"North of 49" on Hallmark Ch. 3/28/04.

[Cali_Khalsa]

WJKK, WJKF:

I was unable to watch the documentary on Sunday morning, but I did get a chance to record it. I just gone done watchin' it and thought I'd post some of my thoughts...

There were a couple of positive aspects that came across. First and foremost, it is worth noting that during the fire, everything was nearly destroyed. However, when they went inside to inspect the damage, the Guru Granth Sahib and the palkai were left in their original condition...no damage whatsoever.

Also, there was interview with the parents of one of the firefighters who helped battle the blaze. They admitted that their son was sort of a "redneck," but as he was fightin' the fire, he went inside and as he did so, he stopped in his tracks without any explanation whatsoever. He just sorta froze, and even now he can't explain it, but he told his parents that something, or someone, told him not to go any further. It was later revealed that had he gone any further, he would have almost certainly fallen through the floor and been severely injured or killed. He is not sure what it was, perhaps a voice, but he is unsure where it came from.

These two aspects coupled with the fact that there is a larger theme here of forgiveness and love is certainly admirable. However, I would be remiss if I failed to point out some of the more disturbing parts.

As was alluded to earlier, I concur that it is not fair to say that these guys represent Sikhi. They can best be described as a cult and I would put them in the same category as some of the other weird factions out there that try to pass themselves off as Sikhs (radhoswamis, nirankaris, etc.). I was taken aback b

y the imagery and the worship of various deities ridden with Hindu rituals. There was even a picture of a Jesus statue in their "gurdwara." They also had "sacred fires" and to top it all off, they filmed the birthday celebration of their leader in India where in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib, women were chanting while waving trays of burning candles in a circular fashion, while one man began doing Bhangra. I was tempted to turn it off at that point as I was on the verge of vomiting with disgust and anger, but I decided to sit through and view the documentary in its entirety.

Whatever "good" was achieved in their local community, I fear that more damage may have been done by airing this documentary to a nation-wide audience who have been given a false view of what Sikhism is. It is sick pervision of our faith to the umpteenth degree… while the themes of love and forgiveness certainly rings true, the practices depicted are anything but. A commendable effort, but one that should have been done with greater input from Sikh organizations before being put together and put on the air.

-Gurfateh

P.S. the creators of this documentary have a website where you can learn more about their project. I believe there is also a section to submit feedback as well...

http://www.northof49.net/

[Deep Singh]

yeah that is true...but i think they don't say it is a Gurdwara, but a some interfaith center based upon Sikh teachings about humility,etc.

[Simran9]

I just sent them an email, lets see what they say about it... :T:

[Cali_Khalsa]

WJKK, WJKF:

Here is an editorial I found posted over at the Sikh News Network website on this topic....

"NORTH OF 49" GONE SOUTH

Palermo, New York, USA -- “North of 49” is a documentary about a fire that burned down a temple called Gobind Sadan in upstate New York. The incident was prosecuted as a hate crime which took place a few weeks after 9/11. But the film is awful, to say the least. It is amateurish, boring, incomprehensible and, worst of all, it falsely claims the temple to be a Sikh place of worship.

The story takes place in a small town just south of the Canadian border where the locals are mostly farmers and hunters. Ralph Singh and his wife bought a large farm from a widow at the request of a man they refer to as “Babaji.” Babaji turns out to be a “holy man” from India whom they and the other worshipers follow. The land contained two buildings: “One to house the holy book, which appears to be the Guru Granth Sahib, although the name was never mentioned; the second to house the eternal flame.” What is that about?

It seems that although the temple had been there since the mid 80’s, the followers of Gobind Sadan did not mingle with the locals and were looked upon as outsiders. After 9/11, four teenagers burned down the building housing their holy book. Three of them are serving time in state prison. The fourth was an expecting mother; the father was one of the arsonists. She has since had a baby boy.

The film relies on TV news clips and interviews with some of the locals, including the pregnant teenager who serves periodic time at the local jail. It was disturbing to see the mom-to-be smoking cigarettes throughout the film.

The most int

eresting part of the documentary comes when the film crew makes a trip to India with Ralph Singh. Inside a building located near Delhi, the viewers see a row people reading from holy books and doing choar. They also do choar to a statue of Christ, to a lit menorah, to statues of Hindu gods and more. The visitors are shown meeting with “Babaji” and apologizing for the fire. “Babaji” shown is sitting in a chair while his adoring followers do arti to him and doing pangra to some keertan-like music. It was both entertaining and nauseating at the same time.

This is the kind of film fit for people who slow down to see the car wreck at the side of the road.

Filmmakers Richard L. Breyer and David Coryell are professionals, but it seems that they did not do any basic research into Sikhism. Perhaps they would have discovered some discrepancies between practices at Gobind Sadan and a Sikh place of worship. Instead, they let Ralph Singh define Sikhism for them. Interestingly, we do not remember Ralph Singh call himself a Sikh, although he let the narrator describe Gobind Sadan as such. Perhaps he and the Babaji followers should more accurately call themselves Gobind Sadanists.

The documentary has been shown in some universities and recently aired on cable TV’s “Hallmark” channel. We don’t expect, we hope, it will get much more coverage than that. The tragic outcome of this film is that the public gets a false idea of what Sikhi is about. Gobind Sadan people follow many faiths and rituals. They break many tenets of Sikhism, namely that the Guru Granth Sahib is the only Guru and not to perform rituals.

Although we believe that people have a right to follow any religion they choose and that all hate crimes are wrong, we do take offense to Ralph Singh and Gobind Sadan allowing the documentary to refer to themselves as Sikhs.

http://www.sikhnn.com

-Gurfateh

[V]

same news was on sikhnet

when I posted that its a dodgy sect and not a part of Sikhism

My poist was refused as I had posted link to their site (gobindSadan)

and now I can't find the thread again :T: