The Rise Of The Anti-Sikh Cults

[kdsingh80]

Editor’s Note: There is ongoing unrest in the Punjab as cultists masquerading as Sikhs attempt to destroy the Sikh Religion and fracture the unitary doctrine of the Respected Guru Granth Sahib. A corollary to the unrest are the continuing efforts to establish a priestly caste in the Sikh Religion and shift Sikh worship from the commonwealth of gurudwaras to private estates controlled by priests. The Sikh religion specifically prohibits the formation of a priesthood. According to fundamental tenets of this divine religion there can be no earthly interlocutor between a Sikh and his communion with God.

In the Free West there are no significant Sikh Cults with the exception of the Yogi Bhajan 3H0/Sikhnet cult which has extensive patronage and interaction with Hindu popes and religious heads. Cults flourish wherever there is ignorance and a lack of education. Sikhism is flourishing in The Free West. Like Buddhism. Sikhism will decay and die in India.

from: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?234750

There are an estimated 9,000 deras in Punjab, each headed by a baba or a sant

Dera Sacha Sauda is among the largest, with 40 lakh followers

About 80 per cent of Punjab’s population patronises these deras, which are believed to corner 90 per cent of religious donations in the state today

All political parties woo the deras, which can influence large numbers of voters.

One baba even wrote his own granth, and asked his followers to burn the scriptures.

In the recent assembly poll, the Congress’ 12 seats in Malwa are credited to Dera Sacha Sauda

The deras sprang up in the aftermath of militancy, and their spiritual heads amassed enormous wealth when they got funds to rebuild gurudwaras

They make a special effort to woo lower-caste and illiterate Sikhs, and project an inclusive image

Deras now pose a major threat and challenge to the Sikh religious establishment

At Kahna Dhesian near Jalandhar, Punjab, all roads lead to a brightly painted gurudwara, every inch of its walls covered in hues of turquoise, red, yellow and green. Though it houses the mandatory Guru Granth Sahib, it lies in a neglected room in a corner of the quadrangle. Pride of place instead is given to a throne-like gaddi where even in the absence of the resident baba, the faithful bow their heads and touch the seat in reverence and obeisance. But this gurudwara, called the dera, and thousands such across the state, are raising the hackles of the Sikh community. The recent violent clashes across Punjab between followers of the influential Dera Sacha Sauda and various Sikh groups reflect the community’s growing fears that the ‘dera culture’ poses the most serious threat yet to their 500-year-old religion.

“In a religion where shabad or the word of God (immortalised in the Guru Granth Sahib) is the guru, there is no place for a living guru or baba or sant,” says Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, Sikh scholar and director of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation. “This is against the basic tenet of the faith which is steadily being eroded by a mushroom growth of deras in the last decade or so.” Analysts estimate that there are about 9,000-odd deras in Punjab today, servicing its 12,329 villages. And, they are patronised by about 80 per cent of the population in Punjab. Prof H.S. Dilgeer, formerly with the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), points out that “around 90 per cent of the religious offerings are being cornered by deras nowadays”. But what is worrying the Sikh religious establishment more is the distortion of the faith, the growing apostasy and the huge following that deras command.

Baba Kashmira Singh has Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Muslim shrines atop his dera

At Jalandhar, Baba Kashmira Singh runs the lucrative Jan Sewa Trust where apart from doling out spiritual advice he also runs a multi-speciality hospital. He preaches unity of all religions and has set up little shrines representative of Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam on his dera’s rooftop. In 1999, the baba, himself a Sikh, was summoned to the Akal Takht, the supreme spiritual body of the Sikhs, to explain why he should not be excommunicated from the faith for his ‘heretical’ activities. Kashmira Singh, known for his proximity to the Congress, told Outlook, “Sikhs are breaking away from gurudwaras and coming to deras like mine for spiritual guidance because of their disillusionment with Sikhism. I am not against Sikhs cutting their hair. I believe a religion should be flexible and change with the times.” At Kirpal Sagar, a sprawling complex spread over 35 hectares in Rahon village of Nawanshahr district, the piece de resistance is a boat-shaped monument bearing different religious symbols situated in the centre of a rippling tank of water. Here the caretaker of the deceased baba’s inheritance is Bibi Surinder Kaur who tells us that amrit in Punjab can only be found at two places. “One at the Golden Temple sarovar in Amritsar, and the other at our dera!” If this rankles the Sikh clergy, the allegedly blasphemous activities of some other deras is a source of frequent violence in the state.

