Please take a look at this link: [
www.sikhiwiki.org]
This entire article is taken from Lions, Princesses and Gurus written by a Hindu turned Christian named Ram Gidoomal. The book is an attempt to train Christians to convert Sikhs. I don’t mind Christians or other non-Sikhs writing anti-Sikh articles and books but what I find a bit surprising is the fact that such material is being used by “Sikh” sites. Sure 3HO, Sikhnet and their associates are not well versed in Gurmat but the usage of such an article highlights a very important point that has become like a disease for the Panth. It is lack of comparative study.
Guru Sahib has given us a hukam to study other religions to better understand the superiority and beauty of Sikhi but in modern times not just Sikhs in general but Sikh scholars too have miserably failed in this field. Our katha vachaks, preachers, granthis, camps etc. seriously lag behind other communities in this regard. I have suggested to some camps multiple times to have some lectures on these topics or even spend last 10 mins or so in showing how Sikhi stands compared to other religions but no progress. Books written in recent times on comparative views do not show how Sikhi is better. Rather an effort is made to show Sikhi as just another religion that promotes religious pluralism (I can name a number of books written in last 40+ years). On top of that we make little to no effort to organize ourselves and produce some literature on such subjects. We have been living in Western countries for over 100 years yet we do not have any organized program or model that can be implemented all around the universities, Gurdwaras etc. 3HO can call themselves “better Sikhs” or “more educated” but the usage of an anti-Sikh article shows how terribly they have failed in studying Sikhi and write a short comparison with Christianity. I personally do not understand why most of us won’t spend even half an hour to study Sikhi and other religions, have Gurbani study groups, veechar sessions and write brief essays while we spend so much time on social media, jatha bashing, gossip and reading superfluous material online. It is not too hard to read a couple of books in a year. If one spends 30 mins in writing a post, the same time can be spent in writing something good about Sikhi.
The fault lies with no one but us. We need to make personal efforts to study other faiths so that we can communicate how Sikhi is unique to other communities. Inter-faith dialogue won’t do much if all we say is all paths are valid and equal. After the demise of Singh Sabha and its scholars I have not seen much literature that meets the standard. Bhai Randhir Singh, Bhai Veer Singh, Kartar Singh Dakha, Giani Ditt Singh and many others wrote on these subjects and always showed superiority of Gurmat. Unfortunately, most of their books remain unexplored and untranslated and even out of print. A Singh (forgot his name) working with Bhai Veer Singh wrote many articles on Sikhi and Islam and defeated Muslim scholars in open debates but his articles have remained out of print after one publication. G. S. Sidhu has written some good books. I think we need to take their works further and produce more literature otherwise we can’t be progressive.
There are many Gursikhs on this very forum and have been active for many years and I think it can serve as a starting point. Emails, skype, conference calls etc. can serve as a medium of communication to have veechar on topics that our generations completely fail to understand. For example, why must a bride walk behind the groom? Apart from explanation from Gurbakash Singh I have not seen any attempt to answer this rationally and logically. Where other communities spend time to think of answers and come up with “logical” explanations to defend their false beliefs, most Sikhs have taken a reverse trend. I think the solution lies in rehatvaan Gursikhs connecting with each other and doing something constructive. We shouldn’t leave it to scholars who don’t practice Gurmat. Sikhs can have group discussions and come up with reasons and rational explanations to modern questions and come up with a plan to present it to the world. What we need to ask ourselves is: what reasons can we come up with to best defend such and such Gurmat tradition and what explanation is most sensible and strongest? This way the parchaar will be uniform and unanimous. Camps are always a good platform to have such discussions outside of lectures and workshops. Answers can be found of every question. We just need to search.
If Sikhs in Punjab won’t do anything, if SGPC won’t do anything and if appointed jathedar won’t do anything then should we sit around and wait for a miracle to happen or we do ardaas to Guru Sahib, make an effort and see miracles happen? Sorry for the long post. Guru Rakha
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