realization of the Divinity in the human heart have not been focused by most of the religious cults. Rituals and forms have taken the first place, and the essentials of the Divine Research, meditation on Naam, daily Hari Kirtan (singing hymns in the divine praise), the practice of the religious Truths in our daily life, have been relegated to a secondary place. It is the duty of all the religionists to come on a common platform and give to the world the message, so simply and forcefully given by Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru Nanak, in Sukhmani Sahib (The Jewel of Peace and Atonement):
The various religions, countries and races, need to lay stress on the realization of the Divine by meditating on Naam, singing His praises and selfless service of mankind, coupled with sweet humility and righteousness in dealing with the fellow-men. Then the day foretold by all prophets, seers, sages and Gurus will come, when mankind, realizing its true spiritual kinship, would live in an atmosphere of mutual trust, love, goodwill and interfaith. The sword will be turned into the plough-share and Heaven filled with peace and bliss will come down to this Earth.
{The purest and highest Dharma (Religion) is: Meditation on the Divine and performing righteous and selfless actions in our daily life.}
Sarabh Dharam meh sreshta Dharam Har ko Naam jap nirmal karam. (266)
both within and without. The worldly education, therefore, needs to be suitably synthesized with spiritual education. It is through such a process that growth of the spirit and realization of self as well as the higher values of life could be achieved. Sant Teja Singh, in his keynote address at the Eighth Congress of Religions for the World Peace at Shimizu city in Japan, in 1956, brought out the role of spiritual education for establishing permanent peace in the world. The main theme of the lecture was that religion is a subjective research. He said, It is as scientific, may be more exact in its realization than even the objective research called science. The whole material world is the manifestation of the Eternal Divine. In other words, the whole physical world is the physical frame of God. The scientific research deals with this frame. For long, science classified matter and spirit as two distinct things but now its ultimate research has found the truth. In the words of JBS Haldane: The material world, which has been taken for a world of blind mechanism, is in reality a spiritual world seen very partially and imperfectly.
Guru Arjan Dev brings on the same spiritual platform all those, who meditated on Naam, without any distinction of caste, creed, race or color, on the Indian soil. Not only did he bring them on the same platform as equal co-partners in the Spiritual Realm, but he also demonstrated scientifically for the first time in the history of religion, that the Sphere of God's consciousness or the Realization of the Divine within is a real permanent and fixed stage. A seeker after truth can realize it if he sincerely carries on the research and goes on the path of devotion and prayer without falling into the pitfalls which come in the way of this long and arduous journey. Guru Arjan Dev has, side by side, with the hymns of the Gurus, in Guru Granth Sahib, placed the hymns of various Bhagats (God-conscious persons) of the medieval period, who followed the path of devotion and prayer and realized the Divine within. These Bhagats belonged to various castes and religions and in the beginning, followed the rites and rituals of their own sect, but as they went on, all rituals and forms dropped off and they all with one voice proclaimed the same Truth, the existence and the realization of an all-pervading and all-embracing divine reality the one-in-all and all-in-one. Thus, establishing once for all that the sphere of God-consciousness is a live realization and he, who honestly searches after it in all humility and keeps the company of God-conscious persons, reaches it. God is the subject matter of consciousness. He is beyond the scope of the limited intellect of man. He can be realized but cannot be expressed in words. Just as joy and sorrow are felt, but are inexpressible in spoken language.
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Guru Manyo Granth
Jagriti Yatra
300 Saal Guru De Naal
Agya bhaee Akal ki Tabhi chalaayo Panth Sabh Sikhan ko hukam hai Guru manyo Granth Guru Granth ji manyo Pargat Guran ki deh Jo Prabh(u) ko milbo chaahe Khoj Shabad mein le Raj karega Khalsa Aaqee rahei naa koe Khwar ho-e sabh milenge Bache sharan jo hoe.
By Rajinder Singh Chadha
(1708-2008)
ikhs have, in life and history, done everything in style. The tercentenary celebrations, last year, were no exceptions. Of the 20 million Sikhs the world over, almost two million are supposed to have paid their obeisance during the year 2008, which is slated to go down as golden year for the Sikhs in the pages of history. It means some 10% of the Sikh population traveled to Takhat Sri Hazur Sahib during these festivities. (Some over-zealous devotees put this figure at more than five million.) It is hoped that a new tourist attraction in India shall emerge on the tourism map of the world and Sri Hazur Sahib will no longer remain a small and sleepy place that it has so far remained. Several projects of great proportions are, therefore, being undertaken to cash the highly successful celebrations. It shall not just be a brick-and-mortar affair. The city of Nanded, where the fifth Takhat (center of religious and spiritual power of the Sikh Panth) is located, should pulsate with a new life ever afterwards in an endeavor, underlying these celebrations. Besides, it has to be a planned and co-ordinated effort to harmonize the spirit of Sikhism. Two percent of Indian population is comprised of Sikhs, who are known for their bravery. Sikhism is the fifth largest organized religion in the world. Nanded, hitherto an unknown destination, thus, should become a place of pride.
Guru Manyo Granth Jagriti Yatra (Journey of awakening or enlightenment regarding Guru Granth Sahib), true to its name, was aimed at creating an awakening to impart the message of
one God and the welfare of the entire mankind, irrespective of religion, caste or creed. It was also a imed at spreading the message of equality of mankind a nd secula r ism. T he whole rationale was to unify and solidify the people, who have been stricken by various castes and differing faiths. To that extent it has received an unprecedented response. The year-long festivities began as Simran Diwas on 15 November, 2007, when the devotees across the globe meditated, participated and celebrated together for 15 minutes by reciting the Mool Mantra, the creedal statement. Mounted on a specially designed Rath (bedecked vehicle), a hand-written Guru Granth Sahib in a Palki (palanquin) commenced its all India journey befittingly from this place, i.e., Takhat Sri Hazur Sahib, Nanded in the state of Maharashtra, on 15 November, 2007, to commemorate the twin events - 300 years of the installation of Guru Granth Sahib (Gurta Gaddi Diwas) as also the Parlokgaman (merging with the Divine Light) of Guru Gobind Singh. The Yatra provided the humanity in general and Sikhs in particular, an opportunity to see for the first time in Sikh history rare medieval weapons (Shastras), relics and other articles of the Tenth Master, as also of the contemporary Sikh martyrs, used by them to fight the
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Mughal oppressors and taken out of the sanctum sanctorum of

Takhat Sri Hazur Sahib for the first time. The Yatra achieved its
purpose prior to the final showdown. It was the first time that the Sikh community was celebrating the centenary, as during the first 100 years, India was under the Mughal rule and for the following 200 years, the British ruled us. Hence, for the first time, free India celebrated the centenary event of the installation of Guru Granth Sahib, all over the world with religious fervor and added vigor. Attracting people from all faiths, the Yatra achieved the task of interfaith as well as national integration too, besides achieving other objectives. Passing through almost all the states of India across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, Jha rkha nd, We st Benga l, Biha r, Utta r Prade sh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir etc., the Yatra covering more than 200 cities, culminated finally on 10 August, 2008 in Nanded amidst great fanfare. The Yatra moved in a massive procession and was welcomed everywhere with fer vor and fireworks. People from all walks of life and religions, especially Sikhs, gathered in large numbers to welcome the Yatra. At several places aircrafts and helicopters showered flower petals during the journey. The colorful Yatra included Kirtani Jathas, rendering hymns from the holy books, all along the route; Gatka (Sikh martial art) performers, displaying extraordinary skills in martial arts; a fleet of buses, trucks, cars, two-wheelers and several other modes of transport; at some places even bullock-carts and tractors; Panj Piaras (the five beloved ones), in their traditional saffron attire etc. At the tail of the huge procession was the tastefully decorated Palki, the center of attraction, adorned with orchids. It had the gold plated domes on the top and a glass screen on all sides, through which, one could see the weapons of the Guru and the hand-written Guru Granth Sahib. At several places people used to gather along the roads much before the Yatra arrived. While the female Sangat swept the divine pathway of the Yatra, the men-folk formed a human chain to felicitate the smooth progress of the Yatra.
Serpentine queues of devotees, sometimes running into a couple of kilometers, were seen receiving and then joining the slow-moving Yatra to keep up with the frenzy of the Shabadchanting Sangat, who wished to bow their heads in reverence for Guru Granth Sahib and making their cash contributions. Some ladies were seen taking off their gold ornaments and offering them with reverence. An endless distribution of Parshad of different varieties, was on throughout the route and the Sewadars did their very best to control the huge crowds. All roads leading to the on-the-way Gurdwaras, were decorated with illuminated gates, festive lights and buntings to receive the Yatra. Thousands of hoardings proclaiming the arrival of the Yatra were seen on the roads all over India. People reached in processions from nearby areas on all modes of transport and displaying horse-carriages, floats, Gatka (Sikh martial arts) and music bands. School children at several points made their presence conspicuous by their uniforms. Milk, tea and snacks stalls were set up at every nook and corner. Guru-ka-Langar (free community meal) was served all along the route. Gurbani Kirtan, Dhadi Varaan, Gatka and Aatishbaazi (display of fire-works) was a common sight everywhere. At every night halt for the Jagriti Yatra, special congregation was arranged, where Kirtan Darbar was invariably held followed by Guru-ka-Langar and Aatishbaazi. At several places, Military and Police bands were also in attendance for their gallant and royal performances. Almost all the Governments organized state-level functions. Several Governors, Chief Ministers and the Government machinery participated profusely and whole-heartedly. Guards of honor were given to the Yatra at several places. The revolution of devotion that started with the Jagriti Yatra did not end with its culmination. It once again touched and replenished millions of lives during the historical week-long Shatabadi Samagam at Hazur Sahib. From 29 October to 4 November, 2008, Nanded resonated with the devotion of millions celebrating 300 Saal Guru de Naal. The main reason for the all-round participation and the unprecedented response of one and all was that the holy Guru Granth Sahib is a universal scripture, with hymns of the venerated Sikh Gurus, Hindu Bhagats (God-conscious persons) Muslim Sufis (mystics) and enlightened saints from different faiths, sects and religions, giving a universal message of brotherhood, goodwill, mutual trust, peace, harmony and interfaith. The Sikh faith, founded in 1469 by Guru Nanak, came to be established with the birth of Khalsa Panth three Centuries ago, after 239 years of evolving under the ten Gurus. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Master, anointed Guru Granth Sahib as the Guru Eternal in the year 1708 at Nanded and thereby ended the chain of the individual Guru to Panj Piare Guru and the elevation of the Shabad ('Word') Guru Granth-Guru Panth philosophy (one without the other becomes meaningless).
Sikhs around the world regard Guru Granth Sahib as the ultimate spiritual authority and endeavor to live under its guidance. No Sikh ceremony is deemed to be completed without its presence. It guides humans with moral, spiritual and ethical values, vital to form an ideal society. Nanded is one of the historical places in Marathwada region of Maharashtra. It is situated on the north bank of river Godavari and is a town of great antiquity, famous for Gurdwaras, built in memory of Guru Gobind Singh. It is accessible by train from Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Nanded airport is likely to become operational soon, although some odd flights from Mumbai trickle in presently. In the year 1708, a year following the death of Aurangzeb, the tenth Master traveled to Nanded, his final worldly abode. Maharaja Ranjit Singh got a beautiful Gurdwara constructed around 1835, at a place where the Guru merged with the divine light. It has an imposing golden dome, akin to Sri Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar, with intricate carvings and a breathtakingly beautiful art work. Nanded became a part of the erstwhile Hyderabad state in 1725, when the Nizam permanently opted for the Deccan and it continued to be a part of the Nizam's dominions until 1948. After partition, the district forming part of the Marathwada region
of Hyderabad state became part of the then bilingual Bombay state. Consequently, upon the creation of Maharashtra in 1956, the district continues to form a part of the state of Maharashtra. Although Guru Gobind Singh did not spend more than a month of his worldly journey at Nanded, yet some great events marked his last days: i. He exalted Guru Granth Sahib to the status of the 'Word' (Shabad) Guru, that places every Sikh into immanent
protection of the Guru himself, making him deathless in defence of truth and justice; ii. He put an end to his own worldly journey, yes, of his own volition; (This explains why the exalting of Guru Granth Sahib is called Gurta Gaddi in the Sikh tradition and the second event is called Parlokgaman or heavenly journey of the Guru. The two events took place on 5 October and 7-8 October, 1708 respectively.) iii. Also, it was from Nanded that the Guru sent Baba Banda Singh Bahadur as the first Jathedar of the Sikh Panth to Punjab to fight the Mughals. It was Banda Bahadur, who shook the Mughal empire to its very foundation. The year-long celebrations culminated, but the devotees are still in the process of celebrating the great event. Akhand Paaths, Sehaj Paaths and Shabad Kirtans continue to be performed regularly, in continuation, by individuals as well as institutions, all over the world. This year-long extended program is likely to culminate on 22-23 October, 2009, at Nanded. The concluding Simran Diwas is scheduled for 15 November, when the devotees across the globe will once again recite Mool Mantra for 15 minutes. The wheel of celebrations will thus have completed a full circle and will culminate the same way, as it began exactly two years ago. All said and done, for Sikhs, 300 Saal Guru de Naal the tercentenary celebrations of these twin great events in 2008, should mean re-dedicating themselves to the Guru. The outer journey to celebrate the great event might have ended, but it should lead us into a more important inward journey of spiritual awakening. As a fruitful conclusion of this celebration, let the community: i. Remove the bad image of being drunkards and addicts ii. Start spending, as mandated, 15-20 minutes everyday with Guru De Naal (read Gurbani) iii. Feel proud to be Sikhs and respect the appearance commanded by the Guru iv. Strive to depict Sikhi as the foremost interfaith religion.
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he significance of the Gurdwara in the minds of the Sikhs is best understood in the context of the humane and moral ideas which established Sikhism as a major presence on India's religious and social landscape. These ideas and philosophic concepts were contained in Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred scriptures of the Sikhs and because the Gurdwara was built to house them, it came to represent the inspiring ideals enshrined in them. In the Gurdwara and around it, a new rhythm of life began to revolve for people of the Sikh faith; for that matter, people of all faiths - since none were excluded from this house of God. People were inspired by the concept of the Sangat: a congregation assembled to celebrate the philosophy of togetherness, of universality. People came to the Gurdwara in search of clarity as well, to find convincing answers to the contradictions and chaos around them. They found these in the verses of the scriptures, which wanted life to be celebrated in all its manifestations. Which stressed the logic and beauty of a collective conscious, free of caste, creed and other distinction. Which sought to elevate - and not diminish - all creations in the cosmos and acknowledged the meaning and purpose of the different strands of life that exist around us. As was inevitable, Guru Granth Sahib - a perennial source of wisdom, balanced thought and humane beliefs - became the magnetic center of each Gurdwara. The raison d'etre for its unique position in the hearts and minds of the Sikhs. As calligraphy gave way to new print technologies, which enabled standardized editions of Guru Granth Sahib to be produced and acquired easily, Sikhs started setting aside a special place for it in their homes. It, too, was called the Gurdwara - a room hallowed by the holy book and used for communion with God.
to narrate the circumstances, which have made it the redoubtable standard-bearer of the Sikh faith. Only a historical approach can explain how the Gurdwara-going tradition developed in the lives of the Sikh people and how past associations and events have influenced the intensity of the present relationship between the Sikhs and their Gurdwara. Despite the resoluteness with which Sikhs have risen to every challenge throughout history, they have still to face up to the challenge of conserving their own heritage. Many of the original structures of beautiful old Gurdwaras, whose bricks, walls and columns were witnesses to the most moving epochs in Sikh history, have been demolished through sheer insensitivity and lack of concern. Paintings, frescos, murals and arabesques have been obliterated. Rare manuscripts are virtually disintegrating. No authentic inventory of the incredible range of evocative symbols from the earliest times exists, which could be a source of invaluable research for scholars and historians and provide an incentive to those who want to see what is left - and where - of our priceless heritage. It is necessary to give urgent thought to this neglected aspect of our many-splendored heritage by establishing a Conservation Fund, along with a purposeful program for conserving the remaining artefacts of our history before they too are destroyed or disappear without trace. While it is good to build new Gurdwaras, the destruction of the old is ill-advised. The new is another link in the continuum of history and the two have to co-exist with each other. One cannot replace the other. As people around the world become increasingly conscious of the need to conserve their heritage and are perfecting new techniques and skills for the preservation restoration of history's artefacts, it will be tragic if we continue to neglect the relics of our rich past. The images which come to mind are of lime-washed buildings. Dazzling white. The austere aesthetics of their walls unrelieved by religious art: their domes and cupolas silhouetted against the cobalt blue of the Indian skies. And fluttering high on the highest of flag-masts, the Nishan Sahib (flag), an inspiring symbol for the Sikhs. A beacon to the house of God. To their Gurdwara. The images, in turn, stir many emotions. Sharp, intense, indefinable. A yearning for the comforting sense of peace in its sacred precincts. A longing or the fragrance of garlands. Of marigolds and rose petals and the many other flowers laid with reverence before Guru Granth Sahib. Or showered on it to honor the sages, savants and scholars whose insights illuminate it. With these images surfaces the ever-abiding longing to listen to the Shabads. The passages from Guru Granth Sahib set to the ragas and rendered in the robust, resonant voices of the Ragis. An experience so elevating as to bring tears to many eyes.
The Guru & the Granth

