The Sikh Research Institute (SikhRI) wishes you a warm and reflective Vaisakhi!

We commemorate the momentous inauguration of the Khalsa Panth today—the beloved of Sahib Guru Gobind Singh.

Panjab is going through great turmoil. We reflect on the ideals Khalsa inspires in an individual, community, and society.

The revered Bhagat Kabir reminds us that the one who has the loving devotion of IkOankar, within them is the Khalsa. Such a being keeps the lamp of longing for the Beloved constantly lighting the dwelling of their inner-self, the heart.

Prof. Puran Singh (1881-1931) gracefully explains how this love of the Beloved manifests in the outer sphere, setting new standards of democracy to guide the state and the individual alike.

While explaining an ideal society, he writes, “the direction of all politics [in a society] must be towards equal distribution of comforts and needs in a spirit of loving comradeship… The Guru demonstrated this once in history. They established such a democracy with the divine Aristocrat, the Beloved of all, full of deep and spiritual self-renunciation, in the centre… All lost themselves in Love; no one asserted his little i-ness. All dissolved themselves in Him, and out of Him came out as new men.”

While delineating the individual character, he further states, "the politics of the Sikh, therefore, are but the gladsome, spontaneous renunciation of the little self in the love of the Guru... He lives elevated above the sordid details of right and might, for he has found better occupation in his love… Death to him is as welcome. Not the great renunciation, but the small joys of continuous self-sacrifice, at every step, at every breath. In this sense of self-sacrifice alone, to contribute one’s mite to the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven within man, as Jesus Christ put it, is the Sikh, or the Disciple of the Guru, to enter into the activities of the state. Unless the rich atmosphere of peace is brought in, where the tiger and the lamb drink at the same pool, there can come no true culture in the bread-affairs of man."

Let us work to realize Halemi Raj, the Kingdom of the Guru, that dwells within the Guru, the Sabad, and make it the foundation of a new democracy of the society at the heart of which lies in the love of the Divine, dignity, liberty, and justice for all.

With love and gratitude
The SikhRI Team