Speech By Rajveer Singh, Head Of Khalsa Diary At Sirdar Kapur Singh Seminar on 15th August 2021

ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕਾ ਖਾਲਸਾ, ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕੀ ਫਤਿਹ ਜੀ

So whereas last year I discussed the more political aspect of Sirdar Kapur Singhs philosophy, with his most famous speech the betrayal of the Sikhs, today I decided to look more into the religious ideology that Sirdar Kapur Singh preached with the aid of  Guru sahib. See, ever since the Sikhi has been around for the past 550 years or so, there have been many attempts to reduce its stature by either comparing it with other religions or by humanising the Gurus. Before, it was just the occasional debate, where great scholars like Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, Giani Ditt Singh, Bhag Singh Ankhi etc., fulfilled their role like no other person could compare. 

However, in this “modern era”, where everyone is supposedly equal and has the same rights, there’s no racism or judgment; everyone seems to have it out for the Sikhs. Everyone is trying to claim Sikhi as part of their own religion. A podcast recently went viral about someone converting from Sikhi to Islam, but every point he made as to why islam and sikhi were similar was incorrect, and his reasoning was flawed in more ways than one. Check every Sikhi video on the internet, on social media, there will always be a comment that says “Sikhi is the sister religion of Hinduism” or “ਨੌਂ-ਮਾਸ ਦਾ ਰਿਸ਼ਤਾ” and it’s not just trolling anymore, it’s the same narrative that everyone has stuck in their feeble minds. So it’s only natural that if Hindus and Muslims won’t stop, western religions would also start to adopt the same policy. 

This particular article of Sirdar Kapur Singh can be found online but also in a book collated by Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar titled Guru Nanak’s life and thought. So in this, a student from Canada had said two major things that were taken notice of. The first was similar to these leeching comments we find on videos that “Sikhi could be constructed to have the same relationship with Hinduism that protestants and Roman Catholics had with christanity.” The second, probably the most insulting, was comparing Martin Luther to Guru Nanak Sahib. 

Now let me make it clear, I’m not talking about Martin Luther King Jr, who led the civil rights movement in America and fought for black rights. No, this Martin Luther was born in 1483 and was an Augustian Monk who participated in the religious reformation in Europe during the 16th century. Had this been a comparison between Jesus Christ, the prophet Mohammed or any of the 330 million deities of the Hindus, then the world would have been up in arms.

See, I don’t have a problem with other religions or thoughts or beliefs. If people want to believe in something as part of their own religion, then that’s fine. However, it changes when you bring the Sikh religion into this and compare Guru Nanak Sahib, who, as per Gurbani:

ਆਪਿ ਨਰਾਇਣੁ ਕਲਾ ਧਾਰਿ ਜਗ ਮਹਿ ਪਰਵਰਿਯਉ ॥

aap narain kalaa dhaar jag meh paravariyau ||

The Lord Himself wielded His Power and entered the world.

ਨਿਰੰਕਾਰਿ ਆਕਾਰੁ ਜੋਤਿ ਜਗ ਮੰਡਲਿ ਕਰਿਯਉ ॥

nira(n)kaar aakaar jot jag ma(n)ddal kariyau ||

The Formless Lord took form, and with His Light He illuminated the realms of the world.

With a human who acted in hate, despair and distraught. 

First off, we have to understand how this comparison was made. Sirdar Kapur Singh writes that “Martin had objected to the interpretation of certain Christian doctrines and practises as propagated by Rome’s sovereign bishop, the pope and his priests. It’s similar to the common narrative propagated by the RSS and other linked groups that Guru Nanak sahib reformed and polished Hinduism or was part of the bhakti movement. This comparison is, however, both unfair and incorrect. 

Whilst Martin Luther attempted to redefine an existing religion and correct certain discrepancies, Guru Nanak Sahib first established a kingdom;

ਨਾਨਕਿ ਰਾਜੁ ਚਲਾਇਆ ਸਚੁ ਕੋਟੁ ਸਤਾਣੀ ਨੀਵ ਦੈ ॥

naanak raaj chalaiaa sach koT sataanee neev dhai ||

Nanak established the kingdom; He built the true fortress on the strongest foundations.

