Udasi role in Hijacking of Sikhi

In the second of the Hijacking of Sikhi video series, Karminder Singh Dhillon discusses the distortion, corruption and adulteration that Sikhi has endured at the hands of the Udasis from 1718 till present.

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The Sikhi we see around us today may not be exactly the pristine teachings of Guru Nanak and the subsequent Sikh Gurus. Along the way, it got corrupted. But who did it? One of the parties responsible is the Udasi, a sect started by Baba Sri Chand – the eldest son of Guru Nanak.

So, it looks like the rot may have started early, and in the home of the Guru himself.

In the second of the Hijacking of Sikhi video series, Karminder Singh Dhillon discusses the distortion, corruption and adulteration that Sikhi has endured at the hands of the Udasis from 1718 till present.

“Sri Chand hijacked Kartarpur for his anti Guru Nanak drive, anti Guru Angad push and his anti-Sikhi work,” observed Karminder.

In this video series, the speaker intends to reveal why, how, when and who were the hijackers of Sikhi. The series will lay out the roles played by the hijacker group in corrupting, distorting and damaging Guru Nanak’s Sikhi. Click here to catch the first video.

The Hijacking of Sikhi is a 420-page book containing 17 chapters that stitches together the author’s more recent writings, fortified further with argument as to what has gone wrong in transmitting Sikhi for so long now. If you have read the book, you cannot but notice the author’s strong views on the topic. Now, you can listen to them in this video series.

Below are some quotes from the video and the The Hijacking of Sikhi book.

FOUR INITIAL FACTS ON SRI CHAND

  1. Refused to accept Guru Nanak decision to instal Bhai Lehna as second Guru
  2. Laid claim to Guruship himself, but failed
  3. Took control of Kartarpur (Guru Nanak’s Ashram)
  4. Guru Angad forced to move to Khadoor

“We further know that Kartarpur was the established Ashram where Guru Nanak spent the final 12 years of his life preaching Sikhi. Kartarpur was recognised, famous and well attended by big crowds of Sikhs.

Yet Guru Angad was sent to Khadoor – a totally new place that had to be built from scratch. Guru Angad was instructed to relocate to Khadoor by Guru Nanak because of the intensity and ugliness of the conflict that was incited and caused by Sri Chand’s desire for revenge, take over and control at Kartarpur. Sri Chand kicked up a storm over his failed bid to be appointed as successor to Guru….Kartarpur would thus become Sri Chand’s home and the centrer for the establishment of his deviant udasi sect. In other words, Kartarpur would be hijacked from being the center of Sikhi to becoming the epi-center of anti-Sikhi.”

“Guru Nanak himself stayed back at Kartarpur till his last…Guru Nanak’s inheret purpose thus was keeping authentic Sikhi away from the Kartarpur of Sri Chand. This became Guru Nanak’s mission till his last breath.”

SRI CHAND & UDASI SECT: 6 BASIC FACTS

  1. Sri Chand maneuvers to break away from Guru Nanak’s Sikhi rooted in devious plot of Bippar (Brahmin clergy)

Roots of plot go back to day Guru Nanak refused to adorn janeyu

Janeyu rejection threatened Bippar’s undisputed spiritual leadership

Brahmin clergy could not target Nanak, so went after his two children (Sri Chand & Lakhmee Das)

“The conversion of Sri Chand into the ash-covered, loin cloth-wearing, janeyu-clad, wandering yogi branch of Shiv panth was ultimate revenge and success on the part of the Bippar [Brahmin clergy]. He managed to cultivate a destructive mole right in the hear of Sikhi, inside Guru Nanak’s household and right within the psyche of Gurmat. This mole would serve the Bippar objective for centuries to come.”

  1. Udasi sect started in OPPOSITION to Guru Nanak’s Sikhi

“Its objective was to challenge Sikhi, REJECT Guru Nanak’s Gurmat and if possible, to REPLACE with himself as the Guru.”

  1. Sect revengeful because Guru Nanak did not pass Guruship to Sri Chand

“Guruji acted such because he found Sri Chand unfit for the responsibility; and did not subscribe to the principle of hereditary passing of Guruship. Instead, Guru Nanak found Bhai Lehna ji spiritually qualified to be the successor Guru.”

  1. Sri Chand and Udasi rejected everything Sikhi

“Sri Chand rejected Guru Nanak’s spirituality in total – beginning with the Sikh notion of the Creator within, to the advocated family living of Ghrist Jeevan. Even Sri Chand’s garb – the wearing of a loin cloth or langoti and janeyu stood in stark contrast to Guru Nanak’s.”

