The Sikh Bulletin
jyT-hwV-swvx-Bwdo N 538
May-June-July-August 2006
K. T. F. of N. A. Inc. 3524 Rocky Ridge Way, El Dorado Hills, CA. 957621
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The Sikh Bulletin
A Voice of Concerned Sikhs World Wide
May-June-July-Aug. 2006
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editor@sikhbulletin.com
Volume 8, Numbers 5, 6,7&8Published by:
Khalsa Tricentennial Foundation of N.A. Inc;
3524 Rocky Ridge Way, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762, USA
Fax
(916) 933-8020
Khalsa Tricentennial Foundation of N.A. Inc. is a religious tax-exempt California Corporation.
EDITORIALVEDANTI – AN ENEMY OF SIKHI
-undermining of the very basic principles of Guru Nanak’s message thatAkal Takhat is supposed to uphold.‘Jathedar’ Vedanti has graced pages of The Sikh Bulletin many times sincehis appointment by Badal after the unceremonious sacking of hispredecessor, Puran Singh, on March 28, 2000, largely because of hisfraternization with unsavoury characters like Nanaksaria ‘Sant Baba’ AmarSingh Barundi. (
See SB May, June, Nov. 2000; June & Oct. 2001; Feb.& Aug. 2002.)
and ‘Sant Baba’ Daljit Singh Chicago. It did not take us longto see through him and in the June 2000 issue of the SB we identified himas a
‘Trojan Horse’
. He has proven us right, beyond our expectations. Hehas consistently tried to present the scums of Sikhi as its religious leaders.Unlike the tradition established by our Gurus who practiced what theypreached, Vedanti says one thing but does exactly opposite.In the Tribune dated Oct. 30/2001, dateline Amritsar Oct.29, under thebanner, “Drive against dera system”, Vedanti is quoted as saying,“…meanwhile, Jathedar Vedanti appealed to the Sikh sangat to opposethose who were running deras and adopting practices which went againstthe tenets and principles of Sikhism. He said whenever any act of religiousmisconduct came to light the matter should be reported to the Akal Takhatsecretariat” …“Khalsa Panth had the potential to take care of its enemy”.Khalsa Panth may have the potential to take care of its enemies but itcertainly has not shown the ability to recognize them. Most recently four
In This Issue/
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Editorial………………………………………………..….1Hindu Militants Murdered 38 Sikhsin Cold Blood…………………………………………..…3The 1984’s Answer to You O India……………………...5Sikhism (Sikhi)……………………………………..…….6The Granthi and the Gurdwaras……………………...….11Gyani or Agyiani?.............................................................14Future of Sikhi…………………………………………...15The Attack on Jasvir Singh………………………………15Sikh Profiles: The Man Who Refused toKeep Quiet……………………………………………….16Sikh Historical Artifacts in British Museums……………18
syvk kI EVik inbhI pRIiq
……………………...…………19
suiD jb qy hm DrI
…………………………………………20
is`K bIbIAW pM j ipAwirAW qy drbwr swihb sR I hirmM dir swihb ivKykIrqn dI syvw iv`c Swml hox dIAW brwbr h`kdwr
………………………………....22
bwbw jI dw AMimR q
.................................................................23
AM imRq kI hY?
.......................................................................23
sMq hrI isMG rMDwvy vwly
………………………………….27
kihMdy ny
………………………………………………...29
gu rbwxI vIcwr
……………………………………………..31Special Message...........................................................….32
The views expressed by the authors are theirown.
