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Famous Quotes About Sikhs And Sikhi

bscheema

SPNer
Jan 4, 2010
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Sir Winston Churchill
was very well conversant with the bravery of the Sikhs, who had fought for Britain in the World Wars. Churchill while speaking in the British Parliament said:
".....It is a matter of regret that due to the obsession of the present times people are distorting the superior religious and social values, but those who wish to preserve them with respect, we should appreciate them as well as help them. Sikhs do need our help for such a cause and we should give it happily. Those who know the Sikh history, know England's relationship with the Sikhs and are aware of the achievements of the Sikhs, they should persistently support the idea of relaxation to Sikhs to ride a motorbike with their turbans on, because it is their religious privilege."
Churchill, further added:
"...British people are highly indebted and obliged to Sikhs for a long time. I know that within this century we needed their help twice and they did help us very well. As a result of their timely help, we are today able to live with honour, dignity, and independence. In the war, they fought and died for us, wearing the turbans. At that time we were not adamant that they should wear safety helmets because we knew that they are not going to wear them anyways and we would be deprived of their help. At that time due to our miserable and poor situation, we did not force it on them to wear safety helmets, why should we force it now? Rather, we should now respect their traditions and by granting this legitimate concession, win their applaud."

Max Arthur Macauliffe
This eminent scholar has written six books on Sikh history. He addresses the Western Six books on Sikh history. He addresses the Western Society and claims to bring Sikh religion from the East which is simple to understand. There is no place to pretence and hypocritical in this religion…..
Flesh, Alcohol Tobacco and other drugs are prohibited in it…. It nor only teachers kindness, love, honesty but also encourages its followers to accept all human beings as one thus diminishing all racial differences…. Teachings of Buddha and other religious were written when they were no more in this world. But teachings of Sikh Guru’s is written and edited by themselves, thus they are found in their original forms.
Battles fought by Sikh Gurus were not against any communalism and orthodoxy but they fought for the betterment of society, to protect people from tyranny and for the upliftment of their souls.

In his book, "The Sikh Religion," Macauliffe writes:
"Unlike the scriptures of other creeds, they do not contain love stories or accounts of wars waged for selfish considerations. They contain sublime truths, the study of which cannot but elevate the reader spiritually, morally, and socially. There is not the least tinge of sectarianism in them. They teach the highest and purest principle that serve to bind man to man and inspire the believer with an ambition to serve his fellow men, to sacrifice all and die for their sake."
Macauliffe deems it necessary to draw the reader's attention to another significant feature of Sikhism which distinguishes it and separates it from other philosophical and religious systems of thought:
"The Sikh religion differs as regards the authenticity of its dogmas from most other great theological systems. Many of the great teachers the world has known, have not left a line of their own composition, and we only know what they taught through tradition or second-hand information. If Pythagoras wrote any of tenets, his writings have not descended to us. We know the teachings of Socrates only through the writings of Plato and Xenophon. Buddha has left no written memorials of his teaching. Kungfu-tze, known to Europeans as Confucious, left no documents in which he detailed the principles of his moral and social systems. The Founder of Christianity did not reduce his doctrines to writing, and for them we are obliged to trust to the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark. Luke, and John.
The Arabian Prophet did not himself reduce to writing the chapters of the Quran. They were written or compiled by his adherents and followers. But the compositions of the Sikh Gurus are preserved and we know first hand what they taught. They employed the vehicle of verse, which is generally unalterable by copyist, and we even become in time familiar with their different styles. No spurious compositions or extraneous dogmas, can therefore be represented as theirs.
The author of the 'Vie de Jesus' was a great admirer of Jesus Christ. Greatly impressed as he was of the spiritual message delivered by Christ and those of the Semitic thinkers that preceded him, he posed the question: "Whether great originality will again arise or the world be content to follow the paths opened by the daring creators of the ancient ages?" Bearing Sikhism in mind, Macauliffe answers the above question in the following words:
Now there is here a religion totally unaffected by Semite or Christian influences. Based on the concept of the unity of God, it rejected Hindu formalities and adopted an independent ethical system, ritual, and standards, which were totally opposed to the theological beliefs of Guru Nanak’s age and country. As we shall see hereafter, it would be difficult to point to a religion of greater originality or a more comprehensive ethical system."
Macauliffe continues:
"Guru Nanak was not a priest either by birth or education, but a man who soared to the loftiest heights of divine emotionalism, and exalted his mental vision to an ethical ideal beyond the concept of Hinduism or Mohammadanism.
It (Sikhism) prohibits idolatry, hypocrisy, caste exclusiveness, con-cremation (Satti) of widows, the immurement (confinement) of women (like Muslims), the use of wine and other intoxicants, tobacco smoking, infanticide, slander, pilgrimage to the sacred rivers and tanks of the Hindus. It inculcates loyalty, justice, impartiality, truth, honesty and all the moral and domestic virtues to holiest citizens of any country. "

