We are joined by savvy historian/historiographer Anmol Singh Rode (Ranneeti Punjab) in debunking the outrightly fallacious claim of right wing propagandists that the Marathas entered the Punjab in the mid-18th century to save Sikhi and rebuild the sacrosanct Sikh Darbar Sahib. Relying primarily on Maratha historians (Besam, Kulkarni, Sardesai, Gordon and Sarkar) as well as contemporary material we evince that the Marathas had: (a) No interest in being in the Punjab and only arrived when...

There has been much unnecessary academic controversy ignited over the 5 K's. McLeodian allegations have included denying their origination with the tenth Guru and accusing the Singh-Sabha Lahore of concocting them. On the other hand the modern Upgrade school ludicrously proposes that the priestly class invented the K's and all evidence related to them within the span of one century and that All Sikhs fell for the bait hook, like and sinker. The truth is somewhat different as we establish....

Gurbani identifies fear as a contagion; an illness which rapidly proliferates and takes over its host society. What exactly is fear and how does one Master it? We argue that the vilification of fear is a matter of perception and just as the occasional exposure to pathogens strengthens our immune system similarly exposure to fear emboldens us to live life wholly by transforming it from a handicap into a fuel. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

Decadence and decay-the two most relevant adjectives to describe the state of society today. But why is society atrophying and what can Sikhs learn from it? Will Sikh society, if ever restored, too perish similarly? Listen to find out.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

How should we approach the question of Sikh history? How should we comprehend our Ithiaasic Granths? Through the framework of blind Sharda (faith)? Through the application of common sense? Or through careful sifting of fact from fiction and applying Gurbani as the ideological touchstone to understand each and every facet of our physical and written heritage? Covering vast historiographical topics from the unique testaments of E.H. Carr to the categories of historians devised by G.R. Elton...

Why is the SGGS subjected to atrocious intellectual and physical attacks? It is high time that each and every professed Sikh look within it and comprehend its words to understand that its stance on liberating Sikhs from bondage and making them true Khalsas is antithetical to political, religious and social agendas ergo its repeated targeting.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

The Ghadar Party was a majority Sikh based anti-imperialist militant nexus of globally based Sikhs aiming to forge a coalition of subcontinental provinces to overthrow the British in India and establish a subcontinent wide commonwealth. Its failure removed it from history by default with Marxists, Nationalists and Socialists misappropriating and revamping its history for their own insidious aims. In this episode we make a strong defense of Ghadar's Sikh values and Khalsa ideals arguing that...

54 Laws of Khalsa Leadership-we do not intend this to be an exhaustive list. Rather, it is a nascent start detailing what we believe to be 54 of the Khalsa's fundamental leadership laws based on our reading of Sikh history and Sikhi in action. Join us as we kick off 2022 with an exploration of Leadership as a calling and as a principle.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

The age-old question of what is right and what is wrong, election or selection? The Ancient Athenians onwards, communities and societies have often favored selection over election with the crucial difference being that selections are done by a few for the many whereas elections are done by the many for a few. In this episode we get to the bare bones of both systems and make a case for selection given that this was the historic Sikh practice.  --- Send in a voice message:...

Irrespective of its various historic manifestations, Cancel Culture is not a Sikh phenomena nor a Sikh oriented ethic. We explain why. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

A general look at the Leadership principles enshrined within the Guru Granth Sahib and how best to live them today. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

We explore how current Sikh academics betray the trust reposed in them by the Sikh masses to pander to distorted perceptions of Sikh doctrines and the Sikh past with a particular focus on the fallacy of Sanataan Sikhi. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

Bhai Sukha Singh (1721-1753) was an eighteenth century convert to Sikhi who became synonymous with the Khalsa military ethos during his lifetime. Stoic in the face of pain, he was a man of high dynamism who straddled both the military and political spectrums effortlessly. Famed, and somewhat stereotyped, for his sterling role in the assassination of Massa Ranghar we revisit him to see what lessons his life can impart us for living in today's times. --- Send in a voice message:...

