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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Brother Onam" data-source="post: 178803" data-attributes="member: 18170">Re: Lives and Teachings of SikhGurus :  Some ResourcesSat Naam,I've read a couple of books by Harish Dhillon and I have to say, I'm not a big fan. While I appreciate that he likes to breathe some life and imagination into the dry recital of biographical facts, and he is a good writer, he is apparently on a campaign to methodically strip all Sikh history of any supernatural elements.As he recounts the lives of the Gurus, whenever he encounters anything that smacks of a 'miracle', he takes it upon himself to re-imagine the incident without any metaphysical elements. By way of example, when recounting the incident of Guru Nanak in Mecca, in which the Kaaba appears wherever the Guru's feet are turned, Dhillon has it that as they turn his feet, the foolish muslims realize that wherever the feet point they see God's beautiful world, so God is everywhere.To some it might be refreshing to hear our history reduced to down-to-earth logical facts; to me it's presumptuous and intrusive. While he is so intent to present these stories in their likely 'true' version, he is absolutely willing to engage in what is to me the much more unlikely and cloying habit of enveloping every figure in the sugary glow of 'saintliness'. If you're so devoted to cling to the true, on one hand, then why employ the trite and irksome angle of smothering every figure with saccharine, loving flawlessness on the other.Every figure in the stories is always smiling lovingly, patiently understanding, absorbed in loving meditation, cheerfully explaining, shedding tears of joy all the time. No rough edges or human qualities here.</blockquote>

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