Happy Vaisakhi???
It was a chilly morning of November-December 2009, and winter was starting to dive down a deep slope on the mercury...
After I parked my car, I started walking towards my work building. The windchill was at its peak and I was wondering about the birds and animals who were found nowhere, probably migrated to a warmer place...
When I was about to reach the work-entrance, I noticed that a couple of guys who were Saplings experts, were planting saplings of Lilies, Tulips and other sprouts... making a complete mess of the garden as all ground was dug up to plant the new seeds...
Not sure about the process, I thought to myself, why on earth are they planting seeds in the winter? The snow is on its way, and it ain't gonna flourish anything in future until Sun shines at its peak!
It was fall!! And those guys were planting flower saplings! I thought they were crazy, because I was not sure what they are doing. Probably, my farmer friends know why. :-)
Anyhow, then I thought, if that is a trick, that when snow melts and spring comes, the seeds in the ground will get fresher water and air!
And yes, couple weeks ago, small buds sprouted out of those saplings and last week, Lilies blossomed in those plants!
...
I kind of traced back to my land of five rivers, Punjab, where I used to loose myself in the beautiful fields of flawless flora... especially before the harvest season, the Vaisakhi, when the wind caressed the free flowing farms...
It looked like the farm is dancing to the tunes of the wind! Vismaad!
I am probably writing for the first time on this topic as I realized that we narrate the stories of Vaisakhi to our kids, but don't really recognize the meaning behind Vaisakhi!
So, why did the 10th Master, Guru Gobind Singh choose the beginning of Vaisakh as the day to create the Khalsa?
I reached Mahankosh, by Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, and realized that he mentioned a Gurbani Tuk "Vaisakh Suhava taa lage, ja Sant Bhetae" while describing Vaisakh.
Why the month of Vaisakh - month of Vaishs - worker class's harvest season?
Who is the farmer and what will be harvested?
I realized that before Vaisakh, it was Basant. Is this a coincidence of choosing Vaisakhi as the day or there could be some reason behind this?
For Basant, Guru tells that "ਨਾਨਕ ਤਿਨਾ ਬਸੰਤੁ ਹੈ ਜਿਨ੍ਹ੍ਹ ਘਰਿ ਵਸਿਆ ਕੰਤੁ ॥ ਜਿਨ ਕੇ ਕੰਤ ਦਿਸਾਪੁਰੀ ਸੇ ਅਹਿਨਿਸਿ ਫਿਰਹਿ ਜਲੰਤ"...
while, for Vaisakh, the Guru narrates "ਨਾਨਕ ਕੀ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਬੇਨਤੀ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਮਿਲਹੁ ਪਰਾਪਤਿ ਹੋਇ ॥ ਵੈਸਾਖੁ ਸੁਹਾਵਾ ਤਾਂ ਲਗੈ ਜਾ ਸੰਤੁ ਭੇਟੈ ਹਰਿ ਸੋਇ"
What kind of offering is to be made so that the month of Vaisakh is blissful?
10th Master was testing if the month of blossom, the Basant, has produced any buds which have blossomed with the spirit of spreading fragrance of Truth?
He was testing if those blossomed ones are ready to sacrifice themselves in order to make flower bed for the ones who are walking on the path of Truth?
He was testing if the crops are ready to be harvested as the scorching heat is on its way?
He asked for a head, a head which needs to be cut-off for the sake of righteousness. No questions asked, no reasons given...
All silent... wind blowing...
One by one, the five beloved stood up to bow to the Guru. No questions asked, no reasons given...
I don't know what History says, whether they were beheaded by the Guru or not, but what strikes me, they offered themselves, no questions asked... and alter, they were called, the Punj Pyare!
We sing shabads like, "Gursikh meet, chalo Gur Chaali, Jo Gur Kahe, Soyi bhal maano, Har Har katha niraali..."
Are we doing that? Are we walking on the path what Guru showed us? Are we listening to the teachings what our Guru taught us?
I see, every year, we all get together to celebrate the day which created us, unified us, yet, we have failed to fulfill Guru's desire - to see and treat everyone as equal with no discrimination...
and every hour of every day, we are doing some discrimination with one or the other...
Be it the castes, Gurudwara politics, Dasam Granth issue, Meat issue, different Jathebandis... the list is endless!
We are still not realizing that we have missed alot on nearly every field in life!!
We do not want to sit and discuss the foremost important task given by the Guru - discussion and comtemplation on Guru's teachings in sangat!
We do not want to help other communities at all!
We do not want to do what our strength used to be - cultivation, and just want to sing, dance and drink liquor!
We do not want to fight for 1984 victims!
We do not want to talk about Female foeticides!
We do not want to talk about ill-treatment of women in Sikh community!
But,
We want to discriminate each other on Castes!
We want to fight with sikhs who eat meat and sikhs who do not!
We simply want to take over our local Gurudwaras!
We want to celebrate Vaisakhi by Bhangra festivals and drinking liquor!
We want to wear T-shirts of Jujharoo Singhs, but do not want to live in their shoes!
We want to create a separate land for Sikhs, but not go to India for fighting against injustice for 1984 victims!
Where are we heading??
After I parked my car, I started walking towards my work building. The windchill was at its peak and I was wondering about the birds and animals who were found nowhere, probably migrated to a warmer place...