A view through world's Gurdwaras
By Patwant Singh
The earliest of the Gurdwara's social functions, which in a sense predates even its own advent in its present form, is the Langar; the community kitchen attached to every Gurdwara in which all are welcome to eat. The Langar - like so many other practices of the Sikh faith - was a far-sighted move aimed at eradicating the pernicious custom of preventing the higher and lower castes from eating together. The tradition of the free kitchen continues to this day. Most Gurdwaras also have places for pilgrims and travelers to stay in. In time, schools, colleges and clinics were also added - each addition an extension of the tradition of Sewa, the practice of voluntary service, established by the Gurus. Much remains to be written about the old traditions and others now in the making. My aim is to trace the Gurdwara's evolution;
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Then there is the urge to savor again the Karah Parshad - the sacramental food blessed by the Lord and given to all, who visit a Gurdwara. The images and emotions are unending. Each sustained by the inner well-spring of inspiration, belief, hope, commitment, pride, passion and ecstasy: that rich mix of feelings which imbues people with love and confidence in their faith. Sikhism evolved during the stormiest period of Indian history and the amazing affinity of the Sikhs with their Gurdwara is best understood in the perspective of time. From the time Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, began his philosophic and spiritual quest to synthesize the subcontinent's two warring religions - Hinduism and Islam - to when Sikhism itself took to the sword after its fifth Guru, Arjan Dev was savagely put to death by the Mughal Emperor Jehangir. The entire quality and complexion of Hindustan's social, political and religious configurations would change in the aftermath of that event. What the journey back into time would reveal is how the Gurdwara emerged out of these changes. A new edifice on India's religious landscape. An indestructible symbol of the Sikh faith. While the story of Sikhism commences with Guru Nanak's birth in 1469: that of the Gurdwara - as Sikhism's house of prayer, piety and probity - begins with Hargobind, the sixth Guru, who took over the stewardship of the faith in 1606. The concept of the Gurdwara, in this context, is generally attributed to him, though the word is at times used in the Gurbani the Guru's scriptures in another sense. There very broadly it is used to convey by God's grace, or, because of God's will, or even, God willing. Though Sikhism and the Gurdwara were not synchronous at their incept ion, they would g radua lly become indistinguishable from each other following the violence visited on the fifth Guru. In the four centuries since, the Gurdwara has provided the Sikhs with the most intense and elevating moments of their lives. In turn, they have responded to the Gurdwara with their love, loyalty, wealth and devotion. But this relationship was still in the future. Guru Nanak's efforts during the bloodiest period of Indian history were directed at a search for an alternative to the uncompromising and endless religious wars of the time. The welter of bloodshed had, in fact, gone beyond religious hostility, as different Mohammedan invaders of India fought even bloodier battles with each other in their drive to acquire the limitless wealth of Hindustan. Given the prevailing culture of intolerance, Guru Nanak applied his inquiring mind to a search for more humans and just ways to overcome the prejudices, passions and hatred, which were destroying the land. To that end he traveled extensively to seek out men of reason and
rational thought of different religious persuasions, including mystics, philosophers and poet-saints. While it was natural that the environment in the orthodox family into which he was born had led him to study the Vedas and the Brahminical Shastras, Guru Nanak's own. search for knowledge drew him to the works of Vaishnavite philosopher Namdev, the Sufi mystic Sheikh Farid, the Muslim poet-saint Kabir and many others. He made no distinction between them. He was inspired by their vision and wisdom. To achieve his goal of unifying and synthesizing two seemingly irreconcilable religions, Guru Nanak was not about to distance himself from one or the other on the basis of preference of prejudice. Thus his close study of the Koran. In time his studies, exchanges and travels led him to write a great deal on subjects that ranged from the spiritual and devotional to the social and philosophic. As was inevitable, his impeccable secular credentials and scholarship drew an increasing number of people of different faiths to Kartarpur, on the Ravi to join the new community which had begun to settle around him in this setting of rural Punjab. It is here that he lived the last eighteen years or so of his life. What appealed to his followers was not only his wisdom but also the social concerns to which he gave clear and courageous expression. He rejected rituals, superstition and widespread idolatry; the role of an entrenched priesthood and the pernicious caste system. They were incompatible, in his view, with the compassion of Hinduism, just as the destruction of idols in Hindu places of worship was not in consonance with the Islamic concept of the essential brotherhood of Man. Guru Nanak's thoughts on the religious bigotry prevailing then - along with his other perceptions - were expressed in over 900 hymns which his successor, Angad, compiled in a book, that also included some of his own writings. All of these would find a place of honor in Guru Granth Sahib. Since Nanak neither aimed at establishing a new religion, nor aspired to a divine status for himself, an edifice to enshrine his ideals was not on his agenda. The Gurdwara would fulfil that role much later, as Sikhism evolved into a distinct religion in its own right. Even then, god-ship would not be conferred on an individual, but on Guru Granth Sahib. And the Gurdwara, built to enshrine it, would become a house of God because of the sanctity accorded to it by Guru Granth Sahib, after its compilation by the fifth Guru, Arjan Dev. The use of the word 'Guru', in the vocabulary of the Sikhs, was not meant to elevate or exalt a human being to the level of divinity. It was simply a way of addressing a teacher, and since Guru Nanak had planted and fostered the seeds of Sikhism at Kartarpur, his followers looked on him as the Guru to the new
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movement - its teacher. The word Sikh was itself derived from
Sikhya, which in turn is a variation of the Sanskrit word Shishya,
meaning a disciple or devoted follower. There would be ten successive Gurus before the tenth and the last, Gobind Singh, ended the office of Guru for all time. He told his followers before he merged with the divine light that after him the supreme Guru of the Sikhs would be Guru Granth Sahib, whose uniqueness lies in its authenticity. Neither based on interpretation-tradition nor reconstruction, it is rendered in the very words the Gurus used in their teachings and writings and which form the major portion of Guru Granth Sahib. While the message of Christ was made possible through the works of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John; and of the Buddha and Confucius through several rungs of their disciples and scholars: the compositions of the Sikh Gurus were handed down unchanged to their followers. The only other scripture which has remained unchanged though it was revealed to rather than written by the Prophet is the authenticated version of the Koran which was finalized in the time of the third Caliph, Uthman. The idea of elevating a book of scriptures to the highest level of leadership and investing it with the authority usually vested in individuals, was to prove amazingly successful in providing the Sikhs with inspiration, spiritual direction and self-renewal. They have turned to it for counsel ever since, all through their lives, finding reassurance and comfort in the writings of the towering figures of the faith whose observations still retain their relevance. Especially as society's social and human predicaments have not lessened with time. Guru Nanak's successors were equally committed in their zeal for reform. The third Guru, Amar Das, also rejected abstract conceptions which sought legitimacy in myth and fantasy - in favor of direct practical action. Through the Langar (community kitchen), Sikhs were encouraged to eat together whenever they congregated, ending the invidious social practice which prevented the higher and lower castes from doing so. He forbade Sati - by which widows immolated themselves on their husband's pyres - allowed widows to remarry; stopped the veiling of women, and reversed the existing practice of excluding women from preaching by appointing women preachers. Equality between men and women in the Sikh culture owes a great deal to his foresight. Alongside these profound social and philosophic changes the Gurus were adding a new devotional perspective and intensity to Sikh beliefs. Its aim was to discourage the deification of human Gurus by emphasizing the supreme ideal of Sat-Guru (God) as the personification of virtues like purity, piety, wisdom and truth. This also helped to prevent the places in which the first three Gurus had lived (Kartarpur, Khadur and Goindwal), and where so many people had experienced the uplifting vision of new moral and spiritual possibilities, from becoming houses
of God - or places of worship. Since the concept of the Gurdwara was still to be conceived, its precursors were called Dharammandir, Dharamsala and such. This, in the broadest sense, means places founded by those with shared beliefs and a commitment to truth, duty and community service. A giant step towards building a permanent fountainhead of the Sikh faith was taken by the fifth Guru, Arjan Dev. Even though the site of what would become the future city of Amritsar was selected by the third Guru, who built a modest mud house for himself at the edge of a serene stretch of water in a wooded setting and work on the holy township was started by the fourth Guru, the contribution of Arjan Dev is of great significance. With intuitive foresight he had understood the need to develop a place which would become the core of the Sikh faith. To which all Sikhs would feel connected in the umbilical sense; a source from which they could draw spiritual sustenance, no matter how distant they were from it physically. Clearly, the first step was to build a structure which was more than a mere symbol. But how? What would make it an embodiment, of the emotions, sentiments, self-esteem, spiritual goals and compassion of the Sikhs? A repository of those very elements of the faith which were drawing an increasing number of people to it? Guru Arjan Dev began by concentrating his energies on developing a concept for the physical design of the hallowed shrine. It had to be simple yet powerful in its symbolism, with each of its design elements conveying a message. Set in the center of the pool which many believed had miraculous powers of healing, he wanted it built at a level lower than the land around it. And it must have four entrances. The location of the structure in the pool would represent Nirgun and Sargun, the spiritual and temporal realms of human existence. The aim of reversing the prevailing practice of building high temple plinths was to drive home the point that it was Sikhism's inner strength - not the scale of its place of worship - which must impress its adherents. And the four entrances, one on each side of this holiest of all Sikh shrines, would highlight the fact that all four castes were welcome to the Sikh faith. In Guru Arjan Dev's words the four castes of Kshatriyas, Brahmins, Sudras and Vaisyas are equal partners in divine instruction: Guru Arjan wanted this place of worship in the Sarovar (pool) to be called the Harmandir. The challenge now was to make the Harmandir the very heart of Sikhism. The Sikhs, who left their homeland to make new lives for themselves in distant parts of the world, have built many beautiful Gurdwaras in the cities they live in. These provide eloquent proof of their pride in their faith and their undying resolve to raise noble edifices in its honor.
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What is equally praiseworthy is how many of them have continued the practice of Sewa or voluntary service, which runs like a continuous thread through Sikh history. Though they have still to start colleges and hospitals on an appreciable scale, the tradition of the free kitchen continues to flourish.
With their distinctive appearance, adventuresome spirit, sense of service and exemplary work ethic, Sikhs have created a powerful impact in all those countries which have opened up for people of their faith to settle in. And wherever they have put their roots down, there stands the abiding symbol of their pride and devotion - their Gurdwara.
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Vices negated in Guru Granth Sahib

Adultery
pr Gir cIqu mnmuiK folwie ]
(An apostate mind is lured by another's wife.)
Greed
grB vws mih kulu nhI jwqI ] bRhm ibMdu qy sB auqpwqI ] ijau kUkru hrkwieAw DwvY dh ids jwie ] loBI jMqu n jwxeI BKu ABKu sB Kwie ]
Attachment
hy Aijq sUr sMgRwmM Aiq blnw bhu mrdnh ] gx gMDrb dyv mwnuKM psu pMKI ibmohnh ]
(In the womb of the mother, neither caste nor family pride exists. It is from the Lord's seed that every body comes into being.)
Garabh vass meh kull nahee(n) jaatee Brahm bind t-ai sabh utpaatee. (324)
(Like the mad dog running around in all directions, similarly, the greedy person does not know what type of rubbish and filthy material he is eating indiscriminately.)
Ji-o kookar harkaa-i-aa Dhaav-ei deh dis jaa-e Lobhee jant na jaan-ee Bhakh abhakh sabh khaa-e. (50)
Par ghar cheet manmukh dolaa-e. (226)
ry nr kwie pr igRih jwie ] kucl kTor kwim grDB qum nhI suinE Drm rwie ]
H-ai ajitt soor sangraam-aN Att balnaa bah-au maradneh Gann gandharab dev maanukh-aN Pas pankhee bimohneh. (1358)
(O emotional attachment, you are the invincible warrior of the battlefield of life; you totally crush and destroy even the most powerful. You entice and fascinate even the heavenly heralds, celestial singers, gods, mortals, beasts and birds.)
jwiq kw grbu n kir mUrK gvwrw ] iesu grb qy clih bhuqu ivkwrw ]
dunIAw lib pieAw Kwq AMdir AglI gl n jwxIAw ]
Dunee-aa labh pa-i-aa Khaat andar aglee gal na jaanee-aa. (1020)

(Through worldly greed, you have fallen into the pit; you know nothing about the divine virtues for which you have come in this world.)
R-ai nar kaa-e par greh jaa-e Kuchal katthor kaam gardhabh Tum nahee(n) suni-o Dharam raa-e. (1001)
{O man! Why do you go out to the households of others (to entice their women)? You filthy, heartless and lustful donkey! Haven't you heard of the Divine advice of The Almighty Lord of Divine justice?}
{O fool! Don't be proud of your (high) caste, for, many sins flow out of this pride.}
Jaat kaa garabh na kar moorakh gavaaraa Is garabh t-ai chaleh bahut vicaaraa. (1127-28)
Hypocrisy
gl N I AsI cMgIAw AwcwrI burIAwh ] mnhu kusuDw kwlIAw bwhir ictvIAwh ]
jwiq jnmu nh pUCIAY sc Gru lyhu bqwie ] sw jwiq sw piq hY jyhy krm kmwie ]
mohu Aru Brmu qjhu qum@ bIr ] swcu nwmu irdy rvY srIr ]
Moh ar bharam tajah-au tum beer Saach Naam rid-ai rav-ei sareer. (356)
(Renounce your attachments and doubts, O brother, and recite the True Name within your heart and body.)
Anger
rosu n kwhU sMg krhu Awpn Awpu bIcwir ]
(Do not be angry or jealous with anyone; rather search your inner-self to remove the evil.)
(That alone is a man's caste and that is his glory, as are the deeds done by him.)
Jaat janam neh poochee-ei Sach ghar lai-hau bataa-e Saa jaat saa patt h-ei Jehe karam kamaa-e. (1330)
Galee(n) asee(n) changee-aa(n) Aachaaree buree-aah Manh-au kusudhaa kaalee-aa(n) Baahar chitvee-aah. (85)
(We are good at talking, but our conduct is bad. Our minds are awfully imbued with all sins, but outwardly, we appear to be pure and pious.)
Ross na kaahoo sang kar-hau Aapan aap beechaar. (259)
jyqw mohu prIiq suAwd ] sBw kwlK dwgw dwg ]

(These worldly attachments, loves and pleasurable tastes, all are just black stains.)
Ego
qIrQ nwqw ikAw kry mn mih mYlu gumwnu ]
(What is the use of bathing at sacred pilgrimages, when the filth of stubborn pride is kept in the mind?)
Jetaa moh pareet su-aad Sabhaa kaalakh daagaa daag. (662)
ikAw jpu ikAw qpu ikAw bRq pUjw ] jw kY irdY Bwau hY dUjw ]
kwmu koDu kwieAw kau gwlY ] ijau kMcn sohwgw FwlY ]
Tirath naataa ki-aa kar-ai Mann meh m-eil gumaan. (61)
Kaam karodh kaa-i-aa ka-o gaal-ei Ji-au kanchan sohaagaa dhaal-ei. (932)
(Lust and anger destroy body, health and virtues as borax melts the gold.)
Caste
sBu ko aUcw AwKIAY nIcu n dIsY koie ] ieknY BWfy swijAY ieku cwnxu iqhu loie ]
(What use is chanting and what use is penance, fasting or ritual worship, to one, whose heart is imbued with duality i.e., ego?)
Ke-aa japp ke-aa tapp ke-aa barat poojaa Jaa k-ei rid-ei bha-au h-ei doojaa. (324)
Awps kau jo Blw khwvY ] iqsih BlweI inkit n AwvY ]
sIis invwieAY ikAw QIAY jw irdY kusuDy jwih ]
PrIdw bury dw Blw kir gusw min n hFwie ] dyhI rogu n lgeI plY sBu ikCu pwie ]
Aapas k-au jo bhalaa kahaav-ei Tiseh bhalaa-ee nikat na aav-ei. (278)

(Goodness does not touch him, who pretends to be good.)
Sees nivaa-i-ei ki-aa thee-ei Jaa rid-ei kusudh-ai jaah-e. (470)

(What is the use by bowing the head before God, when the heart is full of filth?)
(Farid, render holy help to others and do not bear anger in your mind. Your body shall not suffer from any disease and you shall obtain everlasting bliss.)
Farida bur-ai daa bhalaa kar Gusaa mann na hadhaa-e Dai-hee rog na laga-ee Pal-ei sabh kichh paa-e. (1381-82)
(Call everyone noble; none should be considered lowly. The One Lord has fashioned everyone and His Divine Light pervades all creatures.)
Sabh ko oochaa aakhee-ei Neech na dees-ei ko-e Ikn-ei bhaa(n)d-ai saaji-ei ik chanann teh lo-e. (62)
nwnk sy nr Asil Kr ij ibnu gux grbu krMiq ]
swD Bly AxnwiqAw cor is corw cor ]

(The holy man is blessed, even without bathing, while a thief is a thief, no matter how much he bathes.)
Nanak s-ai nar asal khar Je bin gunn garabh karant. (1246)
(Guru Nanak says. The real asses are those persons, who pride, without any virtue.)
Saadh bhal-ai ann-naati-aa Chor se choraa chor. (789)
A poem be read several times in order to hear it and feel its emotions.
Jealousy
ijsu AMdir qwiq prweI hovY iqs dw kdy n hovI Blw ]
Rituals
jIvq ipqr n mwnY koaU mUeyN isrwD krwhI ] ipqr BI bpury khu ikau pwvih kaUAw kUkr KwhI ]
Jis andar taat paraa-ee hov-ei Tis daa kad-ai na hovee bhalaa. (308)
(One, who is jealous of others, never becomes pious.)
AihrK vwdu n kIjY ry mn ]

(O my mind! Do not indulge in jealousy.)
Jeevat pitar na maan-ei kau-oo Moo-ain siraadh karaahee Pitar bhee bapur-ai kahau ki-au paaveh Ka-oo-aa kookar khaahee. (332)
(He does not honor his ancestors while they are alive, but holds feasts in their honor after they have died. O duffer! How can the ancestors receive the same, which has been eaten by the crows and dogs.)
Ahirakh vaad na keej-ei r-ai mann. (479)
Keep Fast Your Vision

(Ram naam ur mai gehio Ja ke sam nahee koe)
Aiq fwhpix duKu Gxo qIny Qwv BrIfu ]

(Man suffers a lot of pain due to jealousy and is cursed throughout the whole universe.)
Att daahpann dukh ghanno Teen-ai thaav bhareed. (1091)
krm Drm kI sUl n shhu ]

