- Jan 31, 2011
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Banda Singh Ji
I wish to apologise to you for the way in which I have wrongly perceived you. For years, I could not understand why, when you were blessed with initiation by the tenth master himself, you would ignore some of the ideals and sentiments that I have always held dear to sikhi. I could not understand the anger and rage that sacked Sirhind, sikhs do not sack towns, do they? Some might say Sirhind and those who lived there, deserved it, some might say this line of thought is not hugely Nanakian.
I could not understand why you married and raised children, although I am aware that this is part of sikhism, but I had always felt given the job that was given to you by the Guru, perhaps you should have concentrated on that.
I know realise how much I have maligned you in my head, You were not a Guru, you were a man, and you did the best you could, is it not typical that fools like me look only at the 3% of your life that I cannot understand, rather than focus on the 97% that shows you to be the hero you were.
I understand that maybe that anger, that desire for revenge, maybe it was needed at the time to mobilise people, to bring people together, to unite and fight the unjust and the wicked and the cruel. The events that followed paved the way for Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and the glory of the Punjab, your spirit has lived on in many men and women since those times, sikhs who fought for the truth, sikhs who were never meant to be Gurus, sikhs who were meant to be sikhs, as pure as they possibly could, but none the less, sikhs
Some say you split the khalsa, some say you acted like a king, I would now say that you did the best for the Guru and the Khalsa that a sikh could do, I would also say that maybe your actions were nothing short of what the tenth master expected from you, and you succeeded in the goal he saw for you, for sikhism, and the Punjab.
Rather than ask why you were not perfect, I intend to model myself on you instead, to try and give the Guru my absolute best, not perfection, as I am not perfect, just the best you can be, and accept that at times I will get caught up in animal feelings of the five thieves, but to try and navigate through them to what the Guru's intention is for me, and to try and follow his hukam.
See the creator in everything, comfort and assist whenever you see the creator in need or pain
Gain knowledge through the word of the creator, embrace it, learn it, find the ambrosial pleasure in the name of the creator
Inspire others through your own light, but ensure that light is true to you
Thank you Bandaji, not only for being human, and showing wretches like me
the true way of sikhi in light not only of 'normal life' but what I would call quite extraordinary circumstances
I wish to apologise to you for the way in which I have wrongly perceived you. For years, I could not understand why, when you were blessed with initiation by the tenth master himself, you would ignore some of the ideals and sentiments that I have always held dear to sikhi. I could not understand the anger and rage that sacked Sirhind, sikhs do not sack towns, do they? Some might say Sirhind and those who lived there, deserved it, some might say this line of thought is not hugely Nanakian.
I could not understand why you married and raised children, although I am aware that this is part of sikhism, but I had always felt given the job that was given to you by the Guru, perhaps you should have concentrated on that.
I know realise how much I have maligned you in my head, You were not a Guru, you were a man, and you did the best you could, is it not typical that fools like me look only at the 3% of your life that I cannot understand, rather than focus on the 97% that shows you to be the hero you were.
I understand that maybe that anger, that desire for revenge, maybe it was needed at the time to mobilise people, to bring people together, to unite and fight the unjust and the wicked and the cruel. The events that followed paved the way for Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and the glory of the Punjab, your spirit has lived on in many men and women since those times, sikhs who fought for the truth, sikhs who were never meant to be Gurus, sikhs who were meant to be sikhs, as pure as they possibly could, but none the less, sikhs
Some say you split the khalsa, some say you acted like a king, I would now say that you did the best for the Guru and the Khalsa that a sikh could do, I would also say that maybe your actions were nothing short of what the tenth master expected from you, and you succeeded in the goal he saw for you, for sikhism, and the Punjab.
Rather than ask why you were not perfect, I intend to model myself on you instead, to try and give the Guru my absolute best, not perfection, as I am not perfect, just the best you can be, and accept that at times I will get caught up in animal feelings of the five thieves, but to try and navigate through them to what the Guru's intention is for me, and to try and follow his hukam.
See the creator in everything, comfort and assist whenever you see the creator in need or pain
Gain knowledge through the word of the creator, embrace it, learn it, find the ambrosial pleasure in the name of the creator
Inspire others through your own light, but ensure that light is true to you
Thank you Bandaji, not only for being human, and showing wretches like me
the true way of sikhi in light not only of 'normal life' but what I would call quite extraordinary circumstances
