The Sikh Community
The Sikh Community
Dalip Singh Wasan, Advocate.
At present Sikhs are present in every country and they have attained a countable community in that area. But we must accept that they took their birth in India and it must also be accepted that they came out of the Hindu community and as per law established in India they are governed under the Hindu laws for the purpose of marriage, for the purpose of guardians and wards, for the purpose of succession and they are following those laws and are accepting those laws.
The founder of Sikhism was Shri Guru Nanak Dev ji who is known as the first Guru of the Sikhs and their last living Guru had been Shri Guru Gobind singh ji who actually gave to the Sikhs the present form. The people who know about the philosophy of shri Guru Granth sahibji which has been accepted as the present Guru of the Sikhs and the works of shri guru Gobind singh ji gave to the Sikhs the following five principles which every Sikh is bound to obey and follow in life and only then he could say that he is a Sikh of the Gurus. These five principles are enumerated below:-
(1) Work and earn your living with your own hands and your earning should be pure and if one takes bribes, one commits some misconducts in his profession, trade, calling and employment and collects money through illegal means, then that person does not remain a Sikh.
(2) The man keeps God present in his mind and around him is a Sikh and if he forgets presence of God, that person cannot be called a Sikh. It is on record that most of the Sikhs are reciting gurbani i.e. the works of their Gurus daily and they offer prayer and in the end of this prayer they pray that everybody on this earth must be happy, prosperous and should have all the needs and their provisions at his command.
(3) The Sikhs believe in charity and they give help to the needy. They know that they should not breed beggars, but they should help a person so that he should not beg a fish but should be able to catch a fish himself.
(4) The Sikhs have been guided that they should stand and protect the weak and the poor and must ensure that none is taking advantage of his weakness and of his poverty, and
(5) They try to finish those who are carrying on tyranny against the poor and the weak.
It must be accepted that the Sikhs are following these five principles and there are thousands of events when they could carry out these orders of their commandants.
The Sikhs had been protecting Hindus and they had been fighting against the Mughals who were trying to convert Hindus, were demolishing their places of worship and it is also on record that they had contributed beyond their strength in the country in war of Indian independence and their number had been higher who had been killed while fighting against the Mughals and against the British. If we count the number of people who were hanged, who were given life imprisonment, who were sent to jails, who were deported to ‘kalepaani’, the number of the Sikhs had been on the higher side. We know and every Indian knows that the Sikhs had been contributing much in the administration, in the industry, in the defence, in the agriculture and in other fields and they contributed more than what had been expected from them.
When India was being divided in 1947 the British were agreeing that the Sikhs should get their own homeland known in the name of ‘Khalistan’, but the Sikh leaders of that time did not agree for this ‘Khalistan’ because they knew that the Sikhs could not be retained in a small part. They knew that the Sikhs are a mobile community, a progressive community, a community which is adjustable at any place in the world, they are hard worker, efficient and all that and therefore, they should have a big country and they opted for India because they did not accept the offer of creator of Pakistan that they should have’Khalistan’ in Pakistan. Therefore, we must accept that the Sikhs are the first who opted for India and therefore, they are the first citizens of India and it is on record that the people of India had been considering them as the protector and the true Indians. The presence of a Sikh had been a safety point always here in India.
The Sikhs had bad days when a section of the Sikhs started a movement for the attainment of ‘Khalistan’ which had been rejected in 1947. But it is on record that all the Sikhs did not participate in that movement and it is on record that they could remain with the Hindus throughout and that is the reason that movement failed and it is on record that all the so-called Sikh leaders are not joining their names with that movement. Some people say that this khalistan movement in the eighties had been sponsored by Pakistan because that country was in a mood to take revenge for the creation of Bangladesh. Whatsoever been the reasons, this movement caused much losses to the Sikh community. They lost the prestige, the faith, the sincerety which they had been enjoying lost, they had been declared traitor at one stage when in a rally at Delhi it had been announced against Mainika Gandhi. ‘ Beti hai sardar ki—Mulk ke ghadar ki’. It is on record that thousands Sikhs had been killed, killed in encounters, sent to jails, and some were hanged and some are still in jails facing trials. The losses which the Sikhs suffered in India because of that movement would never be compensated, but they are trying to re-establish here in India and they could raise one of them as Prime Minister of India and even they could raise one to the post of Chief of Army staff.
Sikhs are a mobile community and that is the reason they are available in each part of the world and where-ever they are they are well established and are prosperous. It is the belief in the Sikh community that they earn and they also know how to spend that money. They live like rajas, maharajas and the monarchs and therefore, very few of them are poor and beggars. The are able to adjust in all the circumstances where they are placed and that is the reason, they are establishing themselves in areas who are speaking a different language.
Sikhs are secular in nature because in their Guru Granth Sahib all the communities are present. They are reciting works of all the saints belonging to different communities available at that time in in India and had there been the Christians here in India, their works could have got a place in Shri Guru granth sahibji. It must be accepted that none of the communities in the world are matching the maintenance of Gurdwaras when the Sikhs are providing boarding and lodging to all who are visiting these shrines. They are keeping these shrines well maintained, neat and clean and they are present here for prayer and recitation daily and twice a day.
The Sikhs had been given a special identity by shri guru Gobind Singh ji. They were asked to wear the following five signs to establish that the man is a Sikh. These five signs are enumerated here for the information of all in the world:-
(1) Kesh.
(2) Karra.
(3) Kirpan.
(4) Kachha. And
(5) Kangha.
We are noticing that all the Sikhs are not following these five signs and most of the Sikhs have started avoiding these signs and even then they are declaring that they are the Sikhs and they say that they are believing in the ten Gurus and in Guru granth sahib ji and therefore, they are Sikhs. Some Sikh individuals and some Sikh organizations are trying to bring the Sikhs into these five bounds, but all their efforts are not successful and more and more Sikhs are losing this identity. But it is on record that they have not left the Sikh religion and they still declare themselves as the Sikhs of the Gurus.
The future of this community is not bad because they are well educated, well trained, disciplined, hard worker, efficient, sincere, faithful and they are once again establishing themselves in India and they are also establishing themselves in all the countries where they are present. Their principles, the lives of their Gurus, the teaching of their Gurus, their history, their traditions and their mythology is helping them and they shall retain the reputation they could attain through their past.
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