(Don't endure the torture of rituals and religious rites.)
Karam dharam kee sool na sah-hau. (343)
Lust
bhu swdhu dUKu prwpiq hovY ] Boghu rog su AMiq ivgovY ]
sqIAw eyih n AwKIAin jo miVAw lig jlin@ ] nwnk sqIAw jwxIAin@ ij ibrhy cot mrMin@ ]
(Excessive pleasures lead to suffering. Sexual pleasure curses the person and one is ultimately ruined.)
Bah-au saadhau dookh paraapat hov-ei Bhog-hau rog su antt vigov-ei. (1034)
(A devoted woman is not one, who burns herself on the pyre of her husband. Nanak! A devotee is one, who dies with the shock of separation from her divine husband.)
Satee-aa(n) ai-h-e na aakhee-ann Jo marhi-aa lag jalan-nh Nanak satee-aa(n) jaanee-anh Je birh-ai chot maran-nh. (787)
hy loBw lpt sMg isrmorh Aink lhrI klolqy ] DwvMq jIAw bhu pRkwrM Aink BWiq bhu folqy ]
H-ai lobhaa lampat sung sirmoreh Anik lahree kalolat-ai Dhaavant jee-aa bah-au parkaar-aN Anik bhaant bah-au dolt-ai. (1358)
(O lust! You have clung even to the great and by your waves played many pranks. Through you, the beings run about in many directions and greatly wobble in multiple manners.)
Slander
AsMK inMdk isir krih Bwru ]
{Innumerable are the slanders, who carry on their heads load of sins (of slandering others.)}
Keep fast, In your vision! The immutable faith In God! Catch tight, In your mental grip, The firm Trust in God, There is nothing Equivalent, To this Immovable faith! There is nothing At par with firm Belief in God! Says Nanak, With faith in heart, You come out victorious! From the extreme crisis. With trust in God, You come out glorious From the unfavourable trials, God, Himself, Shows the way!
Lost
a sadness unlike sadness a solitude tinged with grey caged whispers hound the heart a soundless mourning chokes ...................................... and the greens shy away; life could not be more chequered black and white never more clear numbness is so graphic today: The spirit shall ask no questions for there are no answers today.
baljeet kaur tulsi -120-
reema anand -121-
Asankh nindak sirr kar-eh bhaar. (4)
Omen
sgun Apsgun iqs kau lgih ijsu cIiq n AwvY ]
(Good omens and bad omens affect him, who forgets the Lord.)
inMdw BlI iksY kI nwhI mnmuK mugD krMin ] muh kwly iqn inMdkw nrky Goir pvMin ]
Sagun apsagun tis k-au lageh Jis cheet na aav-ei. (401)
gix gix joqku kWfI kInI ] pVY suxwvY qqu n cInI ] sBsY aUpir gur sbdu bIcwru ]
(It is not good to slander anyone, only the foolish egocentrics do it. The slanders are condemned and they fall into the most horrible hell.)
Nindaa bhalee kis-ei kee naahee Manmukh mugadh karann Muh kaal-ai tinn nindkaa(n) Nark-ai ghor pavann. (755)
The book of poems
Gann gann jotak kaandee keenee Parh-ei sunaav-ei tatt na cheenee Sabhs-ei oopar Gur Shabad beechaar. (904)
{(O Priest) You calculate the auspicious day and time and advise others, but do not realize that the Supreme Being is above and beyond these.}
Compiled by Inderjeet Kaur
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Rarely, however, is a person pulled aside and told such things for his own benefit. Far more often, a hidden agenda is at work. Criticism often acts as an effective cover for more troubling feelings. If your sister accuses you of being self-absorbed and self-important, you are neither, but she's probably so envious of your professional success that she wishes you'd never mention it. Your friend wisecracks about your hair, your weight, the shape of your nose; the problem isn't you at all; it's him. He doesn't see you as a person, but as an object. If you do have a fault, it is letting him berate you like that.
Often, people who criticize you - You've got a problem with being late are actually complaining about how you affect them. What they really mean to say is, You're frequently late with me and I don't like it. The ideal approach when you suspect a critic of concealing her true motive is to try to smoke it out. Even legitimate criticism hurts. People get so defensive about who they are and what they do that many folks avoid doling out criticism altogether. Criticism makes us feel inadequate. Responding well to legitimate criticism means not just lowering defenses but acknowledging and even thanking your critic. You may not agree with everything he's said. You may want to redefine the message in a way that's palatable. But learning to appreciate and use well-meaning criticism is one secret to personal growth and better relationships. A sensitively executed criticism is so rare, it deserves to be protected like an endangered species. Even if the beast bites, you want to make sure it sticks around.
Criticism
By Gita Hari
an friends be impartial when they 'review' your personality? Not usually- but learn to brush away their emotional bias and you may spot true, helpful messages lying underneath! Joseph Conrad once said, I don't want to be criticized. I want to be praised- a sentiment that is probably shared by most of us. And yet, as painful - and sometimes futile - as it is, we try to maintain our cool and remain open to criticism, because, in some way, we know that growth can't proceed without it. Your boss has to tell you whether your work is up-to-the-mark or if it should improve. Your co-workers, if they're conscientious,
Fear of the unknown can also impel criticism; your mother warns you against traveling alone to Chennai, predicts every calamity and accuses you of being irresponsible, She'd never have dreamed of living so adventurously, and she is threatened by your verve. Some critics are, of course, simply arrogant. Your friend tells you that your job-search techniques are old-fashioned and out-of-touch, and she says it so authoritatively, you're tempted to believe her and start all over. Then you remember that this friend is a know-it-all with an opinion about everything. Her only purpose is to aggrandize herself. Distinguishing between constructive criticism and these sneaky expressions of competitiveness, hostility or disapproval can be tricky, particularly when friends are involved. Because you care about their opinions, you may forget that their views be insidiously entwined with grievances, hurt feelings and unspoken resentments. Telling someone she has a flaw - sloppiness, overeating, lateness, poor taste in clothes, undependability, rudeness - is a delicate task, requiring compassion, insight and diplomacy. To see a person's weakness - some trait that will, if exposed, hurt her chances in life or cause her shame - is to be in possession of powerful information. Delivering it is a difficult responsibility. Consider the timing carefully, and choose a moment that's otherwise calm and secure for the recipient. Blurting out explosive information in the heat of irritation is like trying to train puppy with a cattle prod. What if you're the 'puppy'? Well, custom being open to criticism, but there are many remarks to which you cannot respond openly and shouldn't even try. Try to sort out legitimate advice from the criticism that's crooked - and then react accordingly. What should you do if a friend or relative makes the right criticism for the wrong reasons? For the moment, the best thing to do is to block it out. As long as you're unfairly attacked the accuracy of the shots is irrelevant.
Essence of Sikhi
BSR
will give you feedback about your interaction with them. If you live with someone, your tastes, your behavior in certain situations, your goals, the way you manage your day - all come under careful scrutiny. If you're lucky, you'll get sensitive, usable criticism. In the best relationships, criticism plays an important role, because it helps you to grow. As the great Elbert Hubbard once said, the only way to avoid criticism is to do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. How, though, can you distinguish criticism that's fair from criticism that's foul? How do you know whether to be open or to fight back? And how do you know when to be fully receptive, even though the words that you hear sting and chafe? Ideally, criticism is feedback. You're wearing too much make-up, Try to do the dance step more like this, You might not want to go to a business meeting in such a seductive dress; all these statements are ones that friends, can make to one another - tenderly, lovingly, confidentially or matter-of-factly without a hint of scorn or irritation, with no ulterior motive. If offered that way, they should be accepted as gifts.
Criticism often acts as an effective cover for more troubling feelings. If your sister accuses you of being self-absorbed and self-important, you are neither, but she's probably so envious of your professional success that she wishes you'd never mention it.
Truth, that one is a part of the whole and the Absolute is immanent, is realized by submitting to the 'word' of the Guru. Gurbani gives the knowledge and shows the path whereby the truth is revealed within. Constantly ruminating on the Shabad, living in full accordance with Divine Order (Hukam) fulfils one. To be vigilant about what hinders and what helps one in one's spiritual quest is something that disciplined learning of Gurbani makes possible.
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Education is not an option for a Sikh woman of the 21st century. It is the need of the time.
:Some concerned Sikhs fear and argue that education sets a woman free and she may no longer live by the cultural and ritualistic by-laws prescribed to her for generations. That she will be less docile, trade family responsibilities for a profession. That she may chose her own life partner outside of the caste, class, religion or racial boundaries prescribed for her or that she may quit being a Sikh altogether. First of all, to deprive any female (or male for that matter) of her opportunity to be a free and self sufficient individual by taming her mind and spirit for a particular role or interest is deplorable. The most deadly of all sins is the mutilation of a child's spirit, says a highly regarded developmental psychologist of the Century, Erik Erikson. Sikh history as long as 500 years ago produced documented examples of educated women commissioned to be missionaries by the Gurus. Even if you look around today you will see that educated Sikh women have given back to the community manifold. There is a reason for that. When an educated Sikh woman takes any initiative to learn about Sikhism, she derives a whole new meaning to be a Sikh. Sikh faith makes sense in a completely holistic dimension of knowledge, practicality and truth. Once she understands and believes in Gurbani, she is
more empowered to educate her future generations of it. She has the tools and conviction to deal with life's challenges herself and can pass on those skills to her children. She has the conviction to achieve the state, Guru envisioned for the mankind. Someone has rightly said Educate a man and you educate an individual educate a woman and you educate society. On the flip side; a Sikh woman brought up in ignorance and subjugation will someday lose the reasoning of being a Sikh to the pressures of the times and is susceptible to be easily led away from Sikhism at one time or the other because she does not truly understand it. She will have no capability to teach her children the meaning of Sikh faith; nor the capability to empower them with tools to fend for their values in the world full of materialistic pressures. Another common argument against educating women is the expenses involved. Parents would rather save for their weddings and dowry rather than spend on their education. If they think education is expensive; they just have no idea what price they are going to pay for ignorance in both material and non-material ways. Times have changed. There are no guarantees that a lavish dowry and wedding will secure the future of the young girl. Giving her the sustenance tools, confidence and values is the best guarantee for a secured life the parents can buy. If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. Benjamin Franklin
Education A Kaur's Perspective

ducation alone has the power to break centuries' long subjugation whether it is the subjugation by a ruling authority, of society or of one's own mind. It empowers us to see beyond stereotypes, gives meaning to why we do the things we do and enriches our lives by exposing our minds to new dimensions. In addition, it creates new avenues in a much needed field that of plain survival. We all know that dynamics of survival are shifting; no longer can half the humanity (women) sit in dark corners to please the rest of the controlling-half and not contribute to the economic, intellectual and spiritual development of the society.
By Gurmeet Kaur
Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave. - Lord Brougham
Ironically, even in the Sikh community, today we still come across the contention; 'To educate or not to educate a Sikh woman'. Even the ones who have voted for education have managed to keep the spiritual education out of the way of mainstream or temporal education as I call it. Let us see if education is an option for a Sikh woman today and how spiritual education not only complements the temporal education but is in fact a must for a more fulfilling life. Also let us explore some ways to make the combination happen for our younger generation.
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Eternal Voice
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Morally and practically considering there should not even be a question about our girls availing the opportunity to quality education. Even looking from the Sikh perspective, the most important thing that I would point out for the sustenance of Sikh faith as the faith of new age is the education of the Mothers with not only temporal but spiritual knowledge as well.
Temporal and Spiritual Education complement each other:

Sikh philosophy demands a perfect balance of temporal and spiritual education:
{Says Nanak, without realizing the self, the moss of doubts (ignorance) can not be eradicated.}
Jan Nanak binn aapaa cheen-ei Mitt-ei naa bharam kee kaa-ee. (684)
Where the Gurus formalized the Gurmukhi script and insisted on the formal education of the common people, including women, they also declared that no education is complete without introspection and contemplation of the true essence of being:
{He alone is educated, and he alone is wise (Pandit), who contemplates the 'Word' (Shabad). He searches within himself, finds the true essence and reaches the door of salvation.}
So parhiaa so Pandit beena Gur shabad kare veechaar Andar khoj-ei tatt lahe Paa-ei mokh-duaar. (650)
step of learning, and finally applies that knowledge or profession to serve the creation, then one would not only do service to mankind, he will derive utmost satisfaction in his personal life. It is not uncommon to see Sikhs today who are professionally unhappy because they chose their fields without introspection and consciousness. At one time, every one wanted to be a Computer Scientist because that was the fad. We discarded our love for art, farming, music and literature to be IT professionals. A spiritual introspection at the time of choosing our field would have come in handy. If I were to re-live the choice of my field, I would have studied sustainable farming. I wish I had a guidance counselor in school or a parent who would have linked my field of education to the purpose I felt I had in life, to the things that enlivened my spirit the nature, the earth and the water and that of producing healthy food that nourished the creation while promoting ecologically viable infrastructure for the communities around.
Play with your child's creativity. Let her explore her purpose herself with your loving guidance. Your role is to connect her with her own consciousness. Khalil Gibran says, If a teacher is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind. Help cultivate their interests consciously. Respect their ideas and thoughts. Serving the creation does not mean everybody has to be a doctor or work for a relief organization. Consciousness can be practically incorporated into any field. Talk about the ways; explore them yourself. In conclusion, Education for a Sikh woman is not only the dire need of our society; it is the moral obligation of our society to her as well. Temporal Education enables one to achieve their purpose in life and must be complemented with spiritual contemplation to realize our fullest potential:
Application of temporal education in conjunction with spiritual introspection can alone reap positive rewards both personally and socially. An educated person devoid of any spiritual contemplation (Vichaar) may choose to use his or her skills in destructive areas. We all have heard of the doctors engaged in organ stealing, female fetus abortions and false amputations just to make big money; industrialists engaged in fake drug manufacturing; nuclear engineers selling technologies to terrorist organizations; biotech engineers and agro corps modifying food genes for profits resulting in depletion of pure genes and health problems; influential lobbyists manipulating environmental laws to their benefits; the list goes on. On the other hand, apply any field of knowledge to the touchstone of consciousness and you get nothing short of a miracle. Take nursing and apply the passion of Henry Dunant and you get the Red Cross. Take agriculture and add consciousness of keeping the nature unaltered and you get one of the only two non-genetically modified wheat species remaining in the world because of the Jewish agricultural practices. Take literature and add the nectar of Guru's love and you get Bhai Vir Singh, who rules the heart of every Punjabi through his literary renditions. If one does introspection on the purpose in life, chooses the educational field consciously, applies consciousness to each
So what can we do to inculcate temporal education in our new generation?

A child educated only at school is an uneducated child, - George Santayana. We can start with introducing Gurmat (which totally relates to the consciousness) to our children at an early age. Knowing their essence and their purpose will help them make right decisions in life pertaining to their education and beyond. Care has to be taken in how we introduce Gurmat to our children. Human beings truly learn only from the things they love. Cultivate love for the Guru in their heart. Teach by love and in love of the Gurbani. Teach by example.
(Nanak begs to know, of what kind is the knowledgeable being? He is the one, who realizes his own self and comprehends Him.)
Pranvat Nanak giani kaisaa ho-ei Aap pachhan-ei boojh-ei so-ei. (25)
For a truly educated person in the Sikh concept, thus, the inner and outer life is a continuum of pure consciousness. Their temporal education then becomes a source to serve the creation, to bind with it and to raise its consciousness as well. As the educated Sikhs of today, let us give a new direction and meaning to our new generation by cultivating their consciousness and letting it guide them through their journey of education. In the process, let's not forget ourselves we all are seekers of the truth and eternal students. I was still learning when I taught my last class says Claude Fuess, after 40 years of teaching.
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Religion is the idea, which is raising the brute unto man; and man unto God.
Swami Vivekananda's
thoughts on religion & ethics
loving, but without the weakness of human love, without the feeling of misery. (VI. 112) Unselfishness is God: One may live on a throne, in a golden palace, and be perfectly unselfish; and then he is in God. Another may live in a hut and wear rags, and have nothing in the world; yet, if he is selfish, he is intensely merged in the world. (I. 87) The first sign that you are becoming religious is that you are becoming cheerful. When a man is gloomy, that may be dyspepsia, but it is not religion...... Misery is caused by sin and by no other cause. What business have you with clouded faces? It is terrible. If you have a clouded face, do not go out that day, shut yourself up in your room. What right have you to carry this disease out into the world? (I. 264-65) Do you not know from the history of the world where the power of the prophets lay? Where was it? In the intellect? Did any of them write a fine book on philosophy, on the most intricate ratiocinations of logic? Not one of them. They only spoke a few words. Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God. (II. 307) In one word, the ideal of Vedanta is to know man as he really is, and this is its message, that if you cannot worship your brother man, the manifested God, how can you worship a God who is unmanifested? (II. 325-26) If you are really pure, how do you see the impure? For what is within, is without. We cannot see impurity without having it inside ourselves. This is one of the practical sides of Vedanta and I hope that we shall all try to carry it into our lives. (II. 327) Your godhead is the proof of God Himself. If you are not a prophet, there never has been anything true of God. If you are not God, there never was any God, and never will be. This, says the Vedanta, is the ideal to follow. Every one of us will have to become a prophet, and you are that already. Only know it. Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin to say that you are weak, or others are weak. (II. 308) The Vedanta says, there is nothing that is not God. ... The living God is within you and yet you are building churches and temples and believing all sorts of imaginary nonsense. The only God to worship is the human soul, in the human body. Of course, all animals are temples too, but man is the highest, the Taj Mahal of temples. If I cannot worship in that, no other temple will be of any advantage. (II. 321) The secret of religion lies not in theories but in practice. To be good and do good that is the whole of religion. 'Not he that crieth Lord, Lord, but he that doeth the will of the Father.' (VI. 245) Anything that brings spiritual, mental, or physical weakness, touch it not with the toes of your feet. Religion is the manifestation of the natural strength that is in man. A spring of infinite power is coiled up and is inside this little body, and that spring is spreading itself. This is the history of man, of religion, civilization, or progress. (VIII. 185) Whenever any religion succeeds, it must have economic value. Thousands of similar sects will be struggling for power, but only those who meet the real economic problem will have it. Man is guided by the stomach. He walks and the stomach goes first and the head afterwards. Have you not seen that? It will take ages for the head to go first.... When children's dreams begin to vanish and you begin to look at things the way they are, the head goes. Just when the head goes first, you go out. (I. 454-55) Religion deals with the truths of the metaphysical world just as chemistry and the other natural sciences deal with the truths of the physical world. The book one must read to learn chemistry is the book of nature. The book from which to learn religion is your own mind and heart. The sage is often ignorant of physical science because he reads the wrong book - the book within; and the scientist is too often ignorant of religion, because he too reads the wrong book - the book without. (VI. 81) You will find many persons in this world who will say: 'I wanted to become religious, I wanted to realize these things, but I have not been able, so I do not believe anything.' Even among the educated you will find these. Large number of people will tell you, 'I have tried to be religious all my life, but there is nothing in it'. At the same
(1863 - 1902)
he basic aim of religion is to bring peace to man. It is not a wise thing for one to suffer in this life so that one can be happy in the next. One must be happy here and now. Any religion that can bring that about is the true religion for humanity.
(Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda, pp. 45-46)
The difference between God and the devil is in nothing except in unselfishness and selfishness. The devil knows as much as God; is as powerful as God; only he has no holiness - that makes him a devil. Apply the same idea to the modern world: Excess of knowledge and power, without holiness, makes human beings devils. (I. 425) Virtue is that which tends to our improvement, and vice to our degeneration. Man is made up of three qualities - brutal, human, and godly. That which tends to increase the divinity in you is virtue and that, which tends to increase brutality in you is vice. You must kill the brutal nature and become human, that is, loving and charitable. You must transcend that too and become pure bliss, Sachchidananda, fire without burning, wonderfully
Religion is the idea, which is raising the brute unto man; and man unto God. (V. 409) The definition of God and man: Man is an infinite circle, whose circumference is nowhere, but the center is located in one spot; and God is an infinite circle whose circumference is nowhere, but whose center is everywhere. (II. 33)
The only definition that can be given of morality is this: That which is selfish is immoral and that which is unselfish is moral.
The first sign that you are becoming religious is that you are becoming cheerful.
time, you will find this phenomenon: Suppose a man is a chemist, a great scientific man. He comes and tells you this. If you say to him, 'I do not believe anything about chemistry, because I have all my life tried to become a chemist, and do not find anything in it', he will ask, 'When did you try?' 'When I went to bed, I repeated, O chemistry, come to me, and it never came.' That is the very same thing. The chemist laughs at you and says: 'Oh! That is not the way. Why did you not go to the laboratory and get all the acids and alkalis and burn your hands from time to time? That alone would have taught you.' Do you take the same trouble with religion? Every science has its own method of learning, and religion is to be learned the same way. (VI. 14-15) We want to lead mankind to the place where there is neither the
Vedas, nor the Bible, nor the Koran; yet this has to be done by harmonizing the Vedas, the Bible, and the Koran. Mankind
ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of THE RELIGION, which is Oneness, so that each may choose the path that suits him best. (VI. 416) Be moral. Be brave. Be a heart-whole man - strictly moral, brave unto desperation. Don't bother your head with religious theories. Cowards only sin, brave men never, no, not even in mind. (V.1) The only definition that can be given of morality is this: That which is selfish is immoral, and that which is unselfish is moral. (I.110) One man may speak beautiful language and beautiful thought, but they do not impress people; another man speaks neither beautiful language nor beautiful thoughts, yet his words charm. Every movement of his is powerful. That is the power of Ojas. ... It is only the chaste man or woman who can make the Ojas rise and store it in the brain; that is why chastity has always been considered the highest virtue. A man feels that if he is unchaste, spirituality goes away; he loses mental vigor and moral stamina. That is why in all the religious orders in the world, which have produced spiritual giants, you will always find absolute chastity insisted upon. (I.169-70) Ethics always says, 'Not I, but thou.' Its motto is: 'Not self; but non-self.' The vain ideas of individualism, to which man clings when he is trying to find that infinite Power or that infinite Pleasure through the senses, have to be given up - say the laws of ethics. You have to put yourself last and others before you. The senses say, 'Myself first'. Ethics says, 'I must hold myself last'. Thus, all codes of ethics are based upon this renunciation; destruction, not construction, of the individual on the material plane. That Infinite will never find expression upon the material plane, nor is it possible or thinkable. (II. 62-63)
Supersensuous, as impracticable and absurd and, in the same breath, asks us to take up ethics and do good to society. Why should we do good? Doing good is a secondary consideration. We must have an ideal. Ethics itself is not the end, but the means to the end. If the end is not there, why should we be ethical? Why should I do good to other men, and not injure them? If happiness is the goal of mankind, why should I not make myself happy and others unhappy? What prevents me? In the second place, the basis of utility is too narrow. Utilitarian theories can only work under present social conditions. Beyond that they have no value. But a morality, an ethical code, derived from religion and spirituality, has the whole of infinite man for its scope. It takes up the individual, but its relations are to the Infinite, and it takes up society also - because society is nothing but number of these individuals grouped together. (II. 63-64)
Swami Vivekananda was born in an aristocratic Kayastha family of Calcutta in 1863. His parents influenced the Swami's thinking the father by his rational mind and the mother by her religious temperament. From his childhood, he showed inclination towards spirituality and God realization.
Utilitarian standards cannot explain the ethical relations of men, for, in the first place, we cannot derive any ethical laws from considerations of utility...... The utilitarian wants us to give up the struggle after the Infinite, the reaching-out for the
Be moral. Be brave. Be a heartwhole man - strictly moral, brave unto desperation. Don't bother your head with religious theories. Cowards only sin, brave men never, no, not even in mind.
hen the s a g e s churned the body of Nimi, a child had manifested, who was named Janaka. Since he was not born of a motherly body, he was also called Videha. A ll the descendants of his dynast y were a lso known as Videha and Janaka. By the grace of the sage Yagyavalkya, all of them achieved enlightenment. In this very dynasty, Sita was born to 'Seeradhwaja'. Janaka was a great scholar and an enlightened person a ruler with a noble soul. Generally we all have a low mentality. There may be a few exceptions, having achieved self-realization, but by and large humans worship the body, caring little about the soul. We remain busy for the upkeep of the body for its nourishment and ornation. All our activities are guided by the needs of the body and above all, sadly, we try to excel over others. It is said that what we do from the core of the heart is better than the outward rituals. We go to holy places and pretend that we are religious. A person with noble deeds is better than us. In fact he is more likely to be one with the Lord some day:
God in the wink of an eye, he would take him as his Guru. The King's message was conveyed far and wide. Living in a remote corner and wo r s h i p i n g t h e Lord in his thatched hut, Ashtavakra got to know Janaka's message through telepathy (wireless of Shabad):
(Union is possible through Shabad and not through body)
King Janaka probed, Will you be my Guru? Rishi Ashtavakra said, Yes, I will be your Guru. Will you give me the knowledge of Brahma in the wink of an eye? The King enquired. Indeed, I will give you that, replied the Rishi. Then Janaka continued, So will you give me initiation? The Rishi answered, Yes, I will give you initiation. But first you must give me Gurdakshina (the Guru-fee), because after I have become your Guru, I cannot take any fee from you. Our Vedantic religion and the Hindu Sanatan Dharma, are very strict. There is no getting the Guru unless offering the teacher's fee. Ashtavakra continued, Rajan, there are three things you must give me for the Guru-fee. The first is the body, the second is the mind, and the third is your wealth. You have to give me all these things first. In the presence of those sixty thousand intellectuals, Janaka promptly and ungrudgingly offered these gifts. First, he gave his body, meaning the physical body. Secondly, he gave his mind. And thirdly, he gave all his wealth physical as well as material. These riches, King Janaka gave ungrudgingly. After taking the gifts, the Rishi, resuming the Guru-seat, said, Tell me now, Janaka, just who will take this knowledge of Brahma? Who will receive this knowledge of God? Calling for the horse, Janaka exclaimed, What? I, Sir! And again repeated, I. Before the King could put his foot in the saddle Ashtavakra shouted, You cannot put your foot in the cradle because your body belongs to me. What does 'I' mean? All that you have already given me: your body, your mind, your riches, if this is not I' then where else is 'I'?, Now pay attention to the one, who is close to your body and soul:
Then the Rishi explained, Rajan, the knowledge of God, which you are getting in the wink of an eye, we chant everyday in the following words:
Shabad milaavaa hov-ei D-aih mailaavaa naaheen.
(Guru is verily the representative of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. He creates, sustains knowledge and destroys the weeds of ignorance. I salute such a Guru.)
Guru Brahma GururVishnu Guru Devo Maheshwaraha Guru Saakshat Para Brahma Tasmai Sree Gurave Namaha.
It goes on to say:
He felt that if Janaka turned atheist, the entire kingdom would follow the King and it would be catastrophic. Hence he decided to present himself for providing the existence of God. Sixty thousand great intellectuals, assembled at the invitation of the King, sat motionless and silent and whoever would give Janaka the knowledge of Brahma in the wink of an eye would be his Guru. Among them was Rishi Ashtavakra, who had a deformed body, thus the name Ashtavakra eight physical deformities. When he was in the mother's womb, he heard his father say that the King had asked him a question, which he could not answer. The unborn child told the answer to his father, who, instead of being grateful, got agitated and could not tolerate the unborn to outsmart a learned man like him. Out of sheer ego, he admonished that there would be eight deformities in his body. To his father's outburst, Ashtavakra spoke from the womb, that although there are deformities in the body, the soul would remain unaffected:
(The Guru's form is the best to meditate upon; the Guru's feet are the best for worship; the Guru's word is the mantra; and the Guru's grace is the root of liberation.)
Dhyaanamoolam Gurur Moorthihi Poojamoolam Guroh Padam Mantramoolam Guror Vaakyam Moksha Moolam Guru Krupa.
(The Pandits and astrologers have grown weary of extensive reading and the sectarians go amiss in skepticism)
Parh parh Pandit jotki thak-ai Bh-ai-khee bharam bhul-aa-e. (68)
King Janaka had the knowledge of Brahma in the wink of an eye. What was it? Guru God, Guru Bhagwan and the pious King kept meditating for a long time:
A strange query stroked kind Janaka's noble mind. The doubt in a pure mind is better than the ritualistic religion. Janaka had read in the Vedas, Shastras and had heard the God-conscious persons say that God exists, but had never seen Him. He thought that unless some one brings him face to face with God, he won't believe His existence. Poor Janaka! Just as happiness and despair exist in life but we can't express the feelings, similarly the existence of the Almighty can only be felt and not expressed. We can feel His existence in every particle, but can't write in words:
(I am nothing, everything is yours, O Lord!)
Mein naahee Prabh sab kitchh tera (827)
(The mortal who forsake ego, realizes his Creator Lord.)
Jeh praneee haum-ei tajee Kartaa Ram pachhaan. (1427)
(The Lord has neither form, nor outline, nor any color. He is exempt from three attributes. O Nanak! With whom He is well pleased, He causes him to understand Him.)
Roop naa r-aikh naa rang kitchh Tr-eh gunn t-ai Prabh bhinn Tis-h-e bhujaa-ai Nanaka Jis hov-ei suprasann. (283)
The highly decorative stage was arranged, but the prominence was given to the place, where the person offering to prove the existence of God would sit. Nobody gathered the courage to occupy the throne. The learned men had only read the holy books, but were hollow within. Ashtavakra came, stooping over, to the Guru-seat, which Janaka had prepared. All the intellectuals burst into laughter. Why have you gathered the cobblers here? thundering Ashtavakra said to Janaka. How cobblers Sir? They are all the honorable intellectuals of the society, replied the King. They are no better than the cobblers, because they have known me by my body, retorted back, the disfigured sage.
You cannot get that knowledge of Brahma without the Guru's blessings and the Guru's grace. Just as we cannot see our own face, we need a mirror to see it. This looking glass is the Guru's blessing. We cannot see our own face by ourselves. We can see the face of another, but we cannot see our own face. But with the help of the mirror, we can see. Similarly we need the Guru to assess ourselves. That is why the following famous comparison between the Guru and God succinctly summarizes the pre-eminence of Guru:
(Totally false is the world. Only Lord is true and the Godly only lives.)
Jagat mithyamn, Brahama satyam, jeev-ei Brahamaee kewal.
Janaka took a vow: He who can give me the knowledge of

