Theodorus Singh Teekgur (formerly known as Theodorus Snellen)

[Premi5]

Theodorus Singh Teekgur (formerly known as Theodorus Snellen) is a native Dutchman, born and raised in the south of the Netherlands.

 

 

[GurjantGnostic]

18 hours ago, Premi5 said:

Theodorus Singh Teekgur (formerly known as Theodorus Snellen) is a native Dutchman, born and raised in the south of the Netherlands.

 

 

Why does his name end in Teekgur?

Don't you get a new first name when you take Amrit?

[Jai Tegang!]

2 hours ago, GurjantGnostic said:

Why does his name end in Teekgur?

Don't you get a new first name when you take Amrit?

 Tek = Support

Gur= Guru

Tekgur = Having/taking the support of the Guru

He seems to have given himself a new family name. Guru Mahraj bless his future generations.

[GurjantGnostic]

1 hour ago, Jai Tegang! said:

 Tek = Support

Gur= Guru

Tekgur = Having/taking the support of the Guru

He seems to have given himself a new family name. Guru Mahraj bless his future generations.

Why didn't he name himself Tekgur Singh?

[GurjantGnostic]

I thought people took a Gursikh name when they receive Amrit if they were not born with one. 

Or had one suggested by Hukamnama rather. 

[intrigued]

7 hours ago, GurjantGnostic said:

I thought people took a Gursikh name when they receive Amrit if they were not born with one. 

Or had one suggested by Hukamnama rather. 

I suppose it would depend on what the panj piare say - some people change their name even if they had a sikh name before (such as Bhai Sahib Bhai Randhir Singh). Others may not change their names...

[Premi5]

 

https://www.sikhnet.com/news/theodorus-singh-becoming-sikh

Theodorus Singh Teekgur (formerly known as Theodorus Snellen) is a native Dutchman, born and raised in the south of the Netherlands.

Theodorus was born in 1954 and lived through the exciting 60's, the 'cultural-feministic-hippie' revolution in the Netherlands. In 1977 he got a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering, served a year in the Dutch army (drafted) and in 1980 he got a bachelor degree in Physics.

In 1985 he received his masters in Experimental Nuclear Physics from the Technical University of Eindhoven and started working in the research department of the national Telecom provider (PTT-KPN-TNO). A job Theodorus held until 2009 when he went into early retirement.

From 1971 till 2010 Theodorus was scout master of the local boy- and girl-scout troop. He fulfilled all kinds of functions in the local, regional and national scouts organization and joined the world Jamboree Australia (1985) and Netherlands (1995) as scouts master. People were not comfortable seeing now in a Sikh turban so he decided to leave scouts in 2010.

Theodorus was born and raised as a Roman Catholic but like many people in the Netherlands he was not very active in practising his religion. In the 90's he lost all interest and stopped visiting church all together. In spring 2009 Theodorus learned about Sikhism through the internet. As he didn't know anything about it and being the researcher his is, he started exploring (through the internet) Sikh faith . By summer 2009 Theodorus 'declared' himself Sikh, which came as a big surprise to himself too as he is not really inclined to spirituality.

Although he thought to become a 'Cyber- Sikh' he did meet the local Sikh community in the Netherlands and got involved with 'Sikhs in Holland'. This is an organisation that works with and for the whole Dutch Sikh community. At first Theodorus did translations (from English to Dutch) of Sikh stories. Later he gave lectures (in Dutch) on Sikhism for Dutch Gurdware visitors and in children visiting from the secondary schools. He also got involved in the Belgium problems with Turbans in schools and helped out there for a couple of years. Theodorus translated the Rehat Maryada, The Sikh Code of Conduct into Dutch (is to be published this year).

At the moment he is translating the Nitnem Gurbani texts into Dutch and help out in the Dutch Sikh community with regard to acceptance of 5 K's. Theodorus still do lectures on Sikhism in schools and Gurdware and in settings where interested Dutch people gather. He is also working on setting up a 'national representative organisation' for the Sikhs in the Netherlands to be able to communicate on a national level with Government and semi-governmental organisation.

The TV report was made in early 2014 by a Dutch provincial TV station, Omroep Brabant. It is part of a series which features remarkable inhabitants of Brabant province. In the video you'll see that Theodorus is trying to live up to the standards for being initiated (taking Amrit).

He was blessed with Amrit in 2014 since then he has changed his name from Theodorus Snellen to Theodorus Singh Teekgur.