Followers of the controversial Divya Jyoti Jagaran Sansthan at Noormahal run by Ashutosh Maharaj have had several serious runins with Sikh groups who object to the ‘samagams’ held by the dera all over Punjab, where besides projecting himself as a reincarnation of the Sikh gurus, Ashutosh is allegedly also critical of mainstream Sikhism. In 1998, Baba Piara Bhaniarewala provoked Sikhs by writing his own granth, which he called the Bhavsagar Samundar Granth, and encouraged followers to burn copies of Sikh scriptures. He was excommunicated from the faith by the Akal Takht, but the resultant violence at his dera near Ropar forced the government to provide him a hefty security cover. Notwithstanding the opposition, both the deras have grown in strength and influence.

Ashutosh Maharaj of Divya Jyoti Jagaran Sansthan is critical of mainstream Sikhism

In the rising din against deras, the Sikh clergy, represented by the five Sikh head priests as well as the SGPC, is being squarely blamed for “letting down the faithful”. “Our religious leadership has submitted to politicians, and devotes more time to politicking than propagating the religion. Their grip over the people has loosened, and deras and babas have just stepped in to fill the gap,” says Prof Darshan Singh, professor emeritus, Guru Nanak Studies, Punjab University. In 2005, around 100 Sikh organisations gathered at the Akal Takht to find ways to check the rising dera cult in Punjab. But due to lack of unanimity over the deras against which action was being contemplated, the campaign fizzled out.

Faced with increasing criticism, the Sikh clergy is on the defensive. Recognising the deras as a “serious threat to Sikhism”, Akal Takht jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti believes they are drawing people “because following a baba is easy. There is no need to study or understand the scriptures, or the ‘vaani’ of gurus. All you have to do is hand over all your worries to the baba, and he takes care of everything. Unfortunately, people do not realise that this is not Sikhism. There is no place for miracle cures, rituals or godmen in our religion.” Says SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, “We are trying to bring such babas into our fold. But many are misusing the gurbani for their own commercial motives and we are directly in confrontation with them.”

The SGPC also claims to have held ‘amrit chakho’ camps in the last two years in which over a lakh Sikhs have been baptised. Alarmed over the growing number of ‘apostates’ in the faith, several Sikh missionary organisations too have stepped up their campaigns in rural Punjab, many of them sponsored by wealthy NRI Sikhs. But is it a losing battle? Already more than 80 per cent of Sikh men in rural Punjab do not sport ‘kesh’ or hair, the most visible symbol of Sikhism. Have deras then sounded the death-knell of Sikhism as we have known it?

“Sikhism is already a dying religion. The basic ethos is gone from it,” notes Joginder Singh, editor of daily newspaper Spokesman, and an outspoken critic of the Sikh clergy, for which offence he has been excommunicated from the Sikh panth. Many believe that the sudden rise of deras in Punjab has much to do with the aftermath of militancy in Punjab when many gurudwaras were rebuilt through kar seva or voluntary effort. “This became a racket as many kar seva babas sprung up to take on contract work from the SGPC. They collected huge sums from the public and bought expensive cars for themselves, spending just a fraction of it on the project,” says a disgusted Dr Ahluwalia. Many of the deras are now being run by these very kar seva babas who have assumed cult status as godmen of sorts. Their appeal also lies in their inclusive approach. With the caste system rearing its head in Punjab in recent years, its manifestation visible in separate gurudwaras for Dalits and other lower-caste Sikhs, the deras attract this segment with their egalitarianism. It’s not surprising that most major deras draw the low castes, the illiterate and the gullible.

