Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin
Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin
Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin
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learning about <strong>Sikh</strong>ism. That is when I read Dr. Devinder Singh Chahal’s explanation of<br />
‘Manglacharan’, commonly referred to as ‘Moolmantar’. Once I understood God as described by Guru<br />
Nanak I had no problem accepting it. My beef was with the God/Gods of all the other religions that laid<br />
claim to divine revelation and proclaimed man to be created in the image of God. In reality what they<br />
have done is create God in the image of man. Within four years I had contact with enough concerned<br />
<strong>Sikh</strong>s from many countries who also felt the same need to reform <strong>Sikh</strong>i. Our efforts culminated in a<br />
World Conference in Chandigarh in October 2003.<br />
While preparing for my speech for this conference I thought to look into European contemporaries of<br />
Guru Nanak (1469-1539) because that was the period of renaissance in Europe. To my delight I found<br />
Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543), a Polish Mathematician, called the founder of modern Astronomy. He<br />
was the first to shatter the prevalent belief, supported by the Church, that Earth is the center of the<br />
universe and that Sun revolves around the Earth. Here were two contemporaries, thousands of miles<br />
apart, one a scientist and the other a prophet but both saying the same thing. So, those who claim<br />
that <strong>Sikh</strong>i is also a revealed religion, like the other religions, are doing a grave disservice to Guru Nanak.<br />
Would they also say that Copernicus received divine revelation too Copernicus himself makes no such<br />
claim. <strong>The</strong> fact of the matter is that there is no such thing as revelation. Any religion making that<br />
claim is false. Guru Nanak and Copernicus both used their bibek-budhi, an evolutionary gift that only<br />
humans possess, even though they share 90% of their DNA with mice and 98% with chimpanzees.<br />
Copernicus published his theory in 1530; Guru Nanak put his view of Universe more than a decade earlier<br />
in jpu (Jap).<br />
One of the strongest arguments presented in support of Gurbani as revealed is reference to Dur-kI-bfxI. S.<br />
Gurbachan Singh Sidhu, in an article on that topic appearing in this issue (p.28), makes an argument that<br />
that is not so. Also appearing in this issue is a review by Dr. D. P. Singh of a book by Dr. Devinder Singh<br />
Chahal, ‘Nanakian Philosophy: Basics for humanity’. In this book Dr. Chahal repudiates the views of<br />
copy cat scholars who claim Guru Nanak’s teachings to be based on Vedantic philosophy, the very view<br />
being heavily emphasized, unfortunately, by the University in Amritsar that carries Guru’s name.<br />
Hardev Singh Shergill<br />
*****<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
[From March April 2012 <strong>Sikh</strong> <strong>Bulletin</strong>]<br />
EVOLUTION OF GOD<br />
By the time I stepped into my teenage years I had become a confirmed agnostic. I did not know much<br />
about religion and concept of God to deny the existence of the latter so I could not be an atheist. But I did<br />
know enough from observation and reading literature that God, as being described and worshipped, could<br />
not exist. In the mostly Hindu literature that I read it seemed that any time someone with a long and hard<br />
tapasya got within reach of God, he would send a heavenly prostitute (apasra) to make them fall from<br />
grace.<br />
It was in my sixties that I got introduced to Guru Nanak’s concept of God and that God, I thought, I could<br />
accept because it was unlike any other God and whom everyone could accept. More on Guru Nanak’s<br />
concept of God will be the subject of next issue of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Sikh</strong> <strong>Bulletin</strong>.<br />
One of the writings that explained the meaning of Moolmantar/Manglacharan, the very first words in<br />
Guru Granth Sahib, was that of Dr. Devinder Singh Chahal. Starting with the September-October 2011<br />
issue of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Sikh</strong> <strong>Bulletin</strong>, in which we published a review of his book “Nankian Philosophy: Basics for<br />
Humanity”, we have begun publishing chapters from that book in every successive issue. This issue has<br />
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