Brahma, in the wink of an eye, will be my Guru, or else I will turn an atheist. To acquire the knowledge of Brahma, which can't be
Janaka became thoughtful and felt the existence of God, as he had already given up the ego of body and mind:
had, even after doing penance for many a lifetime, in the wink of an eye, is impossible. In order to clear the doubt, Janaka made it known to all, that if someone could show him the existence of
(When Lord was the sole Master, then, say, who was accounted as bound or liberated.)
Jab hovat Prabh kewal dhanni Tab bandh mukt kahu kis kau ganni (292)
(Both Guru and God are standing in front of me and I am in a fix whose feet I should touch first. In this, I would like to approach Guru first because it is on account of the Guru's grace that I have been able to see God.)
Guru Gobind do-oo khad-ei, ka-kei laag-oon paa-ei Balihaari guru aapne jin Gobind deeyo milaa-ei.
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atka is an Indian martial art created by the Sikhs of Punjab. It is defensive as well as offensive and focuses on infusing the physical with both the spiritual and mental. Though essentially weapon-based, Gatka also sometimes incorporates wrestling as part of its empty hand training. It was used by Sikh forces against the Mughals, primarily in reaction to oppressive or aggressive policies. Though rarely used in combat today, Gatka is still popular as a sport and is often shown during Sikh festivals. The word 'gat' means grace, liberation, and respect in one's own power while 'ka' means someone who belongs or is part of a group. Gatka therefore means one whose freedom belongs to grace. It is also a term of reference for the stick used in sword training.
Gatka owes its early development to the Shastar Vidya, literally meaning knowledge of the arms. This was a warrior curriculum used by the Sikhs for military training, which was essential for the historical Sikh warriors. The present day heirs of this centuries-old tradition, the Buddha Dal, trace the roots of this system to Baba Buddha, who trained the devotees in this martial art. The Baba trained the sixth Guru, Hargobind in the Shastar Vidya system and also taught the 2200-odd saint-soldiers of the Akal Bunga, the 'Immortal' Fort, built in 1606. They came to be known as Akalis (immortals). Guru Hargobind propagated the theory of the warriorsaint, and emphasized the need for his followers to practice fighting for self-defence. Arrangements for combat training were made and the Guru himself learnt the use of weapons.
Gatka
This Akali army was called the Akal Fauj, but was informally known as the Buddha Dal meaning the army of Baba Buddha. Guru Hargobind, with his army of Akalis, engaged the Mughal forces in four battles and gained victory on each occasion. With the successive Gurus after Guru Hargobind, the Akal Fauj was maintained in its original form until the time of Guru Gobind Singh, who was trained in martial arts in Punjab. One of his numerous achievements was the founding of Khalsa, the collective society that galvanized the martial energies of the Sikh community. In regards to training the Khalsa, he pledged that he would "teach the sparrow to fight the hawk". Both men and women were known to have practiced the art; there were and are no gender restrictions iterated by Sikh teachings or the Gurus. Sometime before the creation of the Khalsa in 1699, he altered its structure with the effect that, from then on, only a high ranking-soldier was to be known as an Akali, whereas the lowranking soldier was designated Nihang, meaning the one, who neither is attached to life nor fears death. The tenth Master realized that in order to defend Sikhism, it would not be enough just to rely on the Akal Fauj. So, he decided to make the whole of the Sikh nation (with the exception of certain groups, such as Udasis, Sewa Panthis and the Nirmalas) into a martial nation. Thus, in 1699, the Khalsa came into being. Guru Gobind Singh's Khalsa was a body of warriors dedicated to the Guru, outwardly defined by the uncut hair and other Sikh
The Sikh Martial Art

By Nidar Singh & Rajinder Singh Chadha
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Gatka, the Shastar Vidya in its new Avatar, was no longer the lethal art designed to produce soldiers to defend the Sikh nation. Instead during the 1860s, it had evolved into an inoffensive and ritualistic martial art. Gatka was mainly practiced in the barracks of the British Indian army and was diligently taken up by Sikh and other Indian soldiers.
As Sikh colleges opened in Punjab during the 1880s, European rules of fencing were applied to Gatka, resulting in further alteration. This led to the formation of two Gatka branches, Rasmi (ritualistic) and Khel (sport).
Barchha: Spear Khanda: Traditional Sikh and Rajput straight sword Peshkarj: Dagger Kukri: Bent sword which broadens towards the point Tabar: Axe Chakram: Circular edged weapon that can be thrown. Smaller
specimens can be worn like bangles and used as brass knuckles.
Combat Principles
The basic principle of combat can be traced in the Zafarnama, in which Guru Gobind Singh addresses Aurangzeb:
Bagh Nakh: Leopard's claw, a spiked weapon worn on the hand similar to the Japanese shuko Katar: Dagger able to pierce armor . Training
With its strong link to the Sikh faith, Gatka groups may train in a religious or semi-religious situation, such as in a Gurdwara. Akharas, usually associated with wrestling have also been founded with the exclusive purpose of teaching Gatka, which emphasizes having something in both hands e.g., two sticks; a stick and a sword; a sword and a shield or any other combination. Training with 'both hands full' is believed to be an excellent exercise for coordinating the two halves of the body, a concept also found in many Filipino martial arts. The individual's preference for weapons, combination of weapons and movement patterns leads to the development of individual fighting methods.
{When all stratagems employed for (solving) a problem are exhausted, (only) then taking your hand to the sword is legitimate.}
Chunkar az hama heelate darguzasht Halal ast burdan ba shamseer dast:
(Recognize all humanity as one race.)
Manas ki jaat sabhe eke pehchanbo.
It was originally created along the following three principles: symbols. The Khalsa served as an armed wing to defend people of the region in the face of increasingly aggressive and intolerant Mughal policies. The Khalsa was involved in armed struggle against the armies of Emperor Aurangzeb and his local allies. The men and women of the Khalsa were skilled fighters, and in many conflicts came out ahead despite being severely outnumbered. Khalsa was accustomed to view military service in terms of individual and collective honor. According to the teachings of Guru Gobind Singh, extreme courage and even death in the heat of battle was said to bring honor to the Sikh community. They successfully captured areas of the Mughal Empire. After Guru Gobind Singh, it was a successful Khalsa, led by the Akalis, who fought a life-and-death struggle for nearly a hundred years, against both the Mughal Empire and the invading Afghans. They forged a series of independent kingdoms throughout Punjab, by the closing decades of the 18th Century. Even when the great Sikh kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh fell to the British in the hard-fought 'Anglo-Sikh Wars' (1845-46 and 1848-49), the majority of Sikhs to this day know it was not the martial prowess of their ancestors that let the nation down. Historical evidence unequivocally points to the fact that the Sikh army actually won on the battle-fields but lost the wars due to the betrayal of their treacherous Dogra generals. Annexation of Punjab following the second Anglo-Sikh war and the establishment of the British Raj, the Sikh martial traditions and practitioners suffered greatly. The British ordered effective disarmament of the entire Sikh community; even tools and farming equipment were banned. Those, who refused to surrender the weapons were punished severely by the British authorities. The traditional martial knowledge of Sikhs, previously preserved to a high standard, almost ceased to exist in Punjab. In 1857, the Indian mutiny erupted. By that time, the British had significantly crushed all resistance to their rule in Punjab, with the help of soldiers from other states around the sub-continent. Thus during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Sikhs assisted the British in crushing the mutiny. As a consequence of this assistance, restrictions on fighting practices were relaxed in Punjab. However, the Punjabi martial arts, which re-emerged after 1857, had changed a great deal. Instead of producing soldiers for warfare, the Shastar Vidya had developed during the 1860 into a new fighting style called Gatka (from the name of its primary weapon, the sword training stick), which was mainly practiced by the British Indian Army. This new form was a product of the changing times, which had also seen the general Sikh populace of that period begin to accommodate the British Raj by divorcing itself from the Sikh practices of the pre-British period. There was a stark contrast between this pluralistic and undeveloped phase (consisting in the main of Udasis, Sewa Panthis, Nirmalas and Akali Nihang Singhs) and the renaissance, which was later initiated and encouraged by the Tatt Khalsa and the Singh Sabha Movement. It is worth mentioning that this was the first extended period of peace and consolidation of its institutions by the Sikh community-at-large since its very inception under the Gurus.
It had to be easy to learn. It had to make use of every possible weapon. It had to allow for fighting multiple opponents at once. Movement Patterns
The foundation of the art is a movement methodology for use of the feet, body, arms and weapons in unison. Gatka favors rhythmic movement, without hesitation, doubt or anxiety. The attacking and defence methods are based upon the positions of the hands, feet and weapon(s) during the dexterity regimen. Chanting holy verses may accompany these exercises. The three-beat-per-cycle played by a drummer adds to the coordination during practice.
Outside India
Among the European colonists, Sikhs became well known for their fighting prowess and they were often brought in to other British colonies as soldiers or security guards. Even today Gatka is practiced by the Sikh communities of other Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Indian immigrants eventually brought the art to England and North America. The system devised by Captain William Ewart Fairbairn and Captain Eric Anthony Sykes borrowed methodologies from Gatka, Jujutsu, Chinese martial arts and 'gutter fighting'. This method was used to train soldiers in close-combat techniques at the Commando Basic Training Center in Achnacarry, Scotland. Gatka also is performed as a stick-fighting dance by the Indian community of Trinidad.
Gatka was famously displayed during the celebrations of Hola Mohalla in Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Hounslow, West London; Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall was visibly shaken after the display of Gatka. It was also performed
Weapons
The correct use of melee weapons is central to Gatka, with techniques depending on the nature of the weapon. The single-edge sword is Gatka's main weapon and is often paired with a shield; the staff is also commonly used. Weapons used in Gatka include: Talwar: Curved sword Laathi: Stick of bamboo from one to three meters in length Flexible weapons: Whips and chains etc. Chhuri: Knife Bow and arrow: Either traditional Indian steel recurve bows or true composite bows made of wood, horn and sinew. Arrows used are usually with tanged steel points.
on the 2005, July 4 Independence Day parade on Constitution Avenue in Washington DC, United States.
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he Guru Nanak Darbar will be an architectural distinctive structure located on the 25,400 square feet plot in Jebel Ali, Dubai, along Sheikh Zayed Road connecting Dubai to U.A.E. capital Abu Dhabi. It is, at the same time, a functional complex, an avenue for community events and marriages. The Guru Nanak Darbar is a multi-storey facility, spread over 100,000 sq. ft. building area located at T- Junction of two large accessible roads. The building has two basements, a ground floor and a first floor, plus an intermediate terrace floor. Each basement is measured 25,000 square feet that can contain parking space for up to 100 cars. The 21,000 square feet ground floor houses the dining hall, kitchen, pantry, and store room. The reception desk and the Gurdwara office are also on the ground floor, complimented with wash room and shoe storage facilities. As one roams the complex, one will be heartened and in awe. There is a 54 meter Parikarma covered with traditional grill work. The water body flowing around the road frontage is inspired by the Sarovar of the Golden Temple. It casts a surreal reflection of the building facade with the cascade feature lending the sound of flowing water. There are two main entrances
Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Makhtoum

Gratitude We are grateful to His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Makhtoum UAE Vice-President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai for bestowing his benevolence in allowing the Sikh Community to establish the Guru Nanak Darbar, Sikh Temple in Dubai.
By Darshan Singh Abbott
Guru Nanak Darbar, Dubai is located at Jebel Ali Gardens, along the freeway that connects the city to Abu Dhabi
to the complex, one from each access road. Each having wash rooms and shoe storage facilities, that is also designed to cater the special needs of senior citizens. The grand staircase is designed to hold a huge traffic of people going up and down. It is flattered by tall windows radiating natural light from stained glass that perfectly magnifies space. The Prayer Hall has two doors and two Parshad (porridge) counters, in the lobby area. The 7.2 meter soaring ceiling is elegantly crowned by the astounding 18 meter diameter dome roof. The column free hall is surrounded in circular form by the classical arch windows. An aisle runs diagonally across the hall to the Palki Sahib (Palanquin). One will be left in pure reverence and feel grandeur in experiencing the ambience of the hall.
The function room that overlooks prayer hall is of great utility. It boasts to service 900 people, also having a stage best suitable for matrimonial ceremonies. The dining area asserts to accommodate 600 people and prepare 1800 rotisserie per hour and wash 1200 plates and glass per hour. We are waiting for the completion of the grand Guru Nanak Darbar in 2009. Other Arab countries could replicate Dubais gesture.
How to reach Guru Nanak Darbar, Dubai, UAE