If Sikh scholars are alarmed by the growing influence and power of deras, it is because they have established close links with the political fraternity. In the recently concluded Punjab assembly elections, Dera Sacha Sauda came out openly in support of the Congress and constituted district-level political affairs wings. Much of the Congress’ good showing in the Malwa belt of Punjab (where the dera has some 10 lakh followers) was to Sacha Sauda’s credit, which managed to bring 12-odd seats into the Congress kitty. In return, the party reportedly promised to help out dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh with a CBI enquiry he is facing in the murder of a follower and a journalist, who spilled the beans about sexual exploitation of the dera’s woman inmates. Significantly, soon after the polls, the CBI officer enquiring into these allegations was transferred.

Politicians of all hues patronise the deras. “It’s a vicious circle,” says SGPC member Dr Kiranjot Kaur. “Drawn by their following, politicians go to deras for votes, and their presence grants the dera legitimacy, adding to its following.” So it is with Baba Kashmira Singh or Ashutosh Maharaj: they enjoy considerable clout with political parties and use it for their own commercial ends. Currently, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, whose Akali Dal got a drubbing in its Malwa stronghold thanks to Sacha Sauda, is wooing select deras in the state.

A few years ago, some prominent dera heads organised themselves into the Sant Samaj, an outfit comprising some 350 major deras. Since the SGPC is controlled by the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Sant Samaj became identified with the Congress. This spawned conspiracy theories which held that deras have been deliberately thrust upon Punjabis to dilute Sikhism. But Jathedar Vedanti feels it’s unfair to “blame anyone else for what is our own failing”. Next week the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee is organising a World Sikh Conclave on the theme, ‘How to Save the Sikh Religion’. The battle to do so is already on, and will likely be long-drawn-out.

http://www.sikharchives.com/?p=10276

[Mithar]

Have deras then sounded the death-knell of Sikhism as we have known it?

“Sikhism is already a dying religion. The basic ethos is gone from it,” notes Joginder Singh, editor of daily newspaper Spokesman, and an outspoken critic of the Sikh clergy, for which offence he has been excommunicated from the Sikh panth.

Spokesman is a Kala Afghani propaganda newspaper. They will always claim that they were simply excommunicated for speaking out against the so called "clergy". That is a very misleading statement by these heretics. These traitors have been created by the GOI to divide the Panth. Spokesman Joginder Sahni was excommunicated because he would mislead the sangat about Sikh Sidhant, Sikh Ithihas, Sikh traditions, rehet Maryada, Nitnem Banis, dasam bani etc.

While some Deras may be problematic, but to say that the only reason for the decline of Sikh values and Sikhi in general is because of deras is really avoiding the real issues. There are a lot of reasons because of which Sikhi has not been able to spread as far and wide as it should have. Some deras are just the tip of the ice berg. These Kala Afghanis are currently the biggest problem facing the Panth.

Not all Sikh deras are bad. These Kala Afghanis will group Panthic bodies like Taksal or any Sampradah associated with a Sant Mahapursh who preaches about Sikhi as the same as Dera Sacha Sauda and Radhasoami(dera Beas).

Edited August 8, 2011 by Mithar

[jaikaara]

instead of blaming these deras why cant they do something for strengthening the faith of the people in the panth? and what have they done or even attempted to highlight the growing christian influence in punjab ? one thing should be understood that if a person goes to the dera he is not lost or aliented from sikhi, however if he is converted to christianity it will take generations to bring him back.

rather than just blaming deras the pracharaks, the committees need to pull up their socks, i came across a akj book on radhasoamis, there was nothing but ninda in there.

it is an absolutely immature way to handle this situation, instead fo doing ninda and holding beadbi degrees these people need to plan their way of being among the people.

[Xylitol]

in general, it's the panthic deras that do the most prachaar, the sants are the pillars of sikhi

[kdsingh80]

in general, it's the panthic deras that do the most prachaar, the sants are the pillars of sikhi

But how we are going to differentiate between Panthic and non panthis dera?

The second question is why do we need sants to do parchar? Gyani Sant singh maskeen did excellent prachar but never called himself a sant

My other question so many Sants originated from Sikhism but end up breaking away from it.How could we be so sure that some sants or thei successors will not do it.Isn't it not true that Nirankari's were hardcore sikhs but they end up showing their teeth to Sikhism

[Xylitol]

But how we are going to differentiate between Panthic and non panthis dera?

