Ishna ji,
I think it means that you believe the initiation is an integral part of Sikhism, and you have it set as a goal for yourself to achieve.
Lol I am going to ask you again, what's up with your adherent? Before you had "existential... something there, now "borderline atheism". Anways, I pray that everything is alright.
Ambarsaria ji,
Ok I see the motivation. I think that's admirable but a few things must be understood first. I had some time on my hands so I gave this a lot of serious thought and here's what I have to say.
1. The way two neighbouring factions make peace is to celebrate both their unity AND difference. And not just in the political sphere but the individuals start to do this in their mind. They stop looking for homogeneity, that is, they stop wanting the others to believe in the same things they do. Have you done this in your mind? Have you celebrated the fact that (for instance) Namdharis, and some minor groups have living gurus?
Unless you the leader of this pledge have celebrated both the similarity and difference, there is no chance of this becoming a reality. It must stem from truth.
Now having discussed the mindset, let's go into the pledge itself:
2. Now to include all the factions into your pledge you might need to expand it. Bear in mind this is not a suggestion.
I believe in some portion of the bani of at least 1 of the authors of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
I have taken out the limit to 10 gurus, this brings in the above mentioned group you left out. It brings in those groups that were alienated, Namdharis and the minor: Nanak Panthis, Kabir panthis, Ravidasia.
Now the authors of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji are all very much in agreement. If one has taken Kabir to be their guru, many other gurus and bhagats will match, it's just that that person has devoted their being to only one. Does that make sense? So yes if they read the others, they would say "Yes I agree with this" so they technically believe in more than 1 but they haven't studied, or learned about them for whatever reason.
Now I also removed the belief in Amrit initiation because many groups just don't believe in that. I am not 100% sure but Namdharis, some Udasi and sevapanthi groups don't. Kabir Panthi, some Nanak Panthi and Ravidasia don't.
I also removed any pledge to defend another Sikh, leaving fighting for those who are able. Those disabled are included in the pedge this way. This is something groups tend to do anyway. You see one of your own getting hurt, the factor in taking action is if you are brave and are able to defend them, not whether you took a pledge. By fighting I mean all forms, not just hand to hand, gun to gun, but also in the political, economic field ie. discrimination, racism, political struggle.
Also we don't want to encourage intellectuals from siding with each other only because they are Sikhs. This is dangerous to scholarly research.
I wouldn't even add anything about a God so those who are undisclosed, borderline atheist and exploring Sikhi are included. They are still connected to Sikhi by a thread however thin. Let's keep this intact so they can move in and out freely. If they leave with a sense of rejection, they may not come back. For example, due to the fact, the bani is theistic in nature, that attributes both impersonal and personal characteristics to God, those people who cherry-pick can do so. Cherrypicking can be healthy if you cherrypick good berries.
And we want everyone to be open-minded and be able to celebrate differences along with celebrating the unity I outlined above. So if I may add something:
I believe in acceptance of other men, women and their and my own life situation, as it is without tempering with it mentally. I will have only have love for them in my heart. If I fail at this I will not give up and continue to cultivate love until my pledge becomes a reality.
And third, we don't want random beliefs creeping into Sikhism, as if they were Sikhism. But on the other hand we want to stay open I would add:
I will honestly be an open space for opposing viewpoints until I find sufficient evidence and testimony from my own personal experience to give more credence to a belief.
A hidden # 4 is I will not dismiss beliefs without good reason.
3. Now I said that is not a suggestion because this isn't a pledge to being a Sikh anymore. It is now something else, a completely different way to approach things. This person does not belong to any faction and simultaneously is open to all of them. The word faction does not exist in his/her mind. Neither does the word God, through love he knows God, he does not need to label it as such. He may choose to live as an atheist or believe in any number or type of God(s). Because he loves everything, he is not attached to anything. He is not looking for particular experiences, he loves or pledges to love this situation whether it is pleasant or not. He is a scientific, rational individual but is open to testimony of personal experience and is open to non-rational and non-scientific (not the same as irrational) beliefs that may guide him better. He is open to other types of mind structures such as those rooted in magic, myth, rational or other.
One might say, you are wrong, there is nothing new here, this is a pledge for Sikhism. "The word faction does not exist in his/her mind" no koi hindu no koi musalman. "Through love he knows God" jin prem kio tin he prabh payo. The third one is the different mind structures found in Guru Granth Sahib. To them I would say read the second sentence of this paragraph closely. My attempt to tackle the pledge and bring it in consonance with OP's stated motivation and inspiration for writing the pledge, has lead me to expand it to something else entirely. It also has a personal bias. Being of a closed-minded and exclusive nature I tend to value open-mindedness and inclusiveness. Being a bit anxious and even a bit paranoid at times, I tend to value love of all people, and situations. And having studied all sorts of belief systems, I value even one individual who has devoted his life going deeper and deeper into just 1 thing, 1 individual whom they found more fascinating than anything else. If you can take out that bias and somehow put Sikhism back in, whilst retaining inclusiveness and openness, at the same times then I think you will end up with a really awesome pledge! Something one could cherish for many years.
Satsriakal
