Sikhi And Vibes

So yesterday I made a post about how some Sikhs are afraid to say the word “gay,” and I got several messages saying how it’s because “Sikhi doesn’t support homosexuality,” or “it’s unnatural,” or “God made men and women only” (inferring sexuality and gender are the same thing), or “Sikhi is about procreation,” and of course many linked to the videos of Basics of Sikhi talking about the topic.

There is a post made by another user on tumblr that sums up my response to the linked videos complete. You can find that post HERE. As for the other statements, I’m going to explore them in this post.

Let’s start with the “unnatural” part of it. To put it lightly, you’re wrong. There are HUNDREDS of species, besides humans, in which homosexuality is exhibited. Some of these species are bison, brown bears, cats, dogs, chimpanzees, horses, dolphins, elephants, and even lions. Gurbani tells us that all of nature acts in accordance to God’s Will. So if Akaal Purakh didn’t want homosexuality to exist, homosexuality would not be prevalent in these hundreds of species. Therefore, the claim that non-hetero sexualities are unnatural is baseless.

The idea that Sikhi focusses on procreation is, again, false. Nowhere in Gurabni does it command people to marry only to bear children. Such an importance on procreation can be found in faiths into which you can be born. Sikhi isn’t a faith you are born into. You can be born into a Sikh family, but you earn your Sikhi yourself with your own actions. Moreover, if Sikhi was only about procreation, then there would be prohibitions put on infertile people from marrying, or it would be forbidden for women past the stage of menopause, and men past the age of virility, to get married. That’s not the case. The truth is that Sikhi does not talk about these things, because at the end of the day they just don’t matter in comparison to the grandness of God. Guru Sahib explains in Asaa Ki Vaar:

ਕੂੜੁ ਮੀਆ ਕੂੜੁ ਬੀਬੀ ਖਪਿ ਹੋਏ ਖਾਰੁ ॥ False is the husband, false is the wife; they mourn and waste away.

With that precedence set, we can infer that when Gurbani talks about Husband and wife, it is talking about the allegorical marriage of our soul (in Sikhi all souls are said to be brides) with the Husband Lord. Therefore, the Gurbani pangtis that are brought up, such as the two bodies one soul one, are in fact talking about God and the soul, not a heterosexual relationship between a man and a women, because as Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj said, these unions are a temporal realities that fade, and in the big pictures this makes them a falsehood. Therefore, Guru Sahib essentially tells us to look beyond what we do in our beds and look into what we should do with our Sikhi sidak.

The cold hard truth is that there is no mention of homosexuality in Sikh scripture. Not even once. It’s not like the Guru Sahibaan and the Bhagats and Bhatts that revealed Gurbani weren’t aware of homosexuality. Guru Arjan Dev Ji, who is known as Bani ka Bohithaa (Boat of Gurbani- due to the fact that he revealed the most Gurbani in Sri Guru Granth Sahib), actually had several encounters with homosexuality that NEVER get talked about. None of this is recorded explicitly, but when you connect the dots, you see that Guru Ji has in fact met queer people and has known of queer people.

One of these examples is Sarmad. Sarmad was a devout follower of Sai Mian Mir, a Sufi saint. Any Sikh would know that Guru Arjan Dev Ji and Sai Mian Mir had a very close relationship, and it was Sai Ji that laid the foundation stone of Harmandir Sahib (now known as the Golden Temple- also called the “Sikh Mecca”). In Sikh belief we do not believe that the Guru Sahiban were regular human beings, we believe that the Guru Sahiban were antarjami. They could read us completely in the blink of an eye, every single detail. So, when Guru Arjan Dev Ji would hang out with Sai Mian Mir, he would know of Sarmad either through Sai Mian Mir talking about him, or because of his antarjami capabilities. Either way, Guru Sahib would know that Sarmad exists, and that he was in a loving and consenting sexual relationship with another man, Abhai Chand. Despite knowing of Sarmad’s existence, there is not Gurbani written against homosexuality.