Guru Nanak Darbar - Dubai is located at Jebel Ali Gardens, on a 24,400 square feet plot along Sheikh Zayed road connecting Dubai to U.A.E. capital Abu Dhabi.
Map of City of Dubai
Environment Protection in Sikhism
he Akal Takhat is the highest temporal and spiritual body of Sikhs. On Sunday July 26, 2009, Jathedar Gurbachan Singh, the Head of the Akal Takhat made a public statement saying that caring for the environment is a Sikh's, moral and religious duty. This is a welcome declaration of going green. Speaking to the community, which had gathered for the ongoing efforts at cleaning the polluted Kali Bein, a river which runs through Sultanpur, the Jathedar advised all Sikhs, "Wherever in the world you may be, your focus should now be on cleaning up of natural water resources rather than building Gurdwaras." This is a great order given by the head of any religious body for environment protections. It is extremely important; more so, when it is a binding order. Kali Bein is the rivulet of Beas which had been polluted by industrial waste and public refuse. A Sikh leader Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal undertook to clean the rivulet with the help of the people. He also created a green belt along the Bein River. He created awareness among the masses about the protection of environment. Taking a cue from these events, the President of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) ordered that the Gurdwaras should start distributing trees in place of Prashad and this was literally followed. This is a great change towards the protection of environment. Sikh religious and political leaders from India and abroad, met in New Delhi to underline the Sikh community's commitment to save the environment from threats posed by the climate change and global warming. The event was titled EcoSikh Conclave, which was organized at India Habitat Center in New Delhi on July 4, 2009.
Sikh leaders unveil 'Green' Plan, Community Response to Check Climate Change
EcoSikh, a five-year plan crafted by SCORE, envisages the dissemination of environment-related knowledge among the Sikh community in India and abroad to develop environmental activism. This Sikh summit on environment, organized by the USA-based Sikh Council on Religion and Education (SCORE), was attended by UN Assistant Secretary-General Olav Kjorven and Victoria Finlay of the UK-based Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), among others. Addressing the EcoSikh conclave, Olav Kjorven said Throughout history religions have helped people and civilizations interpret and understand events around them and to respond to new challenges in the light of their spiritual heritage and moral compass the leadership of religions is now required to meet challenge of climate change. He quoted from Guru Nanak's verse that likened the sky to a platter and the sun and moon to lamps:
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Dilmegh Singh; President of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) Paramjit Singh Sarna; Former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Kuldeep Singh; Tarlochan Singh, Member Parliament; and Vikramjit Singh Sawhney of World Punjabi Organization. They endorsed a five-year greening plan, which includes a long-term commitment to transform Gurdwaras and schools into ecologically sound buildings in terms of energy and the types of building material used, besides incorporating environmental education into Sikh education curricula. Justice Kuldeep Singh, known as 'Green Judge', in his opening remarks, said he was delighted that Sikh community was taking upon itself the noble service of forging environment-friendly practices. As Sikhs, we have a responsibility to revere the environment. A Sikh's life is incomplete if he does not revere Nature, he said. Environmental ethics have always been inherent parts of India's precepts and philosophy and the environment has always been given an honorable place, he added. But now we are only polluting it, Justice Singh concluded. Sikhs have thus been bound to the duty of environment protection.
Environment refers to what makes up the atmosphere or background against which someone or something is seen. Environment may refer either to actual physical surroundings or to social or cultural background factors.
By Dr Dalvinder Singh Grewal
Environment is termed as:

1. The circumstances or conditions that surround one's surroundings. 2. The totality of circumstances surrounding an organism or group of organisms, especially: a. The combination of external physical conditions that
(In the sky's salver, the sun and the moon are lamps and the stars with their orbs are the studded pearls.)
Gagan mah(i) thaal rav(i) chand deepak ban-ai, Tarika mandal janak moti. (13)
Those, who attended and presented their views were Union Cabinet Minister of India Dr. Manohar Singh Gill; Secretary,
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affect and influence the growth, development and survival of organisms: "We shall never understand the natural environment until we see it as a living organism" (Paul Brooks). b. The complex of social and cultural conditions affecting the nature of an individual or community. Earth, air, water, life and all activities connected with life come under the umbrella of environment.
be belonging to the One and the same; and hence to be considered as equal. The One Creator pervades all creation. In Asa-di-Vaar, the early morning spiritual ballad , the Guru states:
(Upon creating Himself, God created Naam, the divine Name, the first expression of His sacred presence. Secondly He created Kudrat or Nature, which is sustained and totally infused by Naam.)
Apeen-ei aap saajeo Apeen-ei racheo naou Duee kudrat saajee-ei Kar aasan dittho chaou. (463)
(Men, trees, pilgrimage places, banks of sacred streams, clouds, fields. Islands, spheres, universes, continents, solar systems, the sources of creation, egg-born, womb-born, earth-born, sweat-born, oceans, mountains and sentient being; He, the Lord, knows their condition, O Nanak. Having created beings, the lord takes care of them all. The Creator who created the world, He takes care of it as well.)
Andaj jairaj ut-bhujaan khaannee saitjaanh So mitt jaan-ei Nanaka saraan mairaan jantaah Nanak jant upaa-iy kei sammaalai sabhnaah. (467)
(The air originated from the True Lord; and from air originated the water and from the water originated the entire universe; and in each being Lord's light is enthused.)
Saach-ai t-ai pawnaa bha-e-a Pawn-ei t-ai jal ho-e Jal t-ai tribhavann saajea Ghat ghat jot(i) smo-e. (19)
So, the Creator observes creations and dwells within it. Both are interconnected. You will find this is something stressed especially by the Eastern faiths. One cannot help but live in gratitude and respect for the gifts of nature which are marks of God's grace:
The world, like all creation, is a manifestation of God. Every creature in this world, every plant, every form is a manifestation of the Creator. Each is part of God and God is within each element of creation. God is the cause of all and He is the primary connection between all existences:
(In the sky's salver, the sun and the moon are lamps and the stars with their orbs are the studded pearls. The fragrance of sandalwood makes Your (God's) incense; wind makes Your fan and all the vegetation Your flowers, O Luminous Lord! What a beautiful worship with lamps is being performed? This is Your present adoration: the remover of the fear! The celestial strain is the sounding of the temple drums. Thousands are Your eyes, yet You have no eyes; Thousands are Your forms, yet You have no form; Thousands are Your feet, yet You have no foot; Thousands are your noses, yet You have no nose. I am bewildered by Your play. Amongst all, there is light and all that light is Yours. By your light, the light shines within all the souls.)
Thus air, water, earth and life all originated from the true Lord, who resides in each in the form of light energy. When we harm any of these, we in turn, harm the true Lord. Therefore earth, air, water and life are all sacred for the Sikhs. Every Sikh child learns along with Japji, the sacred hymn of Guru Nanak, which starts with the word Ik Omkar meaning there is only One God, who is the creator, the Karta Purakh of all. Here it includes the entire universe; men, animals, plants, trees, the planets, the earths and the like. It also considers all to
(I am totally indebted to you, Oh Infinite Lord, who dwells within nature and whose limits cannot be told.)
Balehaaree kudrat vase-aa Tera antt na ja-ee lakhea. (469)
Last lines of Japji say:
(Air is our Guru, water our father and great earth is our mother: Day and night are the male and female nurses, in whose lap the whole world plays.)
Pavan Guru paani pitta maata dharat mahatt Divas raat du-e da-ee da-e-aa khel-ai sagal jagat. (8)
(The Creator created himself ... And created all creation in which He is manifest. You Yourself are the bumble-bee, flower, fruit and the tree. You Yourself are the water, desert, ocean and the pond. You Yourself are the big fish, tortoise and the Cause of causes. Your form cannot be known.)
Aap-ai pirh baadhee jag kh-ail-ei aap-ai keemat paa-ee hai Aap-ai bhavar ful fal tarvar Aap-ai jal thal saagar sarvar Aap-ai machh kachh karneekar tairaa roop na lakh-naa jaa-ee hai. (1020)
What a wonderful description of the Creator and His relationship with his Creation! The hymn describes the greatness of the nature of the true Lord which performs prayerworship to the God. He compares the sky to a platter in which Sun and Moon are the lighting pearls. The sunshine enlightens the entire atmosphere and the air moves to remove any unwanted pollution, the entire natural creation appears as spread out light. This is how the real prayer to God is done. Guru Nanak's deep love with nature creates his link to God and takes one to sublime heights. During his itineraries the world over; where ever he went he established himself under a tree in a nearby jungle and did not prefer to stay in any constructed house. Guru Har Rai, the seventh Sikh Guru developed Kiratpur Sahib as a town of parks and gardens. Located on the banks of tributary of the Sutlej, he planted flowers and fruit-bearing trees all over the area. This created a salubrious environment, attracting beautiful birds to the town and turning it into an idyllic place to live in. In Sikh beliefs, a concern for the environment is part of an integrated approach to life and nature. As all creation has the same origin and end, humans must have consciousness of their place in creation and their relationship with the rest of creation. Humans should conduct themselves through life with love, compassion and justice. Becoming one and being in harmony with God implies that humans endeavor to live in harmony with all of God's creation. It is in this context that the Head Priest of Akal Takhat and President SGPC have issued orders to all Sikhs to preserve nature and it is now binding on all Sikhs that they must protect the environment. Sikhs have thus been bound to the duty of environment protection.
In the world, the God created, he has also provided each species and humans with means of support and nurturing:
(Air, water, earth and sky the Lord has made these His home and temple.)
Paun paani dharti akaas Ghar mandar har baani. (723)
The importance of air, water and earth to life, are emphasized over and over again in Guru Granth Sahib. The earth is referred to as the mother and as such requires our respect. Great care needs to be taken to ensure that no damage occurs to it while the Sikh is going about his daily life. The pollution of these three elements is against the principles laid down by the Gurus. Having created this universe, God directs them. All actions take place within God's order (Hukam). God alone knows how and why. God, however, not only directs this vast and massive theater, but also watches over with care and kindness - the benign, supportive parent!
(The Lord infused His Light into the dust and created the world, the universe. The sky, the earth, the trees and the water - all are the Creation of the Lord.) (I humbly bow to the Lord, the Supreme Being. The One, the One and Only Creator Lord permeates the water, the land, the earth and the sky.)
Khaak noor kard-aN aalam duniae Asmaan jimi darkhaat ab paidaes khudaa-e. (723)
Narnarah namaskaraaN Jalan thalan basudh gagan ek ekaNkaraaN. (901)
Guru Nanak considered no difference between the created and the creature - Nature and God - and saw God in Nature itself. If he would have seen how today's world is polluting Nature, he really would have wondered at the change towards the negative. Rabindra Nath Tagore was so impressed by description of relationship of nature and God given in the hymn, Aarti that he described it as the best piece of poetry he has ever read:
Purkhaan birkhaan teerthaan tataan maighaan khaitaanh Deepaan lo-aan mandlaan khandaan varbhandaanh
Gagan m-ei thaal rav(i) channd deepak ban-ai Tareka mandal janak moti Dhoop malianlo pawan chavro kar-ai Sagal banaraai foolant joti Kaisi aarti hoe Bhav khandnaa teree aarti Anhata sabd vajant bhai-ree Sahas tav nein nann nein hah(i) toh(i) kau sahas moort(i) nanna ek tuhee Sahas padd bimal nann ek padd gandh bin(u) Sahas tav gandh iv chalat mohee Sabh mah(i) jot(i) jot(i) hai soe Tis dei chaanann(i) sabh mah(i) chaanann(u) hoe. (13)
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great general and an organizer of victories, a rare example of selfless service and sacrifice, a zealous custodian of the Sikh ideals and institutions and guardian of the Sikh holy places, Akali Phoola Singh occupies a unique place in the history of the Sikhs. He was born in the year 1761 at Shihan, a remote village in the present state of Haryana. Phoola Singh inherited his love and admiration for the Sikh values and Gursikh living from his father, Bhai Ishar Singh, who himself was a devout Sikh and well known in his area for his high moral and spiritual values. Along with many other Sikhs of the area, Bhai Ishar Singh also joined the heroic bands of the Sikhs, who challenged the Afghan invader, Ahmad Shah Abdali, during his sixth invasion of India in 1762. Ishar Singh was seriously wounded in the battlefield and later succumbed to injuries. But before his death, Ishar Singh managed to leave his young son to the affectionate care of Baba Narain Singh, popularly known as Akali Naina Singh. It was in the pious environs of the Dera of Baba Narain Singh that young Phoola Singh received his early instruction in Sikh scriptures and later his practical training in warfare. As a young lad, Phoola Singh showed signs of greatness and impressed his preceptor by his brilliance and his dedication to whatever was entrusted to him. After completing his early education and training in traditional warfare, young Phoola Singh began his career at Anandpur Sahib as a custodian of the Sikh shrines there along with other members of Baba Narain Singh's Jatha. During his stay at Anandpur, he was often sent in the Jathas to repel enemy attacks and thus he gained valuable experience in actual warfare. Because of his ability and complete dedication to his mission, Phoola Singh became very popular with his preceptor and his colleagues in the Jatha. After the death of Akali Narain Singh, young Phoola Singh was elected leader of his Jatha. At his elevation to the position of Jathedar, Phoola Singh paid attention to the holy places of the Sikhs and carried out a number of improvements in their administration and daily routine. In 1800, Phoola Singh and other members of his Jatha moved to Amritsar to eliminate unhealthy and un-Sikhlike practices that had slowly crept into the Sikh holy places there. With the help of his dedicated band of followers, Akali Phoola Singh was able to bring about some major improvements in the administration of the Golden Temple, the Akal Takhat and other important shrines in Amritsar. It was during his stay at Amritsar that Akali Phoola Singh first met Maharaja Ranjit Singh who had led an invasion against the Bhangi chief in possession of that city. Phoola Singh's love for his community did not allow him to helplessly watch this fratricidal war between the two Sikh chiefs. Accordingly, he intervened and with his influence and sagacity brought about a peaceful settlement between Ranjit Singh and the Bhangi chief. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was highly impressed by Akali Phoola Singh's love for his community and his deep involvement for the Sikh causes. Then onward, the Maharaja became a great admirer of this fearless Akali leader.
During his campaign again Qutubdin Khan, the Governor of Kasur, in 1807, Maharaja Ranjit Singh sought the assistance of Akali Phoola Singh and his Jatha. In the fierce battle that ensued, Qutubdin Khan was defeated but pardoned and was given a Jagir for his maintenance. During this campaign, Phoola Singh impressed the Maharaja with his rare qualities of a warrior and earned the reputation of an organizer of victories. On return from this campaign, Phoola Singh and his Jatha moved to Damdama Sahib in the winter of 1809, in order to carry out some improvements in the administration of the Sikh shrines there. While at Damdama Sahib, Akali Phoola Singh heard a rumor about an attack on Punjab by the British forces. In order to forestall the enemy move, Phoola Singh marched with his band of Akalis and attacked the British troops under Captain White, encamped at Fatoh-ke Village near Nabha. In his anxiety to save the Khalsa Raj, which he cherished most, Akali Phoola Singh seems to have quite ignored the political expediencies and was prepared to risk his life to defend the Sikh kingdom against the evil designs of the British rulers in India.
Akali Phoola Singh

