The Aryan
"We hold ourselves bound to the Natives of our Indian territories BY THE SAME OBLIGA- TIONS OF DUTY which bind us to all our other subjects."-Queen Victoria,
611
The Gospel of Guru Nanak
Guru Nanak has been called the Prophet of the Punjab is he not also the Prophet of Sind? His blessed feet did sanctify the soil of Sind. Yes, dur- ing his many travels to different parts of Asia-tra- vels to Turkey and Arabia, Bagdad and Siam, Cabul and Kandahar, the Deccan and Ceyon, Bengal and Burmah-The Teacher tarried for some time in Sind and taught the Truth. In the present hour of our trial when so many are lost in party politics- when social conscience is not yet well developed, when so many of our young men think of the tem- porary arrangements of time ignoring the Eternal Laws of God-in the present hour of our trial we stand in need of the teaching of Guru Nanak. He came at a time when there was conflict between Hindus and Mahomedans; he came at a time when the spiritual vision of India was obscured by veils of creeds and forms. He came to proclaim the Gos- pel of Peace, Brotherhood and Love.
Not many, indeed, were there who understood the man and his message. Some considered him to be as good as a candidate for the lunatic asylum. His own father thought him mad. He is sent to the school. The teacher tells him to read a book. He asks the teacher, "What will it avail to know all, and not to have a knowledge of God?" He is asked to keep a shop: "Deal with the dealers of the True Name is his reply. He is asked to enter the Gov- ernment service; he says he must make faith his occupation. People had reason to complain that he was an unpractical man, But, remember, it is these unpractical men who raise and redeem com- munities and nations. India stands in need today of unpractical men of this order-men who perceive that the Unseen is the one Sovereign Reality, that God, not gold, is the truth of life. Nanak had the conviction concerning the supreme meaning of life. A beautiful little story in the Sikh Scriptures has it
Guru Nanak
that Kaliyuga tempted Guru Nanak with the wealth of the world, but Guru said: "1 possess everything, I do not want the wealth of the world." Kaliyuga next tempted him with the sovereignty of the East and West; but the Guru said that he had renounced all sovereignty to serve the Lord. understood what your practical man often fails to understand, that our home is not here but in the Unseen, in the heart of God. He understood that every individual is a soul, a manifestation of an Eternal Idea. We confound ourselves with exter- nals with our bodies or earthly environment. But unto the Teacher came a realization of the Truth that man is more than his externals. And so, as you review his life and teachings, you find that the one truth he taught and lived in daily life had ref- erence to the sovereign reality of the Unseen.
His Gospel is very simple, but just on that account very significant for us today. I have loved to think of him as the prophet of the Living God. He spoke of himself as Nanak Nirankari-a worship- per of God the Spirit. What is his interpretation of religion? He does not confound religion with rites and ceremonies. He distinguishes religion or spif- ituality from formalism. Tired and spent in strength he enters one day the Mahomedan mosque at Mecca and there is found sleeping with his feet turned to the kabba. The keeper of the temple-the Imam- rouses him and tells him: "What have you done? You are sleeping with your feet turned to the kab- ba? Is not this the place of God?" What answer does the Guru give? "Pray be not angry; but tell me where shall I turn my feet, where the House of God is not?" A significant answer this: and throughout his life he strikes a note of protest against formalism. At Benares he enters into a discussion with Pandit Chattar Das, telling him,
(Continued on Inside Back Cover.)
Vol. II.
MARCH-APRIL,
1912.
THE COLOUR BAR IN CANADA.
The theory of NO VOTES NO TAXES is ac- cepted in all the Western countries. In British Col- umbia Syrians. Bohemians, Galicians, negroes. &c., and even the Chinese in the province of Ontario can vote, but not so with the Hindu. according to the following case which appeared in the Vancouver papers:
Because he is alleged to have cast a vote in Van- couver, B.C., in the Provincial Election on 28th March. Houssein Rahim, a Hindu, was arrested on a charge of perjury. A warrant for his appre- hension was issued on the 29th March, 1912.
Rahim is well known to the immigration autho- rities of Vancouver because of his successful resist- ance of efforts of the Dominion Government to deport him. Rahim landed in Vancouver about two years ago, and on several occasions has defended in the courts attempts on the part of the immigration officials to ship him out of the country on the ground that he did not come direct from India.
The Provincial Elections Act specifically de clares that no Hindu may exercise the franchise Rahim is alleged to have acted as a Socialist scru- tineer in booth No. 7, Ward Four polling station. and it is further alleged that he cast a vote in the same polling station.
It developed on investigation of the case that Houssein Rahim, 139 Pender Street East, manager of the Canada-India Supply and Trust Co., Ltd., is catalogued on the Vancouver voters' list as No. 2838, and a duly qualified elector. His appli- cation for registration shows that he took oath be- fore Mr. W. E. Flumerfelt, a commissioner for the taking of affidavits under the Elections Act, that he was a duly qualified elector in the Vancouver city electoral district. Mr. Flumerfelt is a well- known worker in the Liberal party. It is alleged that following Mr. Flumerfelt's acceptance of Ra- him's declaration, his name was placed on the vot- er' list last September, prior to the Dominion elec- tion.
Nos. 3 and 4
It was intimated that it is the intention of Attorney-General Bowser to conduct an investiga- tion ino the acceptance of Rahim's declaration by Mr. Flumerfelt with a view to the possible revision of the latter's authority as a commissioner for the Mr. taking of affidavits under the Elections Act. Flumerfelt is an old resident of Vancouver, long as- sociated with politics, chairman of the Vancouver School Board, and a man whose knowledge of elec- tion practice and affairs would lead to the belief that he knew the provisions of the Elections Act, and was a man well qualified to act as a commis- sioner under the Act. Section 7 of the Act under which he holds his appointment as commissioner
says:
"No Chinaman, Japanese. Hindu or Indian shall have his name placed on the register of voters for an electoral district, or be entitled to vote at any election."
The charge of perjury contained in the warrant issued for Rahim's arrest is declared to be based on the fact that in his application for registration he allegedly swore before Commissioner Flumefelt in paragraph 4: "That I am in good faith a qualified elector in said electoral district."
It is worthy of note in connection with the case of Rahim that it was Hon, W. J. Bowser who brought before the Legislature and caused to be passed, the amendment which specifically shut out Hindus from exercise of the franchise in British Columbia. The Attorney-General took this action shortly after the invasion of Hindus commenced some years ago. He realized the peril of allowing the franchise to Hindus, etc., and the amendment became law. The statute was subsequently declared to be intra vires of the powers of the Legislature on a test case carried to the highest courts.
"I shall certainly see that the name of this man is struck from the voters' list forthwith," declared Hon. Mr. Bowser when the alleged voting of Rahim was called to his attention. "Yes. I have heard that in a Liberal morning newspaper it was de- clared that the man had been acting for the Con-
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