The Abuse Of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji

[GurSa Singh]

Article from Tapoban forum.

Author: Gurcharan Singh Kulim

Date: 10-26-05 17:59

The Guru Granth Sahib is no ordinary granth or book, as some may wrongly beleive.Sikhs have been ordered to revere it as the living Reflection of their Gurus and the Gurus message.

Yet we hear of some misled and misinformed Sikhs taking to the Guru Granth sahib as a book an ddemanding its presence in places which can be considered unclean or inappropriate.

I sometimes wonder and like to ask such people ..would you consider taking your young child to a hotel or a home which has been used as a haven for drugs and illict sex and if known as a prostitute hangout, even if someone assures that it has been cleaned for the day of all the viceful things and people?Would you, or anyone ?I am sure the answer will be in a chorus ..no!

So why such excuses are used for the supreme shabd Guru of the Sikhs and it is dragged for a few hours into a bar m or a place where vice takes place and smoking polutes the environment!

Recently it has been brought to the attention off the Panth about a Gurduara in the east end, where Birs of Guru Granth SAHIB HAVE BEEN LEFT TO SIT AWAY UN ATTENDED IN THE OLDER BUILDING AS ONE SAROOP has been removed for use in the new main hall.This nothing but absolute abuse of the Guru Granth sahib, and does NOT set a good example for others to follow .

Let me share something that happend back in the 1960s.There were up to five Gurduaras in China.After the Red revolution and deteriorating Sino Indian relations, people of Indian citizenary were asked to leave china.Almost all the indians settled in china up to about four thousand were Sikhs.The first step this Sikhs took was to ensure the Guru Granth sahib wa staken care of and sent off safely out of the country first to hong Kong , then on route stopping in Malaysia to Delhi.For a whole month flights arrived from HK into KL where the Guru Granth sahib was taken off , rested by the local sikhs before going on to India.About twelev such flights arrived within the month.Small numbers of Sikh families from China also accompanied these flights.A bir was always maintained in a Shanghai Gurduara to ensure the remaining Sikhs continued with its darshan and shabad kirtan.Then at last in March 1963, the last family and group of Sikhs left China, with them they carried the last Bir of Guru Granth sahib with great revearance.I understand the airport in KL was packed with Sikhs who gathered to welcome the swari of Guru Granth sahib, and pay homage before it went on to India.I believe similar may have happened in Singapore as well.

I can recall one incident when fire broke out in a Sikh Gurduara in Sungai Petani in the Malaysian state of Kedah,, the granthi sahib Bhai Harbans Singh first and foremost without any regard for himself removed the birs of Guru Granth sahib and saved what he could.I understand a bir was cremated in this fire.

Not too long ago ...we have seen live on TV Sikhs escaping from Afghanistan made treacherous treks over dangerous country and mountains with the saroops of Guru Granth sahibs and ensued the Birs were respectfully saved and handed over to their brethren in Pakistan, and safely transported to Panja sahib .These Sikhs cared more the Guru Granth sahib , but not their own lives.They made sure Guru Granth sahib was moved safely away from danger and they went back to their danger zones to help other sikhs and bring out more birs of Guru Granth sahib.We have seen many pictures of these sikhs ...Under a blue cloth lies one “refugee” from the war in Afghanistan that successfully crossed the closed border into Pakistan. It is a book. Not just any book. It is the holiest book of the Sikhs in Afghanistan’s eastern Jalalabad and rests under its special cover in a gurdwara, down a twisting network of alleys in the heart of the western city of Peshawar.

The book, Guru Granth Sahib, was taken out of Afghanistan for safekeeping by the dwindling Sikh community from well over 500,000, fearing for the future of the country as US warplanes rained bombs and missiles on the ruling Taliban.

“There is anarchy in Afghanistan now, so there is a chance of disrespect for the book,” said Bhai Sona Singh, head of Gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh in Peshawar.

“We did it because of the US strikes,” he said.

“This is the most holy book for the Sikhs and is present in every gurdwara, said Sona Singh.

Sikhs in the eastern city of Jalalabad, one of the main targets of the US-led attacks brought it to the Pakistani border. “And we collected it there,” Sona Singh said. “We got permission from the local government.”

Sikhism, a monotheistic religion founded in the 15th century in India, was influenced by both Hinduism and Sufi Islam. Sikhs are easily identified by their turbans and beards.

Sikh leaders estimate about 1,000 to 2,000 Sikhs and Hindus lived in Afghanistan before the current crisis, down from 50,000 before Afghanistan spiralled into strife over two decades ago.

Thousands fled in the 1990s during fighting between the Mujahideen (holy warriors) and Soviet-backed former president Najibulla that left much of the capital Kabul in ruins.

Sona Singh said many who remain are fleeing or thinking of escape “I think more than 500 persons have come in this recent crisis. Most have gone to a gurdwara in (Pakistan’s) Punjab because it’s a very large one and they can be helped there.”

“We left because there was bombing and we were afraid it would come to residential areas,” said Rajindir Singh, who shared mats in the gurdwara with his parents, wife and two children.

Rajindir Singh wanted to stay to run his crockery shop, but was worried about the air raids and the Taliban reaction. “Business was fine, but their attitude was not friendly.”

Rajindir Singh said he and his family would stay in Pakistan and watch events unfold in Afghanistan.

“We have shops, we have homes, so definitely we want to go back. If there is peace and conditions are well, we will go.”

Sikhs in Afghanistan were traditionally involved in the cloth trade, but their dominance declined as their numbers fell.

“Most of them are shopkeepers. They’re still in the cloth trade but also things like general stores,” said Sona Singh.

He said relations between the Sikh community and the Taliban had been difficult but mostly not threatening. “Only when they asked minorities to label themselves, that was a worry.”

The order which asked are Hindus to wear yellow badges did not apply to Sikhs because they were already identified by their distinctive turbans.

Sikhs have been in Peshawar for centuries and their influence hit a peak in the first half of the 1800s, when they occupied the Peshawar valley, ransacked the city and ruled most of the Punjab, and also made in roads into Afghanistan, where they did not stay too long and left on their on.

More recently we have seen how Sikhs spent thousands to make sure they retreived and helped bring out the Holy Guru Granth from any further possible damage.Some attribute the floating of the Guru Granth all that flood and typhoon as a miracle.Whatever, it shows how much troubles sIkhs will go to ensure the Holy guru Granth is always erespected and kept safe.

During the 1960s police fired upon some sewadaars in Paonta sahib, and entered the darbar sahib, but the granthi Singh did not stir from his paath..as he was shot another Singh leaped up to the manji sahib to continue the chaur and paath in the face of bullets!

But today when we hear abuse of Guru Granth sahib by sikhs who have become used to the easy comforts of life , so much so they now feel confident to address the Guru Granth sahib as the "book"..I sometimes wonder if they are any different from the massa rannggerrs and the shaitans from the mughal regime!they are drunk in the nashaa of their wealth and defile the holy book, but they themselves will first dust a seat before they even sit their enlarged wealthy posterior upon it.Yet they allow many Birs of Guru Granth sahib tosit on shelfs with little respect and collect dust!

It is the most shameful act of such so called gurduara""" sewadaars""...sewadaar who are only always seeking a photo opportunity ...and dust the seat they sit upon!

[sher_panjabi]

waheguru... very thought provoking and inspirational article