11-16-01

I had an interesting night. I watched an early, brilliant episode of Farscape on DVD. I have the first 14 episodes on DVD. Then we took a cab to see a play that my friend directed. In noticed the cab driver was wearing a turban and had a beard. And then I noticed he had an American flag in the front window and a bumper sticker attached to the back of the seat for passengers to read which said "Proud to be an American Sikh." I asked him about the sticker; he was obviously trying to let passengers know that he was not Taliban or even Muslim for that matter. He told me that Sikhs are from India, and they aren't Muslim or Hindu, they are their own religion. They just happen to wear turbans like some Muslim people. He told us that he has never cut his hair - that is part of his religious belief. He also wears a bracelet representative of his faith. He told us that there were about 20 million Sikhs in India, and he's surprised how few Americans have ever heard of them. He wanted to make sure people didn't confuse him with Taliban. We spoke for a while about how the United States media hasn't in the past liked to report very fully on International news. Americans are not educated about what is going on in the rest of the world. We talked about the war, and about how our ally, Pakistan, is a dictatorship, the coup occurring only a few years ago, but now this country is our great ally. We talked about Pakistan and India warring over Kashmir. It was a very interesting conversation.

Then we got to my friends play (he directed it); we arrived running, me thinking we were late, but they were holding the house, no problem. The show is "Life in the Theatre" by David Mamet, showing at the Viaduct Theater near Belmont & Western. It was an excellent production. Very funny and in the end very tragic. The story is perhaps a little "inside theater-ish," but if you've every done any theater at all, gone to much or had a close friend who is an actor, then you'll understand the play even better. But I recommend it; check their website for details. www.senseofurgency.org. It just opened so it's running for at least a month and a half, tix $15.

After the show, I got to catch up for a while with my best man, the director, Ray Kasper. The company he works for, Ameritech, has closed down an entire office, threatening more, so things are very tense there. Ray works the phones, not as an operator, but other customer service type work.

That's about it for the night. I just found an interesting article about Sikh-ism online, and I'm going to reproduce it here in its entirety. If you aren't intrigued, feel free to bail on the entry at this point. Ciao.

The Sikh Religion by Jarrod Kaplan

Sikhism, one of the world's newest religions is very prominent in the Punjab Region of northwestern India. However, in the religion's relatively short period of existence, they have encountered many different forms of both peace and violence with other Indian religions. The Sikhs have wonderful philosophies and beliefs established by the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak. Despite several political events that may have marred the Sikh image, there is much to learn from this interesting religion in our world.

The Sikh religion originated in the fifteenth century A.D. when its founder, Guru Nanak, "fused elements of both the Moslem and Hindu faiths" (Nanak, 1). Nanak, born a Hindu about 40 miles from Lahore, India, was raised in the upper caste of Indian society after his birth on April 15,1469. Many rumors state that when Nanak was born, major astronomical events occurred. Nanak did not immediately found the Sikh religion, he married at 13, fathered two sons, and worked various jobs common in India at the time. Despite these normalities, Nanak grew bored with his life, and soon leaned toward religion for meaning in his life, he found this meaning with a Muslim named Mardana. The two organized meetings with others interested in their beliefs. They created many hymns and discussed principles of both Islam and Hinduism.

Eventually, these beliefs of Islamic monotheism and Hindu mysticism were incorporated into the hymns (Nanak, 1). At age 29, Nanak had "voyage", or vision where God told him to create a new religion. Throughout his lifetime, Nanak contributed 974 hymns and songs to the Sikh religion (Singh, 33). " It is important to note that Nanak did not purposefully set out to create a new religion, but rather intended to provide an avenue for the understanding of nature and God through meditation and acts of devotion, worship, and community service. Nanak taught that God is 'everywhere present' and can be understood by those who have been spiritually illuminated" (Nanak, 2).

These early roots of Sikhism turned into a modern religion of over 20 million followers worldwide. Sikhs account for two percent of India's large population. India's greatest density of Sikhs is the Punjab region in northern India. This region is considered the world capital for Sikhs because half of all Sikhs live in this area. The region has been exposed to political battles over the years, and has even tried to entirely secede from the country of India. Followers of the Sikh faith can be identified in many different ways. Sikhs carry their own surname. This name appearing after the first name is different for men and women. All male Sikh followers have the surname of "Singh" meaning "lion", while female Sikhs have the surname of Kaur, which means "princess". Physically, a male Sikh can be identified by his beard and turban. The Sikh turban is a long headdress that is often colorful. Both men and women always can be found wearing a bracelet around their right wrist, which represents an emblem of their faith.

"Sikhs are the disciples of God who follow the writings and teachings of the Ten Sikh Gurus" (Introduction to Sikhism, 1). They believe in many principles that are often referred to as the "Major Virtues of Sikhism". The most notable Sikh beliefs are monotheism, and that God is their creator, sustainer, and destroyer. Sikhs believe that the goal of human life is to break the cycle of births and deaths, and merge with God. Another significant Sikh belief is the rejection of all forms of blind rituals such as fasting, religious vegetarianism pilgrimages, superstitions, yoga, and any form of idol worship. Sikhs will never recognize a new Guru in their religion. They believe in the equal rights of women and honor community service and honest work (Sikh Religious Philosophy, 1-4). In recent years, the Punjab region has been exposed to much violence and political strife. After India's independence in 1947, many Sikhs gathered in northern India. This region was declared an official state of India known as Punjab State in 1966. The Sikhs were soon a majority in this state, and soon discussed transforming Punjab State into an independent nation. Generally, the majority of India was opposed to an independent Sikh nation. Protests grew, both opposed and unopposed, and in mid-1984, "Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a curfew on the entire state, prohibiting all traffic and putting restraints on journalism." Gandhi ordered the army to take control of the Golden Temple, the most holy building in the Sikh religion. The standoff between the Sikhs and the Indian army led to over 1000 people dead over a four-day period (June 3 - 7, 1984). Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards several months later on October 31, 1984. The killing of Indira Gandhi brought shock to the entire country, and led to widespread rioting and violence in Punjab. After this series of events was completed, over 2000 Sikhs and Indians were killed, wounded and rendered homeless (Sikhs of Punjab Revolt-1984, 2-3). Tensions in India over this issue have been reduced, however there still remains violence in the Sikh community such as the January 1997 riot at a Sikh temple in British Columbia. Despite the fact that this event was an internal conflict, it still appears evident to the world that Sikhs are a violent group of people (Steele, 1).

Sikhism, the world's newest religion, will encounter many more struggles as it continues to grow. Struggle has been natural for the world's other religions as they developed. The Sikhs are an interesting people with intriguing customs and noble beliefs. Considering the age of Sikhism, it appears that the religion is still in its infancy, with many more landmarks ahead. Instead of quelling the religion, the world should sit back and watch it develop into a religion rich with knowledge and charm as it takes its rightful place among the other great religions of the world.

previous || entry index || next