Sikh pioneers of North america-- Dr. Bhagat Singh Thind
Posted by Lakwinder Singh
Sikh pioneers of North america-- Dr. Bhagat Singh Thind
Posted by Lakwinder Singh on Wednesday, 10/23/2002 5:11 PM MDT
| I came across the following article on a Gursikh, Bhagat Singh Thind who served in US army during World war 1. See the irony, a puran Gursikh is being referred as a Hindu in the article and after 100 years we are called muslims.We could never get our identity straight so far. Bhagat Singh Thind Bhagat Singh Thind (1892-1967) was born in Punjab and came to America in 1913. A year later, he was paying his way through the University of California at Berkeley by working in an Oregon lumber mill during summer vacations. When America entered World War I, he joined the U.S. Army. He was honorably discharged on 16th of December, 1918 and in 1920 applied for U.S. citizenship from the state of Oregon. Since several applicants from India had thus far been granted U.S. citizenship, he too was approved by the district court. However a naturalization examiner appealed this court's decision, and the rest is history. Feb 10, 1923: Justice Sutherland rules "Hindus" are "aliens ineligible to citizenship" in United States vs. Bhagat Singh Thind (261 US 204) What is less well-known is that Bhagat Singh Thind remained in the U.S., completed his Ph.D., and delivered lectures in metaphysics all across the nation. Basing his lessons on Sikh philosophy, he enriched his teaching with references to the scriptures of several religions and the work of Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau. He campaigned actively for the independence of India from the British Empire, and helped Indian students in any way he could. In 1931, he married Vivian Davies and they had a son, David, to whom several of his 15 books are dedicated. "You must never be limited by external authority, whether it be vested in a church, man, or book. It is your right to question, challenge, and investigate." Ironically, Dr. Thind applied for and received U.S. citizenship through the state of New York within a few years of being turned down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Video clip Quicktime | Realplayer Get the Quicktime plug-in Get the Realplayer G2 plug-in Books by Bhagat S. Thind HOUSE OF HAPPINESS Based on lectures given in 1927, this book is a fine introduction to Dr. Thind's teachings. It is easily understood by and popular with young people, as well as more advanced students of Eastern religions. A few of the chapter titles are: How to Find Out What You Are Best Suited For; Evolution ? Passing from Lower to Higher Births; Consciousness ? An Inward Knowledge; Aum ? The Sacred Hum of the Universe. "Appeal to the tradition of a nation, and the whole mob psychology is arrayed behind you. Let me appeal to the democratic spirit of the Americans, and they think I am just wonderful. Appeal to the spiritual nature of India, and you get all Hindus on your side." RADIANT ROAD TO REALITY Dr. Thind's disciples count this book as their teacher's greatest writing. It deals with enduring truths of spiritual import, verifiable facts of the highest human psychological possibilities. Dr. Thind reveals an exact science showing the seeker how to connect the individual soul with its Universal Creator. In the Preface, he writes: "It [this book] is for him who seeks to illumine his intelligence by the torch of his own Divinity, who hungers to attain the Consciousness, which transcends the barriers of time and space." From left: Dr. Amarjit S. Marwah, Mrs. Vivian Thind (Bhagat's widow), Mr. Ram Bagai, and Gwen Singh (widow of another Indian pioneer). SCIENCE OF UNION WITH GOD "The truest help one can render a man bent with the burdens of life, is to call out his best energies and efforts, so that he himself by himself may raise his sagging spirit, and not only cope with conditions, but come out triumphant in the highest spiritual sense of the word." This quotation from the Preface is an expression of what Dr. Thind hoped to accomplish with this book. Chapters include: Union with God; the Unknown Is in the Known; Ego vs. Individuality; Unification and Reunion; Sikh Religion Made Plain; The Song of the Soul Victorious. THE PEARL OF GREATEST PRICE "No scientific law can ever compare with the discovery of the Living Word of Power, which unifies man's whole being and makes him one in nature and character with his indwelling God." This is the theme developed by Dr. Thind in this book ? an inspiring volume for all who seek to go ever onward, forward and Godward. Chapters include: Modus Operandi; Walking in the Inner Path to God; How Sat Guru Helps; Nature, Nurture and Nam; Overcoming the World. "The human mind is where everyone has to live and find his only opportunity for peace, happiness and wholeness. Only the unified mind can see things whole." ? Bhagat S. Thind "There are many religions, but only one Morality, one Truth, and one God. The only Heaven is one of conscious life and fellowship with God." ? Bhagat S. Thind JESUS, THE CHRIST: In the Light of Spiritual Science These three volumes were written for all who have freed themselves of orthodox religious thinking and for those who are ready to do so. The books serve as a springboard to greater spiritual heights, wherein we appreciate more than ever the message of the Sat Gurus, the Saviours, the Avatars, the Christs, of whom Jesus Christ was one. Dr. Thind analyzes the teachings of this Savior of the western world and compares them with the teachings of all the great religions. United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind 261 U.S. 204 (1923) MR. JUSTICE