However, forget degrees of separation. What if I told you that Guru Arjan Dev Ji came FACE TO FACE with a gay man? Well that is exactly what happened. In the Suraj Parkash Granth, a manuscript that is a source of Sikhi history, tells the story of Guru Arjan Dev Ji’s visit to Lahore. During this time, Guru Arjan Dev Ji as compiling Aad Granth Sahib (which would later be coronated as Sri Guru Granth Sahib), and hearing that Guru Ji had included Bani from Muslims like Sheikh Fareed Ji and Hindus like Bhagat Ravidaas Ji, poets and bards from all over the subcontinent would visit Guru Arjan Dev Ji in hopes that their poetry would be included in Aad Granth Sahib. However, the poetry was most often not accepted by Guru Ji, as that’s all it was- poetry. Guru Granth Sahib only contains Bani revealed from Sachkhand by Akaal Purakh, and while the poetry presented was beautiful, it was inspired by the human mind and therefore not Gurbani. When Guru Ji was in Lahore, four such poets visited him, and if you read that section of Suraj Parkash Granth, you will read that there was a man by the name of Shah Hussain, another Sufi saint, who visited Guru Ji.

The Suraj Parkash Granth doesn’t give much detail into Shah Hussain’s life aside from the fact that he had poetry he wanted to present to Guru Ji. However, if you read up on his life, Shah Hussain, like Sarmad, was in a sexual relationship with another man named Madho Laal. The love between Madho Laal and Shah Hussain are often recounted at Shah Hussain’s urs (death anniversary), and hundreds throng to his dargah, where Shah Hussain and Madho Laal are buried side by side.

Anyway, so Shah Hussain, who we know to be madly in love with Madho Laal, comes to Guru Sahib and the encounter they have is honestly quite beautiful. Shah Hussain was the last of the four poets to meet Guru Maharaaj, and present his work. Suraj Parkash Granth says that the entire time Shah Hussain recited his kalaam, Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaaj lovingly gazed towards him and praised his work, and was moved by the bairaag and love in his poetry. Here is an excerpt of the work Shah Hussain presented:

ਚੁਪ ਵੇ ਅੜਿਆ ਚੁਪ ਵੇ ਅੜਿਆ। ਬੋਲਣ ਦੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਜਾਇ ਵੇ ਅੜਿਆ। ਸਜਣਾ ਬੋਲਣ ਦੀ ਜਾਇ ਨਾਹੀਂ।ਰਹਾਉ। ਅੰਦਰਿ ਬਾਹਰਿ ਹਿਕਾ ਸਾਂਈਂ, ਕਿਸਨੂੰ ਆਖਿ ਸੁਣਾਈਂ। ਇਕੋ ਦਿਲਬਰ ਸਭ ਘਟ ਰਵਿਆ, ਦੂਜੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਦਾਈਂ। ਕਹੈ ਹੁਸੈਨ ਫਕੀਰ ਨਿਮਾਣਾ, ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਥੌਂ ਬਲਿ ਬਲਿ ਜਾਈਂ। Stay quiet O friend, stay quiet. This is not your place to speak. O sajana, O friend, this is not your place to speak. Inside and outside, there is only one Lord, to whom should I go and tell anything? One Lord, the Enchanter of the Hearts, is in every being, no one else is there. The humble Faqir Hussain says, I am sacrifice to Satguru again and again.

Moved by the poetry Guru Arjan Dev Ji blessed Shah Hussain and Shah Hussain left in happiness and bliss. While Suraj Parkash Granth doesn’t go into the details of the history of these Bhagats, as the focus is on Guru Arjan Dev Ji compiling Gurbani for Sri Aadi Granth Sahib, searching the history of Shah Hussain, you will see that he was in fact gay or bi. 

Guru Sahib in his Sakshaat Saroop met with Shah Hussain. As Guru Sahib is antarjami, wouldn’t he have known that Shah Hussain was gay or bi? Of course he did! Yet, he didn’t write anything against it when he had every authority to do so. That speaks for itself. The fact that the Gurus knew of homosexuality, and did not speak against it like they spoke against other vices humans commit, says something. 

No about the whole gender thing. Gender and sexuality are two completely different concepts. One is who you are programmed to get down with between the sheets, and the other is who you are and what you identify with. Being gay or bi is a sexual identity, not a gender identity. On top of that, Sikhi does not hold rigid genders. First of all, Sikh scripture (especially Dasam Granth Sahib) acknowledges the exiestence of varying gender idenities, such as the kinnar (also known as hijras or khusras). Even then, gender is not shown as something rigid, but rather as something fluid. In a shabad that explains the powers God has to transform things, Bhagat Kabeer Ji states:

ਨਾਰੀ ਤੇ ਜੋ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਕਰਾਵੈ ਪੁਰਖਨ ਤੇ ਜੋ ਨਾਰੀ ॥ The woman is transformed into a man, and the men into women.

