An exchange on ‘The Hijacking of Sikhi’

By Gurpreet Singh GP | Discussion |

The discussion was initiated by me in response to the Dr Karminder Singh Dhillon’s video series posted on Sikhi-Vichar Forum YouTube channel titled ‘Hijacking of Sikhi’ and his presentation in the webinar organized by Gurmat Vichaar Group, Phoenix, AZ, on the same topic. The interaction is presented as it is. Hope this will help readers to understand the importance of varying narratives and develop the culture of discourse which is a must for the progress of any society.

1st December 2021:

Gurpreet Singh writes to Dr Karminder Singh Dhillon (through e-mail)

E-mail subject: True Facts with False Narrative.

Respected KS Dhillon, Guru Fateh ji.

I’ve watched almost all your videos and gained a lot. Your recent series ‘Hijacking of Sikhi’ presents all the historical records at one place with valid reasons of the distortions that we see in present Sikh way of life.

Despite of being factually correct information, the basic premise of almost all of your videos starts with a spoiler- “The Sikhi as it is practiced today, is no longer the Sikhi that was given to us by our Gurus. It is spirituality that stands distorted, corrupted and tainted.” This makes the overall presentation with true facts but with false narrative setting hopelessness losing Chardikala. A low spirit is non-sikhi too.

In the presentation with Weekly PHX Global Gurmat Vichaar on Nov 30th 2021 you even said- “One has to keep one’s children away from Gurdwara, if one intends to keep them from being tainted from this hijacked, corrupted, tainted Sikhi.” Without giving any alternative, it is like taking away crutches from a physically challenged person with the fake promise of wheelchair. This ideology appears to have been borrowed from Yogis, who keep themselves away in jungles and mountains, because distortions of worldly affairs would corrupt and taint their kind of spirituality.

Great scholars like you and many others are there, and the audience is ever increasing is clear sign that there’s lot intact of the Sikhi that was given to us by our Gurus. In fact, large proportion of Sikh population is aware of the control of priest class in our Gurdwaras and lot is being said in public domain with huge agitations by lot many people. But the control is governed under the aegis of Brahmanical Govt who has given impunity to the clergy and manipulation by Election Commission. So, any reform in the Gurdwaras requires major conflict with the regime. The regime has already shown us the trailer by reversing the effort which was made to implement Nanakshahi Calendar in 2003 with the help of clergy hand-picked by our adversaries, with no role and fault of common Sikhs.

Despite of extreme adversities, Sikh society has successfully demonstrated the divine virtues as enshrined in Gurbani. So, it is wrong to say that “The Sikhi as it is practiced today, is no longer the Sikhi that was given to us by our Gurus.” A lot has been written about the Sikhs world over by non-Sikhs. Here are few examples where outsiders, as compared with others, have observed that Sikhs are performing far better:

Dipankar Gupta: “Sikhs are different. Routinisation of ‘sewa’ primes them to help others. The pandemic demonstrated this
There has to be a special reason for this. The answer lies in Sikh religion… it does something more which no other religious denomination does and that aspect is lodged in Sikhism’s main frame. It is in Sikhism alone that service to others is an important aspect of devotional practice for the laity… yet in Sikhism alone it is the laity and not the virtuosos, it is the everyday worshipper and not the ordained priests, who are the heroes.”

Kancha Ilaiah: “Why the farmers’ protest is led by Sikhs of Punjab…
Another reason why Sikh farmers have taken up the cudgels is to defend the labour, which is accorded great dignity in Sikhism… Sikhism lays stress on ‘Sarbat da bhalla’ (working towards the common good of all) and kar seva (doing physical work for the common good). These two ideas are part of the Guru Granth spiritual ideology, which runs counter to the varna dharma ideology of the Hindutva forces. The Sikh Gurus established the concept of dignity of labour at a time when the idea was almost unknown to the Brahminical spiritual, social and political ideology…”

Aditya Menon: “Why Modi, BJP & RSS Never Understood Sikhs and Still Don’t…
Hindutva outfits have consistently tried to weaponise the ‘Sikh-Mughal conflict’ and turn Sikhs against Muslims. However, Sikh bodies like Akal Takht and SGPC, Sikh historians and religious scholars as well as many common Sikhs have consistently resisted this narrative by asserting that the conflict with Mughals wasn’t a conflict against Islam, but against tyranny. So in the context of Independent India, Sikhs are more likely to equate Mughals with Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Narendra Modi rather than with Indian Muslims.”

