Lions? Gimme a Break!

(This article is 'Further Down the Road Less Travelled' from my work on re-branding and re-marketing the Sikh religion before we can take it to a new world. Lets teach our kids stuff that has meaning and makes sense. Time to let go of the past, and reassess what futile messages we are giving to our future generation)

The Irrelevance of it All

Get real. folks. Today, it is no longer relevant to keep harping on this worn out line about Sikhs being lions. Who gives a damm about whether anybody is a lion or not. The Europeans don't care if you are lions or not. The Americans, Africans, Chinese and Japanese don't either. (Did I miss anyone?) But all of these folks need the Sikhi of our Gurus. People want to know if you can help them find peace, if you can teach them how to resolve conflict by resolving the ego, to be calm, to meditate and to heal themselves. Nobody is looking for lions!

What does it mean to ‘be a lion’ anyway. What lion. Where lion. Who lion. How does being a lion help anyone or anything? That was a good line for the times of Guru Gobind Singh. Brought great results too. But what has this projection of being lions have to do with today’s world and today’s lifestyles? There are no more wars to fight. Even if there were, we learned in 1984 that no amount of ‘lions’ can make any difference. (The poor Arabs too like us, can’t seem to understand.) How about we birth and reinforce a new message, that truly makes sense.

Sikh Dharma is not about war at all. It never was. It is actually about peace, remember. Naa ko Hindu, Naa ko musallman. All are the children of God. Out of 10 Guru Prophets. only two went to war. The first, Guru Hargobind only fought four short battles. And they were just to sort out some details with the emperor in Delhi and to tell him where he can go! Lets not lose the picture of the 247 years of our ten Gurus and their true mission and purpose here on earth!

Christians don’t go around calling themselves ‘Richard the Lion Heart’. They don’t go around dressed as the crusaders did. They have a proud martial history too, but they have left it all behind to spend all their energy renewing themselves and spreading their religion. They live in the present. They teach their kids their proud history of the crusaders, but they tell them that they are the workers of Christ. Their mission is to spread Christianity all over the world. You will never guess how many millions of young Christians are today working, mostly self funded, in the most remote parts of the world, spreading Christianity. Just visit one of their websites and see for your self.

Then also the Japanese. They are famous for being Ninja's and Samurai. Go to Japan today and you'll never see one. The past is the past. Something to be inspired by. Something to be proud of. But today, it has no practical purpose, besides bringing in some tourists. All the ninjas and samurais have moved on.

Sikhs still live in history, in the glories of their past, dreaming on and on, of some recognition that the world may give us, and still hoping to return to that golden era when we were kings of our own lands and respected for our guts. Sikhs go on and on about being lions and do nothing else. The result: we have raised generations of kids who have been taught nothing else. No one has said anything about 'Rocking the World with Sikhi'.

How about re-branding ourselves to be ‘Lighted Candles’! (These were the favourite words of Sant Baba Niranjan Singh Ji of Patiala, Shiromani Kathakaar , the Sant who was dubbed ‘The Englishman Saint’ because of his English education.) “How can an extinguished candle light another”, he would ask the sanggat, and in English too. “Darkness can only be removed with light. So, become ‘Lighted Candles’ he would say, again and again.

How about teaching our kids that they are the Lighted Candles of God, sent here to spread peace, Love and Light, in a world that is full of darkness and pain. Now wouldn’t that be wonderful, our children growing up, knowing that they were born with a mission, and their birth is for a divine assignment. Teach them that they are ‘Nirala’. They are here to help Akaal Purakh defeat ‘Kalyug’, and lead the world to safety. Then watch these kids, growing up with meaning to their life.

Teach them that they are lighted candles. They must shine bright for the world to see. They must imbibe all the godly qualities – being strong, truthful, mindful, dutiful, pious, humble, generous, forgiving. When we switch the teaching from being lions to being Lighted Candles, there is suddenly so much to teach and nurture in our kids. Only then will every parent suddenly have an opportunity to teach Sikhi to their kids and have meaningful participation in their growth. Today, even though universal values are taught in every home, they are never taught as Sikhi values. Problem has been that most of us, me included, never knew what there was to teach our kids, besides about being lions, being strong and brave. So all we did was drag them to Gurdwara and that’s it.

Better to be ‘Light’. What do you say? Let’s move from Lions to Light. Better to be enlightened beings who spread Sikh Dharma, love, healing and peace in this world. That is relevant, and everybody in the world is looking for these teachings and the messengers and teachers who can help people remove their ignorance and find God. That is why Guru Nanak came to this world.................not to raise lions. We were transformed to become Lions to defend a fledgling faith, until the Sikhi tree had grown strong branches and roots. Today, the fight to survive is still on. But it is not lions who are going to save us. The war is a war of intellect and intelligence. We must fight with our brains. We are not going to win it by walking around carrying swords and spears inside Gurdwara compounds!

We must move on from being lions to becoming ‘Beings of Light’ as required by our founding Fathers. In a world full of darkness and ignorance, Sikhs are required by our Gurus to become ‘Beacons of Divine Light’ –

Gur Sakhi, jothe pargat hoeh;
God be my witness, the Perfect Light shines and radiates from within me. (Sohila)

Jaat meh jhot , jhot meh jaataa

Your light is in your creatures, and your creatures are in your light

Your almighty light pervades everywhere!

Be proud of your past, but don’t hang on to it. Redefine your future and move on. Stay relevant, and make sense.

Please do go over to my lecture notes on Intro To Sikhi, to understand 'What is the defination of a 'Sikh'. You will find it in my blog titled - Finally, the Mystery is Solved.....