  1. Guru Nanak did not approve Udasi sect

“Sikhs of Guru Nanak abided by such disapproval and did NOT associate themselves with Sri Chand in their spiritual endevors.”

  1. Guru Nanak’s Command: Accept Guru Angas as successor Guru, reject Sri Chand

HIJACKING UNFOLDS

“Eight years after the demise of Guru Gobind Singh, and months after the defeat of Banda Singh Bahadur in 1718, the udasis would finally get their big break. The opening was created by a vacuum that resulted from the brutal hunting and killing of authentic Sikhs by the regime of the day. Throughout the Shaheede Era (60 years after 1718) while the authentic Sikhs were being massacred as individuals, groups of in holocaust methods; and while Sikhs were being hunted with a price of 80 rupees on their heads; the udasis moved in to occupy one Sikh Gurdwara after another that was left vacant. Anandpur Sahib, Hazoor Sahib, Darbar Sahib were taken over followed by virtually all Gurdwaras of importance.”

“The udasis would be in exclusive control of Sikhs Gurdwaras for about 60 years, before they would have to share control with the other more powerful deviant groups (nirmlas, Mahants and dera sants) for a total of 207 years till 1925.”

CONCOCTED TALES

  1. Guru Ramdas visits Sri Chand as he ‘needed the blessings of Guru Nanak through his son.’

“Sri Chand is said to have asked Guruji ‘Why is your beard so long’ and Guruji is said to ave replied ‘do dust your feet’ and went on to do just that.

Growing up in Guru Nanak’s household, Sri Chand would have seen his own father in long unshorn beard. So why would he have expressed such amazement as the unshorn beard of Guru Ram Das ji? In any event had Sri Chand ever posed that question to Guru Ramdas ji, his answer would have been “for the same reason that your father Guru Nanak kept his own beard and instructed us Sikhs to do the same.”…Not only is the question to Guru Ramdas cooked up, the answer too is concocted to show Sri Chand’s ‘exalted position’.”

  1. Guru Arjan Suffer Writer’s Block

“Another fake tale related to Guru Arjun ji. Guru ji is said to have suffered a writer’s block when composing Sukhmani bani….The Sikhs then suggested that Guru Arjun ‘seek the blessings of Guru Nanak’s son Sri Chand’….In reality, such a tale is an insult to Guru Arjun ji. The fifth Guru has the most voluminous bani within the SGGS ji.”

  1. Guru 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Suffer Leprosy

“Another fake story is that Gurus Angad, Amardas, Ramdas and Anjun suffered from the curse of leprosy. No reason is given for the ‘curse’, but the Sikh is expected to ‘know’ that it was because they were not the rightful Gurus to beginwith. The rightful Guru after Guru Nanak was Sri Chand, and because of that the ‘curse was eventually’ removed by Sri Chand when Guru Arjun went to see him.”

  1. Guru Hargobind deputes his son Gurditta to succeed Sri Chand

HOW UDASIS DISTORTED SIKHI

The udasi control over our Gurdwaras (and by extension Sikh psyche) corrupted and distorted Sikhi to the core and in more ways than can be imagined.

  1. Altered maryada, practices and ceremonies at Gurdwaras

“A great variety of practices at the Darbar Sahib today – the ban on women from performing spiritual acts in the Darbar, washing of the floors with milk and non-stop burning of lamps and incense are examples of practices that have their origins in deviant udasi (and, on equally deviant nirmala) beliefs.”

  1. Introduced udasi rituals and practices into Sikhi

“The ritual of reciting mantras repeatedly; the recitation of Gurbani verses during the performance of yoga asans and kriyas; the linking of vegetarianism to Sikh philosophy; the exalted position of celibacy for spiritual persons (sants and mahants); bathing at selected locations as acts of spirituality; the making of offerings to the gods and performance of penance – all of which have become accepted norms as ‘Sikhs practices’ have their roots in udasi beliefs. These rituals and practices will be consolidated, expanded and rooted deeper into Sikhi by the other groups who will control Sikh Gurdwaras subsequent to the udasis – namely the nirmalas, Mahants and dera sants.”

  1. Weaned 2 Gens of Sikhs from Shabad Guru

“In 60 years, they had managed to wean two generation of Sikhs off the divine messages of the Shabd Guru. The englightenment of the messages of the shabd was slowly but surely replaced by maryadas, practices, rituals, mantra recitations and ceremonies as adequate spirituality. Some Sikhs had already begun to believe that this deviant practices were indeed sanctioned by our Gurus as authentice Sikhi.”