That kingdom was established on the truth; that truth was built on first destroying the tyrannical systems that were in place. The caste system, lack of gender equality, meaningless rituals all had to first be undone. Hence why Guru Nanak Sahib Ji travelled to debate and spread the true path, those who then followed on that path were then able to become part of the next step, the Nirmal panth. 

ਮਾਰਿਆ ਸਿਕਾ ਜਗਤਿ ਵਿਚਿ ਨਾਨਕ ਨਿਰਮਲ ਪੰਥੁ ਚਲਾਇਆ।

maariaa sikaa jagat vich naanak niramal pa(n)th chalaiaa|

In the world, he established the authority (of his doctrines) and started a religion, devoid of any impurity (niramal panth).

The Nirmal panth was the foundation of the Khalsa panth, where the character had begun to evolve to Gursikhs. So, where Martin Luther simply wished to remove meaninglessness from the Christian religion, Guru Nanak Sahib Ji started a new religion, a kingdom and a panth to lead that kingdom. So just through this first point Sirdar Kapur Singh made, it is clear that Martin Luther is completely out of his league in comparison to Guru Nanak Sahib Ji.

Guru Nanak’s message was not something that was an improvement on existing ideas, no it was the revelation of a new and brilliant idea. A religion where every single person, regardless of their faith, ideas, believes, messages and background, could experience God, a benevolent kingdom that was released by the Sikhs and then by the whole world as the greatest empire in history, and then a panth that was in itself the form of akaal purakh and could vanquish all the villains so that the saints could live peacefully. In contrast there is no other religion out there that gives a place to someone from another religion. Whereas here, everyone can come and bask in mental, physical and spiritual freedom. 

Martin Luther’s ideas of reformation, whilst admirable, fall short against Guru Nanak sahib’s philosophy. It took Martin Luther to challenge the pope, whilst secretly impressing the king and noblemen through manusmriti ideas; saam, daam, dhand and bhed, for his ideas to eventually be realised. The fact he felt the need to do this proves two things: he was engrossed in worldly pleasures, and the second that he did not believe in himself to carry out his practice without underhanded tactics.

However, both of these things were things that Guru Nanak Sahib did not require, nor did he ever seek them out. From the Sakhi of Bhai Lalo, we know that Guru Nanak Sahib rejected the worldly pleasures that Malik Bhago had offered them and instead chose that gursikh who was completely detached from materialism. And it was that same Guru Nanak Sahib who then went on to call the emperor of India Babar a Jabar. Just these two ideas alone completely disregard everything that Martin Luther did during The Reformation in Europe.

However, Martin Luther did do a few things that were notable. For example, Martin Luther stood firmly against the common Christian practices at the time known as confessions. The confessions we’re actually a well known Buddhist practice known as Vinay. So to compare Martin Luther with Guru Nanak Sahib is completely unjust and unfair; however, comparing Martin Luther to an everyday Sikh who might stand against the meaningless rituals that still remain within our panth even today, such as Rakhri, Lohri, all the extra stuff that happens at an Anand Karaj, might still be a better comparison.

Having said that, there is one outlying factor that completely separates Martin Luther from Sikhi and Guru Nanak. See, it was well documented that Martin Luther was a spiteful, egotistical, and tyrannical person. The moment Martin Luther was granted power, he immediately began preaching against the Jewish people urging proper Christians to take action against Jewish beliefs. He orchestrated many violent attacks on the Jewish people and constantly allowed those people who committed violence against the Jews to walk free. It is this very underlying factor that completely separates Martin Luther from anything that can be considered Sikhi. Because from the very first day a Sikh is born, they are taught through the Mool Mantar that they are without fear and without hatred. Martin Luther first showed his fear, and once he gained power, he showed his hatred, and that hatred was enough to fuel the mass killings of thousands of Jews. Guru Nanak, however, throughout their ten life forms, never once struck out in anger, nor did they ever start a war. Instead, every single time a battle took place, it was never to benefit the guru, only to stop tyranny; the very same thing that Martin Luther had once stood against had now become his very image.

