why your exclusionary sikhi does not work.
it's such an irony to me that people who believe themselves to be gursikhs can live in such an anti-gurmat way. now i am by no means an expert on sikhi or gurmat or sikh ithihaas, but i have been fortunate enough to cross paths with those who have shown me true love for each of those things, and shared a bit of their knowledge en route. from them and from my own reading of gurbani, i have come to understand my sikhi as a faith of love. guru nanak started this whole thing by rejecting the idea that any human is superior to another. he rejected the falseness of brahmins who thought the sight of untouchables was poisonous. he laughed at the muslims who approached faith with a 'my way or the highway' attitude. and now here we are, sitting amongst sikhs taking on the same positions, but shielding themselves by self-labeling as gursikhs. just because you have your kakaars in tact, does not mean you are a 'good' sikh. when you refuse to eat from non-amritdhari hands because you think it is toxic your soul, you are that brahmin that guru nanak would rebuke. when you berate others because their practice of faith is different from yours, or when they are at a different point in their personal journey, you are that audacious muslim that guru nanak would reject. when you self-ascribe yourself to be holy, guru-facing, and all knowing, you are the egotistical maniac that guru sahib warns against. and yet you persist. you persist loudly. banging your drums and donning the robe of my beloved. you persist so loudly that you convince me that i, and others like me, are not worthy of this love. you tell me that my sikhi is not mine; that it is far off and belongs to others that are better, wiser, stronger. but that's not what my guru said. he went to the weakest. the down trodden. the forgotten. he ate from the hands of those with love in their hearts and fed those who were hungry. he embraces me. forgives me. guides me. you are nothing. and i refuse to give in to you now.ย
