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Eyeing 400 Saal, Guru de Naal
Kalam Nishan Singh
Amid massive religious fervour, the Sikhs are proudly
celebrating 300th year of the Guruship of Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Sikhs around the world are very intelligently using the occasion to
also spread word about who are the Sikhs, what does Sikhism stand
for, and how it is a religion that underlines universal brotherhood,
advocates no violence but exhorts its followers to stand up for the
voice-less, for the weak, for the wronged, and enjoins upon a Sikh
the duty to do all that he can to make this world more beautiful,
more equitable, more in harmony with nature, more equal, more
sustainable.
But somehow somewhere in the din of hundreds of Nagar Kirtans
all over the globe, the colorful Sikh parades, the newspapers full
of massive advertising, the declarations by sundry panthic bodies
and the government-backed celebrations at Nanded Sahib and
elsewhere, key interconnections between professing the Sikh faith
and the day to day life of a Sikh are being either lost or
overlooked.
As we review the path we have covered in the last 300 years
as a community wedded to the idea of a constant engagement with the
Word, Shabad Vichar, it is time to underline the interconnections.
No more does the world exist in isolated compartments of religious,
social, political, personal life.
As humanities scholars anywhere will tell you, the importance
of interconnections cannot be stressed any further. What exactly are
the interconnections that emerge from professing the Sikh faith?
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But why is it that our religious sensibilities are only hurt
when someone wrongly represents a turbaned Sikh in a movie or
asks a child in a European school not wear a kara but are not
hurt when we find that children are dying in our villages
because there are no doctors in hospitals, nurses are being
lathicharged because they are asking the government to recruit
para-medical staff in dispensaries run by peons, and farmers are
committing suicides because government simply refuses to admit
that suicides are related to farm debts.
Which of these is not an issue that hurts our
religious sensibilities?
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In a major way, the Sikh community is either based in,
centered at, or connected to
Punjab. The Diaspora always is interested, and often keeps track of
what is happening, in
Punjab. Many of our historic gurdwaras are here. This is the land
of our Gurus. Our spiritual capital of Sri Amritsar is here.
Obviously, it is here, and wherever else Sikhs live, that we
are enjoined by the Guru to try and understand the central message
of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. A devout's devotion can never be in doubt,
but devotion to Shabad Guru requires an ability to engage with the
scriptures, to understand the Word, to follow the Guru's arguments,
line of thought and reach the zenith of understanding.
How does one do that?
Guru Angad Sahib opened the first school at Khadoor Sahib.
Guru Gobind Singh sent some followers to Kashi to get the best
education. The very act of bestowing Guruship on the scriptures was
a clear message -- and a clearer one is not possible even 300 years
later -- that the Guru accords supreme importance to knowledge,
knowledge that makes one humane, and makes this world more equal.
300 years later, what is
Punjab doing on the
literacy front? How have we defined 'literacy'? The Guru is kind to
a person irrespective of his knowledge, and an honest simpleton may
be more endeared to the Guru than a scholar, but can we use that
argument to deny even basic literacy to hundreds of thousands? Is it
not with a wee bit of embarrassment that we are celebrating Guru’ta
Gaddi without having ensured not just literacy but much much better
standards of education?
Religion demands strict standards of modesty from men and
women. We expect women to cover their heads. But when it comes to
basic drainage in
Punjab's villages,
somehow it becomes a development issue that has to do with the
government. The SGPC is not involved, the local gurdwara is not
involved and the area's religious-minded people who run the local
Sukhmani Sahib Sewa Society seem to think that lack of toilets has
nothing to do with religion.
The women go out to the fields to answer a call of nature,
but are expected to display better standards of modesty inside the
house and out there in the society. Denial of basic hygiene somehow
does not become a religious issue.
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Too often, people think such and such in an economic issue. And
such and such is a political issue. But when was Sikhism not
about economics, about politics. Let us go back to the Guru, the
Guru whose coronation we are celebrating. Did Guru Nanak make a
distinction between religious and political when he took upon
Babur?
Scan the scriptures for Guru’s words about environmental
concerns, and never again think that coercive land acquisition,
skewed development policies and issues of social justice have
even a streak that is not directly related to the teachings of
the Guru.