The saint-soldier
By Dr. Mohinder Singh
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encouragement and help to Ranjit Singh in his major military campaigns. The fearless leadership of Akali Phoola Singh provided indispensable support to Maharaja Ranjit Singh during his military campaigns against the rulers of Multan, Bahawalpur and Sind. The important role played by Akali Phoola Singh during the Maharaja's campaign against Multan has been thus recorded in a near contemporary account: Ranjit Singh's whole army would have been repulsed from Multan had not Phoola Singh, a mad Akali, borrowed from Bacieline, the courage to lead a storming party against the breach. During Ranjit Singh's campaign against Peshawar in 1818, when his forces had suffered heavy losses and chances of victory were bleak, the fearless Akali Phoola Singh was sent by the Maharaja to save the situation. The timely arrival of Akali Phoola Singh on the battlefield turned this impending rout into a grand victory and the ruler of Peshawar surrendered before this great general of the Maharaja. In subsequent years, Phoola Singh and his contingent helped Maharaja Ranjit Singh in his conquest of the beautiful valley of Kashmir. Ranjit Singh was so much impressed with the rare qualities of Akali Phoola Singh
The growing popularity of Akali Phoola Singh along with his bold and fearless nature and frank criticism of the acts of omission and commission of the high officials at the Lahore Darbar, seem to have encouraged some vested interests to join against Phoola Singh. It led to poisoning the ears of Maharaja Ranjit Singh against this powerful Akali chief. Thus, when Phoola Singh went to Lahore to meet the Maharaja and to warn him against the intrigues of his courtiers, who were trying to create a rift between him and his son and heir-apparent, Prince Kharak Singh, these selfish officials of the Maharaja managed to delay Akali Phoola Singh seeking an audience with the Maharaja. After a long wait, Phoola Singh took the initiative of walking into the Maharaja's palace without waiting for a formal appointment. During his meeting with the Maharaja, Phoola Singh boldly pointed out the danger involved in Maharaja's policy of entrusting responsible positions to persons with doubtful credentials and warned him against the intrigues of his selfish nobles, who were trying to create a rift between the father and son for selfish gains. When asked to partake of food with the Maharaja, the fearless Akali refused to accept anything at his hands till the Maharaja made the necessary amends. After this incident, Akali Phoola Singh marched to Anandpur Sahib along with other members of the Jatha. The Maharaja, who was fully convinced of the Akali leader's genuine love for the Sikh kingdom and his uncompromising nature, brought Akali Phoola Singh back to Amritsar through the good offices of a revered Sikh sage, Baba Sahib Singh Bedi. As a token of his gratitude and love for the Akali leader, the Maharaja offered elephants, horses and other materials for use by the members of Phoola Singh's Jatha. The Maharaja also got regular barracks made at Amtisar for lodging his Jatha, which later developed as headquarters of the Nihang Singhs and came to be known as the Akalian-di-Chhauni or the Akali cantonment. Good relations being restored between the Maharaja and Akali Phoola Singh, this great general became a source of immense
that after the victory of Kashmir, he requested him to stay in his constant company at the Lahore Darbar. But given, as he was, to an independent life, away from the grandeurs of the royalty, he refused this invitation and returned to his camp at Amritsar to devote himself to the service of Sikh holy places there. In 1823, Akali Phoola Singh was called upon to join the Maharaja in his campaigns against the frontier tribes. It was during these campaigns that Akali Phoola Singh demonstrated, not only his proverbial bravery and loyalty to the Khalsa Raj but also his adherence to the Sikh prayer. He died fighting, rather than retreat and thus go back from the promise made in the solemn presence of the Guru Granth Sahib. In the battle of Naushehra, Akali Phoola Singh marched after saying his prayer and in spite of repeated efforts of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and other high officials refused to halt till reinforcements had arrived. In the fierce battle even after having been pierced with bullets all over his body, he continued the fight and breathed his last only after ensuring victory for the Khalsa.
Akali Phoola Singh was cremated at Pirsabak, four miles east of Naushehra, with full military honors, with Maharaja Ranjit Singh and other high officials attending the funeral. To
perpetuate the memory of this grand old man, the Maharaja got a Samadhi made at the place of his cremation and attached a big Jagir for its maintenance. Another memorial, known as Burj Akali Phoola Singh, was later erected in the sacred city of Amritsar, where Akali Phoola Singh had spent most his time when free from military campaigns. While the Samadhi of Phoola Singh has been left in Pakistan after the partition of the country, the Burj at Amritsar has developed into a sort of headquarters for the Nihangs for whom Phoola Singh remains their beau ideal. Because of Akali Phoola Singh's significant contribution in almost all the important military campaigns of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and in view of his role in ensuring victories therein, Phoola Singh was honored with the befitting title of the builder and defender of the Khalsa Raj. A rare example of selfless sacrifice, a fearless fighter and organizer of victories, a genuine lover and builder and defender of the Khalsa Raj; a devout Sikh and zealous guardian of the Sikh morals, Phoola Singh occupies a unique place in history of the Sikhs.
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Book review
By Prof. Lakhmir Singh
lot has been written about the Sikh massacre of November, 1984, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Many books and monographs by writers, journalists and human rights activist have appeared about the catastrophe but still the magnitude of those tragic happenings have not been told in its totality. It is, therefore, not surprising that books and articles about the black November of '84 still continue to appear. Reema Anand's Scorched White Lilies of '84, however, is not just another book picturing the anti-Sikh carnage of 1984, when 4000 Sikhs were massacred in cold blood in the national capital of Delhi alone and manifold rendered homeless. It aims at not just giving a picture of those first three days of November '84, when marauding mobs of lumpens lunatically shouting revenge, rampaged throughout Delhi and plundered Sikh homes, shops and establishment at will; desecrated their places of worship, killed, butchered and burnt alive thousands of innocents, who had not even the remotest relation with the assassins of the Prime Minister except that they just happened to belong to the same faith. This book is more concerned with the trying circumstances in which the surviving victims of the massacre have lived during the last 25 years and who are yet to recover from that trauma. The scorched white lilies of this book are the women, who lost their fathers, husbands or brothers in the '84 riots and are still struggling to find their moorings in an otherwise insensitive society. As of now, they live in dirty and drab one-room tenements in an ever expanding slum called Tilak Vihar, which the Government established to herd a thousand uprooted families from various parts of Delhi. Reema rightly chooses 20 of these unfortunate women as her adopted girls, for, it is after all a woman who pays a colossal price in such tragic happenings as the one witnessed in 1984. Of the women who become a part of his self-help NGO Hope, Mataji, the eldest of them all, lost no less than seven male members in that carnage; Gurdeep saw her husband and sons murdered in front of her own eyes and was gang-raped; Maina had survived with five siblings to support and Puppy lost her father. Rest of them had also gone through similar harrowing experiences Kalu, Harvinder, Baby, Lali, Seema to name a few. None had known what
adopted girls, they tell her all that happened to them on those three fateful days of November. But the years that followed the carnage were equally harrowing. Now with their children growing up, they see only a dark sinister future staring at them as their offsprings never got the benefit of quality education. Reema's efforts for the well-beings of these scorched lilies are obstructed by those, who have thrived on the tragedy of these unfortunates and do not want them out of their stranglehold. But at the same time, there was some positive help from certain wellmeanings groups and individuals. That is how Scorched White Lilies of '84 brings to fore the enormity of tragedy.
Scorched White Lilies of '84 raises many questions with a telling effect. Who gives license to a uniformed Seva Ram to act so blatantly against a particular community? Why do those men, who are supposed to maintain law and order allow mobsters a free run? Who gives a right to political leaders to mobilize lumpens? Why are these uniformed men and political big wigs, who are in collusion with the goons not punished? The judiciary wants circumstantial evidence to proceed. But will not fear of reprisals prevent an ordinary citizen to give evidence against a Seva Ram or a Bhagat? This book raises such questions about the system itself with great insistence.
childhood was or what playfulness and vibrancy of youth was like. Their lives have long relentless struggle for a bare survival. Reema first engages these women in Papar-making, a venture that does not meet success. Then she involves them in Masalamaking, helping them to sell these at congregation, Gurdwaras and other places. They are also engaged in hand-made Sevians. Actually what she aimed at was to make them self-dependent and independent; develop the ethics of work culture in them and shed their dirty behavior and uncouth language. Reema's effort about the change in the lives of these women meet only partial success in the beginning as they are intransigent to any change in their lives and refuse to be persuaded to get out of their self-created grooves. But once, she succeeds in relating to her
Reema Anand, a Sikh herself, displays a rare moral courage to look at the carnage '84 objectively. The book raises questions about the Sikh leadership too. What exactly have they done to rehabilitate the unfortunate widows and orphans of the November '84 carnage? Did the victims get all the compensation meant for them? What did the leaders do to heal their emotional wounds and infuse positive feelings in them? Couldn't they do something to change their mindset to help them overcome their parasitical dependence on aids and donations? A Sikh never begs. But didn't we make them virtual parasites? If Reema with her non-descript NGO called Hope could instill a sense of dignity and work culture in 20-odd women, why couldn't we as a community reach out to each and every victim?
Scorched White Lilies of '84 is an outstanding book that deals with the excruciating experiences of the victims of November '84 anti-Sikh carnage; their anguish and agony; and their continuing tragedy in a simple and forceful manner. The books of this nature generally tend to be rhetorical or pontifical, but rhetoric and melodrama are conspicuous by their total absence in Scorched White Lilies of '84. This is an immensely readable book with simplicity and intensity of style being its main aspects. Scorched White Lilies of '84 is a book that grips our mind, disturbs us and sets us thinking raising a question that Hamlet in Shakespeare's Hamlet asked, What is this man? Why does he act like an angel? Why does he act like a beast?
The tragic tale of the massacre of nearly 5,000 Sikhs following the assassination of Mrs Gandhi on 31 october 1984 has not yet ended. We shall have no clear account of what happened to the survivors of the holocaust. Thousands of families lost all they owned along with their breadwinners. Many more thousands were scarred for life. Wounds inflicted have yet to be healed. Reema Anand has carried the tale to its conclusion by telling us how the victims are coping with life, what is being done for them and how much remains undone. Highly informative and readable. - Kushwant Singh
The determination of Reema Anand can be gauged from the fact that towards the end of the book, she dreams that the haunted area Tilak Vihar is wiped out from the map of Delhi. - Editor
Schorched White Lilies of '84 by Reema Anand
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y fingers were trembling as I dialed his number. I had promised him that I would call once I returned to the USA. It would be perfect timing; he would be out of the center by then. An entire month had passed following my return before I had gathered the courage to call Mahinder. Of all the people at the center I had met, I had connected with him the most, perhaps because he was a repeat or perhaps because I had successfully negotiated a huge redemption from him. He had promised me that to every extent possible, he would undo his wrong doings. We spent good 3 hours talkingand not a day has passed by since then that I don't think of Mahinder and his promise. Today my expectations are flying high as I hold the phone, hoping to hear his voice - healthy, fighting the drug war, redeeming the hundreds of others in his district to which he introduced Smack - or heroin, that white angel of death. The odds were against hope that Mahinder had managed to succeed in keeping his promise; maybe that is why I had delayed making the phone call until this morning. During my trip to Punjab this past summer, Dr. Balwant Singh Sekhon arranged for my teenage son, Angad Singh and me, to visit the Akal De-addiction Center at Cheema Sahib in district Sangrur. Biba Ji he told me, You should visit and write about the drug issue in Punjab. Much has already been written about it, I thought, what new information or perspective could I have to offer? As I traveled on the road from Muktsar to Cheema, I did not realize what was going to come out of this visit was not a story or a report but rather new bonds and connections of hearts. After our visit, as we returned to Muktsar, all Angad and I could talk about was our drowning brothers. We felt powerless to change a thing in the lives of our brothers but the visit had surely changed us. We prayed that they saw and understood the message in our sad parting eyes, Please be well our brothers; our nation needs you.
intimidated us, the sight and sounds of a recovering addict reciting from Guru Granth Sahib in an adjacent room calmed our fears and brought us to ease. This experience marked my first encounter with drug addicts, some of whom were criminals in addition to their addiction. I had no idea about what I was going to write or whether any of them would even agree to speak with us. In Angad Singh, I had the perfect helper. He quickly mingled, making the patients laugh with his awkward ways and accented Punjabi. In no time they were friendly and ready to share their stories. It was evident in their eyes that they begged only for acknowledgment in return and appreciation of the fact that they had taken steps toward bettering their lives bold steps indeed. The hope I saw in their eyes was so calming yet painful. I was told that even though this center has a high success rate, close to a quarter of them would relapse and when they did, it would be far worse than before. A lot of the men were on a quick road to death as the 42 day program at the center came to an end. The very qualified Dr. Sanjeev Kumar the Medical Officer in-charge of the Center first told us about the center and its activities followed by an in-depth expose on the drug issue in Punjab, including demographics, causes, cures, social and anatomical effects and more. We were not only very impressed with his knowledge, but the purity of his intentions to help this worthwhile cause clearly demonstrated his dedication. When asked what promotes such an incredible success rate for the program, he summed it up simply yet powerfully by answering Spirituality, of course. In addition to the Government mandated protocol, the center heavily supplements by daily diet and exercise with an Ayurvedic regimen designed to restore organ damage such as that of the kidneys, liver and lungs which tends to be common among substance abusers. There is individual, group and family
... amidst the drug wars
Redemption
By Gurmeet Kaur
Bustling with devotional energy centered around the

Gurdwara Janam Asthan (birth place) of Sant Attar Singh of
Mastuana, Cheema is also a home to one of the oldest Akal Academies that is fighting the drug war at the grass roots level by instilling value based education and responsibility in the local youth. It is mind-blowing to see the 'Desi Sharab Thekas' (Government licensed country alcohol shops) share the same street as the Gurdwara and the Academies not too far away from each other A silent war that the two institutions have declared against each other; with the Akal De-addiction Center, as the DMZ (the Demilitarized Zone), where the two make peace with each other. Complete with iron bars, armed security guards and supervisory staff, the center gave us a nervous thrill; we had no idea what to expect when we entered. Whereas the vacant staring eyes of some of the inmates from within locked cells
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This whole year has been very peaceful. No police cases, no family quarrels, more money for the necessities, he reports. Yet, Baldev is not a worry-free man. His son is 16 years old and during the time Baldev was in and out of prisons and centers, his son dropped out of school. Baldev constantly worries about the dark shadows that surround both him and his son, waiting to pounce on them at a weak moment. The land, Baldev worked, was contracted out by his brothers for the period in which he was away and although there is income to get by, there is no real purpose in life for him other than acting as a watch dog protecting his son. That's why I call my situation a success story on the edge. Getting hooked on drugs is a sure death warrant, he told me. If you do drugs they will eventually kill you; and until you quit for good, you experience death over and over. I have hope that Baldev will be okay but I wasn't so sure about Sarab from Delhi who was a successful business man until he found himself in a repeat of a drunken violent rage, beating his wife and children and getting into trouble with law. The guilt on his face was clear and pleading. All I want to do is get better and get my family back. Do you know my son is about your son's age and I almost killed him, he narrated with tears in his eyes. Whereas poppy husk (Bhukki), tobacco (Tambaku), opium (Afeem) and smack (Charas) engulf Punjabi villages especially those of the working farmers, the very legal weapon of mass destruction, Alcohol, is silently drowning the lives of the elites as well. Alcohol consumption is a very acceptable thing in the Punjabi Circles and as the business man Sarab is, what are the chances he will not relapse? How long can he stay away from alcohol, I wondered. Close to half the addicts in the center are abusers of two perfectly legal substances alcohol and tobacco. When Mahinder said that tobacco was the first thing he got hooked to; I posed an irresponsible question: Since when did it become acceptable for Sikhs to chew tobacco? Ever since it became acceptable for them to gulp alcohol! my teenage assistant interrupted. If alcohol and tobacco are easily available at every corner in Punjab, smack and opium are not far away and nearly as easy to obtain. Much shockingly, Mahinder's latest smack supplier is an elderly woman from his village and with the assistance of Mahinder's family I was able to speak with her. She reiterated the question when reminded of the ethical values. When everybody from the ministers in India to the local contractor draw their salaries off the Thekas (alcohol shops) why can't I provide for my family off a few Puris (bits) of Charas? she countered me. What's the difference Bibi? They both kill.
I had no answer for her. There are other legal options for the more sophisticated. A trend among young college-bound boys and girls finds the use of synthetic derivatives of opium which are much cheaper, easily available at both chemist shops and drug peddlers. Morphine is also readily available without prescription. Lomotil (Di-phenoxlylate) has the same effect as opium and is legally available everywhere. It takes only seven days to get addicted. Just as with opium and heroin, side-effects including headaches, palpitations, restlessness, loss of appetite, mood swings, aggressiveness, and diarrhea will become increasingly severe until more of the drug is consumed.
Akal De-addiction Center sees all kinds of addictions in all ages and education levels. Since it serves mostly rural population, the Center's patients comprise mostly males. In the month of June, during our visit, the Center admitted 39 men of all ages. The popularity of the Center with its affordable cost and high success rate approaching 80% has driven growth (primarily through word of mouth) beyond its intended capacity. However, since there are minimal rehabilitation services at the Center, many patients succumb back to their old debilitating lifestyle as they return to the same environment and influences that reclaim them faster than any follow up volunteer from the center is able to.
you'd callHe spoke about you and the promise he made. He was so excited when he got back from the Center. The Center did a really good job. His health improved much, his complexion...like it used to be I was relieved to hear all and now I wanted to hear his voice even more. But her voice seemed like she wanted to cling to me and never let go of the call so I just listened as I tried to picture her on the other end; a beautiful young woman, educated and intelligent. I recalled how Mahinder had a spark in his eyes when he spoke about his beloved and how they were madly in love with each other and got married without the families' consent.
counseling service supervised by specialized psychologists. The real edge is provided by Catharsis that takes place through meditation and reflection. We have a full Gurbani based regimen that inspires the inmates towards introspection and committed action, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar explained. Baldev Singh, aged 45, from Cheema, who now volunteers at the local Gurdwara testifies to the fact. He comes down very often to motivate other patients; it was a joy to meet with the man responsible for many success stories. Ever since he has been drug-free, the opportunity to contribute his time at the Gurdwara and to counsel other patients at the Akal De-addiction Center has created a sense of sanctuary for Baldev. Success on the Edge is what he calls his case. A Punjabi farmer from generations before him, Baldev became addicted in his early 20's. The person who introduced him to opium was none other than his grandfather. It is common for farmers and labors in the region to use any of the easily available drugs (poppy husk, opium, even a tobacco and alcohol combination) for increased performance in the fields. At first it wasn't bad he told me; he got married and had a child. But as it started getting worse, life became a living hell. He became unable to farm. He would steal family money and his married life soon became marred in daily quarrels. He started taking refuge in alcohol at nights. The need for opium to rid of alcohol hangovers intensified and one day he found himself lifeless and sick to near death. It was then that he was brought to the center some three years ago. He rebelled by running away within the first 20 days. It was no surprise that he relapsed. His second admission was voluntary in May of 2008, at the invitation of a recovered alcoholic; this time it seems to have worked.
Dr. Sanjeev attributes the reason for drug prevalence in Punjab to many factors such as peer pressure, pleasure seeking attitude, elevated workloads, inability to deal with social issues, but he does not deny that political reasons such as high unemployment rate and post-1984 blues have played a big role. Ultimately it all comes down to money, he says, Alcohol and the drug business are the easiest ways to get rich. The profits are very attractive and the risks in peddling are few. One Puri (bit) of smack can be purchased for Rs. 20 in Delhi. It is so easily accessible that the villagers make routine trips to get them. They then resell the Puris for Rs.100 each. Payments as little as ten thousand a year in bribes to officials ensure the traffickers can go about their business uninterrupted. This desire to get rich quick got young Mahinder into drug dealing, but before long the money fizzled out in Police cases and treatment centers. I wondered how his wife and children were handling it all. So here I was at my home in the USA making the call I promised him I would. My heart was beating fast in anticipation. After a couple of rings, the phone was answered with a burst of enthusiasm at his home in Mansa. I introduced myself to his mother, who then handed off to Preeti, Mahinder's wife. She started as if she had always known me and was waiting for the call. I too felt surprisingly close to her. She said, He said
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whole family had suspended their lives in a hope to get him back, to will him back - the one who had slipped yet again to ever deeper depths and they hoped a stranger far away has some kind of power. You cannot rest until you help all those people you caused to become addicted to Smack, I had said when we were saying our good byes at the Center, and he had agreed. Perhaps the redemption I had negotiated with him was too heavy for him to bear. Perhaps, he was only serving his destiny I did not have the strength to call the other two numbers.
The names of the patients have been changed to protect their privacy.
A handsome national level soccer player pursuing college in Physical Education, Mahinder couldn't wait to return to her in Punjab and marry her as he finished his degree at University in Nagpur. Sadly, by the time he was ending college, he was already hooked on tobacco; Smack was not far behind, introduced to him by his 'friends'. He was in the early stages then and she suspected as much, even before they married. But she was in love. Shortly after their marriage, he and a friend introduced hundreds, if not thousands, in the Mansa district to Smack. Mahinder made a lot of money. He wanted to give her the best. He said he wanted to help other addicts. He came back with a mission but then one evening his friend called him. That's all it took! Sister, maybe you can bring him back! Please, call him! He is in a center in Mullanpur at such an such number. He'll listen to youyou never knowwhat will bring him back Please! she pleaded persistently. The trembling in my fingers spread to the rest of the body. My throat parched and it seemed to take all my strength to hold the phone to my ear. Her voice told me she was still in love with him, so desperate to have him back. Taking care of his parents, their children and dealing with his addiction, treatments and remissions, she embodies a typical Punjabi woman's life; her only dream and aspiration is to get her husband back from this death trap. We have not left any center in Punjab - Mohali, Chandigarh, Bathinda, Patiala, Cheema he has been everywhere This time it was extremely severe because he did 20 bits of smacks all at once. He fell unconscious, turned white and his eyes rolled over. I thought I had lost him.but he is alive and I am not giving up. Please tell him that his family needs himWill you? she begged. I could hear her children of seven and four years screaming in the background, hoping it was their father on the phone and wanting to talk to him. She eventually fell silent, not sure if I was still on the other end. The quite moments felt heavy as if the
Akal Charitable De-addiction Center is a non-profit center run by The Kalgidhar Trust/Society (www.barusahib.org). Any substance abuser with a positive identification is eligible for treatment. The Center can be reached by calling (91)-1676-284272.
hope
I walk down this endless road Lost on a path I thought I had always known I find myself in a city of lost souls No companion, no one there giving me hope. Hope sounds like a dream that once used to be Now fading away into the empty streets Traffic of my mind is my life's beat Seeing all this junk, life seems obsolete. To the Heavens above I yell and scream Save me, save me as I continue to dream Hoping Heaven's arms will come grab me in my sleep Oh Lord, save me from this life of hell, I plea. I gain consciousness; I feel a deep pang within Feel my body and soul shaking and trembling Like I've lost something that was in my hand's grasp and given What is taking so long, oh so long, beloved Heaven? I wander around this city; I catch a glimpse There, afar: shining, gleaming, brightly in the distance Alas, I've become weary, yet something pulls me yonder Maybe hope rekindling, even if for an instant my mind ponders.
By Izzy
Yet again, doubts slowly enter my mind Am I doing the right thing by trying? I have done this many a times before Getting nothing but broken hopes and dreams. The path is tough, I am fatigued But something tells me to keep going And so I trek, and trek deep Slowly, slowly hope's rekindling. The road is hilly; I see: Ups and downs, Bends and cracks Thorn beds and poisonous mushrooms Everything there to make me turn back. But this Light in the distance is too intense Brain says there's no logic in this, it makes no sense Somehow this Light is making everything inside me bend Bending my hopes in such a way that I cannot comprehend. My hope now, has become too strong Mind now says, in dying trying, there's nothing wrong Even if Heaven doesn't accept me with open arms At least I wasn't trapped in Hell's palms.
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human reaction in this age of rage, when all around us, newspaper articles, TV serials and films are full of victims burning with the Badle ki aag! But brace yourself for a surprise: Some experts have found out that the best way to feel better Is not through revenge, but the opposite of that - forgiveness. It turns out that one of the most ancient Injunctions - forgive your enemy - offers tremendous psychological and even physical benefits. In fact, saying the words 'I forgive you' could be the most powerful thing you'll ever do. Of course, to most of us, forgiving is synonymous with giving in. But it isn't - forgiving is all about letting go. When you forgive, you no longer go through life emotionally handcuffed to the person who hurt you, explains author Robin Casarjian, who managed to forgive the man who raped her. Only when you forgive do you realize that you have better things to do than perpetuate your own victimization. According to one victim of child molestation, Forgiveness extricates you from someone else's nightmare and allows you to live in a state of grace. But if forgiveness has so much going for it, why do so many of us insist on lugging around blame and resentment? One reason may be because we equate forgiveness with weakness or capitulation. According to Jacqui Bishop, co-author, with Mary Grunte of 'How to Forgive When You Don't Know How', People think that forgiving means saying that they were wrong and someone else was right, letting him go scot-free or condoning what he did. Another more important reason for not forgiving is that it helps you compensate for the helplessness you felt when you were hurt. This phenomenon is explained by psychologist Sidney Simon, co-author, with his wife, Suzanne, of 'Forgiveness: How to Make Peace with Your Past and Get On With Your Life', While keeping the people who 'hurt you locked in the prison of your mind, you feel omnipotent, since no one can force you to stop holding a grudge. Grunte agrees, People may feel more powerful when they're filled with anger. But forgiving instills a much greater sense of power. A rabbi who lost his wife, child and parents in the holocaust told us he forgave, because he chose not to bring Hitler with him to America. When you forgive, you reclaim your power to choose. It doesn't matter whether someone deserves forgiveness; you deserve to be free. Grunte continues, Forgiveness isn't about letting the other person off the hook. It's about pulling the knife Out of your own gut.
Thus can forgiveness free you, whether you're the ex-wife who remains bitter about her former spouse's walking out on her, or the worker passed over for promotion, or the aunt not invited to a wedding. The ultimate irony is that, while your whole life is colored with ideas of revenge and bitterness, in many cases, the other person is blissfully unaware of your misery and doesn't feel a thing. And that's why forgiving is good for the body as well as the soul. Reliving past hurts over and over again is bad for your health, says an expert. Simply remembering an incident that made a person angry has proven to be stressful for the heart. It's also a proven fact that negative feelings are always linked to high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and increased susceptibility to other illnesses. While terrible hurts can take only minutes to inflict, forgiving them often requires more time, because it's a journey through various stages. At first, you experience anger, sadness, shame or other negative feelings, says a psychiatrist. Then, you begin to reevaluate what happened, to reframe it and try to make sense of it. You learn to see the person who hurt you through new eyes, adds Maureen Burns, an incest survivor and author of 'Forgiveness: A Gift You Give Yourself'. Before, you saw her as the bad person who hurt you. Later, you see her in greater perspective as somebody who was flawed, weak, sick, needy or ignorant. Unfortunately, some people may never reach the final stages of forgiveness. This is especially true of children molested or sexually abused by people they loved and trusted. Yet, for Individuals who have been brutalized in body or spirit, even partial forgiveness can be beneficial. Accept imperfect forgiving. We don't do anything else perfectly; probably we won't forgive perfectly either, adds an expert. Sometimes, in cases of incest, assault and other criminal acts, the victims may avoid forgiving the perpetrator because they feel a confrontation isn't safe. But what the victims don't seem to realize is that they needn't face that person at all. Forgiveness can occur without anyone else's involvement or awareness. The people you forgive may never realize how much they've wronged you or never know that you've forgiven them, says a rape survivor. The perpetrator may be dead or he may be alive and still deny everything. What's important is that you let go of your anger and open your heart to understanding. What we must work towards is healing ourselves rather than focusing on forgiving the other person. Forgiveness is the reward that comes from the process of healing.
Can you really forgive & forget?