Bertrand Russell (Philosopher, Mathematician 1872-1970)
If some lucky men survive the onslaught of the third world war of atomic and hydrogen bombs, then the Sikh religion will be the only means of guiding them. When asked, isn’t this religion capable of guiding mankind before the third world war? He said, ‘Yes it has the capability, but the Sikhs haven’t brought out in the broad daylight the splendid doctrines of this religion, which has come into existence for the benefit of the entire mankind. This is their greatest sin and the Sikhs cannot be freed of it.'

Pearl S. Buck Noble Laureate, ‘Good Earth
while giving her comments on the English translation of the Guru Granth Sahib (From the foreword to the English translation of Guru Granth Sahib by Gopal Singh Dardi) wrote:
"I have studied the scriptures of the great religions, but I do not find elsewhere the same power of appeal to the heart and mind as I find here in these volumes. They are compact in spite of their length and are a revelation of the concept of God to the recognition and indeed the insistence upon the practical needs of the human body. There is something strangely modern about these scriptures and this puzzled me until I learned that they are in fact comparatively modern, compiled as late as the 16th century when explorers were beginning to discover the globe upon which we all live is a single entity divided only by arbitrary lines of our making. Perhaps this sense of unity is the source of power I find in these volumes. They speak to a person of any religion or of none. They speak for the human heart and the searching mind.
The hymns in Guru Granth are an expression of man’s loneliness, his aspirations, his longings, his cry to God and his hunger for communication with that being. It speaks to me of life and death; of time and eternity; of temporal human body and its needs; of the mystic human soul and its longing to be fulfilled; of God and the indissoluble bond between them."
 

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BhagatSingh

SPNer
Apr 24, 2006
2,921
1,655
Bertrand Russell (Philosopher, Mathematician 1872-1970)
If some lucky men survive the onslaught of the third world war of atomic and hydrogen bombs, then the Sikh religion will be the only means of guiding them. When asked, isn’t this religion capable of guiding mankind before the third world war? He said, ‘Yes it has the capability, but the Sikhs haven’t brought out in the broad daylight the splendid doctrines of this religion, which has come into existence for the benefit of the entire mankind. This is their greatest sin and the Sikhs cannot be freed of it.'
Where is this quote coming from?
 

spnadmin

1947-2014 (Archived)
SPNer
Jun 17, 2004
14,500
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Bhagat ji

Your question came up a few weeks ago from another member. I spent about 2 hours trying to source this quote. It appears only on a few web sites; yet it has circulated a lot in recent years. I was not able to find any site where the quote could be tracked to a book or a seminar where Russell said that. My guess is that it will be found in his writings or speeches on the subject of nuclear war, perhaps.

Here are some likely sources if anyone has the time to read through them.


  • 1959, Common Sense and Nuclear Warfare, London: George Allen & Unwin.
  • 1961, Has Man a Future?, London: George Allen & Unwin.
  • 1967, Russell's Peace Appeals (edited by Tsutomu Makino and Kazuteru Hitaka), Japan: Eichosha's New Current Books.
I continued searching just now. It may have been in an interview, as Hari Singh writing on SikhiWiki suggested that this may where Russell said those words. Another essay which is tied to this quote is Why I Am Not a Christian. I just downloaded this essay and it is not there.
 

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