Now you’re probably wondering why I decided to choose this particular article written by Sirdar Kapur Singh to talk about. I could go on and on and talk about the different points that Sirdar Kapur Singh has made in this article and the different ways in which he has completely destroyed this ideology. However, it’s important to note that this was an event that took place in the 20th century. Now there are plenty of things that happened in the 20th century, for example, the suffrage movement, World War One and two, different tyrants meeting their ends, the gurdwara reform movement, Sikh Gulami Day, also known as Bharat Azad divas, the Teeja Ghalughara. And every single one of these holds some sort of relevance in the 21st century. The question is to what end does this whole article hold relevance in the 21st century?

Honestly, not that much has changed. If anything, the world has become more foolish, and, unfortunately, the Sikhs have become the most foolish. I say that we are foolish, not because of our lack of education, not because of the fact that we now have no standing in the world but the fact that we’re not prepared to do anything about it. When Sirdar Kapur Singh felt that the Sikhs were being mistreated, and Punjab was being looted, he wrote the Anandpur resolution, a document we remember even now with the farmers’ protest, that if we had listened back then, then maybe our situation wouldn’t be so dire. 

Last year I said something, I still stand by it, and that was that if we really expect someone to come down and wave a magic wand in our faces and solve all our problems, then all that is proving to me is that we have gone further and further off the original path that Guru Nanak had put us on. It’s unfortunate, but now we have Sikhs writing this kind of drivel as well. We have turban-wearing Amritdhari Sikhs, who claim to be the leaders of the Panth or claim to be the most enlightened, the most knowledgeable that honestly know less than a child would.

Now I’m not trying to be harsh. I’m not trying to be negative, but seriously in this day and age where every single religion out their no matter how small has rewritten their history and have researched it in so much detail, forgotten cultures are being remembered and customs and traditions are being carried out, we are having to look back on historical documents that are 300 years old because everything that is being written at the moment in the western world is a complete pile of garbage. And I’ll give you an example; there was a very small book written recently, and you know I’m all up for small books because Sirdar Kapur Singh wrote most of his books quite small really, and it was a great way of passing on the message in as much detail as possible but not going on into useless jargon. 

A book called the philosophy of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji and its contemporary relevance. You know, I picked this book up thinking hey it’s a small book, it might have something important in there and it’s written by a doctor so you know the guy must be fairly knowledgeable about Sikhi he must understand quite a lot about it. Honestly, aside from the meaningless large PhD language, there wasn’t really anything special about this book. However, it did manage to anger me at the fact that books written by Sikh intellectuals in the UK, not in India where you could be censored for writing the truth or get killed for speaking the truth, but books written by Sikh intellectuals are now less important than a comic book.

Now I’m not just saying this because I don’t like the writer or that I thought that the book was too short or anything like that. No, in fact, the content of the book was so mind-numbingly stupid that, honestly, I wanted to throw it out the window. You take a book, and you try and compare the greatest scripture written in history that’s still up till date has no flaw has never been wrong has predicted every single event and has the answer to every single question that preaches diversity, freedom and sovereignty, and you compare it with western ideas built on uniformity, mass murder and white supremacy and then have the gaul to compare the installation of the Guru Granth Sahib to the Kings James Bible in Britain.

And in this book, the writer makes a very interesting point. He says, “unlike the study of the rise and influence of the Protestant movement, the significance and impact of Guru Nanak’s philosophy and its political dimensions remain underresearched, under analysed and under referenced”. What I can’t seem to understand is how this book in any way contributes to countering that exact problem. If anything, this book should be back in the 14th century before Guru Nanak with its backward ideas comparing religions.

What is the main reason for needing research? When you have an incomplete text, or you require proof and clarification on things. Our research has already been handed to us in the form of Guru Granth Sahib Ji. mool mantar holds the entire essence of the world, Sikh ideology and the Khalsa Spirit. Mool Mantar’s explanation is done throughout Japji Sahib, and Japji Sahib’s explanation is done throughout the rest of Gurbani. As the only religion in the world, whose scripture was handwritten by Akaal Purakh, we require very little research, because all of the analysis has already been done for us. Now it’s up to us to understand it, not interpret it by a tainted model of the Khalsa Raaj education system stolen from us and implemented in the UK.

