The Royal Albert Hall
Commemoration of the 400th
Anniversary of the first Reading
the Guru Granth Sahib
26 September 2004

Children from India performing Kirtan at The Royal Albert Hall

400th Anniversary of the First reading of The Guru Granth Sahib
The Royal Albert Hall, 26th September 2004 at 1.30 - 5.45 pm

THE PRIME MINISTER
VIDEO MESSAGE
From the Prime Minister Rt Hon.Tony Blair MP
Waheguruji ka Khalsa; Waheguruji ki Fateh.
My apologies for the pronunciation, but my profound greetings to all of you. I'm sorry I can't be with you today, which is also the first day of the Labour Party Conference at Brighton. I know that it is a very important celebration that is taking place: the 400th anniversary of the first reading of the Holy Scriptures, the Guru Granth Sahib. I would have liked to be with you to express my personal thanks for the work Sikhs are doing in this country. We are proud that in this country, we have the largest settlement of Sikhs outside India, about half a million, found anywhere in the world. And the contribution that Sikhs make to our community life is quite remarkable.
Indarjit Singh as you know is closely involved in many of these areas, and he and others keep me closely informed on issues of moment to the Sikh community, enabling us to have a dialogue that has been of immense value.
At this moment of celebration, what I mostly want to say is how delighted I am that the values of tolerance, equality and support of family and community life that Sikhs stand for, have made a huge difference to the strength and vitality of local community life in our country. I know from my contacts with your community over a number of years, that this is a role that Sikh provide not only for their own community and family life, but for the country as a whole.
It gives me enormous pleasure to say these few words to you. I think it will be a marvellous event at the Royal Albert Hall, and I really wish I could be with you there. I'm sorry I'm not, but I'm with you in spirit.
My deep thanks for all you are doing; it's a wonderful contribution to the life of our country.

Thank you very much, and good luck.

ADDRESS BY CHIEF GUEST
HRH The Prince of Wales
Sat Siri Akal
Today, I greet all of you who have come here from far and wide round this country for this special event. If I may say so, it is always a particular joy to be with you and I think you are extremely courageous to have me back again, five years after that memorable event that Dr Indarjit Singh was just referring to. In inviting me to join you for this afternoon's celebration, Dr Indarjit Singh was kind enough to let me have a copy of notes on the holy Granth Sahib. And reading through these notes I was particularly struck by the fact that much of what was being said, for example on tolerance and respect for others, seems to be in harmony with the views that I too have been trying to express for last 20 or more years. Views I have to say, which have sometimes landed me in hot unholy water. Most especially I noticed that in speaking what we might call divine reality, the teachings of holy Granth Sahib seems to echo the eternal wisdom of the great sages and prophets of all times.
I Noticed for example that like so many other wise men. Guru Nanak declared that the path to God is through the love we have for one another, saying that it is only through love of our fellow being that we can understand the love of God. How like is this to the teachings of Jesus, whose first commandment was:
Thou shall love the lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and mind
And his second commandment was
Thou shall love thy neighbour as thy self
However, for each one of us in our own tradition, these teachings of love and compassion are perhaps so familiar that we may fail to understand their real profundity. For it seems to be that the teachings is not simply that love is a virtue, which of course it is, or an emotion which of course it is, but it is of the essence, for surely we must have seen that when we find God we will find love. This is of course when you think about it is a most radical proposition, for if love is of the essence, if love is the pathway to truth and reality, then we would be most unwise to live our lives other than, of course, with its principles. But as we all know that it is a tall order.I also noted that like the great sages of all times your tradition places much emphasis on tolerance and respect of others. Indeed, I understand that Guru Nanak had two travelling companions, one a Hindu and other a Muslim and your own Guru Arjan asked a Muslim saint Mia Mir to lay the foundation stone of the golden Temple.
Again and again from many different sources we find that we are taught the lesson of respect for others and indeed for all things. And when you think about it, is a simple exercise of good manners and consideration for others. Things, which seem, like the importance of punctuation in a sentence, to being brutally excluded from the modem lexicon of life. And living as we do in times that are sadly scarred by conflict and disharmony, often one has to say religious conflicts and the disharmony. It is to me something of a wonder and indeed a comfort and an encouragement to find that despite obvious differences the great sages, prophets and holy men and women of all traditions have ceaselessly spoken of this eternal wisdom, urging us to care for one another and especially to care of those who are strangers in our midst. Indeed, I have increasingly come to understand that for all our differences we share within each one of us, a wisdom of the heart that gives expressions to a divine love and compassion, and I have come to see that far from dividing us, this wisdom, if we would but listen to it, draws us together in a spirit of tolerance, understanding and forgiveness. Indeed, the Gurus remind us that it is the very role of religion to transcend differences and bind us one with another.
Now I feel compelled to say that for the greater part of my life, I felt, despite the evident achievements, for example in the areas of medicine and technology, much of our contemporary world has become fundamentally flawed and unbalanced. Somehow it would seem, that we, at least in the West have lost even expelled those qualities of the divine that our forefathers revered and knew to be true. In modem times we have allowed the egocentric aspect of humanity to grow unchecked and immoderate, and like the fledgling cuckoo in the nest, to overwhelm those more ancient or rather timeless qualities of balance and harmony that have been the guiding principles of the wise.
In the notes that he sent me. Dr Singh referred to the difference in the Sikh tradition between'manmukh' or self centred behaviour, and 'gurmukh', or responsible living. And indeed how jarring it is to hear the insistent clammer of the world obsessed with the individual rights, but silent it seems on individual responsibilities. Are there no great dangers in this? For in the world in whichwe are increasigly and irresistibly connected, this irresponsibility takes on global proportions. Sometimes the consequences are small and personal, perhaps no more than an irritation, but sometimes, again and again, in one place or another the consequences are large and dreadful. But ironically perhaps, there is something that can draw us together, for surely there is much in the modem world, that to people of faith whatever the tradition, that is, discordant with the great teachings of selflessness, reverence and compassion. And although each tradition may offer its particular critique and direction, it seems to me, that for each one, there is something of a common path, for each share a common concern about our present secular and materialistic world and often violent world that places the individual ego about all else, and, it would appear, leads us further and further away from the essence of what is sacred and reverent for community.