By Shanta Sharma
Though to most of us forgiving is synonymous with giving in, forgiving according to experts, is all about letting go of grudges and freeing yourself.
ll of us have been hurt, betrayed or humiliated. More often than not by someone whom we trust and are close to - maybe a parent, a sibling, a spouse or a dear friend. And when that happens, when someone we love and trust hurts us, It rankles, It festers like gangrene and swells into a grudge. And this grudge sits there, deep within our hearts, growing and growing like a benign tumor, for years together.
We want to feel better. We want to feel vindicated. So we catch hold of whoever has hurt us, and say the worst possible things we can think of to them. Or brood over the things we wish we'd said, and will say - one day. In some extreme cases, we want to extract our pound of flesh - we want revenge. This anger, this unquenchable desire for revenge, is a perfectly
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ssam is a North-Eastern state of India with its capital at Guwahati. Located South of the Eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys and the Karbi Anglong and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles (78,438 km). Assam is surrounded by the other six of the Seven Sister States: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya. These states are connected to the rest of India via a narrow strip in West Bengal called the Siliguri Corridor or "Chicken's Neck".[2] Assam also shares international borders with Bhutan and Bangladesh; and cultures, peoples and climate with South-East Asia - important elements in India's Look East policy. Assam became a part of India after the British occupied the region following the Treaty of Yandaboo of 1826. It is known for
Assam tea, large and old petroleum resources, Assam silk, for its rich bio-diversity and Kaziranga and Manas are both World Heritage Sites.[3]. A land of high rainfall, Assam is endowed with lush greenery and the mighty river Brahmaputra, whose tributaries and oxbow lakes provide the region with a unique hydro-geomorphic and aesthetic environment. Two later dynasties, the Ahoms and the Koch left larger impacts. The Ahoms, a Tai group, ruled Assam for nearly 600 years (12281826) and the Koch, a Tibeto-Burmese, established sovereignty in 1510. The Koch kingdom in Western Assam and present North Bengal was at its zenith in the early reign of Naranarayana (1540-1587). It split into two in 1581, the Western part as a Moghul vassal and the Eastern as an Ahom satellite state. Since 13th Century, the nerve center of Ahom
polity was upper Assam; the kingdom was gradually extended till Karatoya river in the 17th and 18th Centuries. It was at its zenith during the reign of Sukhrungpha or Sworgodeu Rudra Simha (1696-1714). Among other dynasties, the Chutiyas ruled the North-Eastern Assam and parts of present Arunachal Pradesh and the Kacharis ruled from river Dikhow to Central and Southern Assam. With expansion of Ahom kingdom, by 1520, the Chutiya areas were annexed and since 1536, Kacharis remained only in Cachar and North Cachar more as an Ahom ally than a competing force. Despite numerous invasions, mostly by the Muslim rulers, no Western power ruled Assam until the arrival of the British. The most successful invader Mir Jumla, a governor of Aurangzeb, briefly occupied Garhgaon (1662-63), the then capital, but found it difficult to control people making guerrilla attacks on his forces, forcing them to leave.
The decisive victory of the Assamese led by the great General Lachit Borphukan on the Mughals, then under command of Raja Ram Singha at Saraighat (1671) had almost ended Mughal ambitions. Mughals were finally expelled in 1682 from lower Assam. Ancient Assam known as Kamarupa was ruled by powerful dynasties: the Varmanas (350-650), the Salstambhas (Xalostombho, 655-900) and the Kamarupa-Palas (900-1100). In the reign of the Varman king, Bhaskaravarman (600650), the Chinese traveler Xuan Zang visited the region and recorded his travels. Later, after weakening and disintegration (after the Kamarupa-Palas), the Kamarupa tradition was somewhat extended till 1255 by the Lunar I (1120-1185) and Lunar II (1155-1255) dynasties.[16]
The connection of Assam with Sikhs dates back to Guru Nanak's visit to Assam. Kamroop, the interior district of Assam and Noor Shah, the famous witch have been mentioned in Janamsakhis; the Sikh historical chronicles.
Sikhs
Assamese
By Dr. Dalvinder Singh Grewal
Cultural reminiscences of its past are ancient monuments which include a ferocious lion excavated in Madan Kamdev close to Baihata Cariali in Assam representing the powerful KamarupaPalas (9th and 10th Centuries) and Rang Ghar, a pavilion built by Pramatta Singha (also Sunenpha; 17441751) in Ahom capital Rongpur, now Sibsagar; the Rang Ghar is one of the earliest pavilions of outdoor stadia in South Asia.
The fourth important connection is the army of 500 Sikhs, sent by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to help the Ahom King. They settled in Assam and married locals and raised families. These families are now known as the Assamese Sikhs. According to a tradition of these Assamese Sikhs, their fore-fathers came from Punjab on an invitation from the Ahom King to defend Assamese liberty against the Burmese. King Viswanarayan Singh (Chandra Kanta Singha) of the Ahom tribe then deposed ruler of Assam, sought Maharaja Ranjit Singh's help to defeat the Burmese army. It was around that time when 500 soldiers were sent under the leadership of General Chetan Singh (local known and revered as General Chaitanya Singh). The Ahom ruler, Chandra Kanta Singha, built up defenses at Hadirachaki, with armies under the command of the Sikh General Chetan Singh, the Ahom General Charu, the Muslim General Mirdaulla and the Assamese General Krishna Ram. They crossed the Brahmaputra and Kalang rivers and reached Chaparmukh. General Chetan Singh, along with his army, fought gallantly against the Burmese in a pitched engagement at Hadirachaki and laid down his life in the battle of Hadirachaki (1820-1822) for the cause of Assam. According to local tradition, Chaitanya Singh, on the eve of the battle, said to the Ahom King, "Maharaj, I shall lay down my life along with my army for upholding your cause." True to his words, Chaitanya kept his promise. Assam remembers him with gratitude and honor even to this day. This poignant saga has been mentioned in the monumental novel 'Monomati' written by Rajani Kanta Bordoloi, a leading novelist of repute. These Assamese Sikhs began to settle permanently only after the battle of Hadirachaki. After defeating the Burmese, those who survived did not return to the Punjab, got settled there and have now been in Assam for more than two hundred years. They married Assamese women and regard themselves distinctly as Assamese Sikhs and do not generally belong to the Punjabi Sikh community of Assam, many of whom are landowners or skilled labors. The two Punjabi Sikh
rituals, relative to the Punjabi Sikhs. Their features have become Mangoloid due to cross marriages and their beard is sparse. They however wear turbans, though not exactly the same way as do the Sikh in Punjab.
Sikhs in Assam
The connection of Assam with Sikhs dates back to Guru Nanak's visit to Assam. Kamroop, the interior district of Assam and Noor Shah, the famous witch have been mentioned in Janamsakhis; the Sikh historical chronicles. During Guru Nanak's visit to the state, Noor Shah the witch enticed Mardana and converted him into a lamb. Guru Nanak explained her the importance of real spell in God's name recitation and the real deed to serve humanity. She and her companions became followers of Guru Nanak. The new states of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram were formed in the 1960-70s. From Shillong, the capital of Assam was shifted to Dispur, now a part of Guwahati. After the IndoChina war in 1962, Arunachal Pradesh was also separated out. All these states were part of Assam during Guru Nanak's visit, when he is stated to have visited, Lumpung, Tawang, Menchukha, Tato, Walong, Lohit Lake, Tinshukhia, Dibrugarh, Golaghat and Guwahati. Gurdwaras at Golaghat and Menchukha remind us of his visit to Assam. With his religion, being a proselytizing one, it was but natural that he had footed through the dense forest tracts of Assam and met various tribes in the course of his journey. Guru Nanak must have diffused his message - the message of love and unity and gospel of universal tolerance - amongst the populace. After Guru Nanak, the ninth Guru, Tegh Bahadur, was the next to come to Assam. He came along with the Mughal forces, commanded by General Raja Ram Singh in 1670, sent by Emperor Aurangzeb to launch a full scale invasion of Assam to avenge an earlier defeat at the hands of Assamese. Guru Tegh Bahadur visited along with Raja Ram Singh's forces at later's request as General Ram Singh may have believed that the presence of a Guru in the Mughal ranks might serve as a moral booster to them in their fight against the Assamese. Guru Tegh Bahadur and Ram Singh reached Rangamati and then came to Dhubri. Guru Tegh Bahadur helped Raja Ram Singh, the Mughal General who had attacked Assam and the Ahom Ruler to arrive at an amicable settlement. As a mark of respect to the Guru, the two forces joined together and raised a platform at Dhubri, where the first Gurdwara was established by the Mughal soldiers as a memorial of the Guru. The third major connection is that of Raja Ratan Rai, who presented an elephant, a large tent known as tambol and a Baaj (falcon) to Guru Gobind Singh.
Guru Teg Bahadur brought about peace between Raja Shankar Dhwaj of Assam and Raja Ram Singh. As a result the fighting forces of both Rajas erected a monument of peace with their weapons lying down thereby vindicating the Guru's exhortation that hatred divides and love unites; and all disputes can be settled through mutual discussions and peaceful negotiations. communities associate themselves with distinct organizations and maintain separate identities.
History of settlement: The settlement of this community in Assam can be traced back to the third Burmese attack. Present settlements: General Chetan Singh died in the war but his wife, who is known as 'Mataji', survived. Following the decade at Hadirachaki and the loss of her dear husband in the thick of battle, 'Chaitanya's widowed consort, accompanied by the remainder of the Sikh forces, proceeded upstream by the Brahmaputra and via Kajalimukh, passed through the Kapili river and the Titiamari Khuti, and encamped at Chaparmukh in the Nawgaon district. They carried with them a few copies of religious scriptures, two cannons and a number of swords (Kirpans). These articles have since been carefully preserved in the Gurdwara Mataji, Chaparmukh Singh Gaon, Nowgaon (Assam). Gurdwara Mataji is the second historical Gurdwara in Assam.
The Sikhs first settled at Chaparmukh and later on they moved to Barkola, Hatipara, Lanka (all in Nowgaon district of Assam). The largest numbers of Assamese Sikh families (about 150) now live at Borkola. Most of the Sikhs of Assam are descendants of Mataji and considered as upper class Sikhs for their pure lineage. There is yet another branch of Assamese Sikhs with different lineage. One Ram Singh, who went to Assam in the year 1823, got married to an Assamese girl and settled in Borkola. It is popularly believed that Sardar Ram Singh was the first Sikh Sardar, who came to Borkola to reside. The Population of Assamese Sikhs in the State is at present about 10,000.
Culture and Traditions: The companions, whom Chetan Singh had left behind, subsequently married Assamese women and fused with Assamese life and culture. The new generation of Assamese is truly wedded to Assamese culture and language though they maintain their Sikh identity rigidly and do not have knowledge of Punjabi in general. Their names too have Assamese accent. Displaced from their place of origin centuries ago, this community does not follow Punjabi traditions or wedded to Punjabi. About 10,000 Assamese Sikhs are mainly concentrated in Nowgaon district. They feel proud of their Sikh background and maintain all rituals, including going to Gurdwara regularly and performing marriages according to Sikh traditions. "Our fore-fathers came to Assam Centuries ago to rescue the Assamese people from foreign invasion and that makes us feel proud. As far as our religion is concerned, we have been following it with utmost devotion," says one of the Assamese Sikhs. Visit any of the families in Borkola and you are likely to hear this line over and over again: "When Giani Zail Singh visited Borkola in 1975, he was surprised at the way we are following Guru Granth Sahib.
They have not assimilated themselves into the Assamese society to a large extent as well as they have remained loyal to their religion. They celebrate both Mag Bihu and Lohri, which fall on the same day - January 13. With equal enthusiasm they celebrate both Gurpurab and Shankar Dev's tithi, as well as participate in Bohag Bihu and Durga Puja, the two most widely
Assamese Sikhs taking out procession on Gurpurab
Physical features: There is also a sharp break in their physical structure. The Punjabi Sikhs are well-built while the Assamese Sikhs have slighter physiques. The Assamese Sikhs are mainly rice-eaters while the Punjabi Sikhs primarily eat wheat. Assamese Sikhs are often closer to local Hindu
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Gurdwaras in Jorhat, a place situated nearly two hundred miles from Guwahati, the capital of Assam.
The religious Practices: It would not be out of place to mention here that under the auspices of the Assamese Sikh Association and able leadership of Dhyan Singh, President of the Association, the work of renovation of Gurdwara Mataji has been taken up with kind donations from Saadh Sangat. The occasion of Guru Tegh Bahadur's visit to Assam is celebrated every year at this historical Shrine.
in distant urban areas of Assam and beyond. Perhaps they unconsciously claim a superior status relative to their Assamese Sikh forefathers. Recently, this point was repeatedly articulated by residents of Chaparmukh village. It creates a sharp differentiation within the community. Their readiness to follow the Punjabi Sikh model reminds us of the Sanskritisation model suggested by Professor Srinivas nearly four decades ago. The rich marry their daughters to Bihari Sikhs. The rest marry their daughters locally. 2. A small section - albeit part of what appears to be a growing trend - does not keep Kes (unshorn hair) subsequent to marriage with Assamese women and identif y themselves as Assamese rather than Assamese Sikhs. 3. The majority, however, identifies themselves as Assamese Sikhs and are not all that attached to the Punjabi Sikh tradition. They claim to be sons of the soil (Assam) and, therefore, do not feel much affinity towards Punjab. Considering all circumstances, problems, constraints and challenges, the Assamese Sikh Community has been facing for ages, they are in the danger of becoming extinct. Following steps could be taken immediately in favor of the community: 1. Granting the Status of Minority and Scheduled Caste, which the community deserves badly for uplift of their status socially and economically. 2. Financial support to educate the new generation of Assamese Sikhs on Sikhism in Assamese language. 3. Organization of Excursion tours to Punjab and other parts of the Country for the Assamese Sikhs so that they learn and identify themselves with the history and teachings of Sikhism. 4. To teach Gurmukhi language to Assamese Sikhs so that they are able to read and write the language in which the religious scriptures are written. 5. Maintenance of the historical Gurdwaras of Assam, which could be important tourist destination for the Sikhs living outside Assam.
Gurdwara Tegh Bahadur Sahib (Dhubri)