If others can spot divine virtues, why can’t our scholars also build a narrative which is truthful, factual, yet full of hope with actionable alternatives without losing the spirit of Chardikala?

Regards,
Gurpreet Singh.

2nd December 2021:

From Dr KS Dhillon To Gurpreet Singh (through e-mail)

I appreciate your comment Veer Gurpreet Singh ji.

Chardikla lies in knowing the truth, acknowledging the truth, facing the truth, and wanting to deal with the truth.

I provided an alternative to “keeping away from gurdwaras” in my talk yesterday. It is in the very next sentence – “unless we can create Dhramsaals.” The alternative is in reforming our gurdwaras to stop propagating the hijacked version of Sikhi and revert to Gubani teaching and understanding.

I agree that governments (British and Indian) have had a role in the problems facing Sikhs and Sikhi. But I disagree with your preposition that (in the present times) “the control (of Sikhs/ Sikhi) is governed under the aegis of the Brahmanical Govt who has given impunity to the clergy and manipulation by Election Commission.” Now, we Sikhs alone are responsible for our problems, and we have to solve them ourselves. But first we have to acknowledge them, and not sweep them under the carpet and say all is good, and not blame others for our ills. Then we have to acknowledge our role in our problems.

Non- Sikhs have said wonderful things about Sikhs and Sikhi. But we should take them for what they are – external observations. I doubt very much Dipankar Gupta, Kancha Illaiha, Aditya Menon know of the issues in the Fareedkoti Teeka, the distortions in the Suraj Parkash, the smuggling in of rituals and practices from pre-1469 faiths, the corruption in our history etc. Most Sikhs are not aware of these things, how would we expect non-Sikhs to know of them.

Pyareo, Chardikla can never come from denying the truthful and the factual. The truth and facts of the matter is that the Sikhi that we practice today, the Sikhi that is being propagated in our Gurdwaras by our clergy, and the Sikhi that is embodied in the so called classical literature is distorted, corrupted and tainted to the extent that it is no longer the Sikhi as gifted to us by our Gurus.

The starting point of Chardikla is to acknowledge this truth and then come together in honesty, love, wisdom, care and commitment to rectify the matter. The end point of Chardikla – real Chardikla – will be when we are able to revert to the authentic Gurbani and SGGS based Sikhi.

Gurfateh and warm regards, KSD.

2nd December 2021:

From Gurpreet singh To Dr KS Dhillon (through e-mail)

Dear Karminder Ji,

I guess I was not able to make my point clear to you.

I was not contesting the facts presented by you. My point was about the narrative which I found without workable solutions.

There’s no denying that “acknowledging the truth, facing the truth, and wanting to deal with the truth,” is of utmost importance. Gurbani explains the reason for all kinds of distortions as- ਕਾਮਿ ਕ੍ਰੋਧਿ ਲੋਭਿ ਮੋਹਿ ਮਨੁ ਲੀਨਾ॥
There’s no denying the truth and facts. But hope on the basis of innate strengths is the key to improve upon- ਮਨ ਤੂੰ ਜੋਤਿ ਸਰੂਪੁ ਹੈ ਆਪਣਾ ਮੂਲੁ ਪਛਾਣੁ॥.

That’s why I shared the non-Sikhs quotes who definitely are not aware of fareedkotis and other distortions. Outsiders can judge comparatively with other faiths simply on the basis of character, which sometimes Sikh Historians and Scholars fail to do so, because of the urge to self-bashing.

For ex. many Sikh historians (including HS Dilgeer) have presented Maharaja Ranjit Singh in poor light, ‘only’ on the touchstone of Gurbani. But they fail to judge him against the prevalent regimes- Napolean, British, Mughal, Rajput, etc. However outsiders regard Sarkar-e-Khalsa as one of the best regimes ever existed.

