A Snapshot
First, let’s look at this simple graph. It’s not to scale.
For the purpose of this discussion, please ignore the column of numbers on the left. At the bottom, you will see important years. 1469 is the year of birth of Holy Baba Nanak. Sikhi is introduced and people start to take the Charan-Amrit and become Sikhs. (Some people like to say that Sikhi does not believe in conversion. Strange statement, when our Holy Gurus had initiation ceremonies, gave Amrit to millions and accepted them into the Sikh faith!).
This trend continues in larger numbers up through 1699, when a new form of Amrit was introduced by Guru Gobind Singh called ‘Khande dha Amrit’. Membership of this religion continues to grow because of the leadership and charisma of the Tenth Master. But in 1708, upon the departure of the Guru, there is a dip due to the leadership vacuum. Then along came Baba Banda Singh to take up the leadership of the Khalsa and growth is resumed, maybe at a lesser rate. Upon his departure, growth is still sustained because of the desire and determination of the people of Hindustan to drive out the Mughals and end their tyranny. So people were still converting to the Khalsa panth. Then came the great Sikh Maharaja, Ranjit Singh. He secured the first Sikh kingdom and there was still a lot of energy in the Khalsa movement. But upon his death in 1839, the Sikhs were left without a leader, a conquered people, and without a vision. The British government kidnapped the young Sikh Maharaja, Duleep Singh, leaving the Sikh nation leaderless. Thence began the decline in the momentum that had sustained the growth of this new religion. Until today, with no country to call our own, we are yet to find a way how to revive the flagging fortunes of our religion.
I have used this little story-line only to demonstrate that it appears that our decline started round about 1839. I felt a need to show readers that we’ve been in decline for such a long time. We are at present, the only world religion that is in negative growth. Christianity is growing and Islam is multiplying. More and more westerners are flocking to Hinduism and Buddhism. And we, are in a spiral dive, and busy attacking anyone who still hasn’t given up and is still thinking of how to revive our fallen spirits or at least survive the next few years!
Whereas Punjabis as a race are growing just like all other races and will continue to spread throughout the world, But Sikhy as a religion has been shrinking for the last 100 years, and shrinking drastically in the last 30 years. Very soon, if nothing is done, we will lose the ‘Critical Mass’ required to sustain the remaining Sikhs. If we only end up with ten men in turbans in a whole city gurdwara, it’ll be ‘Game Over’ for the religion. Like those who stayed back in Pakistan during the partition, those who remain will simply run out of stamina and feel the futility of carrying on. They will simply do away with their religious practice or worse, start converting to the majority religions for their survival.
Just last month, when a Sikh panthic worker and writer stayed over with us on her way to India from the US, she told us that almost all the keshadhari Sikhs she spoke to in the US clearly stated that they do not want their children to go through what they have had to endure because of their different appearance. They will be cutting their kid’s hair. Period!
And these words are not unique to Sikhs in America. They are words you will find echoed all around the globe from Sikhs of all walks of life. Right here in Malaysia, it is normal to see young families where the parents or at least the father is a full keshadhari, but their children are not.
The reason I write all this is because I despair about the situation of the Sikh religion today. But it is clear to me that there may be some Sikh leaders and others in leadership positions who are still struggling to understand the reality, and how fragile our situation is if there are less than 5% Sikhs left in the world today (those who do not cut, trim, or shave, be they men, women or youngsters, and who have taken the Guru’s Khandeh dha Amrit! They are still in denial. They cannot come to terms with the fact that we are in deep trouble and bordering on extinction, if we keep on insisting that the only way one can be a true guru-ka Sikh is if we don’t remove any hair from our entire body. They cannot seem to fathom that there were thousands of the Gurus followers who were Hindus and Muslims. Along these ‘Lines of Purity’ that they keep re-drawing, hell bent on making the Sikh religion exclusive for them selves and to exclude all the good people who are so devout and fill our gurdwaras with their devotion. It is because of their attitude of being ‘Holier than everyone else’ that the actual number of Sikhs is diminishing daily as more and more Sikhs are being excluded because they are trimming or cutting their hair or their beards.
Something has to be done to include all persons who profess the worship of the one God, Akaal Purakh Waheguru, and the divinity of the Sikh Gurus, as Sikhs!
Today, we have thousands of Sindhis, Gujeratis who love our Gurus and who come to gurdwara. Some even have Guru Granth Sahib parkaash in their homes. As a matter of fact, I found out when I was in Hong Kong that the beautiful Sikh Gurdwara there was built by our Sindhi Sikh brothers. Isn’t that wonderful? In the Karachi and Sind area of Pakistan, we were told by Bhai Baldev Singh of Leo Travels that there are more than 100,000 Sindhis who still practice the Sikh faith. In 1988, he even brought a 5 member delegation from that community in Karachi to Malaysia for a meeting with the Sikh Naujawan Sabha Exco to see how we in Malaysia could help them build their first gurdwara.