The Guru Granth Sahib provides us with a template to raise our children; our future generations. The Guru expects us to raise our offspring as Sikhs. After all, we are not raising our own children in the sense we are giving them our own ideology to follow. Rather, we are aiming to raise GurSikhs and Khalsas of the future. However, we are also witnessing a digression in the current period where Sikhs themselves are not ensuring that their own children inherit Sikh values. Rather, they are...

We define the Spartan-Testudo complex as being the entrenchment of particular cultural, political, social and other alternative traits which hamper one's mental and interactive mobility in the world today. For the Sikhs this complex is exemplified by the current wave of hyper-excessive woke liberalism as well as the polar opposite of traditional living with tradition being living as we did in the 18th century. We believe that both these clashing dichotomies are preventing the Panth's...

As we somberly observe the 20th anniversary of the horrific 9/11 attacks (2001), we also reflect on the countless Sikhs who were targeted by xenophobes worldwide owing to their turbaned appearance. With the current Laissez-faire attitude adopted towards Sikh doctrines, it has become commonplace to criticize and even vilify those Sikhs who differentiate between themselves and fundamentalists given the turbaned appearance of both. Such disparity and self-apathy is becoming commonplace among...

Nawab Kapur Singh-the charismatic but equally enigmatic 18th century Sikh leader who captained the Khalsa Panth during its darkest days in the post-Banda Singh period. What we know of him is derived from a few scant references in the Sri Gur Panth Prakash of Ratan Singh Bhangu, the oral histories of the remnant Nihang bands or the testimonies of his enemies. So who was Nawab Kapur Singh who historians told us preserved the existence of the Khalsa Panth as it faced oblivion in the face? And...

Exactly! Who was the real Guru Nanak? A hyper-liberal pacifist? A renunciative Buddha-like Saint? A Vedic sage? Some Pooran Tam Avatar? Or was he something radically different? We are joined by Professor Balwant Singh Dhillon (GNDU) to seek out Baba Nanak's own testimony as to who he was within the Guru Granth Sahib and to prove that Baba Nanak envisioned the rise of the Khalsa and the Panth's sovereign ascendancy.   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

We are joined by special guest Dr. (Prof, Retd.) Balwant Singh Dhillon of GNDU and also Retired Director of Centre For Studies in Guru Granth Sahib (Amritsar) in discussing the life and betrayal of Baba Banda Singh Ji Bahadur as per contemporary Persian sources recorded by eyewitnesses and military/political personalities conversant with the rise and fall of the first Khalsa state. Dr. Dhillon, in a career spanning three decades, has unearthed numerous primary sources in Sikh history and lent...

What can Sikhs learn from Israel? Listen to find out.

A pointed discussion on the five cognitive rebirths of the Sikh upon entry into the Khalsa and what they mean in today's context. 

Sikhi is rivalled with atrophied South Asian cultural norms which are hampering its progression. One of these norms is the direction of violence against women and anyone else classified as being 'weak.' We discuss the inimical affect of this tendentious cultural nefariousness in Sikh families and how it is high time we obliterate it from within Sikh society.

The Devolution of Sikhi's emphasis on gender equity.

A wake-up call for all Sikh men: stop giving lip service to the concept of gender equality. Actually implement the gender equality which our Gurus envisioned and gifted to us! We are joined by Sikh activist Simran Kaur in this episode as we chart where we went wrong in regards to protecting our sisters' rights and why they are falling prey to grooming gangs today. 

How much selflessness is too much selflessness? And does selflessness only consist of spending consumable/financial resources for global notice? What is our overarching strategy here, and is it paying off? What is the cost to benefit ratio in everything we are doing on a worldwide scale? Or are we, Sikhs, wasting our hard earned resources as a Panth to only receive unwarranted hatred in return?