So many other things were said in this book, for example, the idea of Guru Nanak’s Hindustan, it’s not anti panthic; it’s just plain stupid. And it’s unfortunate to see that many youngsters will pick up this book thinking that it will teach them something when in reality all it will do is waste that time and eat at their brains.

Now I don’t claim to be a writer or a scholar, or an intellectual. I mean, I’m just a student, but the one thing I can tell is that there is a huge difference in the knowledge of these so-called Sikh scholars and people like Sirdar Kapur Singh. the moment you can compare perfection with something, it loses its title, so how can you go about and compare that panth which is described as;

ਇਕੁ ਉਤਮ ਪੰਥੁ ਸੁਨਿਓ ਗੁਰ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਤਿਹ ਮਿਲੰਤ ਜਮ ਤ੍ਰਾਸ ਮਿਟਾਈ ॥

eik utam pa(n)th sunio gur sa(n)gat teh mila(n)t jam traas miTaiee ||

I have heard that the most exalted Path of all is the Sangat, the Guru’s Congregation. Joining it, the fear of death is taken away.

To a religious ideology born out of uniformity, white supremacy and suppression, when Sikhi is a religion that teaches spiritual, physical and mental freedom, something still not mentioned by these so-called educated scholars. It’s very clear in Gurbani that a person’s worldly education means absolutely nothing if they have no spiritual knowledge whatsoever 

ਕੁੰਭੇ ਬਧਾ ਜਲੁ ਰਹੈ ਜਲ ਬਿਨੁ ਕੁੰਭੁ ਨ ਹੋਇ ॥

ku(n)bhe badhaa jal rahai jal bin ku(n)bh na hoi ||

Water remains confined within the pitcher, but without water, the pitcher could not have been formed;

ਗਿਆਨ ਕਾ ਬਧਾ ਮਨੁ ਰਹੈ ਗੁਰ ਬਿਨੁ ਗਿਆਨੁ ਨ ਹੋਇ ॥੫॥

giaan kaa badhaa man rahai gur bin giaan na hoi ||5||

just so, the mind is restrained by spiritual wisdom, but without the Guru, there is no spiritual wisdom. ||5||

And it’s unfortunate really that these Sikh scholars will work so hard in their lives to hopefully one day preach Sikhi and yet they have gotten so enraptured by the modern education system which is entirely built on colonialism, suppression and uniformity that they’ve forgotten these basic things. And it’s a shame to see that they happily put their names on work that they should have realised only hurts the panth instead of lifting it up.

So what’s the solution here? Well honestly it’s pretty simple, and it’s something that Sardar Bharpur Singh Balbir ji used to say in their speeches. They said that “ਬੁੱਢੇ ਚੇਹਰੇ ਮਨੁੱਖ ਆਪਣੇ ਆਖਰੀ ਦਿਨ ਕੁਸਰੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਬੈਠ ਕੇ ਗੁਜ਼ਾਰਨਾ ਚਾਉਂਦੇ ਹੁੰਦੇ, ਇਸ ਕਰਕੇ ਨੌਜਵਾਨੀ ਨੂੰ ਬੇਨਤੀ ਆ ਕੇ ਉਹ ਪੰਥ ਦੀ ਅਗਵਾਈ ਕਰਨ, ਨਾ ਕੇ ਓਦੋ ਜਦੋ ਉਹ ਆਪ ਬੁੱਢੇ ਚੇਹਰੇ ਵਾਲੇ ਹੋ ਜਾਣ”

What that means is that older people want to spend their days sitting on top of the chain, without worrying about the consequences, so he requested the youngsters to lead the panth. Even Sirdar Kapur Singh writes in his book Documents on the Sikh Homeland, “This book is dedicated to the Bhujangi Khalsa from whom we have high hopes in the future”.