Thus it is your own Guru Nanak said, that 'without realising it, we have become captivated by materialism and lost our direction of life'. Surely then, if we are to heed the ageless teaching and divine wisdom, we must urgently rediscover the pathways of the divine and surely we must do all that we can to support the efforts of those such as the Interfaith Network who work to foster and nurture understanding and fellowship across all peoples and all faiths.

For, to paraphrase. Guru Nanak: Those who love God must love all his Creation and all within it

Thank You

GUEST REPORT
The Royal Albert Hall Celebration of the
First Reading of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji
By Dr W Owen Cole Chichester

Since Edward, Prince of Wales, in the presence of Queen Victoria, opened it in 1871, the Albert Hall has hosted many significant events, but none more important in religious and spiritual terms than that of 26th September 2004.

The Hall was filled, mainly with Sikhs, but also with representatives of the main religious traditions and political parties to be found in 21st Century England. It would have pleased the ecumenically minded Guru Arian to see the Chief Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sacks, the Bishop of London, other people of faith, politicians such as the leader of the Tory party, the President of the Liberal Democrats, a Labour Party representative, his royal highness the Prince of Wales, present in person, and messages read from her majesty the Queen and the British Prime Minister. This surely was in accord with the Guru; visited by the Emperor Akbar, encouraged by the Sufi Mian Mir, who included writings by Hindu and Muslim bhagats, in the scripture he compiled. The Sikh spirit of inclusiveness and universalism lives on today, despite aspects of history that could persuade the Panth to turn in on itself. So it must always be so long as Sikhs remain people of the Book, willing to listen to the voice of God that echoes from its pages and prepared to obey it at whatever cost.

The occasion was excellently organised and hosted by Dr Kanwaljit Kaur and Dr Indarjit Singh, the eminent wife and husband team that was responsible for the celebration of the Tercentenary of the Khalsa in 1999, in the same venue. It was interesting to compare the two occasions, both were splendid and memorable events, faithful to the spirit of the features of which they reminded the audiences, but in 2004 there was greater participation by young Sikhs than at the earlier event, and an international flavour.

This was heartening, certainly to this observer of Sikhism, whose first attendance at a major Sikh event was in 1969, in Leeds, the celebration of the Quincentenary of Guru Nanak's birth. There have always been Sikh-watchers who prophecy the decline and demise ofthe religion but on the evidence of the September 2004 gathering, it is healthy and thriving, mindful of the qualities which called the Panth into existence. 'Chardhi Kala' is the phrase that comes to mind.

