Jump to content

Sikh Leadership


Recommended Posts

Quote

I look forward to a new generation of younger informed Sikh students moving into academia to displace the deadwood, but we are a decade away from that.

I'm not as hopeful as Singh Ji in regards to the mentality cultivated by the next generation of Sikhs entering the intellectual arena. If they're studying at the same institutions that the rest of their non-Sikh peers are attending, I don't think the contemporary educated Sikh professional is mentally strong enough to resist the ideological indoctrination of the western academic establishment. The environment and the culture is simply too overwhelmingly overbearing for a certain type of person to reject the mainstream orthodoxy, and then reassert their own values in its place as a viable alternative.

Blog articles and social media posts from these Sikhs offer a telling insight into how Sikhi in the West is gradually being shaped into being the "Indic" religious arm of broader far-left liberalism. I'm afraid we've unwittingly developed a generation of Ram Rais willing to kowtow to the ruling mainstream at the expense of the unassailable norms of their faith.

We aren't like Muslims who constantly need to defend their abhorrent scriptures by performing mental gymnastics in order to defend the indefensible, yet I don't see much evidence of so-called "educated" Sikhs retaining the classic Sikh combativeness in purely intellectual terms. Acquiescing to pressure from ideological opponents has somehow become a virtue for Sikhs, as if we're in a race to bow and scrape our beliefs away in a wish to be as inoffensive as possible. Our innate values of pluralism and ethos of, "I won't bother you if you won't bother me," has been warped by our own people. 

Maybe there's a gupt fauj of truly, spiritually "woke" young Sikhs who have somehow managed to avoid the brainwashing and the tempting lure of bland inoffensiveness (as it relates to the popular causes of the time as established by the western intelligentsia) as something to aspire to, but the evidence suggests not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, MisterrSingh said:

I'm not as hopeful as Singh Ji in regards to the mentality cultivated by the next generation of Sikhs entering the intellectual arena. If they're studying at the same institutions that the rest of their non-Sikh peers are attending, I don't think the contemporary educated Sikh professional is mentally strong enough to resist the ideological indoctrination of the western academic establishment. The environment and the culture is simply too overwhelmingly overbearing for a certain type of person to reject the mainstream orthodoxy, and then reassert their own values in its place as a viable alternative.

Blog articles and social media posts from these Sikhs offer a telling insight into how Sikhi in the West is gradually being shaped into being the "Indic" religious arm of broader far-left liberalism. I'm afraid we've unwittingly developed a generation of Ram Rais willing to kowtow to the ruling mainstream at the expense of the unassailable norms of their faith.

We aren't like Muslims who constantly need to defend their abhorrent scriptures by performing mental gymnastics in order to defend the indefensible, yet I don't see much evidence of so-called "educated" Sikhs retaining the classic Sikh combativeness in purely intellectual terms. Acquiescing to pressure from ideological opponents has somehow become a virtue for Sikhs, as if we're in a race to bow and scrape our beliefs away in a wish to be as inoffensive as possible. Our innate values of pluralism and ethos of, "I won't bother you if you won't bother me," has been warped by our own people. 

Maybe there's a gupt fauj of truly, spiritually "woke" young Sikhs who have somehow managed to avoid the brainwashing and the tempting lure of bland inoffensiveness (as it relates to the popular causes of the time as established by the western intelligentsia) as something to aspire to, but the evidence suggests not.

Is it because we simply haven't developed an institution that can give us a solid footing in the wider intellectual world, where we can bridge the gap between "sampardaic" and "missionary" outlooks and bring about a more coherent message we can all get behind?

how do we prevent our kids from turning into ram rahias while having to go through the system? there has to be a concurrent education available  to them so they can navigate the pitfalls.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, Jai Tegang! said:

Is it because we simply haven't developed an institution that can give us a solid footing in the wider intellectual world, where we can bridge the gap between "sampardaic" and "missionary" outlooks and bring about a more coherent message we can all get behind?

how do we prevent our kids from turning into ram rahias while having to go through the system? there has to be a concurrent education available  to them so they can navigate the pitfalls.