I’m sure you would agree that Sikhs have displayed exemplary resilience against oppression, and service to humanity and has been noticed world-over. If this is true, then “The Sikhi as it is practiced today, is no longer…” is far from the truth. We need to hold on to our strengths and work to overcome the deviations. The will-to-change comes from hope- ਏ ਦੁਇ ਨੈਨਾ ਮਤਿ ਛੁਹਉ ਪਿਰ ਦੇਖਨ ਕੀ ਆਸ ॥

The truth remains that there’s a unholy nexus between priest and ruler:
ਤੂੰ ਬਾਮ੍ਹ੍ਹਨੁ ਮੈ ਕਾਸੀਕ ਜੁਲਹਾ ਬੂਝਹੁ ਮੋਰ ਗਿਆਨਾ ॥ ਤੁਮ੍ਹ੍ਹ ਤਉ ਜਾਚੇ ਭੂਪਤਿ ਰਾਜੇ ਹਰਿ ਸਉ ਮੋਰ ਧਿਆਨਾ ॥

Exposing this nexus is of utmost importance, and without this, truth is incomplete.

Another Gurdwara reform movement is the talk of the town. But this time, the situation is far worse than British time, as state machinery involvement under the garb of the (un)constitution and nationalism is no secret. Sikh activists must not shy away from this when presenting the truths and facts.

We just cannot abandon our institutes, which further makes the task of Pujari easier. We need to be part of change despite its shortcomings. “unless we can create Dhramsaals,” actually means that there are no such Dharamsaals available, so children be kept away from Gurdwaras. Otherwise, you could have surely given an example of XYZ Dharamsaal of ABC Town as a role model. I’m sure you must have visualized alternatives.

Our gurdwaras are basically of three types- one controlled by Babas/ Taksals, the other by larger prabhadhak committees (PC) whose election are conducted by central govt SGPC/ DSGPC, and the other by Singh Sabha local management committees. The ones by PC and Singh Sabhas, the granthi, and Ragis are salaried persons. Management committees often dictate to them, what to say and what not to. So here the priest is not in control of the affairs.

Many local committees are doing a lot of a good job also and have genuine intention to do more. I’m sure there would be many persons among your audience who are also part of management committees. Can you propose a draft model of Daharmsaal for them and for your larger audience? How a Dharamsaal / Gurdwara should look like? What should be its daily routine? What activities be performed by whom (salaried, volunteers)?

In the Weekly PHX Global Gurmat Vichaar group, many have appreciated your findings. Some of them may also be part of management committees. They should not be left blank without any alternative. Otherwise, this enlightenment would result in disconnection from the existing system without anything tangible in hand. Snatching crutches with a distant dream of a wheelchair.

Regards, Gurpreet Singh.

December 24th 2021: From Dr KS Dhillon To Gurpreet Singh (Through Telegram group)

These are two hard truths that I stand by and have proven them amply in my 420 page book titled The Hijacking of Sikhi. The truth or falsity of my two assertions above can only be ascertained by looking within the 1429 pages of the SGGS. It would be pathetic if we have to rely on the views of non-Sikhs to say that “all is great with our Sikhi. ”

Let me illustrate with two examples.

Guru Nanak gave us Sikhs the concept of langgar. He told us to GO SEEK the hungry, the malnourished, the homeless, the needy, those who go to bed at night without a meal – TAKE the langgar TO THEM and feed them. The hungry and needy won’t come to us, because those who are hungry and needy usually do not have the means to come to us.

But the langgar we have today is made in our majestic gurdwaras in state of the art kitchens and served in splendid langgar halls. We feed ourselves with this langgar. We feed the well fed. We feed those who do not need a free meal. We feed those who have much better meals in their homes. Some Sikhs bring this langgar home to feed others in their family who are all well fed. Now a non-Sikh walks into the Gurdwara and we offer him / her a free meal. He goes and writes about it to the effect: “The Sikhs are fantastic. They offered me a free meal without asking for my religion, caste, creed etc. They have found a way to solve the hunger of the world.“

Now my assertion is this: “The langgar of the Sikhs today is NOT the langgar that was advocated by Guru Nanak. It stands distorted (we feed ourselves), corrupted (feeding the well fed) and tainted (we have not taken the food to the hungry and homeless).”