It is good that celebrations like these are brought to public notice and that they should be inclusive.This not only corresponds to the teachings of Guru Nanak and Guru Arjan, it is also a fact about Sikhi about which outsiders should be aware. Ask the average person in a British shopping mall what they know about Sikhism and the answer, if they have any awareness of it, will still have to do with turbans and beards and militancy. Despite the fact that there are over 500,000 British Sikhs living in their midst, it is a neglected religion. Commentators and news reporters on radio or TV will mention Muslims and Jews, Buddhists and Hindus, but seldom Sikhs.

Sikhs need to make the community aware of their existence because of the message that has been entrusted to them. Sikhs are not proselytisers but they were given a message from God that there is only one God, who is above caste, race and gender, and that there is one humanity. They feel and believe that they have a responsibility to make that message known to the world.

At the Albert Hall gathering two Sikhs addressed this subject, Dr Indarjit Singh, and Dr I J Singh of New York. Indarjit Singh concerned himself with the relevance of the Guru Granth Sahib to life in the twenty-first century, an important topic, as many people, whatever their ethnic origins, can see little meaning for today in words written four hundred years ago, even less so the Bible or the Vedas. He provided quotations referring to the nature of God and the Universe, the position of women, courage, honest living, justice, the rejection of political, religious, or social faction, the place of contemplation in everyday life, equanimity, (the example of Guru Tegh Bahadur), and equality. Few of his non-Sikh audience, and many Sikhs probably did not hitherto realise the vastrange of subjects covered by the Gurus.

Dr I J Singh took as his subject the major currents present in the Sikh scripture. He raised the scripture from more than a literary work, to the status of Guru linking God and the believer. This may be a very difficult concept for non-Sikhs to grasp, but it is important. To call the corpus finally assembled by Guru Gobind Singh, 'the Granth Sahib', is unsatisfactory and inadequate. Hediscussed the concepts of Word, grace and hukum, (since his lecture I have been uneasy translating it as 'command'); it also involves living joyfully in response to the divine will. Not by accident, I am sure, the two talks were complementary.

Anyone hearing them, or reading them later in the Brochure, would have a basic understanding of the beliefs that direct and inspire the lives of Sikhs.

Singing of kirtan by children, Nimrat Kaur's group, an Australian Sikh, Dya Singh, and the Dasmesh Khalsa Jatha from India, ensured that gurbani was experienced as well a being the subject of intellectual thought. Children from the Guru Nanak Secondary School in Hayes, the only Sikh voluntary aided school in the United Kingdom, displayed ability, entertainment and proper youthful pride.

The whole programme was excellently arranged and the hall was as full at 5.30pm as it had been three hours earlier when the celebrations began. Children and devout adults remained enthusiastic throughout.

Many of the contributions mentioned above are available in the excellent and tasteful Brochure produced to accompany the event. It also contains an appreciation of Sikhism by Kristine Pommert, a radio journalist who has produced BBC programmes on Sikhism, and Glimpses of Sikhism, some passages from the Guru Granth Sahib, by Harchand Singh of Canada. It may still be possible toobtain this souvenir issue of the Sikh Messenger. On its cover is a reproduction of the beautiful and unique tapestry that was presented to Prince Charles. In the foreground is the Guru Granth Sahib, across the sarovar stands the Harimandir Sahib, no more fitting gift could have been given to him. Should he not have room for it in his own home most of the audience present on 26th of September would be willing to give it a place of honour in their own homes.
At the end of his compilation. Guru Arjan wrote:
'In this thali are placed three things, truth, contentment and meditation. The nectar name of God, the support of all, has also been put therein. If someone partakes of this fare, if one relishes it, they are liberated'. Hopefully, everyone present in the packed Albert Hall enjoyed the spiritual fare that was set before them. I called to mind the story of Guru Nanak at Multan, the residence of many holy men. At the gate members of the town brought him a bowl brim full of milk, suggesting that they had enoughspirituality, and needed no more. Guru Nanak gently placed a jasmine flower on the surface to demonstrate that his presence would only add fragrance and flavour, not cost, to Multan's citizens.

Sikhs have enriched British society in many ways, most of all by adding a further dimension to our spirituality, the Guru Granth Sahib. That is what 1 relished on 26th September 2004!