I'll tell you what we shouldn't succumb to: the other extreme of the madrassa-style, un-thinking, oppressive drilling of beliefs into young minds without vichaar and discourse. Short-term it arguably bolsters the impression that a religion or a group is thriving due to the obstinate and passionate manner of its adherents, but long-term, as we're seeing with Islamic apostacy movements in the West AND its traditional strongholds in the Middle East (where the internet has allowed previously isolated people to voice their experiences even under the guise of anonymity), such methods are sowing the seeds for future dissent and damage to the religion.

What I find disappointing in the emerging Sikh generations in the West who are culturally Punjabi but don't really have any serious working knowledge of the religion (or in some cases are labouring under misconceptions), is that there's an alarming lack of humility when approaching Sikhi. Of course, respect can come after some form of understanding has developed. I think what they're doing is transposing general Western attitudes to the Abrahamic faiths -- that sneering, hostile attitude towards the idea of religion as something that's outmoded and antiquated -- and adopting that same manner with Sikhi, which to my mind is wrong, because there's no historical or social precedent set by practitioners of the Sikh faith (unlike the undoubted atrocities committed in the name of the Abrahamic religions throughout history) which warrants that kind of behaviour. I don't know, maybe there are reasons that I'm overlooking or haven't experienced which would otherwise inform my opinion on this matter.

We could go into psychological or sociological issues pertaining to the Punjabi-Sikh temperament, and how that may -- when exposed to certain circumstances or variables -- manifest in a manner that does us no favours. Is that behaviour or mentality hardwired? Could it be altered? Again, I don't know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • yeh it's true, we shouldn't be lazy and need to learn jhatka shikaar. It doesn't help some of grew up in surrounding areas like Slough and Southall where everyone thought it was super bad for amrit dharis to eat meat, and they were following Sant babas and jathas, and instead the Singhs should have been normalising jhatka just like the recent world war soldiers did. We are trying to rectifiy this and khalsa should learn jhatka.  But I am just writing about bhog for those that are still learning rehit. As I explained, there are all these negative influences in the panth that talk against rehit, but this shouldn't deter us from taking khanda pahul, no matter what level of rehit we are!
    • How is it going to help? The link is of a Sikh hunter. Fine, but what good does that do the lazy Sikh who ate khulla maas in a restaurant? By the way, for the OP, yes, it's against rehit to eat khulla maas.
    • Yeah, Sikhs should do bhog of food they eat. But the point of bhog is to only do bhog of food which is fit to be presented to Maharaj. It's not maryada to do bhog of khulla maas and pretend it's OK to eat. It's not. Come on, bro, you should know better than to bring this Sakhi into it. Is this Sikh in the restaurant accompanied by Guru Gobind Singh ji? Is he fighting a dharam yudh? Or is he merely filling his belly with the nearest restaurant?  Please don't make a mockery of our puratan Singhs' sacrifices by comparing them to lazy Sikhs who eat khulla maas.
    • Seriously?? The Dhadi is trying to be cute. For those who didn't get it, he said: "Some say Maharaj killed bakras (goats). Some say he cut the heads of the Panj Piyaras. The truth is that they weren't goats. It was she-goats (ਬਕਰੀਆਂ). He jhatka'd she-goats. Not he-goats." Wow. This is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard in relation to Sikhi.
    • Instead of a 9 inch or larger kirpan, take a smaller kirpan and put it (without gatra) inside your smaller turban and tie the turban tightly. This keeps a kirpan on your person without interfering with the massage or alarming the masseuse. I'm not talking about a trinket but rather an actual small kirpan that fits in a sheath (you'll have to search to find one). As for ahem, "problems", you could get a male masseuse. I don't know where you are, but in most places there are professional masseuses who actually know what they are doing and can really relieve your muscle pains.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use