Shabad Kirtan:  Tu Samrath Vadda – Bhai Harjinder Singh Ji Srinagar Wale.  Wonderful Gurbani Kirtan.  Thank You Ji. (Thanks to WERRIBEE -Dr Kamaljit S Vilkhu YouTube source of this video)

by Harnaak Singh

We discussed briefly the history of the Kala Afghana Brigade from the Global perspective in Part 3.  In this part we move to look at the local scene in Malaysia.

This series of articles is to expose to the Sangat that they are being covertly misled.  We condemn and expose misleading concepts espoused to the Sangat; this is our RIGHT AS SIKHS OF THE GURU. In the process of exposing these misleading concepts names of those supporting and espousing these will come to the fore.  We apologise BUT it is important for the Sangat to know who are those, who profess these misleading concepts, that are against Gurmat, Sikhi tenets and practices.  They can then make a learned decision.

Some of us may have realised that we have erred in espousing and supporting these misleading concepts.   We know that we are not perfect and can make mistakes and most of all admit them and take responsibility for our actions. We should come out and declare that we have erred.  Our Guru and the Sangat is forgiving. 

We stress that the Kala Afghana Ideology is an anti-Sikhi and anti-Gurmat ideology. There are a number of organisations as well as many individuals in Malaysia subscribing to this ideology.  Of the more prominent ones that appear to follow this ideology, as exposed by Gurvichar, are MGC, Karminder and Autar.

Note: My comments are in green/red italics on specific points within the article.

SRM CHANGE – THE MALAYSIAN SCENARIO 

INTRODUCTION

We will now move to the Malaysian scene.  Parts 2A and 2B revealed, in the message from Karminder to one of the Kala Afghana Brigade members, the intent to change the Sikh Rehat Maryada (SRM) to meet 100% with the Kala Afghana Ideology.  This involves

• UNLEARNING the tenets and practices we follow and RELEARNING the new tenets and practices the Kala Afghana Ideology preaches AND
• building the critical mass support to force the SRM change.

The Kala Afghana Ideology is almost entirely subservient to reason, logic and critical thinking based analysis of the tenets of and practices of the Sikh Faith.  

It is therefore important to delve into this and we shall do this first to understand what goes on in these miscreants’ minds.

FAITH AND REASON, LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING

The word FAITH, which means “an act or attitude of intellectual assent to the traditional doctrines of one’s religion” itself is at odds with REASON, LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING. See Figure 1 which shows this clearly.  Faith is related to the All Pervading Higher Consciousness, GOD.  Reason, logic and critical thinking is related to our interaction with the creation through our sense and action organs.

Figure 1: Our inner-self, faith and reason/logic/critical thinking

Assent to traditional doctrines means “to accept” the traditional doctrines.  It DOES NOT MEAN “to question” traditional doctrines using reason, logic and critical thinking.  The traditional doctrines are the tenets and practices of the FAITH, in our case the SIKH FAITH.

“Reason, logic and critical thinking” has an important role to play in our lives.  But this role is related to our interaction with the creation (MAYA).  

For example if we want to cross the road we make sure that no vehicle will cross our path.  From our knowledge we know that we will be injured if this happens.  So we reason that if we cross the road while a vehicle is going to cross out path, we will be injured. 

Next step in crossing is determining if the approaching vehicle will cross our path.  Here is where critical thinking comes in.  We make a judgement as to whether the vehicle will cross our path.  

Then the logical decision comes in, either cross or let the vehicle pass.  If the vehicle is expected to cross our path, we do not cross the road.  However if the vehicle is not expected to cross our path we cross the road.  

Remember that if we did not have the knowledge and did not acquire it from other sources, we will most surely cross the road and get hurt if a vehicle crosses our path.  Then in future we will have that knowledge to make the appropriate decision.  

All these activities are related to the sense and action organs.  There is no interaction with the Higher Consciousness as show in Figure 1.  

However the Higher Consciousness may give us a signal not to cross.  This is when we say “I don’t know why but I don’t feel like doing this”.  This “feeling” is intuitive and does not originate from our reason, logic or critical thinking.

Putting this into a rule

From our knowledge we REASON out the consequences of an action/activity.  We use our CRITICAL THINKING to weigh the factors affecting the action/activity and finally we use our LOGIC to decide on the action/activity to execute.

We have seen how this rule applies to crossing the road.

Now let us see what happens if we can apply this rule to Gurbani and also expose how Karminder and cohorts use this to distort Gurbani.  We will look at two cases; 

• • the question of amrit vela AND
• • Guru Nanak’s father was a minister in the court of the King.

The question of Amrit Vela – breaking down long standing tenets

Consider the question “what is amrit vela?” which is the related to activity meditation (simran, Naam Japna). 

