Bhagwant Singh Dalawari’s article, "The Blessings of Guru Gobind Singh’s Amrit - A Personal Testimony" (SR April 2001) was superb; such articles are rare.

It is true that the new generation demands lot of explanation. It is essential that we must explain to them the true meaning of Sikhism. But who will take this responsibility? The Sikhs do have many preachers, teachers and leaders. Very rarely one finds them talking about the beauty of the Sikh religion, the inner strengths of the system and - more than everything else - the straight forward life that it envisages. Majority of the preachers are not well educated and their explanations do not satisfy the educated young generation. This gap thickens the clouds of doubts in the young minds.

What is the utility of Amrit? Why is it necessary? There is never a logical reply for such doubts. The custodians of Sikhism do display the religion but can never be held as idols because of their ignorance about the religion and its richness. They do show-off that they are amritdharis but none of them is away from any of vices. They fight for power. They fight for money. They fight to satisfy their own vested interests. They use (misuse, rather) religion to satisfy their ego.

Why to be an amritdhari and then be ashamed to be associated with people who are for away from the true image of a Sikh? Why to be like some one who is displaying that he is a Sikh but is associated with falsehood and hoodwinking? None of them create an image of a Sikh one can be proud of. Some of them wear dirty turbans, some wear as if turban is forced on their head. Turban is the most important decorative part of a Sikh. The shabby looking turban makes a Sikh shabby. If one is not having time to clean his clothes and have enough time to tie his turban properly then he is doing more harm by displaying that he is a Sikh.

The semi-literate preachers add their viewpoints, their imagination to ‘Sakhis’ and ultimately end up with creation of more questions and doubts in the minds of the younger generation. These doubts and questions keep on multiplying. The preachers have limited knowledge and they chain the vastness of Sikh religion. Our preachers do not know that Sikhism is the most scientific religion and a practical one. One has to live it to understand it. Our folly is that we expect such preachers to show correct direction to our young boys and girls.

According to Sikhism, the greatest religion of man is love. This is the religion where stress is on deed, on truth, on purity, on self-annihilation and on service of humanity. But what we see around us is - stress on labels, external showmanship, exhibition of knowledge and spiritual arrogance. Why can’t examples be created so that young generation ask for Amrit? The problem is that the Sikh leaders do display Sikhism but are far for away from true meaning of a Sikh. Their approach to Sikhism is theoretical and in practical sense they are a big zero. They fight among themselves. They play dirty tricks to grab the power. Their greed can be openly seen. In fact these are the Sikhs who display that they are amritdharis but none of them qualify as a Sikh. They are not examples of true Khalsa.

It is rightly said that, instead of teaching, parading religiousity, reciting gurbani without understanding the meaning, it is essential to live Guru’s word, show in the spirit of Amrit and be examples of true Khalsa. Let us be persons like whom our children want to be. The present degradation cannot be ignored and needs immediate attention. It is high time to understand the gravity of the current affairs and wake up from deep slumber. It is indeed a very difficult task but we have to make it possible to retain our heritage in its true spirit and identify. It is our duty to explain the correct meaning of Sikhism and show the right direction to our younger generation. The atmosphere is required to be created where every young boy and girl love to be an amritdhari.

It is true that we are all as different as there are flowers in the fields. But we do not live in different universes, we all live upon the same planet called Earth and we must learn how to live side by side one another. We either live beside one another in peace or in feuding.

An opinion is one thing but actions are another. You ask: why does a discussion about what is right or wrong matter? It matters very much especially when people act upon those thoughts and alter the lives of other - for the worse.

For example, the common acceptance of cruxification, witch-hunts, slavery, and no laws of the land (Like The Declaration of Independence or The Consititution) just to name a few of days gone by. If people had not discussed what was right or wrong these practices would still be in force today. There would be no equal rights, there would be no judicial system, a woman would not be allowed to speak in public.

It has made all the differences in the World that you take advantage of every day. Especially here and now with ‘Freedom of Speech’.

You say that you take responsibility for your actions, yet you will not take the responsibility for those who feel offended by your ignorance.

I wrote in an earlier post that I spoke to "God" face to face, and you people just blew it off. Not a single person had replied to it. Why? Is it because people think that it is impossible, OR is it because it was filled with undeniable truths? That truth being that no one has a right to accuse a man of things that they never seen him do? You claim to be responsible for your actions, yet you say you do not care if "God" is offended by you accusing him of doing things that you never seen him do? Do you think that The Creator does not care, if "God" is offended by you accusing him of doing things that you never seen him do? Do you think that The Creator does not care about what you say about him? Do you think you have a right to and that you are not responsible for accusing him of doing things that you have never seen him do? You did say that you took responsibility for your words did you know that includes your words about people that you have not met yet but talk about?

It does not matter if you say that you take responsibility for your words and actions or lack of actions because: Whether we like it or not, we are all accountable for the actions, OR lack of actions, resulting from our beliefs (thoughts). It matters very much what we discuss and do - pertaining to right and wrongs ,especially when it involves the life, health and well being of others.

The people around the World are responsible for how they treat other people both directly and indirectly. We can protest the slaughter of innocent people, or we can just sit and watch them get slaughtered... either way we made a choice. All things that a person is aware of make him - or her - make a choice, and with that choice, goes the responsibility for it.

When I was a child of about four living in a tiny village with my grandmother, she taught me my first prayer. I was scared of dark and prone to having nightmares. She told me that whenever I was frightened, I should recite the following lines by Guru Arjun:

Being young, innocent and having infinite trust in my granny’s assurances of the efficacy of these lines, I found they workd like magic. Later, I discovered that most Sikh children were taught the same lines even before they learnt other prayers. The hymn had four more:

Sayeth Nanak, God became my helper He was kind.)