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But a Bollywood movie just has to show a Sikh wrongly
depicted, a stupid word in the script or misrepresentation of
turban, and the brouhaha takes over the media. By all means, such
misrepresentations must be resisted. But why is it only that our
religious sensibilities are hurt with wrong representations of a
turbaned Sikh but they are not hurt when we find that children are
dying in our villages because there are no doctors in hospitals,
nurses are being lathicharged because government is not recruiting
them even when dispensaries are being run by peons, and farmers are
committing suicides because government simply refuses to admit that
suicides are related to farm debts.
Which of these is not an issue that hurts our religious
sensibilities?
Sikhism is a complete religion. Sri Guru Granth Sahib leads
the way in all spheres of life. Gurbani teaches us harmony with
nature. If that be so, then how is the shamefully depleting forest
cover of
Punjab not a religious issue? When was the last time that the SGPC,
our clergy, our leadership grappled with the problem of climate
changes, global warming? How are government policies on
capital-intensive development or credit-driven economy not a
religious issue at the same time if our scriptures teach us about
life in a wholesome way?
It helps are politician to segregate the issues into
compartments of religion, politics, social life. Even a basic
reading of some of the postulates will make it clear that such
compartmentalisation is only meant to help understand the strands.
In reality, life is a whole, not even the sum of parts. A world
religion, a religion as modern as Sikhism is, has gone through a
historical process that is enough to make it clear that all these
aspects are inter-related.
Does Guru Granth Sahib have something to teach an economist?
Of course, it has a complete economic philosophy that is
pro-equality, pro-poor, humane, wholesome, and sustainable and also
argues against what Veblan was to call centuries later 'conspicuous
consumption'. We all agree that the world would have been far more
harmonious if we had followed the teachings of the Gurus. If that is
so, then how are land acquisitions, coercive treatment of farmers in
many parts of
India not an issue
for the religious domain too?
If the government does not pay salaries to poor people for
months, and they are brutally lathicharged time and again, why are
our religious sensitivities not hurt? Recall Guru Nanak’s words when
Babur’s forces were unleashing atrocities against the poor. Few
among the victims were Sikhs. But did the Guru make a distinction
between the religious and the political? Does the construct of
Miri-Piri leave us with the luxury of such compartmentalisation?
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We are a people of the Word– Ahle-Kitab. We shall keep the Word
with our Guru. So, you shall find us engaged forever. We Must
Vow To Speak Truth To Power.
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How can the issues of economic development model not be
religious issues if we know that hundreds of thousands are not
getting two meals a day and are living life on the periphery of
subsistence level? The Guru started the tradition of Langar that has
ensured that we never have a starvation death in
Punjab, but does that not enjoin upon us to consider it our religious duty that
our children must not remain malnourished? No one in
Punjab is dying of
starvation, therefore so many are going to bed hungry.
Langar stops starvation. Skewed economic policies have
ensured widespread incidence of mal-nutrition. Our religious
sensitivities wait till someone threatens a Sikh child in class.
Why?
How does one become a Sikh? I can be a Sikh because I was
born in Sikh family, but there has to be value absorption for
someone to become an informed member of the community.
People vote in
India, but does
that make it a democratic country? Only a process of democratisation
can make a country democratic. Only a process of ‘modernisation’
induces the reality of ‘modernity’. Only a process of
‘secularisation’ induces ‘secularity’ as a value and makes us
secular. Only a process of Sikhization will help us to become true
Sikhs. That process involves seeking guidance from the teachings of
Sri Guru Granth Sahib in every sphere of life.
300 saal, Guru de naal have been spent, some path has been
covered, a lot remains.
 Caste based
gurdwaras, illiteracy among Sikhs and in the society, inequalities,
rank poverty, environmental degradation, every single one is a
religious issue. Let us take a dip in the sea of religiosity that
the Guru has opened for us. Let us be religious. Let us recognise
the Guru, Gur Shabad, through Shabad Vichar, the only way to engage
with the Guru. And for that, education is the key. Not just
illiteracy but education. Let us take a vow that by the time we
return for 400 saal, Guru de naal, the idea of an illiterate Sikh
would only be a rumour.
22 October 2008
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