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.
Sikhi dwells heavily on the five fundamental evils that haunt and command us. They define our life; its purpose and demeanor - the kind of person we become....further we learn that haumae...
Clearly, in Sikhi, the flesh of the Guru-Founders is not important; the ideas and teachings are paramount and eternal. Sikhi and Nanak's message needs to travel outside the four walls of gurdwaras, our community TV, and radio media.
Clearly the ideas of reincarnation and transmigration are both powerful and sophisticated; they define an exquisite model of finely calibrated justice at the end of life. They also interweave all creation into one large tapestry.
The emphasis shifts then from the reality of here and now to a wishful fantasy of what might be. But the only life we know is here. And the only influence we have on any life hereafter is through how we live today.
We continue to preach against statues, icons and pictures and yet most Sikh homes continue to display the image of one or more Gurus.
The magic, the meaning and the measure of a life - indeed of history - are found not in the celebration of an individual or an event, but in the interpretation. History is a narrative. What does it tell us about the time that Guru Nanak trod this earth, particularly about the place of women?
Now what does Dya Singh mean when he talks of a teacher-facilitator instead of a traditional granthi, kathakaar or raagi? And why should we embrace this model.