November 4th: Another Tyrant put to Rest

[SanmukhKaur]

The Indra Gandhi of the 18th century died on this day. Almost since the time Sikhism came into creation it has been persecuted by the leaders/rulers of India. Some rulers persecuted us more harshly then the others. Some tried to make us convert, others resorted to trying to kill us off. No matter what the hardship, we survived and kept our Sikhi intact but today everything is changing. Unlike the past, the problem is not outside factors, the attack seems to come from within. We no longer are considering all Sikhs to be equal, losing the bana and forgetting the bani.

Once upon a time we use to consider all Sikhs equal no matter what. But the times have changed, we no longer consider all Sikhs equal. Over time lots of different groups have popped up preaching that their way is the right way to practice Sikhi. We didn’t fight these groups when they began popping up and now we have groups that do anti-dasam bani preaching, preach of living guru, changing the size of Nitnem bani and so on. We are so divided that we fight amongst ourselves and often overlook the real needs of Sikh Panth and the real dangers.

Dangers like losing our Sikhi Saroop (image) that our forefathers gave their lives for. During the time of Mir Mannu Sikhs were brutually killed for being Sikhs and always under tremendous pressure to convert but still they lived in chardikala. Today to advance in this world of maya, we willingly cut our hair and reform ourselves to what others want. We allow the world to tell us that keeping hair is not natural/gross, we should shave them off. We allow the world to tell us its unattractive to wear the turban, to wear the bana and we change our look accordingly. It is getting to the point where most Sikhs don’t look like Sikhs Guru Gobind Singh Ji created. Why does anyone need to kill us, if we our killing our Sikhi with our own hands?

With the bana gone, bani is not that far behind. Just as we are finding the bana inconvenient, we are running short of time to read bani. No longer do majority of people that so proudly call themselves Sikhs get up at amritvela and read Nitnem. Today we are too busy gossiping in the Darbar of Guru Granth Sahib Ji to listen to Gurbani. Gone are the times when Sikhs with their every breath lived in the remembrance of Waheguru Ji, singing Gurbani. They withstood all injustices done by Miri Mannu because they had Gurmantar and used it. Today we have Gurmantar but we have lost the value of it. We no longer use Bani as a never wavering support to get us through all the good times and bad, so we can meet Waheguru Ji.

Fighting amongst ourselves we have lost our bana and bani without evening having rulers like Mir Mannu threaten us into it. It is a request to all Sikhs to read our history and read about everything Sikhi went through, before even considering doing anything to further yourself from Waheguru Ji. Don’t let our own foolishness destroy this beautiful religion that no evil dictator could even touch. Let us show the world that Sikhs will always be true to their Gurus and not never turn their back on them. Let us take Amrit and take the first step towards Waheguru Ji.