SUTHERLAND delivered the opinion of the Court. This cause is here upon a certificate from the Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting the instruction of this Court in respect of the following questions: The U.S. Supreme Court "1. Is a high caste Hindu of full Indian blood, born at Amrit Sar, Punjab, India, a white person within the meaning of section 2169, Revised Statutes?" "2. Does the act of February 5, 1917 (39 Stat. L. 875, section 3) disqualify from naturalization as citizens those Hindus, now barred by that act, who had lawfully entered the United States prior to the passage of said act?" Section 2169, Revised Statutes, provides that the provisions of the Naturalization Act "shall apply to aliens, being free white persons, and to aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent." If the applicant is a white person within the meaning of this section he is entitled to naturalization; otherwise not. The conclusion that the phrase "white persons" and the word "Caucasian" are synonymous does not end the matter. Mere ability on the part of an applicant for naturalization to establish a line of descent from a Caucasian ancestor will not ipso facto and necessarily conclude the inquiry. "Caucasian" is a conventional word of much flexibility, as a study of the literature dealing with racial questions will disclose, and while it and the words "white persons" are treated as synonymous for the purposes of that case, they are not of identical meaning ? idem per idem. In the endeavor to ascertain the meaning of the statute we must not fail to keep in mind that it does not employ the word "Caucasian" but the words "white persons," and these are words of common speech and not of scientific origin. The word "Caucasian" not only was not employed in the law but was probably wholly unfamiliar to the original framers of the statute in 1790. But in this country, during the last half century especially, the word by common usage has acquired a popular meaning, not clearly defined to be sure, but sufficiently so to enable us to say that its popular as distinguished from its scientific application is of appreciably narrower scope. It is in the popular sense of the word, therefore, that we employ it as an aid to the construction of the statute.... They imply, as we have said, a racial test; but the term "race" is one which, for the practical purposes of the statute, must be applied to a group of living persons now possessing in common the requisite characteristics, not to groups of persons who are supposed to be or really are descended from some remote, common ancestor, but who, whether they both resemble him to a greater or less extent, have, at any rate, ceased altogether to resemble one another. It may be true that the blond Scandinavian and the brown Hindu have a common ancestor in the dim reaches of antiquity, but the average man knows perfectly well that there are unmistakable and profound differences between them today; . . . The term "Aryan" has to do with linguistic and not at all with physical characteristics, and it would seem reasonably clear that mere resemblance in language, indicating a common linguistic root buried in remotely ancient soil, is altogether inadequate to prove common racial origin. There is, and can be, no assurance that the so-called Aryan language was not spoken by a variety of races living in proximity to one another. Our own history has witnessed the adoption of the English tongue by millions of Negroes, whose descendants can never be classified racially with the descendants of white persons notwithstanding both may speak a common root language. What we now hold is that the words "free white persons" are words of common speech, to be interpreted in accordance with the understanding of the common man, synonymous with the word "Caucasian" only as that word is popularly understood. As so understood and used, whatever may be the speculations of the ethnologist, it does not include the body of people to whom the appellee belongs. It is a matter of familiar observation and knowledge that the physical group characteristics of the Hindus render them readily distinguishable from the various groups of persons in this country commonly recognized as white. The children of English, French, German, Italian, Scandinavian, and other European parentage, quickly merge into the mass of our population and lose the distinctive hallmarks of their European origin. On the other hand, it cannot be doubted that the children born in this country of Hindu parents would retain indefinitely the clear evidence of their ancestry. It is very far from our thought to suggest the slightest question of racial superiority or inferiority. What we suggest is merely racial difference, and it is of such character and extent that the great body of our people instinctively recognize it and reject the thought of assimilation. It is not without significance in this connection that Congress, by the Act of February 5, 1917, c. 29, §3, 39 Stat. 874, has now excluded from admission into this country all natives of Asia within designated limits of latitude and longitude, including the whole of India. This not only constitutes conclusive evidence of the congressional attitude of opposition to Asiatic immigration generally, but is persuasive of a similar attitude toward Asiatic naturalization as well, since it is not likely that Congress would be willing to accept as citizens a class of persons whom it rejects as immigrants. Antimiscegenation article Loving v. Virginia... From: http://www.pbs.org/rootsinthesand/i_bhagat1.html |
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