Addendum to the Story

[Guru Fatha Singh Khalsa]

Sat Nam, Gentle Readers,

In the last months and weeks, and even today, I have received inquiries about the veracity of this story - the parts to do with the Siri Singh Sahib's relationships with Sant Hazara Singh Ji, Master Virsa Singh and Swami Dhirendra Brahmacharya.  Some would say that to engage these questions is to feed controversy.  My reply to them is to say that a little bit of truth goes a long way - and frankly I feel there is nothing to hide.

Let's go back a bit.  It was about 3 years ago that someone called Philip Roland Deslippe emailed me and wanted to know what I knew about the Siri Singh Sahib and Sant Hazara Singh ji.  I told him that I knew only what the Siri Singh Sahib told us.  Philip, who is a PhD student in religious studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara then went and published his skeptical account of the Siri Singh Sahib's relationships with Hazara Singh, Virsa Singh, and Dhirendra Brahmacharya.  It has caused a few people to email me for my opinion, though everybody so far has taken the article with a grain of salt.

There is good scholarship, academic work that casts the Siri Singh Sahib's work in a more positive light.  Jivan Mukta Singh in Finland, for example is writing his thesis on the Siri Singh Sahib's life and work.  And there are good people like Sat Mukh Singh who emailed today asking about the paper and about the film that was made during the Siri Singh Sahib's 1970-71 tour.  I mention this film because - though it covers ten spiritual teachers in all - the film crew traveled with the first 3HO India tour so whatever they may have captured is sure to be of historic value.  Even their outtakes would be great to have. 

The film is called Sunseed.  Director: Frederick Cohn, Producer: Ralph Harper Silver, Distributor: New Age Productions, Rama Films, Inc.  Released: 1973.  Here is a review of a recent screening in NYC.  Here is a short clip focusing on Swami Satchidananda, with a couple of glimpses of the Siri Singh Sahib.  Please let me know if you are able to locate a copy of the film.

There are controversies and there are other controversies.  I remember Ganga Bhajan Kaur telling me when I interviewed you for this bio that the Siri Singh Sahib, as much as he loved to seek out other people of reputed holiness, he would also love to poke, provoke, confront, confront and elevate them - to the chagrin of his staff who Ganga said would have preferred him to "make nice" with his apparent peers.

Then there is the famous "sex scandal" and the legal case of the mid-80s.  Some I have interviewed in the hope of gaining valuable perspective have clearly wanted to degrade the Siri Singh Sahib.  Though I live thousands of miles away from the supposed events, I have figured that out now.  The other day, a friend I know and trust told me how they were with somebody alleged to be a part of the big scandal when the story first came out in print.  On having it read to her, this person expressed astonishment, then went ahead and joined the suit as a plaintiff. 

In my simple way, what I am hoping to do here is clear the air.  My feeling is that, aside from good web-sites, the best way to counter a lot of these accusations would be to have an authoritative biography.  By her grace, the Bhai Sahib has already arranged a Punjabi biography, but we are lacking bios in English and at least a dozen other languages.

The story of the Siri Singh Sahib is the story of how one man overcame all kinds of obstacles and by the grace of Guru Ram Das, founded a spiritual nation in the America with seeds now blowing around the world.  It is a powerful story that deserves to be better told and better known.

In the Name of the Cosmos which prevails through everyBody and the Holy Nam that holds the world,

Humbly yours,

Guru Fatha Singh Khalsa