The egalitarian saint-soldier lifestyle

By Gurjung Singh

As I humbly attempt to share my spiritual journey, I cannot help but reflect on how each moment in my life so far has led to me to this moment.

My older brother and I were born in the Toronto area to parents who emigrated from India to Canada in the mid-'70s. We grew up in a secular home, although we were given birth names that originated from the Punjabi language and/or Sikh faith.

My first name, Gurjung, connects two ideas — gur is the beginning of the word guru, and jung means conflict or struggle. So, put together, Gurjung is the conflict/struggle of life with the Gurus' teachings to guide.

The context of my last name as given to me by my parents was that I might become a male member of the Khalsa, the religious order created by the last human Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, in 1699. Assuming the literal translation of a name has some merit, then there was a definite disjoint in the life I was living from birth up until age 22.

A spiritual journey begins

My spiritual journey in the awareness of my life's purpose began on the night of Feb. 13, 2001. About a month and a half prior, I had my first class in the University of Waterloo's inaugural Sikhism religion undergrad course.

I had initially enrolled in this Sikh course because I was interested in learning a little bit about my grandparents' faith, as they lived in India and I was not particularly familiar with Sikhism.

But on that cold, wintry night in February before falling asleep in bed, I realized that it was my destiny to choose to accept the egalitarian saint-soldier lifestyle as my way of life.

Taking faith public

I chose to grow out my hair, much to the surprise (and hostility in some cases) of my family and friends. But once a person is aware of his/her destiny in life, nothing can stand in the way of that destiny being fulfilled.

Yet at that particular moment, I was not entirely convinced that God (or Whahey Guru as described in the Sikh faith) really existed.

However, my decision to grow out my hair was two-fold — first to begin to adopt the Sikh lifestyle and second, to begin to open my eyes, heart, mind, and soul to the possibility that perhaps there is a Whahey Guru that has given life to all.

As my hair continued to grow out, I gradually began to wear a turban (dastar), my first day being June 25, 2001. About six months later, I chose to become a vegetarian, in keeping with the lifestyle.

A little over two years from the day I became aware of my spiritual journey's destiny — Feb. 26, 2003 — I became baptized into the Khalsa.

A humanitarian oath

I partook in the Amrit ceremony, where I humbly pledged to be a saint-soldier from that day forward. I did so in the presence of Whahey Guru; the "living" Sikh Guru, the Guru Granth (holy scripture in the Sikh faith); and others also taking Amrit that day.

As Khalsa Sikhs, we also have a dual relationship of both personal spiritual growth and social responsibility. The motto for all practising Sikhs is to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and protect the innocent and the oppressed.

Sikhism teaches us to build an everlasting one-to-one relationship with Whahey Guru through prayer (bani) and meditation (simraan). We must always remember to be a server of humanity through religious uniform (bana) and selfless service/acts of charity (seva).

The bani and simraan encompass the personal spiritual growth with the ultimate goal to gain enlightenment.

The bana and seva fulfil the social responsibility with the ultimate goal to uplift the all of humanity, to be a humanitarian.

A passion for activism

I realized I had a passion for human rights and to see equality among all of humanity. This passion recently led me to become both a social and political activist in my community.

Over the last few years, I have appeared both on radio and in print, have spoken in public forums, each time stressing the need for reform in all parts of the world to ensure everyone's human rights are protected and safeguarded.

In short, I shared my vision for all societies in the world to adopt what we have attempted to build right here in Canada, which in an egalitarian society.

There is still work to be done here at home, but I think Canada is headed in the right direction, and I think other governments around the world can learn what we've done here collectively — in the true spirit of a democracy.

There you have the egalitarian saint-soldier's story in a nutshell. I can honestly write at this present moment in my life, the literal meaning of my birth name and my choice of lifestyle are in harmony with one another — as was destined to be.

Gurjung Singh, 29, was born in Toronto and raised in the greater Toronto area. He attended the University of Waterloo and graduated in June 2002. He has been a volunteer for Canadian Blood Services and the Ontario NDP, and he actively donates his blood regularly throughout the year.

Currently, Gurjung works as an actuarial analyst for a major Canadian bank on the life insurance side of its operations. He is single, but hopes to find his egalitarian soulmate one day in the not so distant future.

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