When I was about to reach the work-entrance, I noticed that a couple of guys who were Saplings experts, were planting saplings of Lilies, Tulips and other sprouts... making a complete mess of the garden as all ground was dug up to plant the new seeds...
Not sure about the process, I thought to myself, why on earth are they planting seeds in the winter? The snow is on its way, and it ain't gonna flourish anything in future until Sun shines at its peak!
It was fall!! And those guys were planting flower saplings! I thought they were crazy, because I was not sure what they are doing. Probably, my farmer friends know why. :-)
Anyhow, then I thought, if that is a trick, that when snow melts and spring comes, the seeds in the ground will get fresher water and air!
And yes, couple weeks ago, small buds sprouted out of those saplings and last week, Lilies blossomed in those plants!
...
I kind of traced back to my land of five rivers, Punjab, where I used to loose myself in the beautiful fields of flawless flora... especially before the harvest season, the Vaisakhi, when the wind caressed the free flowing farms...
It looked like the farm is dancing to the tunes of the wind! Vismaad!
I am probably writing for the first time on this topic as I realized that we narrate the stories of Vaisakhi to our kids, but don't really recognize the meaning behind Vaisakhi!
So, why did the 10th Master, Guru Gobind Singh choose the beginning of Vaisakh as the day to create the Khalsa?
I reached Mahankosh, by Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, and realized that he mentioned a Gurbani Tuk "Vaisakh Suhava taa lage, ja Sant Bhetae" while describing Vaisakh.
Why the month of Vaisakh - month of Vaishs - worker class's harvest season?
Who is the farmer and what will be harvested?
I realized that before Vaisakh, it was Basant. Is this a coincidence of choosing Vaisakhi as the day or there could be some reason behind this?
For Basant, Guru tells that "ਨਾਨਕ ਤਿਨਾ ਬਸੰਤੁ ਹੈ ਜਿਨ੍ਹ੍ਹ ਘਰਿ ਵਸਿਆ ਕੰਤੁ ॥ ਜਿਨ ਕੇ ਕੰਤ ਦਿਸਾਪੁਰੀ ਸੇ ਅਹਿਨਿਸਿ ਫਿਰਹਿ ਜਲੰਤ"...
while, for Vaisakh, the Guru narrates "ਨਾਨਕ ਕੀ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਬੇਨਤੀ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਮਿਲਹੁ ਪਰਾਪਤਿ ਹੋਇ ॥ ਵੈਸਾਖੁ ਸੁਹਾਵਾ ਤਾਂ ਲਗੈ ਜਾ ਸੰਤੁ ਭੇਟੈ ਹਰਿ ਸੋਇ"
What kind of offering is to be made so that the month of Vaisakh is blissful?
10th Master was testing if the month of blossom, the Basant, has produced any buds which have blossomed with the spirit of spreading fragrance of Truth?
He was testing if those blossomed ones are ready to sacrifice themselves in order to make flower bed for the ones who are walking on the path of Truth?
He was testing if the crops are ready to be harvested as the scorching heat is on its way?
He asked for a head, a head which needs to be cut-off for the sake of righteousness. No questions asked, no reasons given...
All silent... wind blowing...
One by one, the five beloved stood up to bow to the Guru. No questions asked, no reasons given...
I don't know what History says, whether they were beheaded by the Guru or not, but what strikes me, they offered themselves, no questions asked... and alter, they were called, the Punj Pyare!
We sing shabads like, "Gursikh meet, chalo Gur Chaali, Jo Gur Kahe, Soyi bhal maano, Har Har katha niraali..."
ਗੁਰਸਿਖ ਮੀਤ ਚਲਹੁ ਗੁਰ ਚਾਲੀ ॥ ਜੋ ਗੁਰੁ ਕਹੈ ਸੋਈ ਭਲ ਮਾਨਹੁ ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਕਥਾ ਨਿਰਾਲੀ ॥੧॥
Are we doing that? Are we walking on the path what Guru showed us? Are we listening to the teachings what our Guru taught us?
I see, every year, we all get together to celebrate the day which created us, unified us, yet, we have failed to fulfill Guru's desire - to see and treat everyone as equal with no discrimination...
and every hour of every day, we are doing some discrimination with one or the other...
Be it the castes, Gurudwara politics, Dasam Granth issue, Meat issue, different Jathebandis... the list is endless!
We are still not realizing that we have missed alot on nearly every field in life!!
We do not want to sit and discuss the foremost important task given by the Guru - discussion and comtemplation on Guru's teachings in sangat!
We do not want to help other communities at all!
We do not want to do what our strength used to be - cultivation, and just want to sing, dance and drink liquor!
We do not want to fight for 1984 victims!
We do not want to talk about Female foeticides!
We do not want to talk about ill-treatment of women in Sikh community!
But,
We want to discriminate each other on Castes!
We want to fight with sikhs who eat meat and sikhs who do not!
We simply want to take over our local Gurudwaras!
We want to celebrate Vaisakhi by Bhangra festivals and drinking liquor!
We want to wear T-shirts of Jujharoo Singhs, but do not want to live in their shoes!
We want to create a separate land for Sikhs, but not go to India for fighting against injustice for 1984 victims!
Where are we heading??
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