response to Guruterath Singh's email by Gurujodha Singh

by Gursant Singh , Yuba City California USA, Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 10:47 (5138 days ago) @ Gursant Singh

Please read an Excerpt below taken from

"Sikhism and Tantric Yoga"
by Dr. Trilochan Singh (Link to entire book)

The Name of Golden Temple and its Murals

"In England last year a firm advertised some blue jeans as Jesus Jeans. The whole religious world of England rose in one protest and stopped the manufacture of these jeans. The word Golden Temple has become an instrument of commercial affairs of Yogi Bhajan He has now even named shoe stores as Golden Temple. I was given a "Wha Guru Chew.""

"Yogi Bhajan is using the sacred Sikh mantras and the sacred name of Guru Ram Das as a mantle for his Tantric Sex Yoga which will inevitably lead to mental and physical debauchery of those who take his brand of Sikhism contaminated by crazy sex-energizing asanas seriously."

I think generally what each of us expects and what we see ahead may not be all
that relevant to how things resolve. This American version of corruption and
betrayal in the Sikh Diaspora is not new or unique it’s just “our time”.
In my opinion this is a simple test of faith. This is a test to see if we
really trust the Guru and understand that it’s not about what you have ,
it’s about who you(really) are, it is not solely about doing, it’s about
being, and if you “be”- the doing gets done and you have more than you
need. It’s a tough test, but you can't have discipline without the adversity
to test it.

GTS-"There are times when settlements with compromises are very hard to
achieve,
especially when deep religious principles are involved. Agreeing for the
greater good is difficult, because it usually involves one of the most
difficult of human emotions to embrace - forgiveness."

I believe it is well settled that in practical terms, it may be necessary for
the offender to offer some form of acknowledgment, apology, and/or
restitution, or even just ask for forgiveness, in order for the wronged person
to believe himself able to forgive., e.g. Thief:” Sir, I am sorry I stole
your wallet”, Victim: “I forgive you.” It may be that until the thief
admits he stole the wallet, the victim has no opportunity to forgive or the
requisite knowledge about what to forgive.

So I believe in the current matter any discussion of” forgiveness” as a
precursor to compromise may be premature. Perhaps what we need first is for
somebody to “man up” and admit what they did and that it was wrong and
injurious, and then determine if forgiveness is an appropriate response.

I think an important part of agreeing for the” greater good” is defining
“greater than what” and “good for whom”. In my opinion if you barter
your identity and/or your values to avoid conflict then that is not for the
greater good. Such a compromise is merely a capitulation to avoid the pain of
confrontation. Every bully in the world counts on that response. The men and
women of history that I admire and that informed my life held to their
principles and their values even when everything was taken from them- their
property, their dignity, their freedom, even their life. They were victorious
by virtue of their strength of conviction. You may be correct in assuming
Obama does not know Guru Gobind Singh, but I bet he knows Martin Luther King.

As a side note I actually believe Obama may be very aware of Sikh Dharma
through his close association with Bill Richardson and our Democratic party
affiliations in N.M. Former Governor Richardson and many of the public
officials, legislators, businessmen who met and interacted with us, with
Bibiji and SSS when SSS was alive are and will be concerned if our
organization loses its integrity and/ or if its religious leadership is
disrespected. So I think any effort to trivialize the magnitude of this
transition and its eventual outcome is a mistake.

GTS-“As difficult as things are, there is a way out that preserves the SSS's
directives:”

Since you have not defined the term “SSSs directives” it is difficult to
quantify if there is, as you contend, only one way out or if there are
multiple alternatives for resolution.

I am of the belief that all members of the UI Board must resign, immediately.
This becomes even more important to me when I consider your proposal #2 since
UI under your plan gets to determine the next three members (once the two
retirees are gone). I think even a cursory examination of the conduct, of all
four (4) members of UI, indicates a pattern and practice of participation in,
suborning and ratification of conduct that is in direct contravention to their
status as Ministers, their status as Khalsa and the teachings of the SSS.
If they are not qualified to serve they are certainly not qualified to select
their replacements in my opinion.

continued on post reply