Benti To Sardar Mokham Singh Jee

[Mehtab Singh]

Khalsa jee, if I am not wrong, you were a young man in 1984 when Ghallughara Bluestar happened. Please share your experiences with us who were either too young or were not even born back then. Where were you, how did the general Sikh masses feel and react, what was the situation like in your area, etc etc. whatever you feel like sharing.

dhannvaad jeeo

[MokhamSingh]

Khalsa Ji

Thank you for your message. Whilst I'm drafting a reply please find two photos which I feel are a reflection of the Gurmat Parchar by Sant Ji in the early 80's.

Thank you.

[UKLondonSikh]

Mehtab Singh Paji ... "shama kijiye" sanu websites de quote function baaray zyaadah ni samanj :-)

... but that aside I wanted you to know that the majority of Sangat recognise that out of two people who live an equally truthful Amritdhari jeevan ... but with one born in a Sikh family ... and the other was born in a non-Sikh family ... that the one who has chosen the Amritdhari jeevan despite coming from a different background has made the far greater strides and personal effort ... and hence gets more respect from me at least. Along these lines I wanted to ask you, how best do you feel

... we can reach our Hindu Punjabi brothers? (are they primarily Khatri, Arora, Bania and Brahmin in the cities and can you tell me the respective population strengths of each if you perhaps know and do you think Punjabi useage is almost dead amongst the younger Hindu Punjabi generations in the cities of Punjab nowadays?)

... we can reach Hindu's outside of Punjab more generally? (given where four of the Punj Pyaaray came from)

... though Brahminwaad (as a word I believe was first coined by Mahatma Budh) had a function in terms of avoiding blaming the "entire" Hindu community in the 20th Century when the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty was in its pomp ... now that its the 21st century and this word perhaps stops many decent people of the background of Bhai Mati Das Ji and Bhai Sati Das Ji becoming members of the Panth ... what word would you replace it with?

... any insight on the whole general subject or anything related would be appreciated (because I really feel as modernity spreads in India surely youngsters will look away from Ganesh+Hanuman etc as a solution for their problems. In the UK many Hindu friends are de facto atheists as they cannot relate to the myths ... they have much natural gravity towards Sikhism as a philosophy ... but we often succeed in putting them off Sikhi by somehow thinking that folks should enter the faith as Amritdhari rather than sehajdhari as HP's have grown up.

PS: Mokham Singh Paji ... if that's you big respect!!! :-)

[Mehtab Singh]

Veerji, I strongly suggest that parchaar to non-Sikhs should be done very carefully. They shouldn't feel that Sikhs do proselytizing. Best way is to educate those who come to us, rather than go after people to sell our beliefs like other people do.

[MokhamSingh]

Khalsa Ji

The recent events in the Sikh community regarding the Rajoana case are reminiscent of the events of 1984. During the earlier part of 1984 videos were being distributed of Sant Jarnail Singh who until now was not widely heard of. Sant Ji’s passion and depth of conviction struck a chord with numerous Sikh youth in the west. The vast majority of the youth such as myself who were born in the UK were 20/30 something who were moneh, drinkers, and smokers etc. The other younger Sikhs who had arrived from India later would also fit into this category. The Gurmat Parchar by the immensely charismatic Sant Ji gripped the attention of many. Sant Ji would explain the Sidhants of Gurmat, the sacrifices made by Mahan Gurmukhs of the Panth, the injustices endured by the Sikh nation, and the deliberate sacrilege committed against Gurmat etc.

Sant Ji’s enigmatic personality was the talk of our local community at the time. Our little sleepy village town in South East England had a handful of Amritdhari Sikhs but the rest fell into the previously mentioned category. At about the same time as Sant Ji’s parchar the BBC were covering events leading up to the attack on Sri Harmander Sahib. There was keen interest in the community to view the events that would unfold on daily basis. The moneh Sikhs youngsters started adopting the Khalsa Saroop and taking Amrit and keeping Rehat. These youngsters now started taking a keen interest in Gurmat and in the local Gurdwara Sahib. They formed committees and arranged large scale Gurmat Parchar from various taksals, sampradas, and Sikh institutions etc. The Parchar helped keep the Rehat intact and attracted many more to join the Khalsa fold.

The youngsters in the community were full to the brim with enthusiasm and their jyosh {high spirits} were unparalleled. They introduced many activities into Gurdwara Sahib. Punjabi classes were already taking place but Gurbani Santhya and Gurmat Sangeet were new for us. The events of June 1984 seemed to be a unifying force for the youth. Saturday night was a wonderful time to engage in Seva and Simran as opposed to clubbing. On a national level large scale protests were held in London etc. Which would be attended by thousands.

With regards to UKLondonSikh's posts I would just like to add that I was pleasantly surprised on a trip to the Pehowa area of Haryana , India. We met Amritdhari Gursikhs who were born into baania , Brahmin , and Khatri Hindu families. They said that they adopted Gursikhi after listening to Sant Mann Singh's Parchar. We also visited Sant Ji's educational and health institutions where Hindu staff members are Gurbani Nitnemi and engage in Waheguru Simran , again they embarked on this after listening to Sant Ji's Parchar although not all have adopted the Sikhi saroop yet.

Waheguru.

[Mehtab Singh]

Vaheguru! Thank you Bhai Sahib jee!

[adhiatmik]

Thank you for your insight Bhai Mokham Singh and thanks to Bhai Mehtab Singh for asking

[JSinghnz]

Mokham Singh ji, you are an inspiration to the younger generation of Sikhs.

I believe you must be spreading the message of Sikhism to others.