Indarjit Singh | BBC | 19 June 2015 | Asia Samachar
Indarjit Singh, Lord Singh of Wimbledon, discussed about the martyrdom of the fifth Sikh Guru in BBC’s Thought of the Day programme.
Today is the anniversary of one of the most important events in Sikh history; the martyrdom of Guru Arjan, the 5th Guru if the Sikhs. There are two important aspects of this anniversary: the circumstances that led to the martyrdom, and the traditional way it’s commemorated.
Guru Arjan was a renowned poet and scholar who lived at a time of acute religious bigotry- not very different from that in many parts of the world today. The Guru made it his life’s mission to replace suspicion and hatred between faiths with tolerance and respect.
Guru Arjan was the main compiler of the Sikh scriptures known as the Guru Granth Sahib.
In it he included some Hindu and Muslim verses to emphasise a fundamental Sikh teaching that no one religion has a monopoly of truth. The Guru took this respect further by asking a Muslim saint to lay the foundation stone of the famous Golden Temple at Amritsar and also placed a door on each of its four sides as a symbol of welcome to all from any spiritual direction.
BBC: THOUGHT OF THE DAY, LORD SINGH, 16 JUNE 2015
TO HEAR, GO TO: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02tvptl
Such sentiments proved too much for the rulers of the day who taught there was only one true religion and the Guru was slowly tortured and killed in the heat of an Indian June.
In the traditional Sikh commemoration of the martyrdom, there is no show of anger or bitterness, but a simple remembrance of the Guru’s suffering by serving cool sweetened lime water or other soft drink to all who pass by Sikh homes or gurdwaras.
I thought of the Guru’s teachings, his martyrdom and the lack of bitterness while attended a huge political rally in Paris over the weekend as part of a delegation of parliamentarians from different parts of the world. The rally of more than 100,000 was organised by Iranians who had fled persecution in Iran. In an echo of Guru Arjan’s teachings, the leader of the rally, a woman Maryam Rajavi, spoke of the need for open democracy and freedom of belief for all faiths.
Many of the speakers had themselves suffered torture or imprisonment, or the loss of near ones at the hands of the present rulers, but there was no bitterness in their contributions; only a desire to move on. To me this gives us a glimmer of real hope in the otherwise all-pervading gloom of intolerance in our strife- torn world.
Indarjit
Lord Singh of Wimbledon
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This is in relation to the the article by Indarjit Lord Singh of Wimbledonon the fifth Guru Sahib of the Sikhs being martyred by the then foreign rulers of India – The Moguls. They (Babur) hail and descended from Timurlane and saw himself as the rightful heir to Samarkand. However, he won Samarkand thrice and lost it all three times to the Uzbeks. The firm fist Dynasty were merely a tyrant over north India. Knowing what harm they did on the local Indians and the Punjabi race of the region. Knowing the history of such a massacre and making the Indians in general peasants and slaves, these countries should now beg an apology in public of their wrong doings. Just has how Japan or Canada has not only openly condemned what was done by their Government or the foreign kingdom, but openly bag for an apology to the Sikh of India and the Diaspora around the world who are decedents of survivors of the dark days under the moguls.