Sikh Renaissance Podcasts

In 1781 the fanatical Mughals attacked the Punjab for the last time. Bested by the maverick general Baghel Singh of the KaroraSinghiyaa Confederacy they were effectively routed and beat a hasty retreat never to return. But the KaroraSinghiyaa was an unique body of Khalsa men who swore to get even and in 1783 launched a massive campaign which result…

December, a month of remembrance for the Sikhs who pay tribute to the martyrdom of Guru Gobind Singh Ji's family and four sons while treading the path of Guru Nanak. However, do we still retain their militant spirit? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

Bhai Bota Singh and Bhai Garja Singh are two of the most conspicuous Martyrs of 18th century Sikh history. In this episode we explore their lives and the relevance they hold for the Sikh world today.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

Professor Audrey Truschke, the Hindu Right and Islamists-these three seemingly disparate entities are united in denying and disparaging the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur the ninth Sikh Guru. In this episode not only do we answer their allegation that no contemporary source exists to evince this martyrdom, but we also cite contemporary Persian sour…

A Punjabi episode on how disparate gender ideologies and second wave feminism harm the Sikh nuclear family unit.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

Life is cruel, so is reality. But what if we make this Cruelty our mentor like Guru Nanak emphasizes?--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

The Sri Gur Panth Prakash is a 19th century Sikh chronicle delineating the historic ascendance of Khalsa sovereignty in 17th-18th century Punjab. In this episode we explore all the information available on the text; discuss its history and compilation as well as refuting H.S. Chopra's specious allegations (made in 1988) that the polemic Bhai Vir Si…

Society overtly favors professional victimhood. The Khalsa opposes this. Listen to how this war plays out today.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

We are joined by eminent guest Dr. Joginder Singh Ji Tej Khurana who is the foremost historian of the Afghan Sikhs. An ex-serving member of the Afghan Grand Assembly, medical specialist and unrivalled intellectual-Dr. Tej Khurana charts the past, present and potential future of Afghanistan and its Sikh populace. Since the seeding of Sikhi among the…

Sikhi is universal. Its moralistic aspect transcends borders, nations and territories. The Sikh faith was seeded beyond Punjab by its progenitor Guru Nanak. One of the fecund regions of the subcontinent which even today has a strong and growing Sikh population which Guru Nanak graced is this very same East India. The rich history of East Indian Sik…

Misl Shahid was an 18th century Khalsa political Confederacy which was a precursor to the likes of the SGPC today. Its rise and fall encapsulates the internal strife which plagued the Misls after their heyday. By understanding the history of Shahid Misl we can unlock many enigmas of the Sikh past, particularly those of the modern Akali-Nihangs.--- …

Maharajah Ranjit Singh-maybe the most Machiavellian ruler of them all. His meteoric rise to power belied a very cunning and Machiavellian persona which unfortunately the Sikh leaders of today lack. What can we learn from Ranjit Singh and how is it relevant to today? Listen to hear more. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renais…

The Heart Of A Warrior is a leadership principle. Akin to the Warrior stepping onto the field of battle, preparing to make sacrifices, so too does the Leader step onto their field of battle. The Warrior steels his heart and stiffens his spine; resolute in the face of death. The Leader too must steel their heart and stiffen their spines; resolute in…

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, Gord…

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 t…

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 liv…

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…

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. --- S…

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 re…

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…

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 bone…

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 o…

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 witnes…

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 li…

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 different…

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 hi…

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 env…

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 a…

What can Sikhs learn from Israel? Listen to find out. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

A pointed discussion on the five cognitive rebirths of the Sikh upon entry into the Khalsa and what they mean in today's context. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

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 Sik…

The Devolution of Sikhi's emphasis on gender equity. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

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 groom…

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 Pant…

Is Reincarnation a Sikh belief? What is the rationale behind it and what is an effective alternative to both heaven-hell and Reincarnation quandaries? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

In Zameer we discuss the significance of Shahidi (martyrdom) in Sikhi and how it directly relates to Gurbani's emphasis on living a conscientious life. We answer many long-held myths about the concept in Sikhi while also providing a correct and conscience translation of the oft-mistranslated and misnomered Babur Vani which-in actuality- is a clario…

The title says it all, are Sikhs idolaters and how does Sikhi philosophically view idolatry and are Sikhs guilty of committing the practice when they bow to the Guru Granth Sahib? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

Are the Panj Kakkars a means to an end or the ends themselves? How is it that Sikhs are fooled via infiltrators retaining their Kakkars? Have we misunderstood the Kakkars? Listen to find out as we discuss this relevant and also tendentious issue. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message…

The Gaza conflict annually polarizes the Sikh community on social media into pro-Israel vs. pro-Palestine. Our stance is that while Sikhs should decry the human cost of the conflict, they should not be swift to take sides as the issue is more nuanced than they would care to admit. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/…

Thought Crimes and how they led to the development of Sikhi. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

We discuss the theo-political status of Darbar Sahib and its original purpose intended by the Gurus and how best to restore it to its pristine state. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

Why is Punjab afflicted with drugs? And how can it be made drug free? Listen to our discussion as we tackle this most thorniest of issues. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

We discuss the life, legacy and martyrdom of the Ninth Nanak with a particular focus on his legacy and its misappropriation. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message

Who created the Khalsa? Guru Nanak. When was Guru Nanak born? Vaisaakhi. What is the Khalsa's mission? Emancipation of humanity. Is the Khalsa a substance abuser? We dissect Sikh history; we sift through Gurbani to prove what we say. The Khalsa is Nanak's and no, the Khalsa is no stoner. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renai…

At over 1 hour, 30 minutes, this is our longest episode. However, when discussing what lessons we can derive from a personality as glorious as Nawab Kapur Singh we believe any length of time is justified. Listen as we dissect the life of one of Sikh history's most dominant but also enigmatic leaders to underscore what made him so effective in his m…

We sit down with S. Gurpreet Singh (GP) of Sikh Saakhi to discuss his book Sole Enemy of a Sikh: Brahminism as well as discussing Sikhi's opposition to caste and how best to annihilate it from within Sikh ranks. https://www.sikhsaakhi.com/about --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-sikh-renaissance/message…