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Editor in Chief
Hardev Singh Shergill
Editorial Board
Avtar Singh Dhami, USAGurpal Singh Khaira, USAGurcharan Singh Brar, Canada
Dr. Sarjeet Singh Sidhu, Malaysia
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Amrinder SinghSachleen Singh
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“
A
kal Takhat Sahib is the mostsupreme seat of the Sikh nation. AllSikhs owe their loyalty solely to thisthrone.” (Dr. Harjinder Singh Dilgeer).It should be emphasized that loyalty isto the ‘Institution of Akal TakhatSahib’, not to the caretaker. Ourcurrent leadership, headed by Vedanti,by its shameful conduct has damagedthis Institution but other than isolatedcries of concern by a few individualsthe vast majority of people callingthemselves Sikhs and all the ‘Sikh’Organizations are oblivious to the
The Sikh Bulletin
jyT-hwV-swvx-Bwdo N 538
May-June-July-August 2006
K. T. F. of N. A. Inc. 3524 Rocky Ridge Way, El Dorado Hills, CA. 957622
such enemies were back, again, in this country – TarlochanSingh, caretaker of Kesgarh Sahib, who played a major rolein protecting Daljit Singh Chicago from a punishmentharsher than listening to kirtan for his transgressions alreadywell publicized in the media; Iqbal Singh, caretaker PatnaSahib, who considers himself superior to the caretaker atAkal Takhat Sahib and justifies his two marriages on thefallacy of two (or more) marriages of Guru Gobind Singh;Joginder Singh Vedanti, caretaker Akal Takhat Sahib; and histail, Ranjit Singh, granthi at Gurdwara Sees Ganj. They werehere at the invitation of Satpal Singh Khalsa, Son-in-Law of Yogi Bhajan, the deceased leader of Sikh Dharma in thewestern world, who used Sikhism as a prop for his businesspractices in this country. To understand the true character of this leader of Sikh Dharma, copies of various law suitsagainst him can be had from The Sikh Bulletin by thoseengaged in research in matters concerning Sikhi.Vedanti speaks against derawalas, yet he graces their deraswith his presence.
Daljit Singh of Chicage
,
a one time Gianiin Chandigarh and Baba in Chicago became an instant ‘Sant’after being blessed by Vedanti’s visit to his dera, in May2001, a visit that was vigorously opposed by the sangat of Chicago
.(
SB June 2001
).
During his same visit we presentedhim with a dossier on
Amar Singh,
a world class con artistand congenital liar, from whom he had already received asiropa in New Delhi on Nov.16, 2000. Not only did we notreceive any response from him to our dossier, he lead adelegation of likes of Avtar Singh Hitt, then President of DGPC, Talwandi and others to Amar Singh’s dera in Londonin August 2001 and he has been there many times since then.While there he ignored the pleas of a Gursikh to be taken tomeet some of the victims of Amar Singh.Remember his public statement about any religiousmisconduct to be brought to his attention? Among the first tobe brought to his attention was the moral misconduct of
Baba Dhanwant Singh,
the rape by him of the daughter of one of his devotees. Vedanti had assigned the investigative task tohis wife’s brother,
Prithipal Singh Sandhu,
who was thenhis SGPC paid personal assistant. According to reports by the
Shiromani Khalsa Panchayat,
by accepting a bribe of several thousand rupees, Sandhu exonerated the Babacompletely. Public hue and cry that ensued resulted inSandhu losing his job, ostensibly, not for any misconduct butfor being overage for SGPC job. Thanks to Panjab Police andIndian Judiciary Baba Dhanwant Singh went to jail forcommitting rape. For some unexplained reason, even thoughPrithipal Singh Sandhu is no longer an employee of SGPC hestill accompanies Vedanti on his foreign jaunts and pressrefers to him as Vedanti’s PA. More recently when theSangat of Palatine Gurdwara took the case of Daljit SinghChicago to Vedanti he justifies the very mild punishment (Hedoes not even call it punishment; he terms it sewa.) by statingthat after listening to both sides i.e. sangat of PalatineGurdwara and Daljit Singh, and affidavits of the Bibi inquestion and her husband, Daljit Singh was punished forlying to the media. Obviously Vedanti chose to believeDaljit Singh’s second explanation, after his on the air denialof his or his van ever being at the Motel, for being with amarried woman in the middle of the night i.e. he wascounselling the woman. Amar Singh’s standard excuse wasalso always the same.Panjabi Weekly ‘Panjab Times’ of April 29, 2006 carrieshighlights of ‘Jathedars’ latest visit, reported by Amolak Singh. At Milwaukie’s Brookfield Gurdwara, where theywere invited by the “wealthy Sikh businessman S. DarshanSingh Dhaliwal”, (obviously by inviting these people he isnot using his wealth to help the cause of Sikhi), Vedantiurged the sangat to not to buy, read nor support those whocreate
‘dubidha’
(duibDw)
in the panth and questioncenturies old practices and call ‘Jathedars’
pujaris..