Figure 2: Meditating at Amrit vela

From past practice and from Gurbani, amrit vela is the period of time a few hours before dawn and is the best time for meditation.  This is known knowledge from the time of our Gurus and there is nothing to question.  We accept this knowledge and act on it.

However if we do not accept what Gurbani and what our long standing practices teach us, i.e. we do not have the FAITH in Gurbani; then we have to create new knowledge to explain the new concept of amrit vela.  This is what Karminder and cohorts are doing. 

We continue the analysis.

So now, we reject Guru’s knowledge and have to use our own.  To create the new knowledge there must be some basis.  There being no other source, we have to rely on Gurbani to create this new knowledge.  

This is exactly what Karminder and the Kala Afghana Ideologists like Dhunda and others are doing now. 

They have to first breakdown the existing knowledge i.e. amrit vela is few hours before dawn by telling us that our long standing knowledge is FALSE.  They show this by applying reason, logic and critical thinking that the “accepted definition of amrtit vela is wrong”.  For example 

• how can amrit vela be in the morning when the thieves and robbers operate at this time? 
• how can amrit vela be in the morning when this is naturally the time to be asleep?

Notice how they have cleverly MOVED the timing of an activity 

• connected to the devotion link with the Higher Consciousness 
• and linked it with our sense and action organs.

AND ask us to UNLEARN what we already know.

Note: This essentially means “to hell with supressing the 5 evils and acquiring the virtures” so to speak; just do what our instincts dictate which is controlled by the 5 evils; be a Manmukh; forget what Gurmat teaches.  Further, this also means changing Gurbani to fit the person’s whims and fancies.  

Then Karminder and his cohorts create new knowledge, not from our Gurus, but by themselves.  Karminder says

• amrit vela is anytime a Sikh chooses (see LINK),
• amrit vela refers to the first phase i.e. early stages of one’s life before childhood i.e. from conception to about 1 year (see LINK).  I don’t know what will happen after 1 year.  Are we doomed?

Having created this misleading knowledge they want us to RELEARN this new knowledge.

The question that Guru Nanak’s father was a minister – breaking down history

Figure 3: Janaeu ceremony

Likewise they do the same with history.  

From historical records we know that Mehta Kalu, Guru Nanak’s father was a village patwari (revenue official).  We do not question this.

However, Karminder and the Kala Afghana Brigade, using their reason, logic and critical thinking CAP (turban?) question 

• how could Mehta Kalu afford to invite the whole village during Guru Nanak’s Janaeu ceremony, when he was only a village patwari (revenue official)? (meaning he would not have enough money to fund the ceremony)

They breakdown the existing history by questioning what we know with reason, logic and critical thinking.  Then they create a reason, logical and critical thinking aligned history

• Mehta Kalu was a minister in the court of the King. (so he could afford the ceremony)

This is logically sound but historically FALSE.

Do they mean to say that all the historians who said the Mehta Kalu was a village patwari are fools? 

No they are not.  

Sangat Ji you should know who are the fools, the moorakhs.

Summing up

In our faith, we have to accept the teaching from our forefathers and follow the tenets Gurbani teaches and accept historical records without question.

Use REASON, LOGIC and CRITICAL thinking in your day to day interaction with the creation NOT the devotional link with the Higher Consciousness, GOD. 

We must learn to detect these miscreant elements.  The above example shows how they operate.  So beware and analyse what they say along similar lines.

This key is 

• teaching from our forefathers, 
• the long standing tenets and practices Gurbani teaches us and 
• our historical records”.  

Refer to the following LINK for the main aspects of the Kala Afghana Ideology.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND FIRST

The Sangat may be wondering why and how I got involved in this Kala Afghana “fracas”.  

How it all started for me was that I wanted to delve into understanding Jap Ji Sahib.  So I started researching for information related to Jap Ji sahib.  We will share and discuss this another time when things are better.

It was Dec 2015.

I came across a paper “OMKAR ਓਅੰਕਾਰ The misunderstood word” (see Figure 4).  

Figure 4: Paper OMKAR the Misunderstood Word

This paper is available at LINK.  

I was shocked to read this paper.  

The author, miscreant Devinder Chahal, appeared to want to change the pronunciation of ਓਅੰਕਾਰ to Oh Beant.  See Figure 5.  

I couldn’t believe what I read.  And mind you this paper was written in 2005 (TEN YEARS EARLIER).  

