Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin

Principal Harbhajan Singh 2 has summarized the events of that day as stated by eleven writers. Akhand
Kirtani Jatha has also circulated a Missive 3. Most charitable comment on all these narratives of the events
of Vaisakhi 1699 is that no two agree with each other and none of them agrees with what is practiced
today. In fact comparison of various editions of the Rehat Maryada itself will show no uniformity. This
coupled with the fact that nothing directly attributed to the Guru is found by way of clear instructions
about the initiation ceremony leads to many questions.
It is obvious that an event of great historical significance took place on Vaisakhi day 1699 but its
specifics are lost or we have not been able to find them. Perhaps it is time our scholars looked into
this matter. Some of the questions that need answering are:
1. Was the initiation ceremony voluntary or mandatory for all men, women and children
2. How was and is the pahul to be prepared
3. Which Banis were and are to be recited
4. Why among the current five banis three are from so called ‘dasam granth’
5. Why did the Guru not include them and any of his other banis in the GGS that he himself bequeathed
to us
6. Did the Guru state, explicitly or implicitly, that any one not partaking ‘khande di pahul’ is a lesser Sikh
or not a Sikh at all
6. Did the Guru mandate specific appearance for a Sikh
7. If the Guru instructed his ‘khalsa’ to do the ‘nitname’ of certain banis, what instructions did he leave
for the rest of the bani in GGS
Would it be unreasonable to assume that just as Granth Sahib instructs the Muslims about their five
prayers 4 :
“The first prayer is praise of God, second contentment, third humility and the fourth is well-being of all.
The fifth is keeping five impulses under restraint. These constitute divine prayer (9). O man of Allah,
know that all the creation represents one creator. Make this knowledge, your Maudifa (all time
uninterrupted prayer). Giving up evil is the water pot used for cleansing body. The faith that there is one
God be this your prayer call. Thus you will become an obedient child of God, make this your Burgoo a
long horn/trumpet used by Muslim Fakirs. (10). O Mullah earn your livelihood by legitimate means, this
is Halal . GGS p.1084”, Guru might have something similar to say to his Sikhs Has not the mere
repetitive recitation of ‘nitname banis’ given us a ‘karmkand’ to do, given the nitnamis false sense of
being a better Sikh, distanced them from the rest of the treasure in the GGS and created a rival Granth
(Dasam Granth)
These are taboo questions. But they need to be faced for the survival of Guru Nanak’s message.
Hardev Singh Shergill
1 page 3
2 page 5
3 page 7
4 SB Feb 2005 p.21 .
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AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
[From May 2005 Sikh Bulletin]
We regret to announce that in the face of unrelenting opposition by some individuals since 1996, joined
by some other individuals in 2000 and massive opposition since October 2003 Mohali conference, Sikh
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