Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin

Nanak. Guru is giving a sermon. Who is he giving the sermon to In his audience are Hindus and
Muslims, adherents of the two dominant faiths of that time. Did he treat them differently from each other
or did he treat them as humans eager to make sense out of this life Did he see Hindu and Muslim faces or
Human faces
kbIr pRIiq iek isau kIey Awn duibDw jwie]
BwvY lWby kys kru BwvY Grir mufwie] p 1365
Earlier I have made reference to the ‘Save Turban Panel’ created by the DSGMC to handle what it
called ‘the current cultural crisis facing the religion’. This panel will not be able to solve the problem
because for all of them uncut hair and turban is an integral part of Sikhi. But, inadvertently, they have
used the correct term, ‘cultural crisis’. Long hair, not necessarily uncut, has been part of the ancient
cultures. During Guru period people of all faiths kept long hair. Even today some people in some faiths
keep long beards and others long hair. Hair and dress are cultural phenomenon. For those of us who are
calling Diaspora our home, to expect our children to keep long hair and turban/chunni is and will remain a
disheartening experience.
We often read about the glowing tributes that foreign scholars have paid to AGGS. One such tribute by
Max Arthur Macauliffe is on page 3. Mr. Macauliffe gave up a very promising career in British India
Civil Service to devote his life to the study of Guru Granth Sahib but he did not convert to Sikhism; nor
did scores of others who lauded the Sikh scriptures in similar language. Have we been instrumental in
denying the Gurbani experience to the rest of the world
Is it not time, to use the language of Col. Avtar Singh in his letter to the editor on page 23 ‘that Sikhs
residing outside India need to delink themselves from the petty politics of Punjab’, but modify it to read
‘that Sikhs residing outside India need to delink Sikhi from restrictions of Bana’ This must in no
way be construed as opposition to Bana. We should first expose the individual to Gurbani and let the
desire for Bana come from within.
*****
EDITORIAL
SIKH, SINGH AND KHALSA
[Editorial from March 2005 Sikh Bulletin]
Hardev Singh Shergill
Two incidents from my teenage years growing up in Ganganagar District of Rajasthan stand out. One
was the death of a great grandmother whose death at over 105 years of age was celebrated as a joyous
occasion by four generations of her family that hailed from District of Jalandhar in Panjab. Whereas this
death was celebrated joyfully, the other incident brought the same family into mourning. In 1951 one of
the fourth generation cut his hair and shaved whatever beard he had. He was only seventeen. I can still
sense the grief of the entire family. Today the situation both in Ganganagar District and Districts of
Panjab is completely topsy-turvy.
The editorial ‘Bani and Bana’ in last month’s issue has evoked considerable response, both in favour and
against. Sikhs are no longer confined to Panjab or other parts of India. During earlier migrations to
foreign lands during British Colonial era Sikhs were able to transplant themselves in foreign lands but
still maintain their personal appearance and cultural traditions of Panjab. But the whole world has
undergone rapid transformation. Racial, religious, geographical, linguistic and cultural barriers are
breaking down. We can no longer afford the luxury of deferring important decisions as we have done in
the case of ‘Dasam Granth’ and ‘Ragmala’. Nor are we going to allow ourselves to be answerable to self
styled clergy and other religious leaders back in Panjab for reasons eloquently detailed by S. Suaran
Singh’s article ‘Urgent Need for Reformation in Sikhi’ 1 . Sikhs in Diaspora are not surrounded by a sea of
‘Hinduism’ that has adversely influenced our growth and development during the last three hundred
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