Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin

Issues are many and they all have personalities attached to them. One reason for that may be that we have
come to believe the distortion of Guru’s message by these middlemen and lost sight of the true meaning.
Some like ‘Sant Babas’ Atar Singh, Nand Singh and Isher Singh deliberately became the middlemen and
created the environment for a locust of not so ‘noble’ that followed them. Others created separate
movements in the name of Sikhs of the Guru perhaps against the wishes of these people. Ram Singh, a
Sikh of Guru Nanak, has been elevated one big step above the Guru and a chair established for ‘Sat Guru
Ram Singh’ at mere ‘Guru’ Nanak Dev University.
What follows in this issue is a specific mention of a few of such personalities in the words of their
observers. The purpose of this is not to belittle them. Rather it is to give wider publicity to their words
and deeds for the Diaspora Sikh sangat’s information and let the sangat be the judge as to who is helping
the Sikh cause and should be helped and who is harming it and should be hindered.
Hardev Singh Shergill
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EDITORIAL
BANI AND BANA
[Editorial from Feb. 2005 Sikh Bulletin]
Punjabi University Patiala Punjabi-English dictionary defines the terms as:
bwxI [Bani] speech, utterance, voice, same as Gurbani [gurbwxI ] and [bwxw] [Bana] dress, habit, apparel,
garb. When Bani and Bana are uttered in the same breath it evokes only one image, that of an Amritdhari
Sikh with 5Ks. To such a person that in fact is the only definition of a Sikh. Appearance is more
important than the character, otherwise why would our religious and political leaders vie with each other
to become more corrupt than the next guy After all bwxw [Bana] gives them the license. There again,
Bana seems to confine itself to above the neck. As long as hair is uncut and covered with a turban, no
matter how tied, the rest of the dress could be pant, pajama or kchhehra and of course appropriate shirt or
chola. In fact there are certain ‘kathakars’ who live the life in India in western clothing, except the turban,
of course, but switch to ‘chola’ while visiting abroad. This, unquestionably, has become the image of a
Sikh.
A recent news item (See p. 3) informs us that Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC)
had formed a special board of leading community scholars and leaders to suggest ways to handle what it
called ‘the current cultural crisis facing the religion’. That cultural crisis is the disappearing turban for
which they have created ‘Save Turban Panel’. The names forming the panel are all very familiar. There
may be a few honorable exceptions but the hypocrisy of most of them and others like them is the primary
reason for what they call the ‘cultural crisis. When they themselves lack integrity and credibility, how
effective can they be in stemming this tide of cultural decline We will come back to the term ‘cultural’
later.
Another term often used these days is ‘patit’ (p.3). Same dictionary defines piqq [patit] as: fallen (in
moral or religious sense), apostate, sinner, degraded. The Random House Dictionary of the English
Language defines ‘apostate’ as one who forsakes his religion, cause, etc. What it boils down to is this: for
Sikhs the religion is invariably associated with the uncut hair and turban. Character is relegated to
insignificance and does not count.
At the SSI-WSC conference in Sydney, Australia on September 18 th and 19 th 2004 I was repeatedly asked
the definition of a Sikh by a group of honorable and well meaning Amritdhari Sikhs. Every time I read the
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