Figure 5: Ek Oangkar distorted pronunciation (Extract from Chahal’s Jap booklet)

Other points noted in the paper are

• ਓਅੰਕਾਰ Oangkar in banee Dakhni Oangakar has no bearing on ੴ Ek Oangkar
• ਓਅੰਕਾਰ is linked to the Vedas OM and hence Oangkar cannot be the pronunciation and he goes on the give his own distorted view based on the Nanakian Philosophy
• Bhai Gurdas was wrong in giving the pronunciation of Ek Oangkar 
• others e.g. Professor Sahib Singh, Dr Trilochan Singh and many others have followed this incorrect pronunciation and also described the history related to banee Dakhni Oangkar incorrectly.
• others e.g. Professor Sahib Singh, Dr Trilochan Singh and many others have misinterpreted banee Dakhni Oangkar and goes on to give his distorted view

I contacted Devinder Chahal in March 2016 with questions on his paper.  The correspondence went on until May-2016 but it was like hitting my head on the wall.  To give you an idea of how I felt, some of the points in my final email to him are listed below.

• Do not treat Gurbani as an object. It is not an object to be analysed or toyed around with.  It is the Creator’s message sent through our Gurus, for us to learn and gain knowledge to practice a truthful living.
• Do not distort the message of Gurbani and our Gurus
• Do not resort to wishy-washy shooting “in the dark” means but provide concrete, logical, scientific and evidence based reasoning to justify your claims
• Learn to accept that you are not perfect and can make mistakes and most of all admit them and take responsibility for your actions.

Then I also corresponded with Hardev Singh Shergill editor of the Sikh Bulletin on his belief that 

• Guru Nanak preached DEISM and that Guru Nanak did not believe in God 

AND also Colonel Manmohan Scout on 

• Guru Nanak preached DEISM and God does not have any control over the creation

in May and June 2016.  

The outcome was similar that with Chahal except that there were a number of people giving support to them.   To share one of my final words to them about the God they espouse were

• A dead God leaving behind its agent nature (which is actually Maya which Gurbani teaches we have to overcome – more like satan in control) and a magical “energy” to do the job.

Both Devinder Chahal and Manmohan Scout have produced distorted English version of JapJi Sahib based on the philosophy they follow.

The correspondence was to no avail.  They were not prepared to accept the distortion of Gurbani they were propagating.

Figure 6: Kala Afghana and associates

Further probing revealed that these people were with the Kala Afghana Brigade aligned to the Kala Afghana Ideology (see Figure 6).  They covertly and falsely call this ideology “Guru Nanak’s Philosophy”.  Actually their “Guru Nanak’s Philosophy” which they also term “Nanakian Philosophy” is a distortion of Gurbani to fit into their agenda.

Figure 7: Forward by Karminder in Chahal’s Jap booklet

In April 2016, Devinder Chahal sent me his English version of Jap Ji Sahib.  To my surprise I found that the foreword to Devinder Chahal’s Jap Booklet was written by non-other than the Malaysian Fake Guru Karminder.  This close association of Karminder with Chahal links Karminder to the Kala Afghana Ideology (see Figure 7).

Figure 8: Presentation by Chahal and Manmohan  at GSC conference March 2017

Please note that both DEVINDER CHAHAL and MANMOHAN SCOUT made presentations at the GLOBAL SIKH COUNCIL meeting in KUALA LUMPUR  in March 2017.  This meeting was organised and sponsored by the MGC.

This links MGC to the Kala Afghana Brigade and Ideology.

CONCLUSION

FAITH is actually at odds with REASON, LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING. 

In our faith, we have to accept the teaching from our forefathers and follow the tenets Gurbani teaches and accept historical records without question.

They ask us to UNLEARN what we know and to RELEARN the new knowledge based on Kala Afghana Ideology.  We should reject this.

We have to be careful when they talk about reason, logic and critical thinking.  We can and should use REASON, LOGIC and CRITICAL thinking in our day to day interaction with the creation BUT definitely NOT for the devotional link with the Higher Consciousness, GOD. 

The Kala Afghan Ideology rejects the pronunciation of Ek Oangkar.  They state that Guru Nanak was a DEIST and did not believe in GOD.  Do we want to follow this anti-Sikh and anti-Gurmat ideology?

Devinder Chahal and Manmohan Scout who are aligned with the Kala Afghana Ideology, presented at the MGC sponsored Global Sikh Council Inc in Kuala Lumpur in March 2017.  This clearly shows that MGC supports the anti-Sikh and anti-Gurmat Kala Afghana Ideology

Without doubt Karminder and the MGC are linked to the Kala Afghana Ideology.

We will continue and start to unravel the Malaysian Kala Afghana world in the next parts.

That’s all for now.  We will continue …. 

Thank You for reading.  ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕਾ ਖਾਲਸਾ  ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕੀ ਫਤਹਿ

… to be continued.

Please download the PDF attached and share:  171011 Wreck the SRM History MSIA

 

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