One taxi driver who I got to know over many rides told me his own story of losing his way and wanting to reconnect to his Sikhi, so he even changed the music in his cab to Gurbani after our conversation. Whenever I get into a taxi in a different city and the driver is Punjabi, I always in some way mention the impact of Gurbani. I’ve noticed that although these conversations can be awkward or hard to start up, when you do have them, they are powerful. As I think about it now, I realize the benefit in him sharing a pearl of wisdom from Sikhi with another person. Maybe it is a fear of being rejected (although I’ve never found this), a fear of being questioned or having our faith shaken, we perceive others aren't interested, or we think we need to just keep to ourselves. I remember thinking “ did he really just do that?” Perhaps there is more to this concept of shyness that Christianity is the dominant religion in this country and as a minority it is harder to talk about religion, even if we are a multicultural community. I remember the first time I saw this I was kind of embarrassed, even though these were conversations with Sikhs like you and me at Subway or a store. One of my uncles transformed his life through Gurbani, and wherever he goes he likes to share about Simran so others can benefit. Even in the downstairs area of the langar hall, I think these are not the conversations we are having. At least I have found it hard, especially when people aren’t engaged in that spiritual realm in their life. I think is an important point because we indeed do shy away even in conversations with other Sikhs! I find when someone comes over to your house for cha, what do you talk about? It’s the things happening in your life, maybe one of the above topics of problems for our community and gossip about someone but talking about Gurbani and how paath or a great book has expanded your personal life journey is a difficult conversation. He describes how Christians spread their literature and don’t “shy away from dissemination of their religious principles to the humanity, nor do they feel ashamed of doing their spiritual duty”, and that perhaps we should borrow from this. But what about those who are not yet interested? In order to engage others it is important to actually discuss conversations about Gurbani. At the same time, there is an importance in spreading this person to person and in literature as well.īhai Sahib Ji mentions that when we leave it up to individuals, then it is for the interested individual to seek out a book about Sikhi, read about history, or for them to look for those websites, videos, or programs. Through these various forms of media, our younger generation can also become more engaged in learning about Sikhi. Every Gursikh is assigned the responsibility to first follow and earn Gurmat principles and discipline and then spread the tenets of the Gurus.” Indeed I am pleased to see more and more people spreading Sikhi through forums like youtube (Basics of Sikhi, Nanak Naam, Prabh Milne Ka Chao, live kirtan, learn kirtan channels, Sant Singh Maskeen Ji’s kathas) television through shows like the “Harpreet Singh Show” and “SikhChannel” and movies like “Chaar Sahibzaade” as well as websites like Sikhnet, sikhiwiki, etc. He writes, “To preach Sikh tenets, Satgurus did not depute or give any particular person or institution that duty. He explains that it is our individual duty as Sikhs to work on these community issues, so rather than laying blame on others we need to focus on what we can actionably do to work towards a solution.
In this last chapter, Bhai Sewa Singh Ji elaborates on this topic. Gurbani teaches us to look at good qualities in others and work on bad qualities within ourselves. Unfortunately, the blame always ends up on other people, but we don’t tend to look within ourselves. These topics range from the drug problem in India, to the gang problem in Surrey, alcohol abuse, intimate partner violence, people falsely calling themselves “sants”, jadoo/toona, etc. Many times we will hear conversations about what is going on with our Sikh kaum.
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