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.

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