Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Sant Jarnail Singh on Being Armed

Also you should acquire weapons. There is going to be no deliverance without weapons. Subramaniam (a member of Indian Parliament) asked me: "Why do you keep weapons, you are a sant (a holy man)?" I replied: "I am not the son of a eunuch. I am a son of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib." I am not saying this myself. It is written: veh pragatiyo marad agamrraa variyaam ikelaa vaah vaah gobind singh aape gur chelaa ["The Distinguished Man, the Unique Warrior manifested. Wonderful is Gobind Singh, Himself the Guru and the Disciple"]. I have a tape-recording of the meeting with him (Subramaniam). He left convinced that it is right for a Sikh to keep any weapons he might like to. He indeed said this, I have a tape-recording. You may listen to it in a gathering of a million. Further, it is a sin for a Sikh to keep weapons to hurt an innocent person, to rob anyone's home, to dishonor anyone or to oppress anyone. But there is no greater sin for a Sikh than keeping weapons and not protecting his faith.