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Sikh Virsa, Calgary 34. October 2022(Cont. From last Issue)Unity or Religions?Scholastic jugglery tofind quotations fromGurbani and set themagainst those of other faithsto prove the “Unity ofReligions” is a misplacedenthusiasm. By relying oncommon points, such asremember God, love thyneighbor, help the needy,refrain from violence, do nottell a lie, do not cheat, onecannot prove the unity ofreligions. All suchstatements or principles areaccepted even by theagnostics as essential forbecoming good humanbeings. If one wants to provethe “unity of religions” byproving that the real methodof worship is the same in allreligions, no research workis needed for that. It can beright away stated that as allreligions believe in God,therefore there is unity ofreligions. Such statementsmislead the people becausethey conceal a lot.Constitutions of the twocountries may not be thesame, just because bothpunish robbers and rewardgood workers. One may bea democracy and the other adictatorship. Similarly, tworeligions cannot be equatedjust because both say, “Lovethy neighbor. Do not steal.”To understand a religion, wemust know its definition forGod and its mission ofhuman life. Quoting humansfrom different religiousscriptures to compare theirprinciples is meaningless.While doing so, the writerignores the basicphilosophies of the twofaiths compared. Such“research” achievements ofinterfaith scholars can becompared to those of a child,who after studying a book onanimals, concludes:Cow and cat are notdifferent kinds of animals.They both begin with theletter C and each consists ofthree letters with a vowel inthe middle. Researchrevealed that in thedescription regarding eachanimal, there were the samenumber of related vowels,i.e., 100A’s and 66 O’s.Finally, both are classified asmammals, having four legsand a tail. Therefore,basically the cow and the catare the same.The research conclusionsdrawn by some Inter-faithscholars are as “logical” andas misleading as the resultsof the above research.Let us consider anotherexample to understand howcomparing quotations andwords from two scripturescan mislead the reader. Godis worshiped by the followersof all religions. manyChristians believe that Godaccepts only Christians andthrows all other people intohell even if they love Himsincerely. According to theSikh faith, God loveseveryone, believers and nonbelieversalike. Therefore thestatement “God loves us” hasa different meaning whenstated by a Christian andwhen said by a Sikh. As longas basic differences existamong the faiths,comparative statementsbecome meaningless.Many Christians believeall people are born sinners.To be saved one must havefaith in the only begotten Sonof God, the Christ, who tookupon him all the sins of thepeople. On the other hand,Gurbani says that all peopleare born blessed. God grantsus this valuable life in orderto know and love His virtues.With these facts beforeus, believing in the “unity ofreligions” is showingignorance of the Sikh faithand lowering its image.We may go on saying allreligions are the same andthere is unity of religions,however science has shakenthe foundations of the majorold faiths. The Popeappeared personally otelevision on October 5,1989 to regret theimprisonment given toGalileo about three centuriesago. He agreed that thescientist was right and thePope, who ordered hispunishment, was wrong. The‘crime’ of Galileo was hisdiscovery that the earthrevolved around the sunwhich was against what wasmentioned in the Bible.During the 19th century,Darwin suffered all kinds ofabuses from the Christians,just because he suggested thetheory of the evolution ofman. This challenged theconcept of creation in theBible. This theory, nowhaving been accepted to belargely true, is causingserious concerns for peoplewho believe the Bible to bethe word of God.In general, if confrontedwith two opposing beliefsone given by science and theother mentioned in religiousscriptures, people tend toaccept the finding of science.Christianity may well bethriving in parts of Africa andAsia today, but in the West,Christian faith is eroding atan alarming rate. Secularhumanism is fast becomingthe prevailing “religion” ofthe Western world. Forinstance, it is no longer trueto describe either Canada orEngland as Christiancountry, since the vastmajority of their respectivepopulations have notraditional ties with anyreligious body. (The Churchof England alone has closednine hundred churches since1974.) Add to this the factthat only a small fraction ofchildren and young peoplenow receive any religiousinstruction whatever, and theprognosis for the year 2000looks very bleak indeed.Page 4 For Christ’s Sake(1984) by Tom Harper of theToronto Star.Tom Harper holdsscience and technologymainly responsible for thiserosion. Not just millions buttrillions of dollars spent onpreaching will have no effecton the people unless themessage has a value for thescientific man of today. Newchurches are appearingwhich do not adhere to the‘old’ concepts. The Unitarianand Universalist churches donot accept Christ as theSavior or as the only Son ofGod.In India too, peopleworshiped (some do it eventoday) the sun, the moon, andother heavenly bodies asgods. Science has given thema new message.On the other hand, whenwe go through Gurbani, wefind that it limits itself to thepurpose of human life, whichis to love God. The bestmethod of doing so,according to Gurbani is tolove people, serve and “see”God living in them. Gurbaniis a message, not just forSikhs, but for all people andfor all ages.While laying down itsown path for human beings,Gurbani unambiguously andemphatically disagrees withold beliefs of sectarian faiths.