The assertion of the non-Sikh is this: “The Sikh langgar is great. Sikhism is magnificient. No other faith does this.”

Three questions can be asked here. 1) Would we take the word of the non-Sikh to say all is GREAT with our langgar? 2) Does the non-Sikh even know an iota of what the message of Guru Nanak was pertaining to langgar? How would he know if 90 percent of Sikhs themselves don’t know of it? 3) Don’t we want to look into the 1429 pages to find the truth?

My second example. Our Gurus gave us Gurbani, then compiled it into Pothi Sahib, then into SGGS and told us to sing it SELFLESSLY in the form of Kirtan as an act of spirituality to become divine.

But the Kirtan we have in our gurdwaras today is sang by professionals who make a living singing it. It is delivered as a performance meant to display the musical abilities of the performers. It is relegated to the level of entertainment. A vast majority of these singers sing compositions that are NOT from the SGGS – and the sangats are unaware of it. Now a non-Sikh comes into the Gurdwara and we welcome him to sit in the sangat and listen to our kirtan. He goes and writes about it to the effect: “The Sikhs offered me a seat in the congregation where I sat and listened to some fantastic singing of hyms. It was magical. It took me to another world.”

Now my assertion is this: “The kirtan of the Sikhs today is NOT the kirtan that was advocated by Guru Nanak. It stands distorted (we have hired hands and professionals singing it for us), corrupted (people make a living singing kirtan) and tainted (the singers are singing stuff from outside the SGGS etc).”

The assertion of the non-Sikh is this: “The Sikh kirtan is out of this world. It transported me to heaven.”

Again, three questions can be asked here. 1) Would we take the word of the non-Sikh to say all is great with our kirtan? 2) Does the non-Sikh even know an iota of what the message of our Gurus pertaining to kirtan? Especially since 90 percent of Sikhs themselves don’t know. 3) Don’t we want to look into the 1429 pages to find the truth about kirtan?

A Sikh telling the truth of our Sikhi is never “self bashing.” I have read Dilgeer’s account of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh. He has displayed the courage to tell the truth. His well researched and documented truths are painful to digest because the truth is always bitter. A Maharaja who married two dancer girls (euphemisms for a worse kind actually) and legitimized his act by building them a private masjid on public funds, spent the final 9 months bedridden due to consuming poisoned liquor gifted to him by enemy agents, cleansed his army high command of Sikhs by sending them to faraway locations, had no viable succession plan, fell prey to the wholescale trickery and slander of the dogras… the list is very long indeed.

I agree with you that “outsiders regard Sarkar-e-Khalsa as one of the best regimes ever existed.” The key word is “outsiders.”

Coming to terms with the truth is 3/4ths of the battle won. Once we have accepted the truths of our Sikhi today, then it becomes the shared responsibility of all to bring about the change that is needed. But if our choice is to deny the truth and or deny the conveyers of the truth, I am afraid we will do no more than hand over a corrupted, distorted and tainted Sikhi to our children.

Closing Remarks:

I don’t wish to add any commentary at the end. A commentary after the last reply would be akin to the continuation of the discussion, which would demand another response from Dr KS Dhillon. I initiated the discussion, so the last reply needs to be from Dr KS Dhillon. Moreover, the discussion is complete as both sides have presented their viewpoints; readers can judge on their own and choose the narrative.

Gurpreet Singh GP is a Sikh activist and the author of the bilingual (Punjabi / English) book Sole Enemy of a Sikh, Brahmanism (Sikh da Ikko Vaeree, Brahmanvaad). He blogs at Sikh Saakhi

Karminder Singh Dhillon, PhD (Boston), is a retired Malaysian civil servant. He is the joint-editor of The Sikh Bulletin and author of The Hijacking of Sikhi. He can be contacted at dhillon99@gmail.com. 

RELATED STORY:

Making the case for the ‘Hijacking of Sikhi’ (Asia Samachar, 18 Jan 2022)

India’s brutal lockdown (Asia Samachar, 29 March 2020)

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