According to the reporter, although Vedanti did not namenames, clear targets of his comments were two individualsthat he had excommunicated, Joginder Singh, Editor andPublisher of Spokesman and Gurbakhsh Singh KalaAfghana.Dictionary defines
‘dubidha’
as double mindedness, doubt,dilemma and quandary. Those who have read andunderstood the writings of these two gentlemen with openmind do not agree with Vedanti. They say that any
‘dubidha’
has been created by Vedanti and people like him.One of the first acts after being appointed caretaker of AkalTakhat, Vedanti issued a directive banning any discussionabout so called
‘Dasam Granth’.
While people like
BabaVirsa Singh
were free to propagate Dasam Granth rightunder Vedanti’s nose, Sikh institutions like Institute of SikhStudies, Chandigarh under
Dr. Kharak Singh
chose to obeythe anti-gurmat order by Vedanti.Vedanti’s real
dubidha’
(du ibDw)
causing work was
‘Gurbilas Patshahi 6’,
a book which is basically a
‘kanjar kahani’
.
It had disappeared from the Gurdwaras under theinfluence of Singh Sabha movement but resuscitated in June1998 on Guru Hargobind Sahib’s 400
th
birth anniversary asa ‘gift’ to the Panth, under the editorship of Vedanti, withSGPC funds facilitated by Manjit Singh Calcutta.
(See SBMay & June 2000 for detailed analysis of this book).
Vedanti’s mostcherished wish was to see the resumption of
katha
of thisbook in all the Gurdwaras.Yet another instance of his
dubidha’
(duibDw)
creation is hishypocrisy about
Hukamnamas
. Upon being appointedsuccessor to Puran Singh he voided all Hukamnamas issuedby Puran Singh but not those by Ranjit Singh Ghataura,including the notorious ‘sit-on-the-floor-for-Langar’hukamnama. This, even in the light of the fact that on April25, 1935 the five member
‘Dharmik Slahkar Committee’
The Sikh Bulletin
jyT-hwV-swvx-Bwdo N 538
May-June-July-August 2006
K. T. F. of N. A. Inc. 3524 Rocky Ridge Way, El Dorado Hills, CA. 957623
consisting of S. Kahn Singh Nabha, Prof. Jodh Singh, Prof.Teja Singh, Prof. Ganga Singh and Jathedar Mohan Singhhad passed a resolution allowing Sikhs in Europe andAmerica, where there is tradition to sit on chairs inside placesof worship, to sit on chairs even inside Darbar hall by raisingthe platform for parkash of Guru Granth Sahib. WhenAmolak Singh, the reporter for Panjab Times, pointed outVedanti created
‘dubidha’
(du ibDw)
in matter of Langarhukamnama by going to Didar Singh Bains’ house in YubaCity but not to the Tierra Buena Gurdwara where he ispresident, because of the chairs, although Iqbal Singh of Patna Sahib has no compunction about going to theGurdwara himself, and on this trip laying the foundationstone of a Gurdwara in Lodi, California, with chairs in theLangar hall, Vedanti confidently asserted that at LodiGurdwara the sangat had resolved to remove the chairs by
jaikara
(
bo ly so inhwl…
) and Tierra Buena Gurdwara will doso soon. We have news for Vedanti. Sangat at LodiGurdwara overruled the management’s decision to placateVedanti and put the chairs right back. Same has beenhappening at Tierra Buena Gurdwara for years.Recently Vedanti has come out with a ‘Gurmata’ givingchoice to all excommunicated persons to rejoin the Sikh foldby January 13, 2007 without under going any
‘tankhah’
provided they accept the authority of Akal Takhat. Problemis that Vedanti has neither the legal nor moral authority toissue a ‘Gurmata’; nor does he, or any so called jathedar, hasany authority to issue a hukamnama. Two people‘excommunicated’ by him and several ‘excommunicated’ byRanjit Singh Ghataura in Canada do not consider themselves‘excommunicated’ in the eyes of the Granth and the Panth;nor do they deny the supremacy of Akal Takhat. What theserare Sikh individuals are challenging is the abuse of thepower of Akal Takhat by undeserving people like Vedantiwho behave as peons of the politicians who appointed them.Vedanti talks about the sanctity of centuries old practices i.e.only three centuries since the Guru period. Because he isVedanti, expert in Vedas, and not Giani, expert in GuruGranth Sahib, should we excuse him for not knowing thatGuru Nanak had preached for discarding tens of centuries oldpractices because they were an abomination? The biggest andmost important such practice was the
