Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
36ABSTRACTS OF SIKH STUDIES : JAN-MARCH <strong>2006</strong> / 537-38 NShiatus between their conduct and the Guru’s dictates.Guru Granth Sahib envisages honesty, truth, humility, regardfor others’ sentiments; our so-called leaders lead us in impurity, greed,illegal amassing <strong>of</strong> wealth and political chicanery for personal pelfand power.When bribery and corruption dominate our religious bodies, andwinning <strong>of</strong> voters is resorted to, how can we be leaders in telling theworld that Guru Granth Sahib is the guide for the new Millennium?The insistence <strong>of</strong> Guru Granth Sahib is on eradication <strong>of</strong> evilslike hypocrisy, mismanagement <strong>of</strong> public funds, personal glory andpersonal vanity. The requirement <strong>of</strong> our Guru is purity, piety,selflessness, honesty, kindness, truth, love, humility, understanding<strong>of</strong> others, while looking at our own shortcomings. What we see todayis cross materialism and rampant corruption in men and institutionsclaiming adherence to Guru Granth Sahib.Gurdwaras and akhand paths as also siropas show our places <strong>of</strong>worship as commercial houses and their managers political andmanagerial businessmen, not the type <strong>of</strong> <strong>Sikh</strong> that Guru evisages.As I have said above, the biggest challenge in the new Millenniumis not the absence <strong>of</strong> rules <strong>of</strong> righteousness, but our alienation fromthem. We were supposed to show ourselves as the embodiment <strong>of</strong>our Guru’s teachings and personification <strong>of</strong> the rules <strong>of</strong> piety, purityand propriety, but the materialistic ambitions and comfortable livinghave deprived us <strong>of</strong> our Guru’s grace.Just as we live today, we shall continue to face the problemsarising out <strong>of</strong> alienation from moral and spiritual guidance. Myimpression – and my personal experience – is that intellectual exercisesdo not give us hope. In fact, when we merely discuss, debate andproduce books, we miss the bus. Let us see other cases :The United Nations Charter is an excellent document, but thosewho have to work it, always find loopholes for action not conduciveto its expectations.Iraq, Afganistan, Palestine and various other problems are therenot because <strong>of</strong> institutional guidance or legal or semi-legal provisions,but are there definitely because <strong>of</strong> Man’s insolent behaviour, whichremains insolent, selfish, impure and unbecoming.
Change language