celebrated festivals of Assam. Thus their culture can be said as an amalgam of Sikh and Assamese culture. The Punjabi Sikhs have not assimilated with Assamese Sikhs and maintain differences due to the two differing cultures and a superiority feeling among the Punjabi Sikhs; which has unnecessarily created barriers. "We have never felt that we are not a part of the Assamese society and at the same time we have been faithful to our religion," says S. K. Singh, president of the Assam Sikh Association. "But it hurts us when we are called 'duplicate Sikhs' or 'second class Sikhs' by our counterparts in Punjab," he adds. "In fact, in some respects, we are stauncher than the Punjabi Sikhs," says Jaswant Kaur. "We may not speak the language but we follow our religious book very seriously. Most of us are Amritdharis, as it is our custom to partake of Amrit before we get married," she adds. And they are proud of their heritage too. The Assamese Sikhs speak Assamese and marry local girls from their own communities (generally Punjabi-speaking Sikhs do not give their daughters to them). The process of assimilation was so decisive that they embraced their land of occupation as their homeland. They played a significant role in their efforts to defend and serve the cause of the State at various levels from time to time. These Sikhs don't feel nostalgic about being away from Punjab, its culture and its people. "We are Assamese who are following the Sikh religion. We have adopted this place as our own, as we have been living here for generations." You may not be greeted with a glass of water or soft drink as per Punjabi culture but with a Sarai containing betel nut and Paan - the traditional offering made by the Assamese. Even the lady of the house looks like just any other Assamese married women - adorned with Sindoor and clad in Mekhla-Chaddar, the traditional Assamese dress - till your eyes rest on the tiny Kirpan tucked under the Chaddar. Of course, these generalizations do not hold for all the Punjabi-speaking Sikhs. Those who have long been here say those who settled here during the twentieth century, namely the skilled labors, who have long been associated with the local flourishing technical aspects of the tea industry, have become closer to Assamese culture. They maintain separate
Although the Assamese Sikhs have their own Gurdwaras, they have been maintaining fraternal cohesion and amity with the people of other religious persuasions in their neighborhoods. Their participation in all Assamese festivals and institutions like Bihu (the most important and popular festivals in Assam, signaling the harvest and marking the advent of spring and autumn), the birth and death anniversaries of Shankar Dev and Madhav Dev, Rang Utsav, weddings and other festivals speak eloquently of their integrated life with the mainstream of the Assamese people.
Mataji Gurdwara in Borkola village is the most popular Sikh Gurdwara in this region. The site where a Gurdwara now stands in Dhubri district was visited by Guru Teg Bahadur. However, the ultimate pilgrimage for them still is the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
The tree under which Guru Teg Bahadur rested on his visit to Dhubri
says S. K. Singh. "The Association is going to demand minority status and along with that representation in local bodies and state assembly", he adds. Till they get this status, Assamese Sikhs have a tough fight ahead to assimilate into the local society and also to prove to the Punjabi Sikhs that they too are respectable Sikhs. Since, now the fourth connection with Sikhs in Punjab is the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is the MP from Assam, for both of his tenures; these Sikhs look towards him to do something worthwhile and memorable.
Sri Himadri Banerjee writes, I came across at least three distinct trends among Assamese Sikhs: 1. A sizable section of them nowadays show their keenness to learn more about the Punjabi Sikh tradition, e.g. learning to read Punjabi in order to gain direct access to the sacred text. This leaning toward Punjabiyat is increasingly coming to the forefront. Earlier this was not that popular, particularly among those who have long left their ancestral villages and have settled
Professions and Progress: By and large an agrarian society, the new generation of Assamese Sikhs has come out of its shell to take up responsible positions in government and private sector. They are now teachers, businessmen, and officers in the civil services. Though now they have begun picking up jobs in other parts of the state, they are still plagued by feelings of insecurity. And this is the reason behind the formation of the Assam Sikh Association.
When I first reached one of these Assamese Sikh villages, I was surprised to discover that these men had maintained their Sikh identity over the centuries despite the tremendous distance from the Punjab and the prevalent non-Sikh culture around them. I found many who are confident of their Sikh identity. It is, therefore, unfortunate that Assamese Sikhs who have maintained their identity should still be referred to as Kacha (incomplete) Sikhs by a section of Punjabi Sikhs of the region.
- Dr Himadri Bannerjee on Assamese Sikhs
A Sikh family from Nowgaon
"We are the smallest minority community in the region but we have not been granted minority status so far",
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Tourism in
Jammu&Kashmir
By Mohammad Ashraf
ashmir valley situated in the heart of Himalayas is studded with many sparkling freshwater lakes, numerous brooks, foaming streams and dashing cascades, dancing through countless meadows surrounded by lofty peaks and massive glaciers. The eternal beauty of the valley was the inspiration behind James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon of Shangri-La. This valley represents the most famous and important part of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, which has three distinct regions of Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu. The State starts in Jammu, which is neighboring the plains of Punjab. The first range of mountains after the plains is the Shivalik hills and Pir Panjal range. After the valley, start the mountains of Zanskar and Ladakh range finally ending with the Karakoram range neighboring China and Pakistan. Thus the State of Jammu & Kashmir is, in the true sense, a land of the mountains. Each mountain range has its peculiarities. The mountains in the valley are truly alpine and resemble European Alps. One of the famous peaks in the valley Kolahoi, 17799 ft above sea level is known as Matterhorn of Kashmir. It truly resembles the famous European mountain and is a very good climb. Next to it comes Haramukh, 16870 ft, whose North face resembles Eiger. Traveling to different valleys and mountain areas of Kashmir, one has the feeling of being somewhere in Austrian Tyrol. Climbing and trekking in the valley of Kashmir is of alpine standards. The valley receives dozens of small expeditions both from within the country and abroad of alpine style climbers. In addition thousands of visitors trek the famous high altitude areas of the valley. Some of the famous treks are the lake trek of
Kashansar-vashansar and Gangabal area in Sonamarg, Pahalgam-Aru, Lidderwat-Tarsar-Marsar trek in Pahalgam area and Aharbal- Kounsarnag trek in the Pir Panjal range. More challenging opportunities of Himalayan trekking and climbing are there in the mountains of Ladakh. Some of the most tough mountain peaks and treks in Suru, Zanskar and Nubra valleys are there in Ladakh. The peaks of Nun and Kun in Suru valley, which are probably nearest peaks to a road-head, have become tremendously popular among the climbers and receive on an average 20 to 25 foreign expeditions. In the same
As already pointed out the State of Jammu & Kashmir has three distinct regions. All the three regions have some of the most attractive landscape in the form of mountains, meadows, lakes and mountain rivers. There are four distinct seasons and each season has its own attraction. While in summer Kashmir valley has the most salubrious climate, the winter carpets the whole valley especially the upper reaches with snow, which gives it the largest possible skiable snow area in the world. In Ladakh there are highest mountain peaks, most difficult rock faces, huge glaciers, challenging mountain rivers, largely unexploited. In fact this is the largest untapped resources for development of adventure tourism anywhere in the world. Apart from the sweet water lakes of Dal, Nagin and Wular in the valley, there are a large number of high altitude mountain lakes such as Gangabal, Krishansar Vishansai Tarsar, Marsar and Kounsarnag. The lakes in Ladakh, though saline, are huge and in one case (Pangong lake), 150 km long, almost like a high altitude sea. Apart from the main Kashmir valley, there are valleys of Wardwan, Gurez and Tilel, still to be exploited for any tourist activity. There are meadows many times bigger than famous Gulmarg which are yet to be reached such as Bungus valley in Lolab. Among the rivers, Indus which gave India its name flows through Ladakh. The other mountain rivers which have extensive potential are Zanskar Suru and Chenab All these mountain rivers present extensive possibilities for rafting, Zanskar range there are other more than a dozen peaks in the range of six to seven thousand meters, also popular with foreign climbers. In the Leh area, Stock Kangri, about six thousand meters high, is the most sought after peak amongst the foreign climbers. In view of its popularity the foreign expeditions obtain permission within a week compared to few months time required for climbing peaks in the Himalayas. The ultimate challenge is in the Karakoram range, where only joint expeditions are allowed. The regions of Jammu & Kashmir are divided by Kishtwar mountains among which medium height peaks of Brahma, Sickle Moon and Baranaj are very popular with British climbers. All the mountain ranges in the State have some of the most dramatic and fast rivers such as Chenab, Suru, Zanskar, Indus, Shyok and Nubra. These rivers represent ultimate challenge in white water sports. The mountains in the State are populated by people of different cultures. Jammu is known as the land of Dogras. Kashmir valley is inhabited by Kashmiris with a 5000-year-old history. Ladakh has different shades of the Tibetan and Mongol cultures. Kashmir has been synonymous with tourism from ancient times. Some of the famous travelers like Hieun Tsang have spoken about the beauty of Kashmir in their travelogues. In fact, most of the explorers who passed through Kashmir have been impressed with its beauty, charm, climate and the people. Mughals had converted Kashmir into the summer retreat of their empire. Some of the present day attractions in the form of Mughal Gardens are their contributions. In fact during Mughal times, Kashmir received a poetic description:
(If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this.)
Gar Firdaus ba ru-e zameen ast...Hami ast, hami ast, hami ast.
The British had developed Gulmarg as the most important tourist resort east of Suez. In fact Gulmarg Golf Course was started in 1902 and Ski Club of India was established by the British at Gulmarg in 1927. After Independence, Kashmir had become the prime destination for tourists both from within the country and abroad. Tourist arrival figure was 7.22 lakh (including 67,000 foreigners) in 1989.
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50 years or so. About sixty thousand people have created artificial islands in the body of lake and are residing in illegal localities set up in these islands. The most parts of the lake are threatened by the growth of massive weeds. So far all efforts made locally to save the lake have not shown any appreciable results. This problem requires international intervention by declaring it a World Heritage to save it for posterity. The other environmental problem apart from the threat of green forests, is the pollution of mountain trails and treks. The famous trek to Holy Amarnath Cave is facing extreme pollution conditions due to human waste and plastics. A number of mountain treks in Ladakh such as Padum-Lamayuru and Markha valley etc. have become garbage trails. There is urgent need to have some mandatory check of these treks to prevent their destruction The Jammu & Kashmir Mountaineering & Hiking Club as well as Adventure Wing of the State Tourism Department are much concerned about the need to keep the mountains and trekking trails clean and green, and are taking all possible steps in this direction.
kayaking and other white water sports, in some Cases more difficult and challenging than the world famous Colorado river in the Grand Canyon of USA. The snow conditions and weather in the Pir Panjal range which presently has only one ski resort of Gulmarg, has the potential of locating more than a dozen ski resorts. During winter, on high altitude there are more sunny days than any ski resort in Europe or America In addition there are excellent snow conditions, dry powder on high altitude and soft snow in the valleys. The network of mountain roads throughout the region including the one crossing Khardungla Pass in Leh 18,380 ft above mean sea level (highest motorable road in the world) present an excellent opportunity for motor safaris. The other important aspect of tourism potential is the existence of shrines, monasteries, temples and cave temples in all the three regions. The shrines of Kashmir are a tribute to the Sufi and mystic school of Islam for which the valley is famous throughout the world. The monasteries in Ladakh are temples of Buddhism in their original environment and have remained unchanged for centuries. The temples and the cave shrines in Jammu such as Mata Vaishno Devi are attracting more than 5 million pilgrims every year. Even though the State has probably the best potential for tourism development found anywhere in the world, it has not been exploited as yet. The first and foremost reason for the same is the absence of an international airport. However, while
talking of tourism in the State, its sustainable development is to be kept in view, otherwise the very potential which gives rise to tourism activity in the region will be lost. The environmental concern is a very serious issue present in the valley of Kashmir. The first priority is the Dal lake, which is very seriously threatened. After Independence, most of the foreign traffic to Kashmir has been attracted by the luxurious houseboats, which is the unique selling proposition of Kashmir. However, the uncontrolled growth of hotels on the banks of the lake and mushrooming of houseboats dumping raw sewage into the lake has resulted in its slow destruction. In addition extensive grazing in the catchment area and indiscriminate felling of trees has dumped tons of silt in the lake. The clear water body of the lake has been reduced from 50 sq. km to almost 12 sq. km in last
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Baru News
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Akal International Youth Camps - 2009
Sehaj Paath by students of Akal Academy Baru Sahib

As part of the ongoing Gurta-Gaddi Tercentenar y celebrations, The Kalgidhar Trust in collaboration with PTC News Channel launched a unique initiative - Sehaj Paath, in which 4-5 pages of Guru Granth Sahib had been recited per episode by the students of Akal Academy, Baru Sahib and telecast daily, since 9 August, 2008. The Bhog (completion) of the Sehaj Paath was performed on 16 July, 2009. In a largely attended congregation at Gurdwara Baru Sahib, the concluding episode was telecast live in a glittering ceremony. Along with the telecast of Sehaj Paath, 6188 Paaths of Guru Granth Sahib were completed, in all, during the year: Baru Sahib Akhand Paaths Akal Academy Sehaj Paaths
Paaths by the Saadh Sangat
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For the propagation of Gurmat, several overseas youth camps are being organized by The Kalgidhar Trust from time to time. Two such camps were organized recently in United Kingdom at Birmingham and London. Bhai Harpal Singh from Baru Sahib visited specially to conduct these camps. The month-long camp was organized at the largest Guru-Ghar of Europe; Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha with the cooperation of Saadh Sangat at Khalsa Primary School, Norwood Hall, Southall, which is also known as mini Punjab in England. A great enthusiasm was shown by the campers in learning Punjabi language, Gurbani Santhya (correct pronunciation of Gurbani) and Gurbani Kirtan. The classes were held from 5am to 9pm daily, which were attended by the campers as well as their parents. Several non-Sikhs, who wanted to learn Punjabi language, also participated in this youth camp. More than 50 campers attended the classes regularly throughout the camp.
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The USA, Canada and Norway Camp

Mr Richard Silver of the US Embassy, New Delhi and Mrs & Mr Andrew Lam of Canadian High Commission, New Delhi were the Chief-Guest and the Guests of Honor, respectively on the occasion of inauguration of Akal International Youth Camp, which was held from 3 July to 25 July, 2009. The inauguration of the camp was followed by the celebrations of the American Independence Day by the overseas students of Akal Academy and 29 American, 18 Canadian and 6 Norwegian campers. By the time the Camp got over, not only could the students read Punjabi but also perform the Nitnem. Almost every camper learned to recite Gurbani Kirtan.
3024 1954 1210 6188
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The UK Camp
40 students hailing from various parts of England attended the Akal International Youth Camp from 1 August to 26 August, 2009. The syllabus and coaching schedule at this camp were similar to the preceding camp. The background of knowledge of all the participants for Punjabi, Gurbani and Shabad Kirtan was assessed in the beginning of the camp and teaching was followed accordingly. All the campers displayed great deal of improvement in their proficiency to read Gurbani, perform Ardas and Shabad Kirtan with harmonium and Tabla. The participants, who had average knowledge of reading Gurmukhi, were able to recite Gurbani, Hukamnaama and perform Ardas before and after the meals. The campers, who had proficient knowledge of Gurmukhi, could fluently recite Gurbani, take Santhya of Guru Granth Sahib in addition to Hukamnaama and Ardas. Besides, they improved their proficiency in performing Shabad Kirtan and learning Tabla. A few of them learnt to recite Shabads on string-instruments like Dilruba, Taus and Sarangi.
The program received a world-wide acclaim. It enabled the Sangat to recite Gurbani correctly and imbibe its message of the Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of all human beings, helping in the spiritual and moral upliftment of humans. Considering the overwhelming response of the devotees, the PTC and The Kalgidhar Trust have decided to telecast the Sehaj Paath in another unique form in which the students of Akal Academy will sing the entire Gurbani in prescribed Ragas of Guru Granth Sahib, using the string-instruments. The daily telecast of this unique program will commence shortly. S . Ta r l o c h a n S i n g h , M e m b e r Parliament and former Chairman, National Minorities Commission, was the Chief-Guest to commemorate the conclusion of this solemn occasion. After visiting Baru Sahib, he writes, What I had heard, it is much more than that. This is a place worth visiting and taking part in this movement. Students of villages are being given free education and all other facilities. Akal Academys results are highly impressive. Government of India, State Governments and Punjab Chief Minister should adopt this as a model. Foreign students are happy. Baba Iqbal Singh is a blessed soul. May Satguru give all success to The Kalgidhar Trust.
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The closing ceremony was held on Sunday, 21 June, 2009, in which all the campers were given certificates. Bhai Harpal Singh and Gen. Secretary S. Surinder Singh Purewal were blessed with Siropao by the management of Gurdwara Sahib. The management thanked The Kalgidhar Trust for providing the selfless services of Bhai Harpal Singh for the successful completion of the youth camp, as the young campers were able to speak and write Punjabi in a short span of just 15 days. Bhai Ranbir Singh Attwal also thanked the Gurdwara Management Committee and Saadh-Sangat for holding the youth camp, which benefitted the young campers in a big way.
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The foundation stone of 53rd Akal Academy laid at village Jandiali Kalan, Distt. Ludhiana, Punjab
A revitalizing cup of tea with Kesar...

The foundation stone of 53rd Akal Academy was laid at village Jandiali Kalan, Distt. Ludhiana, Punjab on 9 August, 2009; this being the 31st in the ongoing plan of establishing 150 Akal Academies during the next few years, as envisaged by The Kalgidhar Trust. The 4.5 acres of land for the Academy (Akal Educational Mata Avtar Kaur Institute) has been donated by S. Gurbachan Singh Arora of Delhi and his family in memory of Bibi Avtar Kaur. The solemn occasion began with the rendering of Shabad Kirtan and Dhadi Varaan by the students of Akal Academy, Cheema. Blessing the gathering, Baba Iqbal Singh said, The Akal Academies are tapping the energy of rural youth showing them right direction, so that the ideal social fabric is maintained. Our aim is that youth stay away from drugs and follow the path of righteousness.
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Akal Academy student wins Gold Medal in Taekwondo competition in Thailand

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Thailand. Parminder Singh won laurels for the country by topping the list in 45 Kg category. Two other students of the same Academy; Mandeep Singh and Samarpal Singh also won Bronze Medals in 30 Kg and 35 Kg categories. The girl students of Akal Academy, Ratia also excelled in the State level open competition for girls held in Distt. Fatehabad, Haryana. In this competition; Kriti Sharma, Kirti Grover, Ripanpreet Kaur and Mehakpreet Kaur stood first in different categories in Table Tennis competition. In Lawn Tennis, Jeevanjot Kaur, Gagandeep Kaur, Jajaldeep Kaur and Ramneet Kaur topped the list in their respective groups. In Badminton, Jeevanjot Kaur, Kriti Sharma, Gagandeep Kaur and Lovepreet Kaur attained second position in different categories of the competition.
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Eternal Voice August 2009

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Eternal Voice August 2009

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Licence No. F.2 (E-2) Press/2009 dtd.

Fast, affordable IT Service right at your doorstep.

A Quarterly Magazine of Universal Brotherhood

Guru Granth Sahib as interfaith

Education - A Kaurs Perspective

Ethics & Religion

Need help fas Call us 4650 3500

ce We Servi all Major Brands

pervades all that exists

Ghat ghat vaaj-ei kinguree ann-dinn shabad subhaa-e.

August - October, 2009

Call: (011) 4650 3500

A KALGIDHAR TRUST PUBLICATION

Sponsor a Childs Education

From the editors desk...

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To provide a helping hand for this noble cause

Gur saakhi jyot pargat ho-e. (13)

(Through the Guru's teachings, the Light shines forth.)

Donate by Credit Card

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Owned and printed by The Kalgidhar Trust, Baru Sahib

Rajinder Singh Chadha

All Donations qualify for Tax deductions

August - October, 2009

Taking care of our mother earth

Page for page information in Baru News

Akali Phoola Singh page 60 Akali Phoola Singh page 56

Broaden the horizon

The Way to Establish Everlasting Peace 14 ..............................................................

Religion, a powerful tool

Excellent distinctive information

Jagriti Yatra page 16

Swami Vivekanandas thoughts on Religion & Ethics 38

Gatka, The Sikh Martial Art 44 ..............................................................

Have your say...

Gatka, The Sikh Martial Art page 44

August - October, 2009

For the Brahmin, the Guru has this to suggest:

So Brahmin jo Braham beechaar-ei. (662)

Guru Granth Sahib

And for the Vaishnav, he has this to offer:

Nirankar ke des jaahe taa sukh laheh mahal. (595)

For the Jogi he says:

Satgur s-aiv-ai so Jogi hoe. (223)

For a Muslim, the Guru says:

Similarly to a Mullah, the Guru suggests:

For a Qazi, the Guru says:

Sach kamaav-ei soyee Qazi. (1084)

For a Sheikh, the Guru has this to offer:

Soee S-aikh masaa-ik Haji So bandaa jis najar naraa. (1084)

And to a Haji, the Guru preaches:

Jo dil sodh-ei soee Haji. (1084)

Shabad Guru surt(i) dhun chela. (943)

So san-e-aasee jo Satgur s-aiv-ei vichhau aap gava-ai. (1013)

Dubidha chhod Bha-ai Nirankari. (685)

For the Pandit, he says:

In Mathematical equation it will be:

So Pandit jo mann parbhod-ei Ram Naam Aatam meh sodh-ei. (274)

MAN - EGO = GOD

August - October, 2009

Sabh-ai saa(n)jheewaal sadaa-i-n Toon kis-ei na diseh baaharaa jeeo. (97)

The Kalgidhar Trust.

Parhi-aa moorakh aakhee-ei Jis lab lobh ahankaaraa. (140)