janeu
ceremony for himwhich he rejected when he was only a child.Just the other day I was listening to a radio talk show with thePresident of American Bar Association as the guest.Conversation was about the conduct of the Bushadministration in the war on terror and scandals at AbuGhraib, Haditha, Hamandiya, Ishaqi and Guantanamo Bay.With reference to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay hiscomments were that the administration’s conduct there isclearly not “American”. Vedanti Ji, even though you do notlike to be called
‘pujari’
that is precisely what you and yourcompanions are and you have transformed Sikhi to pre GuruNanak period and destroyed the contributions and sacrificesof Ten Gurus and countless Sikhs. The pretense of Sikhithat you make is not ‘Sikhi’. I would like nothing better thanfor you to excommunicate me from your Panth because myPanth and your Panth have nothing in common. In yourPanth the GGS, although held in high esteem by your wayof thinking, is actually shown disrespect because you havecome to treat it just as another deity as a Hindu idol and thusworshipped as such and like the Hindu idols sangat comesfor its
‘darshan’
and just like Hindu idols it is taken out for
‘darshan’
in the form of a nagar kirtan. My Panth considersit a treasure-trove of knowledge to be read, comprehendedand made part of daily life. GGS makes no distinctionbetween Hindus and Muslims (and Sikhs, Christians andBuddhists for that matter) and the gender but you forbidMardana’s descendents and women from doing kirtan andother sewa at Darbar Sahib. The list of your transgressionsis unending.Finally, one wonders which group is the worst enemy of Sikhi, the holier than thou clowns who frequently come outof India or the moneyed people in Diaspora who pay forthem to visit their homes and Gurdwaras. Unfortunately thevast majority of Sikhs, both in India and in Diaspora, aretotally unconcerned about both of these groups.
Hardev Singh Shergill
*****
HINDU MILITANTS MURDERED 38 SIKHSIN COLD BLOOD
Speech of Hon. Edolphus Towns of New York in the House of Representatives Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, recently, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright wrote a book called The Mightyand the Almighty. The introduction was written by formerPresident Bill Clinton. In his introduction, President Clintonwrote, ``During my visit to India in 2000, some Hindumilitants decided to vent their outrage by murdering 38Sikhs in cold blood. If I hadn't made the trip, the victimswould probably still be alive. If I hadn't made the tripbecause I feared what militants might do, I couldn't havedone my job as president of the United States.''President Clinton places the blame squarely on Hindumilitants, not on the so-called Kashmiri Muslims that theIndian government tried to blame for the massacre. In 2002,the Washington Times reported that the government finallyadmitted its responsibility and admitted that the evidencethat it used to pin the blame on Kashmiris was false.Reporter Barry Bearak of the New York Times also placedthe blame squarely on the Indian government, as did twoindependent investigations, one by the International HumanRights Organization, which is based in Ludhiana, and the
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