The second question is why do we need sants to do parchar? Gyani Sant singh maskeen did excellent prachar but never called himself a sant

My other question so many Sants originated from Sikhism but end up breaking away from it.How could we be so sure that some sants or thei successors will not do it.Isn't it not true that Nirankari's were hardcore sikhs but they end up showing their teeth to Sikhism

it's guru ji himself who set up the importance of sants, as written in bani. they can do greater prachaar b/c they have greater energy to attract other souls. and when discussing deep dharmic things can speak from experience rather than just from reading. i don't think there have been many worthwhile kathakars who didn't learn from sants. i've heard maskeen ji learned from an udasi dera, and bhai pinderpal singh learned from javaddi kalan taksal.

we can differentiate b/c sants join people to guru ji, while frauds join people to themselves.

[kdsingh80]

it's guru ji himself who set up the importance of sants, as written in bani. they can do greater prachaar b/c they have greater energy to attract other souls. and when discussing deep dharmic things can speak from experience rather than just from reading. i don't think there have been many worthwhile kathakars who didn't learn from sants. i've heard maskeen ji learned from an udasi dera, and bhai pinderpal singh learned from javaddi kalan taksal.

we can differentiate b/c sants join people to guru ji, while frauds join people to themselves.

Puratan sampradaya's are O.K but do we need emergence of new sants in Sikhism.Guru ji talked about real Sants which are very rare these days.Even Gyani sant singh ji maskeen was quite crtical of Sants .In one of his Katha he said that in Punjab you pull a brick and you find many sants.He also said that most of the sants are fake and the real sants are the one which are mostly unknown to world

[Xylitol]

knockoff diamonds only exist b/c of the value of real diamonds.

as for needing them, absolutely, yes we do. the less the panth heeds sants, the more it falls into disarray. the whole path of sikhi involves a normal person with good karms taking amrit, then progressing on this path, eventually becoming a sant and merging into god. sikhi is a garden, we all are unripe seeds or sprouts at some stage or other, the sant is the fruit of this garden. so whether we think we need them or not, there will always be new sants emerging b/c there will always be people seriously walking this path.

[unbreakable]

would the 3ho/sikh dharma international be classed as a personality cult?

[DSG]

I think the biggest problem is , our so called leaders be them politicians , SGPC leaders or whoever in India are not supporting the Sikhs one bit , because

1. If you look at prisonerwelfare.com site , where the young who are standing up , going to rallies to stop the Dera wallies , Police target them , arrest them for no reason , punish /torture them , put them in jail , charge them on false grounds etc...... these people have no backing of any leaders in India , so are kept in prison for X amount of years , and if any stands up for them , they are also put through the same cycle of punishment ....

therefore the Dera Wallies can do whatever they want and get away with their actions .

2. News againt Sikhs/Sikhism is not shown on local channels in India so public are unaware of any injustices to the Sikh people , if someone trys to , the channel is closed down.

I think we need to be smart , use the system , together knock on the Prime ministers door in masses , to get a law passed that anyone or thing doing beadi bi of Sr Guru Granth Sahib Ji , should result in Maharaj ji's saroop taken away from the place ( if this is done , you can guarantee the dera will have no foundation to stand on or preach and will fizzle away )... When rallying people in India need to have media present , which can be shown on air in all countries via you tube or other means .

SGPC will not act , we need to educate the sangat , all media in UK join forces run under one umberella and start preaching , as Punjabi Radio already has a presence in Punjabi ,Sikh Channel has a presence in Punjab also( sadly footages can only be shown on the Sikh Channel in the UK , but its better than nothing)

Educate the sangat , give aid to the needy , get them back on track so that they only follow Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji

I know its easy for me to write these few words , but in reality only the people in India can guide us , help us understand what steps we should take , how people have tried and now are in Jail waiting for trial , how Police arrest the young and innocent, no one is listening , therefore only option they have left to lead a peacful life is keep quiet , go with the masses sadly in todays era is the dera Wallies .