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.

Found a Great Site for learning Punjabi Online

Its been a while since I have posted anything on here, but after I found this site I felt obliged to share it with everyone. Its a great project by Punjabi University Patiala, for short let's call it Advance Center for Punjabi Learning I would highly recommend the Online Punjabi Learning site and the Animated Punjabi Stories that you can download. Both are great tools for kids and adults learning Punjabi.


Note: The animated stories require Shockwave player to be installed which is free from Adobe site and then you can download and open the stories with Internet Explorer.

Hope you enjoy the site as much as I have and use it with your kids to develop their Punjabi