Thus, Sikh scripture sets to foundation to not only reject the binary, but also reject the idea of rigid genders. (I am not an expert on trans* related things, so please let me know if I am making any blunders in the way I said that. Apologies.)

1. I know traditionally Sikh men are Singh and women are Kaur but can some Sikh people have other surnames as well? Or instead? Or is only Singh/Kaur mandatory? And do you know what nonbinary Sikhs call themselves?

Backstory: the reason Singh and Kaur are chosen across is to do away with last names that reflected caste because we believe in total equity + equality. I can imagine that if this practice was invented in the modern era it would've been more gender neutral. Some families chose their family/caste last name anyways, mine included, and use Singh and Kaur as middle names (I kinda wanna change legally my last name to Kaur cause I really do prefer a neutral last name with no caste/class/tribe associations but that's a side tangent). Nonbinary Sikhs I know do whatever theyre comfortable with, some are comfortable with Singh or Kaur, some will combine and use both like Firstname Singh Kaur. Up to the person.

So the reason we over hair is a) it is a sign of respect to the divine especially in a holy place. b) for men, wearing a turban used to be a sign of class so having common Sikhs wear it was another display of equality. c) it keeps our uncut hair neat and tidy. (Note: not all Sikhs keep uncut hair, same principal of doing it if it is helpful for your path). Yes it's only really required in our place of worship, the gurdwara, but many keep their hair covered full time as a symbol of their religion and because it is helpful on their path. I personally am trying to cover my hair more often. I think having physical practices that stay on your body all day are really great reminders to stay focused on the divine.

A Sikh woman praying at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India

Sikhs paying homage to Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, Lahore, Pakistan

Anarcha-Sikhī is anti-authoritarian. While the Gurū is the master of all Sikhs, the nature of the Gurū in a post-1699 and 1708 world means that there neither is—nor should there be—any one authoritative figure in the Sikh community when it comes to social and political matters (Singh, J., 2006, pp. 111–113). Instead, the Bāṇī is Gurū, and the Ḵẖālsā are Gurū. Both of these are abstract concepts and do not signify a specific individual. The Bāṇī refers to Gurū Granth Sāhib, a text that maintains its authority over Sikhs by building a loving and devotional connection with the poetry contained within. The Ḵẖālsā, or the Sikhs who have pledged allegiance to the Panth and have been born again into the House of Nānak, is a force that is greater than the sum of its parts.

If the Ḵẖālsā is anti-authoritarian, how does it make decisions? Sikh history and tradition point to two different models of decision-making in the Sikh tradition. The first is the Pañj Piāra system and the second is the Sarbat Ḵẖālsā methodology (Singh, J., 2006, pp. 163–166).

Anarcha-Sikhī is feminist. Women are not just a fundamental part of the Ḵẖālsā Panth, but as Mātā Jīto (Sundarī)’s role in the first Vaisākhī demonstrates, the Ḵẖālsā Panth would not exist without women. Creating space and acknowledging the presence of Sikh women is but an anemic first step. Instead, Sikh history and ideology must be reclaimed and the feminist principles of Sikhī need to be highlighted (Singh, N., 1993). Stories of Sikh women have often been erased from Sikh history, as in Bhangu’s text, even prominent Sikh women disappear from historical events. For example, the seventh Gurū, Gurū Har Rai Sāhib, had an adopted daughter named Rūp Kaur (sometimes written as Sarūp Kaur or Harrūp Kaur). Gurū Har Rai Sāhib ensured that his daughter was well educated, and she became a scholar. Sikh history tells us that she became a historian and wrote down early Sikh history. While we know she wrote history, none of her texts have survived.[1] She is but one instance of the stories of Sikh women who are erased.

This historic erasure of Sikh women continues into the present day, where far too many Sikh spaces are still monopolized by men. Traditional power structures are almost all male, and leadership from the community level to the Panthik level are usually always male. The recent Farmer’s Protest has demonstrated the power, vitality and force of Sikh women (Shergill, 2020; Bhowmick, 2021; Kaur & Sekhon, 2021). Anarcha-Sikhī seeks a Panth where feminism ensures that women have the space and opportunity to fulfill all roles in the community.

