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ABSTRACT
This article explores cultural dynamics, integrative tensions, and collaborations between 3HO–Sikh Dharma and Punjabi Sikh communities in North America over the last fifty-years. Sikh Dharma's 1979 declaration as a ‘Sovereign Khalsa Spiritual Nation’ raises questions about Sikh spiritual and political sovereignty and its relationship to institutions of authority within transnational, diasporic, multicultural, and multigenerational contexts. This paper addresses communal experiences of trauma and contemporary human rights issues caused by abuses of power. It contemplates the role of the next generation in shaping Sikh futures, emphasizing productive possibilities of humility and shared sovereignties to bridge communal divides through affective empathy.
Acknowledgement
Grateful to have been invited to present a draft of this paper at the 8th Dr. Jasbir Singh Saini Endowed Chair in Sikh and Punjabi Studies Conference “Sikhs in North America: Remembering Key Historical Events, Challenges and Responses” held at University of California Riverside (May 5–6, 2023) graciously hosted by Dr. Pashaura Singh and his team of graduate students including Tejpaul Singh Bainiwal. Grateful to Dr. Verne A .Dusenbery for organizing our roundtable panel and our series of provocations on “Sikh Dharma International and Gora Sikh Punjabi Sikh Relations: Fifty Years On” with Sangeeta Luthra, Philip Deslippe, Simranjit Kaur Khalsa and myself.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Initially incorporated as Sikh Dharma Brotherhood through the Secretary of State in California in 1973, the organization then came to be referred to as Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere, then Sikh Dharma, and officially renamed Sikh Dharma International in 2010 bylaws.
3 The term ‘pluriversal’ is understood through Balbinder Bhogal (Citation2020) who cites Walter D. Mignolo’s work on de-coloniality that looks to the plurality across traditions, rather than the homogenizing tendencies of the universal to translate difference into a monolingual voice to be colonized and possessed.
4 At the 2022 American Academy of Religion in Denver, I organized a panel on ‘Sikhi and Yoga’ co-sponsored with the Sikh Studies Unit and Yoga in Theory and Practice Unit. Here scholars Balbinder Singh Bhogal, Jvala Singh, Philip Deslippe, Rob Zabel, and myself explored and debated philosophical, scriptural, and historical claims to Yoga within Sikh practice, also addressing contexts of abuse, authority, and appropriation within Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan.
6 Sikhs and Sikhi cannot be reduced to one monolithic linguistic, cultural, religious, or ethnic category as seen with Guru Nanak’s pluriversal vision of Ik Oankar, the plurivocal nature of the Guru Granth Sahib, the historical diversity of Sikh communities broadly including Nanak Panthis, Rababis, Udasis, Nirmalas, and Namdharis etc., Sikh communities established throughout India, and Sikhs living in Africa, Australia, North America, Europe, and East Asia.
7 Khalsa comes from the Arabic and Persian term khalis meaning ‘to be free or clear from,’ ‘of royalty.’
8 Originally incorporated as Sikh Dharma Brotherhood, the name was officially changed to Sikh Dharma several years later to reflect a more gender inclusive mission (3HO Foundation Citation1979).
9 Sikh Dharma claimed that the title of ‘Siri Singh Sahib’ was given to Yogi Bhajan in 1971 by Akal Takhat Jathedar and president SGPC Sant Chanan Singh (3HO Foundation Citation1979, #36, Fall 1977), and confirmed in writing by SGPC President Gurucharan Singh Tohra and Secretary Mahinder Singh Giani in 1974. ‘The SGPC appreciated the work done by 3HO, and the Akal Takht decorated the leader as Siri Singh Sahib Harbhajan Singh Yogi and recognized him as head of the Sikh Dharma mission in the Western Hemisphere. We have observed during our tour that he has been doing this noble work admirably well.’ (July 18th, 1974 from the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Shatabadi Committee, signed by Gurucharan Singh Tohra).
However, in 11 January 1979 the SGPC wrote a letter No. 1813/7-6 that enclosed a copy of resolution No.125, 1-11-78, retracting their prior approval, stating that ‘Jathedar’ was a more appropriate title for a leader of a Sikh ‘jatha’ or communal group.
10 Excerpt from the Anandpur Sahib Resolution (1973):
‘The brute majority in India, in 1950, [having] imposed a constitutional arrangement in India which denied the Sikhs of their political identity and cultural popularity … while the Sikh representation in the Indian Constituent Assembly, in 1950, refused to affix their signatures to the official copy of the Indian Constitutional Act thus promulgated, the Shiromani Akali Dal in the name and on behalf of the Sikhs proclaims that the Sikhs are determined, by all legitimate means, to extricate and free themselves from this degrading and death dealing situation so as to ensure firmly their honorable survival and salvage their inherent dignity within India.’ (The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, Vol. 1, Citation1995, ed., Harbans Singh, 133–141.)
11 In 1979 Sirdar Kapur Singh addressed the Khalsa Council sharing narratives about the diverse history and varied usage of honorific titles, contesting the sole imposition of the ‘Jathedar’ title, a post-Guru Era term denoting martial authority. He also gave historical examples regarding the usage of diverse Sikh flags and insignia used on the battlefield, to contest the SGPC resolution that there should be only one Sikh flag or insignia. Also cited by Madanjit Kaur and Piara Singh in Some Insights into Sikhism: Selected Works of Sirdar Kapur Singh (Citation1995, 120).
12 Ram Das Kaur Khalsa was the first Secretary of Religion for Sikh Dharma and one of the first western women to begin wearing a turban, studying gatka, and learning Gurbani Kirtan from Sikh ragis in India.
13 SikhNet Q&A forum, August 22, 2019; https://answers.sikhnet.com/question/14906/what-is-the-meaning-of-sovereign-khalsa-spiritual-nation-please-explain/.
14 In 2020 I served on the Marriage Equality team to support our LGBTQ+ Sikh community. In 2022 the Human Rights Commission (HRC) was formed with Marriage Equality team leaders officially joining that commission. Since that time, I have worked in different capacities as an advisor and contractor.
15 While the motion was approved at the Spring 2021 Khalsa Council Meeting, on March 16, 2022, SDI presented a formal ‘Resolution on Marriage Equality’ which stated:
| 1 | ‘SDI will not institute a policy that is contrary to the Akal Takht and the current Rehit Maryada,’ | ||||
| 2 | ‘Neither will we issue any sanctions upon any SDI ministers who choose to follow their conscience on the issue of same-sex marriage’ (Guru Ram Das Ashram, Los Angeles, Newsletter August 1, 2022). | ||||
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