Nothing To Celebrate

I received an email earlier this week from a non-Sikh friend of mine wishing me a Happy Independence Day. I think my reply surprised her. As Sikhs we really seem to be in a no-mans land between the euphoric celebrations of the Muslims and Hindus in having achieving there own homelands.

Independence Day is a sad day for most Sikhs as it brings back memories of the horrors of 1947. The creation of India and Pakistan resulted in one of the cruelest and bloodiest mass migrations and ethnic cleansing in human history. Over 18 million people were forced to move between the two countries and over 2 million Hindu, Muslim and Sikh men, women and children were killed. The Sikh homeland of Punjab was divided between two countries and the Sikhs were betrayed in the promises made to them by the Indian government.

I remember my grandmother telling me stories of seeing a family burned alive in from of her eyes. I've seen the pictures of Margaret Bourke White of a train station where an entire trainload of people were massacred simply because of their religion. How history repeats itself, it reminds me of 1984 where trains were stopped and Sikhs were massacred by Hindu mobs following Indira Gandhi's assassination. Not a single person has ever been brought to justice for a government directed killing spree in which thousands of Sikhs were killed across the country.

Today the only memories Sikhs have of Pakistan is of homes lost, family members killed or forced to convert to Islam and our holiest Sikh shrines and the birthplace of Guru Nanak standing empty or in ruins across West Punjab. In India Sikhs have been betrayed and are not recognized as a distinct people or religion by the Indian constitution or government. An entire generation of young Sikhs from every village has been brutally killed by the Indian government over the last 20 years and our most sacred shrine at Amritsar was violated and destroyed by the Indian army while thousands of innocent Sikh pilgrims were killed. Today's Punjab is but a fraction of its former size only 50 years ago. Today only two of the five rivers in the Land of Five Rivers even flows through Punjab.

It is ironic that a people who contributed so much to the independence movement (over 80% of people hanged by the British for agitation for independence were Sikh) have nothing to celebrate on 'Independence Day'.

Ref: Sikhe.com

By Sandeep Singh (Brar)
Sunday, August 19, 2001 - 12:00 AM GMT+5:30

Sandeep Singh (Brar) is an Internet technologist and developer of the widely acclaimed website www.sikhs.org.

Culture Is Maya

European and USA culture is mostly maya. Punjabi culture is also mostly maya. Punjabi culture has many wonderful customs with great food and art and much beauty. Western culture also has produced some good writers, musicians, and painters and some excellent food.

Still, human social constructs everywhere are maya.

It is by actually reading the Siri Guru Granth (as distinct from simply bowing and throwing dollar bills at the Sri Guru), it is by attempting to implement the Sikh Guru's instructions into my USA lifestyle and culture, that I am slowly able to rise above, and live detached from, the maya of my culture. Day by day the Sri Guru questions my basic motivations and cultural training and asks me to try a new and different approach.

Historically, the Sikh Gurus taught Hindus and Muslims how to transcend the maya (the false beliefs and fantasies and egotism) of their cultures. In these modern times the Sikh Guru is still at it. At the level that Punjabi culture is supportive of caste, racism and sexism, the Sri Guru is training people of Punjabi descent to be Sikhs. Nothing has changed. Maya remains maya, and it is only by the Grace of the teachings of the Sikh Guru (and other teachers of universal truth) that any of us can break free of worldly illusions and the myriad of culturally popular falsehoods and sins.

Ready or not, the Sikh Guru challenges each of us to be much better, far more inspiring, than we actually are right now.

It is only by Grace that people from India can suddenly just drop caste, or racism, or sexism. It is only by Grace that someone born and raised in the USA can drop class-ism, and racism and sexism as well - different cultures, same maya.

The Sikh religion challenges us all to love and celebrate the finer sides of our cultures and backgrounds, but we are to live as Sikhs.

It was a miracle that Guru Gobind Singh could inspire a bunch of frightened and oppressed people of Punjabi descent to rise up and fight the maya of their fear and superstitions, and to stand strong for the human rights of all beings. It will take the same sort of miracles for Guru Gobind Singh to inspire people of Punjabi descent, and people from other cultures, to do it again and again!

The Sri Guru teaches that we must daily study and comprehend and act on Universal True Teachings. We must surrender our egos to Creator/Creation, giving our lives to be used for the glory of the Ik Ong Kaar. We are instructed to sing praise and keep practicing being aware that God is witnessing our lives and we are witnessing the Creator/Creation as well.

Guru Nanak, SGGS page 9:

The Beloved One created the world with many colors, species of beings, and the endless variety of maya. Having created the creation, God watches over it. God does whatever God pleases. No one can issue any order to God. Creator/Creation is the Sovereign of Sovereigns, the Supreme One and Only, our only real Master.

Nanak remains subject to God's Will only.

By Kamalla Rose Kaur
Ref:
Sikhe.com