Around the holy Sikh shrines in Pakistan, you will find till today, many Muslims who still love our gurus and recite gurbani. On my yatra there, I saw a Pakistani Muslim woman reciting by heart the Sukhmani Sahib in Nankana Sahib. Upon my enquiry, she said that many people in that area read the Sukhmani! Are we going to declare all these people as patits? Who are we to do that anyway? As Jesus said to those people who had come to stone to death a jewish sinner, “Let that person who is without sin cast the first stone”. And all those purists who had come to put another man to death dropped their stones in shame. Bhai Mardana’s decendants, the dear and lifelong companion of none other than the Holiest Baba Nanak, until today still perform kirtan in their home country of Pakistan. And since we are on the subject, allow me to say here that they were recently denied permission to perform kirtan at the Golden Temple, because ‘they are not Sikhs’! How sad, the way we judge people who come to the holy feet of the Guru.
On my first flight duty to Madrid, Spain when I used to fly the Airbus 330, I was literally swept off my feet in the downtown area by a young ‘Gujerati’ Sikh brother. He was so thrilled that he had met after so many years in Spain, a sabat surat Sikh of the Guru. He insisted on taking me home for dinner. I was so overcome by what I found in his car. It was unkempt, but for this amazing reason; Starting from the dashboard, every bit of vacant space in it was covered with kirtan cassettes and CDs, of every known jatha and ragi. When we got to his home, every wall was adorned with pictures of our Holy Gurus and the Golden Temple. He was so excited that for the few hours that we spent there before he drove me back to my hotel, he didn’t (couldn’t, rather) stop talking about Sikhy!
He had taught his Spanish wife to read the Japji Sahib in the Roman. He got both her and his 6 year old son to recite the Mool Mantra by heart. His son’s room, and their bedroom was again covered with pictures of our Gurus. We all sat and watched videos of his Baba Ji’s satsangs in India. All the people in those mega events were non-Punjabis. Women and men, they were completely lost in their devotion, clapping their hands to the kirtan of our Gurus in the fashion that people of India are apt to do when singing bhajans. In total, in my entire life, I have not had a more profound experience as I had that day being with this family. It was on that day I understood the lesson of ‘Intensity of Worship’ that I so often speak about these days. I began to understand that unlike people of other religions, the only intensity we Sikhs seem to have is that of fighting ferociously over the rehat maryada.
This Gujerati brother was totally soaked with the love for our Gurus and Gurbani. He told me of his ‘Baba Ji’ a Sikh saint who had a following in the Pune area of India. Before he reluctantly sent me home that night, he loaded me with gifts of cassettes and CDs of his favourite ragis, a picture of his Baba Ji, and a special Gutka – it was a 20 page booklet with nothing inside except 10 lines of only the Gurmantra Waheguru written in English on each page, in 5 columns. He said that since all of his Baba Ji’s followers were non Punjabis and could not read Gurmukhi, he had this prepared for them and told all his followers to READ OUT ALOUD each Waheguru, word by word, from this gutka every day as their nitnem.
Whereas we in the Mission are proposing that we go back to the original teachings of Baba Guru Nanak, where He taught that anyone who believes in the one God, Akaal Purakh, and the divinity of the Guru is a Sikh. And we are preaching therefore that anyone who believes and practices the above can be and is as good a Sikh as any, whether with hair or not. For those who love their turbans and hair, they are welcome to continue, and even aim higher to adopt the full 5 K’s and become Khalsa. We are saying that for Sikhi to grow again, we have to adopt this stance or something along these lines. We cannot continue to insist that a Sikh has to be a Khalsa and that if you are cutting your hair, you are not a Sikh! This group and others who are in denial are insisting that if you are not a Khalsa and not wearing your 5 K’s, YOU ARE A ‘PATIT’, an apostate or rudely referred to by them as ‘Kacha Pilla Sikh’, translated as ‘unfit and worthless Sikh’.
We call God ‘Patitt Paavan’, the Saviour of Sinners, yet ‘WE’ call people ‘pattits. In my monthly programme in Petaling Jaya in April, I said; “God only judges us on the day we die, ie - once. Yet we, judge everybody every day. We preach in our gurdwaras that our Holy Gurus built the Golden Temple with four doors that open to the four corners of the world and to all the people on earth, saint or sinner. Then we create labels to call those who cut trim or shave as pattits. Have we done justice to our Gurus teachings? In the Holy Granth Sahib, the word pattit refers to persons who have become un-Godly or ‘fallen’ in their ways. It does not in any way refer to those who cut trim or shave. It was never meant to be used to discriminate against those Sikhs who don’t wear the 5k’S.
Recently, some kids started a Facebook site on the internet to attack me personally, and my views on doing away with these counter-productive limitations, and making the Sikh religion an open and inclusive religion that is open to all and welcomes all unconditionally instead of a limiting and exclusive one only for the privileged few. They say that since I want to make the religion open and easy for everyone to follow, I am making it ‘cheap’!. I couldn’t believe that making a religion open for all was actually a sin, by their standards.
Because I am working under the banner of ‘Sikhs With A Mission’, they called their site Anti Sikhs with a mission. Interestingly, these kids too are echoing the same oft repeated slogan which we are all quite tired of listening to, and still preached by these people who are still living in cocoons and living in denial, which I have heard for the last 30 years – “We are not interested in quantity. We only want quality. We don’t want these people who cut their hair. Those who are cutting their hair can leave the panth for all we care. They are not fit to be Sikhs and anyway, were never good enough to be Khalsa!”
