Article on Gurgaddi Dihara

Indrajit Singh, OBE's "Thought for the Day" for BBC radio always makes for very profound reading. In just a few short paragraphs the issue, and often the solution, is laid bare for all to ponder upon. This recent post extracted from the GLZ was in conjunction with the Gurgaddi Dihara:

"Thought for the Day BBC Radio 4 23-10-07 by Indarjit Singh

It’s sometimes said that whenever we humans get in real trouble, God sends a prophet or messenger to help sort us out and put us back on an ethical track. When God looked at the Punjab in the middle of the 15th century He saw people immersed in ritual who had lost all sense of self-esteem; people who looked the other way as their wives and daughters were carried off to captivity in frequent invasions from the north. Rumour has it, God said: ‘one prophet won’t be enough for this lot; I’ll send ten!’ And, so it came to pass that Sikhism had nine spiritual successors to the founder of the faith, Guru Nanak. A more earth-bound reason for Guru Nanak’s nine successors, lies in the wisdom and astuteness of Guru Nanak. He realised that it was relatively easy to set out simple principles of ethical and responsible living, but far far harder to change human behaviour to challenge injustice, and work for a fairer society. So the Guru started a system of succession to show that the teachings of Sikhism, with their emphasis on justice and compassion were a practical way of life in different social and political climates. The task of the successor Gurus was to protect and nurture Sikh teachings until they had taken root in popular psyche.

This week, Sikhs throughout the world are celebrating the anniversary of the 10th Guru, Guru Gobind Singh’s declaration in 1708 that the mission had succeeded and the community was now mature enough to stand on its own. He declared that in future the Guru Granth Sahib, the book containing the teachings of the Gurus should be regarded as the eternal Guru of the Sikhs. Unfortunately, some of us take this too literally and place greater emphasis on looking after and adorning the holy Granth with fine coverings, than looking to the guidance within it. It’s much the same with rituals found in other religions that divert us from focussing on actual teachings. We live in a world that throws up daily reminders of the damage caused by irresponsible and selfish living; global ones like damage to the environment and climate change, and more locally, harm to our social environment as seen in family breakdown, rising crime and a culture of greed. Our different religions give excellent guidance to help us to more responsible living, but unless we follow it, ten times ten Gurus, messengers or prophets, will never be enough. "