So even in this case, just like Jathedar Mohinder Singh says as well that in England we have around 300 gurdwaras in the UK, if each gurdwara paid a youngster who has no ties to India, gave them a room in the gurdwara to research Sikhi and all other religions, finance them to write literature, and allowed them to hold weekly seminars and question and answer sessions with youngsters, then a revolution would come about in the UK.

300 young scholars that have the ability to answer questions in Punjabi and English about Sikhi, then we won’t need these books that are google translated into English and make little to no sense to the common man. And it’s not impossible, a church down the road from here organised a similar program, and they now have six youngsters, both male and female, who can debate different religions and quote lines from their Granths in their languages. I was surprised when one of them tried to debate me at their skill and knowledge. If they can do it, why can’t we?

So what can we learn from this because that’s the main thing really what we learn from books like this from articles written around things like this? As I said, Guru Granth Sahib has made it extremely clear that spiritual knowledge is the key to worldly knowledge. People like Sardar Kapoor Singh studied at the University of Cambridge but never once disregarded the basic teachings of Sikhi. These basic values that honestly, are things that we as Sikhs should be applying to our lives every single day.

Not cutting our hair, not taking any intoxications, so that we can actually save some money, and use it on things we want to buy, not committing adultery hell, if we were able to do that, 99% of the world’s problems would disappear. If we studied our religion and kept faith in our Gurus, then people like this would disappear on their own. The Guru’s taught us a path of discussion, debate, discourse and logic, but we can only do that once we actually understand our religion in the first place. So that’s why I urge every single person watching to spend some time learning the basics of your religion. You don’t have to become some spiritual teacher to understand your religion. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again there is no such thing as a non-practising Sikh; you are either Sikh or not. But before you make a decision, at least try living by the Sikh values; see how your life improves, and it will be the moment you start to learn to live in the Hukam of Akaal Purakh, on the righteous path.  

When those values take root, only then will you really understand just how great Sikhi really is. And when that day comes, you won’t need educated scholars to teach you what’s right in Sikhi and what’s wrong in Sikhi. Because everything you do will be in accordance with Guru Granth Sahib’s teachings, and then taking Amrit won’t be something you are pushed to do; you will automatically do it yourself. When that day comes, then you will become a true sovereign, then you will become a true Sikh, then you will become part of the Khalsa, and then trivial matters will no longer cause you any strife because you would have found the answer you’ve been looking for.

ਇੰਨੀਆਂ ਬੇਨਤੀਆਂ ਕਰਦੇ ਹੋਏ ਦਾਸ ਖੇਮਾ ਦਾ ਜਾਚਕ ਆ, ਕਿਉਂ ਕੇ ਮੈ ਕੋਈ ਵਿਧਵਾਨ ਨਹੀਂ ਗੁਰੂ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਦਾ ਨਿਮਾਣਾ ਜਿਆ ਸੇਵਕ ਆ, ਕੋਈ ਗ਼ਲਤੀ ਹੋਈ ਹੋਵੇ, ਜਾ ਕਿਸੇ ਦੇ ਸ਼ਾਨ ਖਿਲਾਫ ਕੁਛ ਕੈ ਗਿਆ ਹੋਵਾਂ ਤਾ ਮੈ ਮਾਫੀ ਮੰਗਦਾ, ਬੇਨਤੀ ਸਿਰਫ ਇੰਨੀ ਆ ਕਿ ਅਸੀਂ ਗੁਰੂ ਗਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਜੀ ਦੇ ਲੜ ਲਗੇ ਰਹੀਏ, ਤੇ ਗੁਰੂ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਪੰਥ ਨੂੰ ਤਾਕਤ ਬਖਸ਼ੇ ਕਿ ਇਕ ਵਾਰੀ ਫਿਰ ਅਸੀਂ ੧੮ ਸਦੀ ਦੇ ਸਿੱਖਾਂ ਵਰਗੇ ਬਣੀਏ ਤਾ ਜੋ ਅਸੀਂ ਪਹਿਲੇ ਵਾਂਗ ਤੱਤ ਖਾਲਸਾ ਬਣ ਕਿ ਰਹੀਏ. 

ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕਾ ਖਾਲਸਾ ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕੀ ਫਤਿਹ

Check out the full seminar:

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