Actually, this reaction comes from a case of ‘Sour Grapes’. It’s the same story as in the Aesop’s Fables of the hungry fox who tried to pluck the bunches of grapes hanging on a high vine. When people can’t have something, they try to save face by saying that that was not what they wanted anyway.
They are implying that the more than 80% of Sikhs today who they have declared as patit (apostate) by their definition, because they cut, trim or shave, they are not fit to be Sikhs in the first place because they don’t have quality and that is why they have chosen to cut their hair, and that they won’t be missed by anyone if they leave!
The above is a graphic representation of the Sikh funnel today. If it was raining people instead of raindrops, how many people do you think it would catch? Look below to see the size of for example, the Christian Funnel. Actually it’s a probably relatively a thousand times bigger than that.
If any Sikh believes that we can withstand the funnels of the other religions, we might be in for a little shock. Everyday, we hear of more converting out of Sikhi. Not only will we NOT BE ABLE TO catch our own Sikh ‘raindrops’, our raindrops will actually be caught by the other funnels, which are much much larger than ours because we refused to accommodate those who could not keep their Sikhi form due to their personal reasons!
Folks, the writing is on the wall. We better put on our glasses and read it now, or very soon it will be a case of ‘the last man out can switch off the lights’! The only way for Sikhy to survive in this age of the AGGRESSIVE CONVERSION POLICIES OF THE OTHER FAITHS around us, WE HAVE to ‘get out of the Box’ and play the game the others are playing. We have to start increasing the size of OUR funnel. If we don’t, our raindrops are going to miss the funnel, hit the ground, or run-off into the waiting funnels of others.
Sikhism is now once again at the crossroads of our survival. We have survived many times before. But this time, the fight may be long, and hard. And do not forget, we do not have the stamina, enthusiasm and determination of our founding fathers. Unlike 300 years ago when the young Sikh nation was bursting with energy, stamina, zeal and determination to stand against all odds. Today we lie muddled in ‘INTERNAL’ disputes, jealousies, character assassinations, gurdwara rivalries, caste issues (Ramgharia Jhat , territorial issues (Malwa Majha Doaba), and worst of all, rivalry and fighting for control at the top level of our Panthic institutions.
If We Want the results We’ve Never Had Before, We’ll Have to do What We’ve Never Done Before.
We in the Mission too are struggling to find ways to return Sikhy to its former glory. Under the present circumstances, even that is a far fetched dream. If we can stabilize the panth would be a miracle enough. For a start, we will never be able to get the support of everyone. In any community or religion, that is impossible. We have no delusions about that. No ideas can ever be acceptable to everyone out there. All we seek is that as many Sikhs as possible recognize that there is a huge shake-down looming out there, that we are in a huge crisis today.
The Sikhs and the leaders are in denial. Just in the last few years in the Sikh homeland, every other Sikh youth has become clean shaven. Colleges and even secondary schools in Punjab are full of youths who are alcoholics and drug addicts. If we can just wake up the panth to our problem of a looming extinction, we would have achieved our Mission. For those who feel that we are making sense, you can do more by voicing your support for our ideas, at least in your local area. Instead of criticizing and attacking each other, it would be better if people came up and posted SOLUTIONS. For the massive problem we are facing out there, we are only too eager to hear other peoples proposed solutions, if they have any. Either way, we will have done our job.
Thanking You.
Peace, Love and Light to all.
Satnam
2 comments:
Once again, as expected, thought provoking. maybe we need more funnels instead of a bigger one?! also, any way to automatically send emails when you have a new article to share? this will generate a bigger audience and help spread the word by email. I would also urge you to conduct surveys - use web tools like surveymonkey etc. lets see what the sikh youth thinks!
Dear Bhai Sukdev ji,
Every word and fact that you have articulated in this sobering article is undisputably true. Be that as it may, whenever any movement is in existential trouble, as we are projecting that in fact we are.. then this is also the moment of greatest opportunity, for there is always a dormant longing, a yearning for inspiration, for someone to wake up the people, to give them a reason to be proud, but mostly, to show that there is hope.
If there is hope as demonstrated by those willing to tackle the issues that we face head on, fearlessly, as SWAM is doing, then this can spread to another person 'on the fence' so to speak.. and another, and another. And some of those who have 'reawakened' will take it upon themselves to gather (or reinvigorate) a Sangat , continue the mission, to pour every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears into rebuilding Sikhi from the ground up.
You lead by example, and as a pioneer, you are taking your share of arrows. Others of us need to step up and have the courage to take some arrows too. Too many of us have been wrangling our hands and complaining, commiserating amongst ourselves for too long, in a collective stupor of shock and denial. Now is the time for action. If now now, then when? And if not action taken by you, and me, and other's who care, then by whom?
Naysayers complain that we are not authorized to take action.. but if not us, then who? Who do we have to be to take action? My only question is, what would any of our Gurus have done in a situation such as today? That is the only question I feel obligated to answer.
Sat Nam
Gurujyot Singh
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