(Dr Indarjit Singh is also a regular contributor to Thought for the Day, a brief time for reflectionduring the major BBC radio programme, 'Today'.)
Dr Owen Cole is a highly respected author, and authority on the Sikh faith

Address by the Chief Rabbi
Dr Jonathan Sacks
Sat Sri Akal
What a privilege it is to be here today. And thank you for giving my wife and I the chance to join in your celebrations. Thank you for the garland, nicest thing to happen to me all year. You in the Sikh community have given Britain so much by your faith, by your grace, your warmth and kindness,
your tolerance, lovely music as we just heard, your food and of course the delightful voice of
Indarjit Singh, who when I hear him on radio in the mornings makes me smile through the rest of the day. And I tell you, not much else does nowadays. But of course most importantly you have
given us your sense of celebration, beautifully exemplified today by this 400th anniversary of your holy scriptures.
How much the world needs your message today, not just the Sikh community but also all of us need hear and stand with you in your tolerance, your wisdom, and your generosity of spirit. How
beautiful it was that Guru Arjun Dev asked a Muslim to lay the foundation stone of the Golden
• Temple, how lovely that he included Hindu and Muslim saints in your holy scriptures and how
symbolic the Golden Temple is itself, open on all four sides to welcome people from all religions. I tell you we need that message now, more than, ever before.
When people kill in the name of God, when we live as we do now in a time of terror and hostage
taking and violence and hate, we need to hear loud and clear, the Sikh voice that cherishes life, that celebrates life, that sanctifies life.
We have so much in common, Jews and Sikhs. We care for equality, we care for human rights, we respect people who choose different way from us, and we tell most terrible jokes. Right! We have a sense of humour and above all what so strikes me about your community, and that makes me proud to be a Jew as well, is love for family and children.
Why are children so important? Let me tell you because the religion that cares for children thinks about their future more than about the past. It says, "lets not fight all the old fights over again, they were bad enough the first time, we don't need action replays. People who care about children, don't destroy they build, they don't harm they heal. And, of course, people who care about children, as you do, understands something else as well, that all the Sikhs, Jews and Christians and Muslims and Hindus and people from all colours and creed, all of us are God's children. He loves every one of us, he asks us to love one another. There is no other way.
I know it sometimes it is hard to be a Sikh, and to be honest, sometimes it is hard to be a Jew. We have been persecuted in the past and we still are today. I so vividly remember, the way Sikhs were tragically attacked in the streets after 9/11 and I know the trouble you were having in France about the right to wear the turban. But you know what, despite all the persecution the world has thrown at us, despite all the tragedies and tears, we are still here. We are still smiling and we are still celebrating. Why? Because faith is stronger than hate, and freedom and tolerance will always win the final battle.
Therefore, please keep smiling, keep celebrating, keep enriching our lives for many years to come and may God be with you in all you do.

Address by the Bishop of London
Rt Rev.Dr Richard Chartres
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahegum Ji Ki Fateh!!
This is such a colourful gathering, I am delighted to have the opportunity to bring you love and
greetings and deep respect from your Christian neighbours on this wonderful anniversary. And it is so good see all you war veterans, Sikh broadcasters, and what Trevor Philips called serious guys and I would like to add serious gals as well from every part of our society to which you have made such a rich contribution.
I was in France yesterday. It's actually a very British thing to be able to build unity by criticising
the French; I think that shows how much we are together. I was in France yesterday listening very carefully to arguments for making religious symbols and communities invisible in public space and public discussions. And I can understand some of the history and some of the fear that lies behind this approach, although I do not share it. But we believers in God have a task together to demonstrate that it is foolish to relegate the energies of the faith to the margins of life. Theological, philosophical differences do not stop us from common action on a great range of social and ethical questions where faiths can and do find common ground as Guru Nanak pointed out so many years ago. One obvious example is in the work we must do together to press for the alleviation of the poverty throughout the world. These successful campaigns for the reduction of debt in third world countries is just an example of what people from different faiths and traditions can do together.
You know democratic politicians can't in fact move too far beyond public opinion. Individuals may wish to do so. Its up to people of faith to accept the responsibility to help create greater room for progress for politicians who wish to make progress in the ways of justice and peace. Its very good that we can team about one another, even about one another's faiths and stories, but I believe that unity between people of faith is really built as we look together in the same direction, a common challenge rather than scrutinising and examining each other.
And challenge we face in our own time is obvious. Indarjit Singh has already referred to it. Western societies have created a standard of health and prosperity within their own borders without parallel in history. And since the French revolution the recipe is basically to sweep away the old management, mobilise new economic sources, change the educational curriculum and the achievement has been impressive, but that old recipe was able to rely on spiritual capital, a shared language of ethics, strong family relationships, and a level of trust between neighbours and praise of God. Now the foundation on which old achievements were built has been shaken. People are confused on what to believe, confused about what to pass on to their children, relationships in families and between neighbours seems hard to sustain; trust is being eroded. That's the challenge we face and there is no quick fix for snobbery, for underachievement at school, for things, which makes the lives of, people a misery.
Good laws play a part they can't solve the difficulties, which arise from a disorder in our thinking
and in our fundamental relationships. I deeply admire the Sikh contribution in this area and the
contribution of the teaching of Guru Granth Sahib. As you say in Ardas
We implore the help of the Almighty God, forgive us our wrong acts, help us to remain pure, bring us into the good company of those who love you, remember your name.
I rejoice with you on this anniversary.