(i) Because of theirignorance some peopleworship idols while othersworship graves. They wastetheir life in hollow rituals andfail to realize the truth.(ii) The Kazis (judges)are corrupt, the Brahmanssuch the blood of theinnocent, and the Yogismislead people. Theythemselves don’t know thepath for peace and areresponsible for the problemsof the people.(iii) this human life hasbeen gifted to us to lovepeople and realize Hispresence everywhere.(iv) I do not believe inHinduism or Islam. I love theAlmighty, the Lord of ourbodies and souls, Who isaddressed as Ram by Hindusand Allah by Muslims.(v) There is no otherworship than to love Him.(vi) One Almighty hascreated this universe and itworks under His Will. Heprevails everywhere, weshould sing His virtues torealize Him.Unfortunately, a few Sikhinterfaith activists are tryingto prove a unity of religionsand that the “real method ofworship” is the same in allreligions. The indirectly saythe Gurus did not understandthe “real worship” of otherfaiths when they criticizedtheir beliefs and method ofworship. These people, thus,give disinformation about theSikh faith and lower itsimage while trying to buildup their own thesis of theunity of religions. The Sikhfaith when presented withoutdistorting its spirit, meets theneeds of all, people,whatever their faith. In thissense Sikhism as such is anInterfaith religion.All People are EqualThe purpose of interfaithorganizations is to developgood will for all persons andunderstand their beliefs. TheSikh faith is built on thefoundation of loving allpeople irrespective of theirfaith, appearance, language,or culture. Sikhs thereforedon’t need another“Interfaith” for developingunderstanding among peopleof different religions.These principles and theposition of the Sikh faithmust be explained to themembers of all other faiths.The fact that Sikhs believe inONE God and in thebrotherhood of humanitymust be pointed outemphatically. Just becausethere are limitless names forGod (Allah, Ram, Gobind,Guru, God, etc.) does notmean there are many faithsreligions.Another equally incorrectstatement is made byscholars who know the Sikhfaith from a distance only.They say that Sikhism is acombination of good pointsfrom Hinduism and Islam.Such misleading statementsWe feel safe here’: Indian studentsin Canada welcome advisoryDays after an Indian student,Satwinder Singh,(28), was killed in Canada,an advisory was issued bythe Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) to Indianstudents studying inCanada on Friday sayingthat there has been a sharprise in incidents of hatecrimes, sectarian violenceand anti-India activities inCanada and Indian studentsare advised to exercisedue caution, remainvigilant and may also registerwith the High Commissionof India in Canada.Contrary to this advisorythere is another side ofthe story also where peopleare feeling unsafe becauseof the lawlessness created bysome Punjabi student groupsin some areas of Canadawhere there number is more.Even in some places bothnative and long-settledconceal the fact that Sikhismis a sovereign faith revealedby Guru Nanak. It hasnothing to do with the beliefsof old Yoga.The truth revealed byGuru Nanak should not bedistorted to fir ones’ thoughtsto make him a multi-faithactivist. The Sikh faith, asmentioned earlier, respectspeople irrespective of theirfaith but disagrees with thephilosophy and methods ofworship of other faiths. In theinterfaith meetings, oneshould not hesitate to speakthis truth even though it maybe contrary to the faith of thelisteners. The W.C.R.P. andother philosophers as quotedabove, have frankly agreedto the universalities of thebasic Sikh principles. TheSikh participants in theinterfaith functions may referto their opinions as well.In the end, it must beemphasized that theprinciples of the Sikh faithmust not be muddled to gainmileage in the social andreligious life of today. Letpeople follow the authenticSikh faith rather than twistingit to fir it into the present daythoughts of the pseudo leadersof the faith.(The End)Punjabis avoid going wheresuch groups are quite activeand infamous for their unrulyactivities.Singh, who was killed ina shooting incident at a shopin Milton, Southern Ontario,was working part-time aftercompleting his course in GlobalBusiness Management.While most students inCanada said that they feelsafe, others said that this adviceby the Indian governmentis highly appreciableand will also create awarenessamong them. They saidthat they will also get themselvesregistered at the portalof the Indian government.Quebec-based Indianstudent Dilpreet Singh, whois pursuing his studies inNetwork and Internet Securitysaid that most studentsdon’t know that they needto register with the HighCommission and the ConsulatesGeneral to betterconnect with Indian citizensin Canada in times of emergency.(The End)
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