Monday, February 02, 2009

Gorakh dhandha Ho

Thought I would post this video of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan talking about the presence of god and yet non-existence. Its a 3 part video, do listen to them in your leisure.





Friday, January 23, 2009

Khuswant Singh gets it wrong again

Randomly I read a commentary by Khushwant Singh, one of India esteemed authors in Hindustan Times today. Mr. Singh is somewhat of a Playboy by reputation and for his age its amazing that he can still get action but the man does. What is interesting about this article is that after writing books on Sikhism, in this article he goes to show that we does not really understand or grasp the basic principles of Sikhism: Kirat Karo, Work for Living, Wundh Shako, Share your earnings and Naam Japo meditate on Gods name.

The begining of the article starts off by naming the five sins mentioned in Sikhism, so I got interested to see where he goes with it... I was skeptical, can you tell? As I read on my suspicions turned to reality, Mr. Singh is well known to be an agnostic, rather than a atheist. Which really means that for his convenience he refuses to bind himself to any religion as religions generally tend to bring a discipline to ones way of life. Towards the end Mr. Singh comes out and blatantly says it "I enjoy the good things of life — tasty food, single malt Scotch, vintage wines and the company of the fairest of the fair." Now if he was true Sikh and followed the Sikh way of life, he would have to give up meat, alcohol and women, so of course he chooses to be agnostic as its easy that way.

Where Mr. Singh showed is lack of understanding of Sikhism, or any religion for that matter, was when he mentioned that "Belief in god and religion is a kind of passion which generates both noble works and evil deeds. It has produced great literature, music, art, architecture and sculpture. It has also produced intolerance, civil strife, wars, cruelty and persecution" No religion or religious person for that matter preaches intolerance, war or cruelty. Sikhism is the most accepting religion in the World. Seems Mr. Singh has become tainted and his view of religion and god is marred by the practice of these religions around him.

If Mr. Singh had studied Sikhism and believed in Guru Granth Sahib then he would not have titled the article "To believed or Not? God knows" He would have know that though air cannot be seen its presence is felt and necessary for life to exist, it is the same with God. I would suggest Mr. Singh listen to read bani to fidn proofs of gods existence but since that will fall on deaf ears, I would suggest that next time he is enjoying his McCallan Single Malt he listen to "Gurakh Dhandha" by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Sikhism is an inclusive religion, SGPC leave it that way

I am somewhat disturbed by the recent ruckus created by SGPC affidavit and their definition of "Sehajdhari" Sikhs, Sikhs who believe in Guru Granth Sahib but yet cut their hair or beard.

Literal meaning of the word Sikh is being a disciple, then you can project that to being a disciple of the Guru and being a disciple will then imply that you have the same beliefs and values that the Guru practices and preaches.

So I guess I see Sikhism as a spectrum, where we all aspire to become a Khalsa, the ultimate pure Sikh who has committed to being pure in every sense of the word in their day to day life. (A tangent here: I would say that there are far and few Sikh that can truly call themselves Khalsa in their heart, despite what they might put at the end of their name. And if you are insisting on calling yourself Khalsa, isn't that an oxymoron since Khalsa is humble in his day to day life?)

Getting back to the spectrum, I would say we need to be inclusive of all Sikhs regardless of where they fall on the spectrum, and help each other move towards the ultimate goal of Khalsa.

What is not helping is SGPC and other political organizations that are trying to politicize the issue for their own gain, in terms of voting rights or their time in press.

So my appeal is for Sikhs to go back to the sense of inclusiveness and embrace every Sikh and non Sikh and let's educate each other about the Guru, Gurmat and Gurbani.