Anarcha-Sikhī is anti-casteist and anti-racist. Too much of Sikh history, and of current Sikhī, is dominated by a few powerful castes, with other groups marginalized in the community (Judge, 2015, pp. 63–64). This is counter to the basic principles of the Ḵẖālsā, and of Gurū Nānak Sāhib’s ideology (Dhamoon & Sian, 2020, p. 52). Anarcha-Sikhī is built on anti-casteism and anti-racism, but at the same time, the reality of caste and race and historical marginalization is not ignored.

Anarcha-Sikhī is queer positive. LGBTQ Sikhs have been erased from Sikh history, and are also severely marginalized in contemporary Sikhī (Dhamoon & Sian, 2020, p. 49). Anarcha-Sikhī seeks to build space with LGBTQ Sikhs to take their place within the community, and share their much needed perspective and opinions.

Anarcha-Sikhī is anti-colonial. It confronts the question of how to practice a sovereign tradition on sovereign land stolen from other nations (Dhamoon & Sian, 2020, pp. 54–55). It commits to being an ally and supporting respectful space for Indigenous folks to undergo resurgence on their own terms (Simpson, 2011, p. 86). It endeavours to practice anti-colonialism on a day to day basis. It works “towards a new vision and way of being a good guest” on sovereign land (Mucina, 2019, p. 41).

Anarcha-Sikhī, like most, if not all forms of anarchism, is anti-state. Anarcha-Sikhī believes that the only legitimate state is the state created by the Gurū (Singh, J., 2006, pp. 212–213). Anarcha-Sikhī believes that this state is fundamentally non-hierarchical, anti-authoritarian and egalitarian in its practice. This is not a real physical state, but a state of mind, carried within the mind and heart of every member of the Ḵẖālsā. If any physical state runs counter to the divine order of the Gurū it becomes a Sikh’s obligation to resist it.

However, historically, the Ḵẖālsā did create a state; the Sarkār-ī-Ḵẖālsā (government of the Ḵẖālsā) commonly known as the Sikh Kingdom, Sikh Empire or the Lahore Darbār. The Sarkār-ī-Ḵẖālsā was led by a monarch.[2] So then, how can Sikhī claim to be anti-statist and anti-authoritarian? Anarcha-Sikhī would argue that Ranjīt Singh’s capture of power and consolidation of the Misls in the late 18th century was an act that ran counter to Sikh ethics and ideology (Singh, B., 1993, p. 190–196).

The Sikh Empire was not the ideal Sikh state, instead it was the early Misl period (from the 1730’s to the 1760’s) that best exemplified Anarcha-Sikhī principles. This was an era of no formal governance systems where an anti-elitist method of decision making through the principle of consensus was utilized. Governance was not a structured affair, but instead involved a periodic gathering of the people for community-based decision making. Such a system of governance needed a strong foundation of anti-authoritarian and egalitarian principles on which to develop from. The 240 year history of the Sikhs, from Gurū Nanak Sāhib to the Ḵẖālsā, provided these principles.

I used to love Luigi(Mario's brother) when I was little. Like, he was my favorite character ever, and I had multiple plushies of him. Didn't give a fuck about Mario, vaguely tolerated Peach, but I loved Luigi.

On my first day of kindergarten, my dad gave me the number for his work phone and said it was Luigi's phone number. "If anything happens at school, call Luigi."And not even twenty minutes into my first day, I was having a panic attack. So I went down to the principal's office and called "Luigi."

Now, at the time, my father was in a meeting with his manager and his supervisor, along with most of his coworkers. And when I called, he picked up before he even left the room.

And he put on a very awful Italian accent and said, "Itsa me, Luigi! Whatsa the matter?"In front of his boss and coworkers. Without telling them what was going on. So they were absolutely bewildered, and he carried on like they didn't even exist. He only explained what was happening after I had calmed down and hung up, to which most of them responded with "Aww, cute."

I continued to call him whenever I got upset at school, and eventually his coworkers got in on it. I distinctly remember one of them impersonating Toad. I don't know why I'm telling you this, I just thought it might make you smile :)