Sikh View

'Koi Charawa nahi hai! Koi reeti riwaaz nahi hai!' was a woman shouting just outside the underground road crossing outside India's top public hospital (AIIMS Delhi). The sentence translates to: 'There is no offering to be given! There are no rituals!' which was accompanied by a cheaply printed black and white invite to a Sunday Church nearby. Well! I smiled at the seemingly well off lady with a covered face and eyeglasses (completing anonymising herself) as I returned the pamphlet. But what I was actually returning back was the responsibility of what should be the purpose of our religions. To alleviate human suffering and provide people with confidence and purpose! Was the Christian faith doing it well? I can be in denial and say no! Many governments can be in denial and bring in religion anti-conversion laws. But what we really need to do is to understand the vacuum that lady was trying to fill! It is the vacuum that reflects the collective failure of the mainstrea...

Before anything else, Sikhs should remember one thing. In February 2024, there was a unilateral move by the Maharashtra government to amend the Act that governs a very prominent and historical Gurudwara of the Sikhs called Hazur Sahib in Nanded. There was a proposal of removing nominated Sikh MPs in the governing body, along with having government appointed people who will manage the very holy shrine of the Sikhs. This is the gurudwara where Guru Gobind Singh breathed his last and is one of the 5 Takhts of the Sikhs. The proposed amendment also meant inclusion of non-Sikhs into the management body and also meant an increased direct control of the gurudwara by the state government.  Protest banner in Nagpur, the heartland of the Hindu 'cultural' organisation against the government's unilateral control over Sikhs' holiest shrines.  Now, is there a connection between this and the current conversation around the amendment to the Waqf legislation? Yes, there is! And that is...

 Any body who believes in the concept of 'ghar wapsi' or re-conversion back to the main religion must understand one thing. The people who left the main religion in the first place had certain grievances and they would not come back unless those grievances are dealt with and a safe space is created for them.  Any Hindu "cultural" organisation which wants Christian converts to come back to the Hindu fold requires the most important internal housekeeping, i.e., ridding themselves of the oppressive brahmanical caste system and treating the downtrodden as their own. Image: Guru Gobind Singh, creating Khalsa , where all previous religions, castes, regions were dissolved and new identity was created. This bound the Sikhs with the 'organic filament' that united them as one. This exact concept was highlighted by the person who wrote the Constitution of India. His name was Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar and he was a very learned legal luminary and also the representative of the...

 At the outset, I am a Sikh, an Indian and do not agree to the view that there should be a Khalistan, or a Sikh homeland. This thought in itself is what needs to be disgusted upon, along with its parallels that are being created by some people who want a Hindu Nation!  But, at the same time, I am worried and concerned about the religious polarisation where one should either fit in the definition of 'Hindu' or be labelled as a non-Indian. Sikhism is an independent religion and not a sect of Hinduism or a part of Hinduism. And, the attempts made by any Hindu "cultural" organisation to end the minority status for Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists and assimilate the same into the Hindu fold is a existential suicide for Sikhs in India. In the Hindu fold, Sikhs will have to go through the vagaries of caste system, ritualistic hypocrisy and a departure from monotheism. These are the very principles that Sikhism has revolutionised against to create a new and independent religion.  T...

Before even getting into Sikh philosophy, let's look at the Hindu reform movements and what they had in common.  Going backwards, the Brahmo Samaj founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, during the Times of Bengal Renaissance worshipped 'the nameless, eternal, immutable Being who is the Author and Preserver of the universe.' Brahmo Samaj has no faith in Hindu incarnations, denounced polytheism and idol worship and was against the brahmanical caste system. This is a movement that had left an impression even on Swami Vivekananda during his early days.  Second is Arya Samaj, which was also a monotheistic Hindu reform movement, which also denounced idol worship and rituals. These had their influence from the Advait Vedanta , whose proponent was Adi Shankaracharya (who also had a debate with a ritualistic Brahmin about rituals and dualism, with him negating these) which stated that there is no duality, but the ultimate reality called Brahman (not to be confused with a Brahmin) which is ...

 My elder sisters studied in a school in Delhi run by the Sikh Gurudwara body. These schools are minority run institutions which are supposed to be run to promote the students of particular minorities to get education. The mission of the school where my sisters studied has fourteen points. The point about Sikhism is only one, at point number 10 which states the school mission to 'encourage students to follow the Sikh Religion and belief.'   The other points are about important professional and social goal related missions. But interestingly, the first one is 'To provide secular education to students from all communities.' For survival, educational institutions of minorities must open themselves up and talk the language of inclusiveness and secularism. But, at the same time, the reason for creation of the minority institutions as per the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee Act of 1971 must be highlighted. The Act states the purpose being 'to spread education, ...