Teaching universal brotherhood

Guru Granth Sahib is the fifth Ved brought to light by Guru Nanak Dev. One must read the story Sach Khand, Janam Sakhi Guru Nanak Dev Jee for a comprehensive understanding of the subject.
Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru incarnate of Guru Nanak Dev, compiled Bani. Initially called pothi, it was kept in Harmandar Sahib. Baba Budha Jee was the first granthi who used to recite Bani. Thus, pothi was called Adhi Granth and, then, Guru Granth Sahib by the tenth Guru Gobind Singh. This should be worshipped by all with reverence at it teaches universal brotherhood.
The SGPC should lay special focus on popularising the life history of Guru Nanak Dev. The life history should be published in all languages and given wide publicity. The present practice of giving a saropa and a piece of cloth to people should be substituted with a copy of Janam Sakhi, wrapped in cloth as a mark of respect.

Lt-Col P.S. SARANG (retd), Chandigarh

Published in The Tribune (January 24, 2007)

One wonders how can a democratic country like USA wage a war on a sovereign country like Iraq (who never ever was a threat to its territorial integrity, never ever held captives its civilians or military men and or threatened its soverneighty in any possible way)! Then we have a UNO in place so where is the justification of a sovereign nation ( and a champion of democracy) attacking another one. Here is a reader’s letter to the Newsweek magazine (www.msnbc.msn.com) published in January,2007 which reciprocates these sentiments.

Hanging of a Dictator

With Saddam Hussein’s execution, we once and for all get to see what a huge blunder this war has been (“Death of a Tyrant,” Jan. 8). A gang of leather-jacketed, ski-masked thugs—looking more like they were hijacking a plane to Uganda than fulfilling the final sentence handed down by the highest court in Iraq—handled the execution in what looked to be the back alley of a local butcher shop’s garbage dump. And our president still desperately attempts to downplay the fact that our policies are creating a world with more suffering, more chaos and more violence. It’s time to begin promoting true peace, true justice and true democracy.

Sean KarlinSan Francisco, Calif.

1. “Justice dalyed is justice denied” is an apt statement. The Indian judiciary suffers from this malaise. Here is a letter written to the editor in The Tribune (http://www.tribuneindia.com/ ) on January 16,07:

Backlog: CJI should find solutions

The new Chief Justice of India, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, has an impeccable track record as an advocate, judge, Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court and Supreme Court Judge. Now that he is at the helm of the country’s judiciary, he should find suitable solutions to the problem of huge backlog of cases.The judiciary is unable to expedite the cases at various levels due to many problems. Shortage of judges is one of them. For a long time, one fourth of the authorised strength of judges has been lying vacant in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Why cannot senior sessions judges of Punjab and Haryana be elevated to the High Court to fill in the vacancies and quicken the pace of justice?Union Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj informed the Lok Sabha that various high courts may get 100 more judges, but the Centre would convene the chief ministers’ conference to deal with the backlog problem. The CJI and chief justices of high courts should also be involved in this exercise.The Centre should also constitute the Indian Judicial Service expeditiously on the lines of the Indian Administrative Service to attract talent to the judiciary. There is no dearth of brilliant law graduates in the country. If the IJS is constituted, these students can try their luck through the Union Public Service Commission. This will, in fact, revolutionise the judiciary and improve the state of affairs.

Lt-Col P.S. SARANG (retd), Chandigarh