I was very shocked when I saw a young man during the Southall Nagar Kirtan wearing a jacket with the above slogan printed on the back. The problem is that this kind of slogan which goes directly against the directions given to us by Guru Gobind Singh will be believed by many Sikhs.
The ten Gurus did not each teach their own Sikhí, they were all Nanak, they all carried forward God’s light that was given to Guru Nanak. That light is present in the Guru Granth Sahib, our eternal Guru, and in the lives of all the ten Gurus. There really is only one Guru and that is God.
Guru Nanak wrote that if you want to play the Game of Love you have to carry your head on the palm of your hand. Some two hundred years later Guru Gobind Singh asked for exactly that same commitment. Guru Gobind Singh told us that the True Khalsa serves all, and serving all, seeing God’s presence in all, is what the other nine Gurus taught and practised.
Guru Hargobind took up the sword, Guru Teg Bahadur took up the sword before he became the Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur gave his life defending Hindus. The principles on which Guru’s Khalsa is based are in the Guru Granth Sahib, Guru Gobind gave these principles a new form.
On Vaisakhi 1699 there was no Dasam Granth, when Guru before he passed away declared the Guru Granth to be the eternal Guru of the Sikhs there was no Dasam Granth.
The above does not mean that it is wrong to read the Dasam Granth, and I have not said anything about the authorship of the Dasam Granth. I do not know who wrote the Dasam Granth, and I am not getting involved in a debate that cannot be won, as nobody knows who wrote the Dasam Granth.
There is a lot of interesting material in the Dasam Granth, and also some writing of which I cannot understand what it has to do with any religion. But whatever I think is irrelevant, Guru Gobind Singh taught us to follow the teachings of the Guru Granth, and that is what I concentrate on.
No Khalsa without the Guru Granth, no Sikhí without the Guru Granth. That is not my personal interpretation, it is what Guru taught us. The irony is that many people who claim to be ardent supporters of Guru Gobind Singh try to make him out to be more important than the other Gurus, and try to make a Granth that did not even exist in Guru’s lifetime equal or even more important than the Guru Granth.
Guru Gobind Singh like the other Gurus did not want to be worshipped, Guru Gobind Singh wanted us to follow the Guru Granth.
