Sikhs : Please reply to SikhNet's Ek Ong Kaar Kaur's comment to Gurmukh Kaur's hosting a Hindu fire puja at her Hollywood yoga studio

by Gursant Singh , Yuba City California USA, Monday, August 04, 2014, 23:02 (3768 days ago) @ Gursant Singh

Sikhs : Please reply to SikhNet's Ek Ong Kaar Kaur's comment to Gurmukh Kaur's hosting a Hindu fire puja at her Hollywood yoga studio at this YouTube video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGPVRbahulw

Below you will find her comment along with my reply.

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa of SikhNet says:

Thank you, Gurusant Singh, for quoting a letter that I wrote. Grateful to share the entire passage from that letter. I stand by my statement. Interfaith events are part of our heritage and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a Sikh participating in a sacred ceremony from any other religious tradition. This will be my only comment - so please know I will not respond to any further questions. However, since you are using my name and something I wrote, the audience should have the benefit of the entire paragraph. Thank you. "Guru Nanak says in Shabad Hazaray that he can worship the Light of the One in every temple. To my mind, when people like Gurmukh Kaur participate with Hindu leaders in doing a Pooja, it is just an interfaith event. Like when the Sikhs in New Mexico are invited to sing at the Jewish temple as part of an Interfaith event. Or when we are brought into a Methodist Mass as part of an Interfaith event. There is nothing wrong with meeting with people and doing a sacred ceremony with them. I myself have participated in sweat lodges with the Native American people in New Mexico. It does not make me less a Sikh for it. I just join with them and pray with them in their style. In the same way, people come to the Gudrwara. Whether they are Sikhs or not, they pray with us in our style. For me, the Gurus represent a Universal consciousness. Part of being Universal is a fearlessness to be part of an interfaith community, which many teachers do."

Gursant Singh says:

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!

Here we go again, the tired old 3HO “interfaith event” excuse for pakhand behavior by Bhajanists.

All the “interfaith events” that I have ever attended have been for communication and understanding between people of different religions. While there has been coming together for discussion, I have never heard of a genuine “interfaith event” where Jewish people have been expected to take Christian communion; or where Hindus have been expected to participate in Islamic Nimaaz. Organizers of true “interfaith events” know how sensitive religious people are about their faiths and never set up events where people are expected to participate in some form of worship which is forbidden by their religion. Witness in this Youtube video where I participated in a true interreligious conference where individulas of different faiths discussed religious matters and where there was no worship in ways that would be forbidden in the other's religion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziHTlVD4LGU

Yet Gurmukh has set up an event in which she as a Sikh – Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa – how can you have a name that is any more Sikh than that – is forbidden to participate as a practicing Sikh. That’s if she still considers herself to be a Sikh.

Look, let’s get to the truth. Fire sacrifices were roundly condemned by our Guru Sahiban. In his book, Sikh Religion and Hinduism, G.S. Sidhu makes this very clear:

Right from the Vedas, Hindus have been instructed to get involved in sacrifices and havan (burnt offerings), which are a ritual sacrifice to the fire god. The Yajur Veda is full of such instructions and rituals stating what sort of vessel is to be used, how long and wide is the pit to be dug and how much butter is to be used. (Note: this is exactly what is going to take place at Gurmukh’s yoga studio where she is performing a puja or worship for the Hindu deity Krishna on his birthday) Different types of Havan are performed for different occasions. They are done for wedding, births, deaths, festivals, prosperity, education, victory and peace etc. The Sikh Gurus have condemned them as a useless waste of time and food.

Now let us see what Gurbani says about these things:

You may make burnt offerings, sacrificial feasts and pilgrimages to sacred shrines in egotism, but your corruption only increases. You are subject to both heaven and hell, and you are reincarnated over and over again. || 2 || M.5 P.214

Through burnt offerings, charitable feasts, ritualistic chants, penance, all sorts of austere self-discipline and pilgrimages to sacred shrines and rivers, they do not find God. Self-conceit is only erased when one seeks the Lord’s Sanctuary and becomes Gurmukh; O Nanak, he crosses over the world-ocean. || 4 || 1 || 14 || M5 P.1139

For the sake of brevity I have left out a lot more references from Gurbani condemning Hindu rituals.

The Sikh Rehat Maryada also states clearly:

A Sikh’s living, earning livelihood, thinking and conduct should accord with the Guru’s tenets. The Guru’s tenets are:

Worship should be rendered only to the One Timeless Being and to no god or goddess.

Regarding the ten Gurus, the Guru Granth and the ten Gurus word alone as saviors and holy objects of veneration.

Not believing in Homa Pujas (lighting of ritual fire and pouring intermittently clarified butter, food grains etc. into it for propitiating gods for the fulfillment of a purpose)

Why are the Bhajanists who are participating in these Homa ceremonies doing them if they do not believe in them? This is hypocrisy in the extreme. If they are doing these ceremonies while considering them to be worthless, isn’t that an insult to the Hindu religion and to the person performing the ritual?

From the enthusiasm and frequency with which people such as Gurmukh Kaur (Gurmukh Kaur?) participate in them it is hard to believe that they do so without a genuine enthusiasm and some kind of belief in their effectiveness.

Bhajanists often cite Yogi Bhajan’s willingness to participate in such rituals as an example that they follow.

Unfortunately Yogi Bhajan perhaps was more of a Hindu than he was a Sikh. Let us look at his actions:
1. He taught his followers yogic kriyas and mantras that involved homage to Hindu gods and goddesses.
2. While living in the USA, he often had his wife organize Havans (fire ceremonies) at his home in Delhi. These took place in the same room where SGGS was kept.
3. He and his family, particularly his wife, often participated in Hindu pujas, an action specifically prohibited for Sikhs (see Sikh Rehit Maryada above)

In spite of the best efforts of Sikhnet and Sikh Dharma International to keep it secret, after his death, Yogi Bhajan’s family took a portion of his ashes to Rishikesh where they were immersed in the Ganges with a Hindu ceremony performed by a Brahmin swami.

Yogi Bhajan given Hindu last rites
Part I: Emblem of his beliefs
By Anju Kaur, SikhNN staff writer, Washington Bureau
Posted: Sunday, November 24, 2013 | 01:13 pm
http://www.sikhnn.com/headlines/2680/yogi-bhajan-given-hindu-last-rites?page=2

Is it any wonder that his followers see no wrong in acting like Hindus?