Theos-Talk Archives (September 2001 Message tt00067)

Monday, September 10, 2001

Dear Friends:

Excuse me if I offer some information to place a little more
perspective in this matter:

Here is a snippet of history from one who observed much of this
at close hand for over 30 years. To epitomize it is painful, and
only the barest superficial depiction is possible.

The philosophy and the practice of the Sikhs was originally
established as an effort to reconcile in an impartial and
protective way, some of the more sanguinary religious differences
between the Muslims and the Hindus.

As far as I know, all Mystical brotherhoods that were erected to
serve BROTHERHOOD, have as a common ideal, the tenets of the
Wisdom Religion: Theosophy .

I would say that the Sufis, the Druzes, and the Sikhs have tenets
in common as regards the ethics of their "faith." This seems to
have shown itself as an attempt to erect a responsible and
impartial protective shield in areas where wars are proceeding.
But this type of effort is to be found as far back as one is able
to trace the records of history. The "Templars, "Hospitaliers,"
and the "Masons" in the West are part of this effort of impartial
protection to be extended to the needy, and the suffering.
Although the Templars and the Hospitalier knights have been
eliminated, the Masons are able to continue in their chosen field
of assistance.

The philosophy and the injunctions offered to the Sikhs can be
read from the GRANTH SAHEB -- the teachings put into book form --
a book written by their first Guru: Nanak. It is in the Golden
Temple in Amritsar. A number of "Gurus" have succeeded Nanak,
and held and augmented the sect of the Free Brothers. The title
"SINGH" used by all the Sikhs is translated "tiger" usually. It
implies their independence and position as free kings of the
jungles of life. As such, they are pledged to extend their
protection equally to all who are weak, poor, defenseless, to
pilgrims, and to women and children and the dispossessed. Many
were forced to take refuge in the Himalayan mountains, and others
were more recently scattered all over India as they escaped from
the terrible slaughter at the un-policed and de-militarized
frontiers of Pakistan and India in 1947-48.

But I am sure that this brief characterization does them (the
Sikhs, as a protective group) little service in depicting their
ideals and the responsibilities they are pledged to assume. A
mystical Sikh philosopher and teacher, would be able to give us a
far clearer view of their philosophy and the ethics that are its
idealized guides in their lives.

The Sikhs were also created to be the "bridge" that would
harmonize the religious differences between the invading Muslims
from Afghanistan, Central Asia (Mongols) and Persia, and the
resident Hindus in Northern India. The membership and brotherhood
received members from both the Muslim and the Hindu factions.

To give a brief survey of history in India from roughly the 10th
to the 19th Century is:

The Mogul, Persian, and Afghan invasions (beginning through the
Khyber Pass in the 9th/10th Century) were resisted for many
years in North West India. Many Hindu Rajas confederated in this
resistance, but as it was gradually overcome, they retired to
desert, or, to Mountain strongholds in the Himalayas, others
retreated south to the Deccan plateaus and to remote ranges of
mountains and hills -- and maintained a precarious and gradually
eroded independence.

But those Hindu kingdoms, in the lush Indo-Gangetic plains from
West to East were conquered and gradually subjugated by the Mogul
Emperors and their armies followed by their administrators. They
culminated in the establishment of the MOGUL (Mongol) Empire in
Northern India. It consisted of the strip of land along the Indus
river now called Pakistan, and Kashmir, then the flat lands
immediately below the Himalayan range stretching from the Punjab,
Agra, Delhi, to Bengal.

In later years this empire, as it expanded southward towards the
rich plains and plateaus of Hyderabad, Maharashtra, Mysore and
Madras, and the Coromandel and Malabar coastal kingdoms, came
into conflict with the East India Company (16/17th Century) -- as
it claimed more and more coastal territory for trade. The last
Mogul emperor, Bahadur Shah, who had made an alliance with the
"mutineers," was defeated, as the British (c. 1859/60) recovered
the lands lost during the "Sepoy Mutiny (1857/8)." He was
banished to Burma with his family -- to live out his days in
isolation.

The invading Muslims (from a period beginning in the 10th Century
to the 16th), to obtain a political base favorable to them in
India, encouraged the "untouchables," the "Chandalas," and those
innumerable casteless groups in India to become Muslim. This
gave them a status and a protection which they never had under
Hinduism. These conversions brought a large resident Islamic
group into being, from among the natives of the country, whose
interest was to support the reigning Muslim (Mogul) Emperors.

When in 1947/8 Pakistan was created by the departing political
power of Britain, many religious groups fearing entrapment and
victimization if they were to be residents in territories
dominated by an antagonistic (in their view) religio-political
group, decided to trek away from their homes and travel from
Pakistan to India, or, from India to Pakistan. Bandits, pirates,
fanatics and goondas seized the opportunity to kill these
defenseless and innocent ones, to pillage their valuables, and
great slaughter (in the millions) occurred. Mahatma Gandhi
brought this to an end. But he was soon assassinated.

The Sikhs in the Punjab were also made victims by the Muslims of
Pakistan and great slaughter occurred as the peasants and
merchants trekked towards the supposed safety of India. The
Sikhs sought to protect all. But most of what happened is
relatively undocumented and only "educated guesses" can be made
of what actually occurred in the enormous transfer of peoples
from the newly formed countries.

Excuse this brief but poignant looking back at a period of
violence and unnecessary fanaticism and greed which mars the
history of our world in the east. It compares in a way with the
genocide practiced in Germany against the Jews and other smaller
groups considered "undesirable."

Best wishes,

Dallas

======================================

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerome Wheeler [mailto:ultinla@juno.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2001 9:52 AM
To: study@blavatsky.net
Subject: [bn-study] RE: The Seven Fold Constitution and the
Uiverse in Evolution

Fadi,
do what your heart tells you, it's the best guide.
jerome

p.s. Are Sikhs from the Sufi lineage??