Manvir and Sunny, you both feel that the Khalsa is just Khalsa and has no relationship or link to the land or territory of Panjab. If you take the view that the Guru Khalsa Panth is simply a religious model then you are right for religions are trans-national and universal, ie. they are not tied or linked to a specific territory, homeland, country, culture or people. But if we define the Guru Khalsa Panth as a Nation, then I am afraid Nations are the growth and development of a specific territory or homeland. Whether it was the British or the present day Indian occupiers of Panjab, they were only willing to give us religious rights but not Panthic or National rights, this has been the crux of our struggle with Delhi. In 1984 the same arguments were being used, Delhi was saying that the "Golden Temple" is a religious centre and Bhindranwale and his armed followers have no right to be in this religious place. Those who represented the voice of the Khalsa Panth or the Nation stated that we have every right to be in our Darbar Sahib (Royal Sovereign Courts), and to carry arms to defend our Nation and protect our National rights. Now if the Khalsa Panth is just a religion then Bhindranwale was violating this "holy shrine" and should not have been at the Akal Takht Sahib making his political and national speeches, mobilising the Panth to unite and join the struggle for the freedom of the Nation (Quam). We are the young members of the Khalsa Panth and are fortunate enough to be living in a safer and more free thinking environment than the Panjab. We have access to World knowledge which was denied to our previous generations. We now have the opportunities to study International law and about the formation of States and about the struggles of Nations for Statehood. We now also know the difference between a purely religious model (like Islam, Christianity etc.) and National models. I am firmly of the opinion that the Kh
alsa Panth is a Nation and that we can experience our spirituality and connection with God through this Nation. We also call our Nation "Guru", because the collective decisions taken by our people becomes binding on us and therefore the Nation is our teacher or Guru. This is why the decisions are called Gur-mata. If we agree that the Khalsa Panth is a Nation then this Nation has developed from the soil, culture, language and history of Panjab, together with the tremendous intellectual and physical sacrifices by Panjabis. It was Mother Panjab that gave birth to its glorious Nation, the Khalsa Panth. Because the Panth is rooted deeply in the sacred soil of Panjab, despite attempts to weed us out by our enemies, they have not been successful. We keep regenerating, redeveloping and reflowering. At the present state in our history we are down but not out. This is why we proudly claim that we are the Khalsa of Panjab, the Panjabi Khalsa and that we love Panjab because Panjab is ours. Rab teh Panth Rakha (ie.God and Nation will protect us).