Shabad Kirtan: Jaag Salondiye Bolae Gurbani Ram – Bhai Gagandeep Singh Ji Sri Ganga Nagar Wale (source: Amritt Saagar on YouTube).  Thank you for the wonderful soulful kirtan.

by Harnaak Singh

INTRODUCTION

I came across an interesting post on FB of Sikh Voice.  This post is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Sikh Voice FB posting on painting of Guru Nanak

I was amused when I read the comment by Sikh voice.  It read 

The paintings of Guru Nanak in your homes are fake!  They are just an edited version of the painter’s own portrait which was painted in early 1900!  See it with your own eyes.

Note: Sikhism has no place for idol worship.

AND their comment in Punjabi is 

ਇਕ ਗਲ ਹੋਰ ਨੋਟ ਕੀਤੀ ਕਿ ਦੋਨੋ ਤਸਵੀਰਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਮੁੱਛਾਂ-ਦਾਹੜੀ ਦੁੱਧ ਚਿੱਟੇ ਪਰ ਭਰਵੱਟੇ ਸਿਆਹੀ ਵਾਂਗੂ ਕਾਲੇ!!!

One point to note is that in the two pictures the beard is milk white but the eyebrows are ink black.

Let us analyse what the post is claiming.

COMPARING THE PICTURES

The comparison of the picture of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Sobha Singh side by side seem to be done to mislead the Sangat and discredit the painter.  

The picture is marked up with comments (see Figure 1), which to some extent, forces the viewer to compare the mark-ups rather than the actual pictures.  

We reproduce the two pictures with no mark-up and also Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s picture rotated so it has the same orientation as that of Sobha Singh in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Guru Nanak Dev Ji (left) and Sobha Singh (right)

We leave it to the Sangat to make their own judgement.  

BUT some major differences noticed are

• the nose structure 
• the cheeks
• the texture of the beard
• the moustache
• eyebrows

Painting is an art which comes from inspiration, in the case of Sobha Singh very likely divine inspiration.  

It is very rude of someone to insinuate Sobha Singh, a respectable and renown painter, had an ulterior motive in his painting the picture of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.  Linking the two pictures in such a manner is a mark of gross mischievousness.

Such remarks are hallmark of crude, insensitive people.

FAKE PAINTING CLAIM

The dictionary meaning of fake in this context is to

• counterfeit or make a counterfeit of with fraudulent intent 
• devise an acceptable substitute.

This clearly implies that the original picture of Guru Nanak is existing.

Only then another picture or painting can be declared as fake.

We have not come across a confirmed existing original painting of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.  So the question of fake does not exist.

Are Sikh Voice hiding the original picture or painting of Guru Nanak Dev Ji?  

If they don’t then are they just trying to create an issue out of nothing.  This smells of the Kala Afghana Ideology.  

PICTURES PAINTED IN EARLY 1900

As stated in my comments, Sobha Singh was born in 1901.  

Sikh Voice states that the paintings were painted in the early 1900.  Sobha Singh is expected to be in the region of 20 to 30 years old then.  I would not expect him to look that old then (the portrait of Sobha Singh appears to be about 70-80 years of age), to paint Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s portrait based on his own portrait.  

The Sikh Voice seems to be most likely lying in their claim that Sobha Singh painted Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s picture in his own portrait.

I am sure we are not fools to be carried away with such STUPID comparisons and nonsense which are done to create controversy.

BEARD IS MILK WHITE AND EYEBROWS BLACK

This is a real joke and exposes the ILL INTENTION of the Sikh Voice in producing this post.  

It is observed that generally the beard grows grey first followed by the hair and last the eyebrows.  So it would be commonplace to see people with white beard and black eyebrows (see Figure 3 taken off the internet).

Figure 3: Black eyebrows and white beard

IDOL WORSHIP

The post implies that by having the picture in one’s home one is performing idol worship.  Since the post is not targeted it means that everyone who has a picture at home is performing idol worship.

Some important points related to pictures and idol worship are

• It is all in one’s mind! We in our inner-self make it idol worship or reverence. God manifests in the entire creation, animate or inanimate, including the pictures.
• without question the use of pictures and images is an excellent learning tool (imagine how many people would be using computers if we were still using the DOS based C prompt “C>” (see Figure 4 – only the older generation will understand this note – but please look up the internet and you will understand why) instead of the Windows GUI (graphical user interface).

Figure 4: Dos and Windows GUI 

If we listen to these people then animated movies like Char Sahib Zaade would be a thing of the past.  Figure 5 illustrates how effective picture based learning is as compared to text based learning.

Figure 5: Text and image/picture based learning

Is having your own picture in your phone or other make you an idol worshipper when you look at it. 

To discourage the use of pictures or images in the Sikh Faith is not conducive to learning.   

To make such claims (having or using pictures in our religion) is utter STUPIDITY.

I hope the likes of Sikh Voice fail miserably in this.  Otherwise we will be going backwards while the whole world is going forward.

CONCLUSION

The posting by Sikh Voice appears to be intended to mislead the Sangat and to push Sikhi back to the DARK AGES of learning.

It is regrettable that they insinuate that Sobha Singh, a respectable and renown painter, had an ulterior motive in his painting the picture of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.  This is more so because a simple observation of the unmarked paintings show substantial differences (Figure 2).

Their question as why the eyebrows are black while the beard is white is laughable.

The FB post comparing the two pictures/paintings is a deliberate act to create controversy.  This is the forte of the Kala Afghana aligned NINDAKS.

LET US ALL NOT SHARE THIS MISLEADING POST OR DELETE IT IF WE HAVE.

Do you want to support these people Sangat Ji?  

BEWARE of the WOLVES in SHEEP’s clothing.

May VAHEGURU bless us all.

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

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