drkhalsa
SPNer
- Sep 16, 2004
- 1,308
- 54
Teaching Gurbani to non-Sikhs
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 29
Renowned technologist from the region Dr Kuldip Singh has embarked on a unique mission of spreading the message of Gurbani among non Sikhs.
For three years, the former Head of Surgery, PGI, and Department of Radiotherapy, CMC, Ludhiana, has been engaged in finding ways to take the word of Guru Nanak far and wide. And in his attempt he has succeeded largely, as is clear from the fact that he has written five booklets highlighting the significance of Gurbani and authored one book which raises issues seldom raised before.
Not just that, he has also hired the best artists of the region to lend visual forms to Sikh history. His house is a museum of Sikh history — laced as it is with paintings, posters and placards that delineate the finer aspects of Sikh history — from creation of the Khalsa to the relevance of five Ks.
At home in his Sector 15 residence in Chandigarh, the surgery expert tells of the Baisakhi day in 2000 which changed his life.
“The world may not believe me, but I had an apparition in which Guru Nanak asked me to do something to take Gurbani beyond the realm of Sikhs. That’s when I began writing, something which was based on 800 hours of extensive study and on the “vars” of Bhai Gurdas.”
Dr Singh has written about five booklets, including the one on the message of Gurbani, another on shabads and their translations. His third work was a booklet containing an introduction to Guru Granth Sahib. This work has been translated in many foreign languages and has been distributed in Kenya, Uganda, the US, the UK, the Singapore, the Maldives, Indonesia, Thialand, Australia and New Zealand. The last booklet he wrote contains finest aspects of all world religions.
Says Dr Singh, “My last work deals with the often posed questions about Guru Nanak- who he was and what his mission on earth was.” The book is accordingly titled “Guru Nanak and His Mission” and it was recently released in both English and Punjabi editions for the benefit of non Sikhs. The book is an end to Dr Singh’s lifelong search for one question - “Why did Guru Nanak not make a Granth of his own Bani; why did he choose Guru Angad Dev to execute this task?”
This quest finds an expression in Dr Singh’s book which has been published under the aegis of the Sant Isher Singh Rarewala Education Trust. Dr Singh also runs a Trust called the Satyameva Jayate Trust which propagates the message of Guru Nanak all over the world, especially among non Sikhs.
Ask the author which has been the best inspiration behind his mission and he tells, “Guru Nanak spent a life time traveling, trying to touch as many lives as possible. Only in the last 12 years of his life did he choose to settle create a Panth. His philosophy is meant for the world and must be taken to the world.”
In his quest, Dr Singh has created a corpus of paintings, posters and placards to dispel notions that people harbour about religious codes like the relevance of five Ks. But his poster highlighting the magnificence of Harmandar Sahib is most overwhelming of all. No wonder it has been translated into two foreign languages, including French
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 29
Renowned technologist from the region Dr Kuldip Singh has embarked on a unique mission of spreading the message of Gurbani among non Sikhs.
For three years, the former Head of Surgery, PGI, and Department of Radiotherapy, CMC, Ludhiana, has been engaged in finding ways to take the word of Guru Nanak far and wide. And in his attempt he has succeeded largely, as is clear from the fact that he has written five booklets highlighting the significance of Gurbani and authored one book which raises issues seldom raised before.
Not just that, he has also hired the best artists of the region to lend visual forms to Sikh history. His house is a museum of Sikh history — laced as it is with paintings, posters and placards that delineate the finer aspects of Sikh history — from creation of the Khalsa to the relevance of five Ks.
At home in his Sector 15 residence in Chandigarh, the surgery expert tells of the Baisakhi day in 2000 which changed his life.
“The world may not believe me, but I had an apparition in which Guru Nanak asked me to do something to take Gurbani beyond the realm of Sikhs. That’s when I began writing, something which was based on 800 hours of extensive study and on the “vars” of Bhai Gurdas.”
Dr Singh has written about five booklets, including the one on the message of Gurbani, another on shabads and their translations. His third work was a booklet containing an introduction to Guru Granth Sahib. This work has been translated in many foreign languages and has been distributed in Kenya, Uganda, the US, the UK, the Singapore, the Maldives, Indonesia, Thialand, Australia and New Zealand. The last booklet he wrote contains finest aspects of all world religions.
Says Dr Singh, “My last work deals with the often posed questions about Guru Nanak- who he was and what his mission on earth was.” The book is accordingly titled “Guru Nanak and His Mission” and it was recently released in both English and Punjabi editions for the benefit of non Sikhs. The book is an end to Dr Singh’s lifelong search for one question - “Why did Guru Nanak not make a Granth of his own Bani; why did he choose Guru Angad Dev to execute this task?”
This quest finds an expression in Dr Singh’s book which has been published under the aegis of the Sant Isher Singh Rarewala Education Trust. Dr Singh also runs a Trust called the Satyameva Jayate Trust which propagates the message of Guru Nanak all over the world, especially among non Sikhs.
Ask the author which has been the best inspiration behind his mission and he tells, “Guru Nanak spent a life time traveling, trying to touch as many lives as possible. Only in the last 12 years of his life did he choose to settle create a Panth. His philosophy is meant for the world and must be taken to the world.”
In his quest, Dr Singh has created a corpus of paintings, posters and placards to dispel notions that people harbour about religious codes like the relevance of five Ks. But his poster highlighting the magnificence of Harmandar Sahib is most overwhelming of all. No wonder it has been translated into two foreign languages, including French
