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We Are Your Neighbor… Not “The Other”
We'd like to share a hypothetical story so you can get to know Sikhs:
In your office in the Federal building downtown (guarded by a national security firm owned by Sikhs), you are enjoying a cup of Yogi Tea (brand formulated by Yogi Bhajan, a Sikh), eating Kettle Chips (a brand started by Sikhs) and a piece of fruit (grown on the country's largest fruit farm owned by Sikhs), and you learn your grandmother is in the hospital. You jump in a cab (owned by a Sikh company, driven by a Sikh, fueled by gasoline distributed by a Sikh-owned company) and arrive at the hospital to talk with the doctor (a Sikh) and he recommends you have her tested (on a machine designed by a Sikh engineer and with parts assembled in a factory by a recent Sikh immigrant). We're not the other, we're your neighbors.
On Sunday morning, August 5, people were praying, cooking in the kitchen and preparing for the day's kirtan (musical) program at the Sikh temple, the Gurdwara Sahib, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Tragically, a deranged man entered and opened fire with handguns, killing six innocent people and wounding three others, including a heroic police officer, before taking his own life.
The response from Sikhs and others worldwide to this tragedy has been inspiring and healing with prayer vigils all over North America with civic and interfaith leaders showing their support, including a vigil at the Gurdwara Sahib of Chicago on Wednesday, August 8.
Shabad Kaur shares her experience of the memorial: “We attended the funeral for the Sikhs who were killed six days before. It was such a beautiful and graceful event. I couldn't stop crying. The most poignant moment for me was when Prakash Singh's 11-year-old son didn't want to leave the side of his father's casket when the families were called up to speak. Prakash Singh had just brought his wife and children from India to join him six weeks previously after a seven-year separation. After the funeral, we went to the gurdwara [house of worship], which had been lovingly restored by the sangat [congregation].”
Those killed were people of humility and divine service, who had arrived early that day to set up for the services. And they departed from their bodies in the guru's court. May we always remember them, and may their souls ferry across the ethers to merge with the Divine.
Here's some information about Sikhs that might be helpful to learn:
- There are about 25 million Sikhs worldwide; the Sikh religion is the fifth largest in the world.
- Sikh means a “seeker of truth.”
- Sikhs arrived in North America in 1897 and established their first gurdwara here in 1906.
- The Sikh faith is 500 years old, founded by Guru Nanak in what was India, who taught a message of “Ek Ong Kar ” (“We are all One with the Creator of all Creation”). expressing peace, equality, and service. He taught “I see no stranger.” Therefore, we reject any distinction that separates us based on birth, religion, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation.
- We respect spiritual paths, believing that all people have the right to worship in their own way.
- The faith is very progressive in regard to women and honors their equal role.
- A good life is one of a householder and contributing member of society who strives to discover and develop the divinity in each of us . We are constantly open to opportunities to serve and uplift others.
- As spiritual warriors, we are taught to fear no one, nor to make anyone fear us, and to act in the face of injustice.
- In 1699, the 10th Sikh Master (Guru Gobind Singh) formalized some daily practices to help individuals grow personally and spiritually and to identify themselves as Sikhs: Baptized Sikhs wear their hair uncut and covered with a cloth turban; they wear long undershorts and a steel bracelet; and they carry with them a wooden comb and a kirpan , a short knife, to remind them of their duty to respect and protect life and to defend the defenseless after all other means have failed. These are tools to develop a sense of service, humility, leadership, and self-respect. Guru Gobind Singh also embodied the radiance and projection of the guru within the community and within our scripture (the Siri Guru Granth Sahib), 1,446 pages of ecstatic poetry composed by Sikh gurus and others and is our Shabad Guru , the sacred sound current.
- All are welcome in any gurdwara worldwide for meditation, sanctuary, and nourishment.
- We daily make a communal prayer that ends with “May all people prosper by Thy grace.”
Civic and Interfaith leaders attend a memorial on August 8 at Gurdwara Sahib of Chicago to honor the six members of the Sikh faith who were killed August 5 in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Civic speakers included Alderman Joe Moore, 49th Ward; Alderwoman Debra Silverstein, 50th Ward; Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky; Congressman Mike Quigley; Cook County Board President Toni H. Preckwinkle; State Senator Ira I. Silverstein; and representatives of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Dick Durbin. Interfaith representatives included Sister Susie, St. Scolastica; Mohammad Sher Rajput, Muslim Community Center; Bishop Dr. Jacob J. Agepog, Agape Church International ; Nityananda Pran Das, President ISKCON Chicago; Sadrudin Noorani, Ismaili Jamatkhana; Edgewater Presbyterian Church Pastor Barbara Cathey and congregants, Regional Presbytery of Chicago.
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Sikhnet.com is an excellent source for information on Sikh dharma. S.S. Shiva Singh and Shabad Kaur Khalsa are ministers of Sikh dharma and teachers of Kundalini yoga at Spirit Rising Foundation in Chicago. They can be reached at [email protected]. |