Address by the President of the Liberal Democrats
Rt Hon.Simon Hughes MP
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
I share the greeting on behalf of all of all of us. Thank you very much for the invitation. You are right, you do these events very well. You are very good at anniversaries and very big at celebrations and I thoroughly enjoyed the great celebration of the 300th anniversary of the foundation of the Khalsa, which was here in 1999.
There are of course also sad anniversaries and I am very conscious that this is a very sad 20th
anniversary of the tragic events of the Golden Temple. And we remember with sadness and great regret what has happened and share the view of the Sikh community that there is justice still to be done.
The good news even this week is that there is now conversation of real political nature between the President of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of India and we all hope that with the Sikh Prime Minister of India, and obviously we note a Muslim President of India and India's wonderful diversity, there will be a way forward in the years ahead for peaceful resolution for Punjab, if that could happen then world would be a happier place.
I am very glad that we are here. I read in Dr Indarjit Singh's introduction in the very good
programme today, the very important reminder that the celebration of the Sikh scriptures should not be confined to the Gurdwaras, indeed it will be quite wrong theologically and historically that you have to go to the Gurdwara to understood, Sikh teachings. Early, Gurus and others still went out to the road to do the teaching and I share that view of theology. Theology is no good locked up in religious buildings. In a way that should be the last place it should be because preaching to the converted is fine and worship is excellent and great and uplifting if we are to share the values of scriptures then they need to be spread out in the real world.
The teachings of the Sikh scriptures are about seeking to understand the enlightenment that comes from understanding that there is spiritual dimension to life and if we don't understand that then we don't understand anything and I share that view very strongly. But also it then gives us the common ground for teaching in a world that desperately needs principles of the Sikh scriptures.
It is important that we keep God in mind. It is important, as the Khalsa have always done, that we fight for justice on earth. It is important that we defend religious freedom and it is important that we fight for equality. And those battles still need to be fought; those are missions in this country and in every country as much today as they have been in the last 400 years. And what I celebrate with you today is the fantastic contribution you have made in all these areas..
And the last thing on which I would really like to comment like my political colleagues, is the great benefit of the Sikh community in many parts of Britain. If what Dr Singh said is to be dealt with and we want to reduce the incidence of alcohol abuse, drug taking and anti-social behaviour,, the fundamental principles of personal behaviour need to be taught. And I have a sense that the principles that the Sikh scriptures, which are of life of self discipline are becoming more acceptable as principles for people to live by and all these teachings these days of healthier living and better physical exercise and less drink and less drugs, all these things are in absolute accord to the Sikh teachings and Sikh scriptures. So I think we are winning the battle together and I think we are winning the argument for understanding that spiritual values are important an I hope we will go on celebrating together as Sikhs and non Sikhs in this country contribute so hugely to the desperately needed better and peaceful world.
I end with this and it's a phrase that you all have heard today and which I share on behalf of my party and on behalf of myself and we have to take a stand in this
If you don't see God in all, you don't see God at all And like you and many in Britain I am of God's faction, I am of the Lord's faction and I think that we all need to stand together to make sure that we share that solidarity in our world.