I look at India’s glorious, and at times exaggerated glorified, past and I see that India has given the world many things and important ideas but rarely has it given any effective or productive leadership.
If I had only a few hours or days to live what would I do? Would I spend the next hours mindlessly traveling social media? Would I spend time reading and contemplating something philosophical and uplifting, or would I think and do something that would leave my footprints in the sands of time after I am gone?
It has been over 300 years since the happenings at and about Chamkaur and how well do we remember the four sons of Guru Gobind Singh? Every year without fail!
Even though each of its three legs is equally critical and indispensible to a stable stool, today, I will zero in on only one of the three legs — giving and sharing. I leave the other two for another day.
A long standing President of the Gurdwara who had been in that position for a decade and was resisting all calls to step down, “This would be a demotion. I am the President. Create a new title that is higher and I will accept that. Nothing else is acceptable.”
And if there is a purpose that's common to all humanity then it should be able to stand without necessarily leaning on one or many religious systems of mankind.
Perhaps we are still at the stage where we do not see any visible sects or denominations within Sikhi. As I stated at the start of this essay, for immigration and sponsorship purposes the question that remains is...
If history speaks of the evil that lurks in men’s hearts, truly there is, at times, nothing nobler than human character given the right choice and frame of mind. Quiet decency is a very human trait.
The lesson is not that this is an impossible task but that the engagement with the Guru never ends. We climb mountains not because they are climbable but because they are there.
Has the model of a Sikh changed since the Gurus or have I regressed to a prehistoric place in my head? I remind you that in the post-Guru period the Sikhs (through its 12 misls) knew how to disagree without undermining the nation.