I do not believe that Sikhí needs a calendar of its own in order to prove its identity. The reason why we should support Pal Singh Purewal’s calendar is because it brings the dates of the gurpurabhs in line with the solar calendar, which is used by the vast majority of mankind.
I am not bothered by the fact that we celebrate Guru Nanak’s birthday in November, although he was probably born in April. I am bothered by the fact that the date of Guru Nanak’s birthday is not a fixed date according to a solar calendar.
I think that a solar calendar, where the same seasons fall in the same months of the year every year, is more practical than a lunar calendar, but if the majority of mankind used a lunar calendar I am sure we could live with that too.
The problem with the Vikramí calendar, which the Sikhs used in the past, is that it is a bit of both, a lunar calendar with extra days to bring it more or less in line with the solar year. It is this aspect that makes it difficult to calculate the dates of gurpurabhs according to Vikramí.
What we had after the agreement between the IOSS and the SGPC was fixed solar year dates for most gurpurabhs plus the moveable dates for the birthday of Guru Nanak, for Divali (which has nothing to do with Sikhí) and for these strange things called massia, sangrand and puranmasi.
What we need is a Sikh calendar with fixed dates for all Gurpurabhs, including Guru Nanak’s birthday, the day that Guru Hargobind left the prison in Gwalior and without Divali, massia, sangrand and puranmasi.
What the Sant Samaj and the SGPC under the instruction of Badal Sahib and his BJP cronies have agreed to now is a calendar with more moveable dates instead of less. If they really think that this is in line with Sikhí Badal & co are even more stupid than I thought. If it is for political reasons they are even greater cowards than I thought.
In Sikhí every day is Guru’s day and every calendar is a way to name the days, weeks, months of God’s year. Most people in the world use a solar calendar, let’s be practical and use a solar calendar which follows the seasons as given to us by God’s creation.
Let us NOT fight with each other over such a fairly trivial issue, let us ignore the ignorant cowards who pose as ‘panthic’ leaders. Let us decide on a fixed date for Guru Nanak’s birthday and for Bandi-Chhor Divas and then get on with the business of following Guru’s Dharm. Let us listen to and apply the teachings of the Guru Granth Sahib in our daily life.