  1. Changed Guru Nanak’s birth date from Vesakh to Katakh

“A child born on the puranmashi of Katakh was considered most inauspicious according to Bippar [Brahmin clergy] propagated beliefs. It thus served the sinister Bippar Clergy to push this day as the birthday of Guru Nanak ji.”

LINKS TO VIDEOS AND LECTURE NOTES FOR ‘THE HIJACKING OF SIKHI’

Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 1 (The Plot): Video | Notes

Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 2 (Udasis): Video | Notes

Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 3 (Udasis): Video | Notes

Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 4 (Nirm): Video | Notes

RELATED STORY:

Hijacking Sikhi (Asia Samachar, 19 Dec 2020)

Sikhi Concepts: Complete links to videos and lecture notes (Asia Samachar, 3 July 2021)

The Hijacking of Sikhi: After releasing book, Dr Karminder starts 12-part video series (Asia Samachar, 18 July 2021)

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5 COMMENTS

  1. bhai ji,
    not only is the hijacking in history but since the 19th century it has reared its ugly head in the various translations and steeks of SGGS as well.

    Today we are fighting 3HO, basics of sikhi, sanatanis and so many others who are busy trying to keep the real sikh message from reaching foreign lands. Instead they want to present it as an offshoit of Brahmin thought. Definitions of words in SGGS are given brahmin meanings leading to rituals etc.

    eg. amrit vela being wrongly defined by translators as 5am

    please visit r/Sikhiism
    to learn more

  2. Rawel Singh, you are trying to create your own history by saying Guru Angad was not forced to go to Khadoor. The claim to Guruship by Sri Chand and the ugly conflict that he created is recorded in the same Vaar (SGGS 967) you are selectively quoting, and in the Vaars of Bhai Gurdas. It is clear that either Sri Chand has to leave Kartarpur or Guru Angad. Guru Nanak made that decision for the benefit of the Sikh world as correctly stated by Karminder Singh.

  3. ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਜੀ ਵਿਚ ਦਰਜ ਭਾਈ ਸੱਤਾ ਬਲਵੰਡ ਦੀ ਵਾਰ ਵਿਚ ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਜੀ ਦੇ ਪੁੱਤਰਾਂ ਦਾ ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਦੇ ਨਿਰਮਲ ਪੰਥ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਗੀ ਹੋਣ ਦਾ ਜ਼ਿਕਰ ਆਇਆ ਹੈ। ਆਪਣੇ ਮਗਰੋਂ ਹੋਣ ਵਾਲ਼ੇ ਝਗੜੇ ਤੋਂ ਬਚਣ ਲਈ ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਜੀ ਨੇ ਦੂਸਰੀ ਪਾਤਸ਼ਾਹੀ ਨੂੰ ਖਡੂਰ ਵਿਚ ਜਾਕੇ ਰਹਿਣ ਦਾ ਹੁਕਮ ਜੀਊਂਦੇ ਜੀਅ ਕਰ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਸੀ। ਇਹ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਖੁਸ਼ੀ ਨਾਲ਼ ਨਹੀਂ, ਸਗੋਂ ਪਰਿਵਾਰਕ ਕਲੇਸ਼ ਤੋਂ ਬਚਣ ਲਈ ਮਜਬੂਰੀ ਵੱਸ ਕਰਨਾ ਪਿਆ ਸੀ।

  4. Dear Dr Karminder Singh Dhillon. I found your earlier Sikhi Concepts video series original and revolutionary. Loved the thinking process. And I’m equally looking forward to this new series. You are making us think. You raised the potential of the hue and cry that Sri Chand would have raised when he was bypassed for the Gurgadhi. Didn’t hear them in the sakhiaa heard when growing up. I suppose it was the inconvenient truth.

    This is an original statement you made: ““Guru Nanak himself stayed back at Kartarpur till his last…Guru Nanak’s inheret purpose thus was keeping authentic Sikhi away from the Kartarpur of Sri Chand. This became Guru Nanak’s mission till his last breath.”

  5. Karminder Singh imagines issues to refute them. Guru Angad Sahib was not forced to go to Khadoor Sahib. It is was the policy of the Sikh gurus to create habitats at different places and accordingly Kartarpur, Khadoor Sahib, Goindval, Amritsar, Keeratpur and Anandpur Sahib came into being. Habitating at Khadoor Sahib by the second guru is mentioned in Sri Guru Granth Sahib in Vaar of Bawandd and Sataa thus ਫੇਰਿ ਵਸਾਇਆ ਫੇਰੁਆਣਿ ਸਤਿਗੁਰਿ ਖਾਡੂਰੁ ॥ on page 967. Karminder Singh would do well to stop misinterpreting Gurbani and Sikh history.

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