Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin

Not too long ago at a family wedding I was asked to thank the guests. Noticing a large number of young
people born in this country present in the audience (during normal Sunday services young people are
conspicuous by their absence) I chose to address them. First I made a confession that just as our parents
failed us about our faith we have failed them; that there is not a single Gurdwara (including ours in
Roseville) where Gurbani parchar is taking place; that they are fortunate to be living in a truly free
society where they do not have to unquestionably follow the rituals and beliefs that are wrong but have
become traditions. Then I told them about the unique simplicity and universality of the message in Guru
Granth Sahib; that Guru asks them to do three things and not do two. Three things the Guru asks them to
do are: kirt karo, wand chhako and naam japo i.e. do honest work, share the fruit of your honest labour
with the less fortunate and always remember your Creator. Two things that the Guru does not want you to
do are: do not consume that substance which is harmful to your body and do not do anything that you will
later regret. It was very heartening when several young people commended me for saying what I said. But
later that evening at the reception I was approached by another young person who assured me not all
Gurdwaras are lost cause. Their Gurdwara teaches them about Gurbani. Who says ignorance is not bliss!
Misinformation about Gurbani is a malady that afflicts us all, laymen as well as the experts. One of the
most remarkable things about our Gurus was that there was no difference in their ‘kathni’ and ‘karni’
i.e. words and deeds. That is not the case with us or with our professional religious leaders. In the Panjabi
section 2 Giani Jagtar Singh Jachak has extracted some quotes from Sant Singh Maskeen’s last book. Any
one reading this would be in complete agreement with Maskeen Ji. Yes, 95% (or even more) of the
Gurdwaras are under the control of selfish political types who have no knowledge of Gurbani. Yes, 90%
(or even more) derawala sadhs are ignorant of Gurmat. But we know that Maskeen Ji lived a lie his
entire life, his posthumous award of ‘Gurmat Vidya Martand’ from SGPC notwithstanding. He spent
his entire life in doing katha in precisely those Gurdwaras that were managed by the ‘ignorant about
Gurbani political types’. Knowledgeable people did not extend to him the invitation. He spent his entire
life visiting the Thaths of Nanaksaria Thug ‘Sant Baba’ Amar Singh Barundi, who is not only ignorant
about Gurbani but also a congenital liar and world class con artist, even after he was personally made
aware of Amar Singh’s despicable conduct by his victims. For his lifelong support Amar Singh rewarded
him and his son with green cards through his Florida Thath in 2004. Any one even remotely familiar with
Gurbani would know that Maskeen Ji regularly blemished it with Hindu mythihas 3 . He became a sworn
enemy of Giani Bhag Singh 1 , a rare individual with courage of his conviction.
Another person in Maskeen Ji’s company is former Akal Takhat ‘Jathedar’ Prof. Darshan Singh Khalsa,
himself brought up at that blemish on Sikhi, Nanaksar. He was there when Amar Singh arrived at
Nanaksar at age 8 and perhaps present, just as Harbans Singh Jaghadhari was, when ‘Sant Baba’ Isher
Singh expelled Amar Singh from Nanaksar for his immoral conduct. In Dec. 1996 Harbans Singh
Jaghadhari joined every other kirtania in Panjab to do kirtan for Amar Singh at a ‘rented’ Gurdwara in
Jallandhar to honour the newly installed Akal Takhat ‘Jathedar’ Ranjit Singh. By 2004 Prof. Darshan
Singh Khalsa also threw in his towel and joined Maskeen Ji and others at Amar Singh’s dera in Hays, UK
to perform kirtan. Amar Singh projects himself as 13 th Guru Nanak, after Nand Singh and Isher Singh. In
his interview with The Spokesman Weekly, published in its monthly issue of April 2003 under the
heading, “For the good of Sikhism, politicians must be ousted from Gurdwara administration”, Prof.
Darshan Singh derides both the ‘pseudo claimants to Guruship' and the politicians. Yet like Maskeen he
patronized both his entire life.
Non Sikhs, scholars and laymen alike, seem to have better appreciation of the treasure of Gurbani that we
inherited by virtue of our birth in a Sikh household. 4
1. "Yes, it has the capability, (of guiding mankind) but the Sikhs have not brought out in the
broad daylight, the splendid doctrines of this religion which has come into existence for the
benefit of the entire mankind. This is their greatest sin and the Sikhs cannot be freed of it."
Bertrand Russell.
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