SIKHISM
TODAY
Food
For thought
Guru
Nanak
Your
mind is a very complex and vital part of your body. However it constantly
indulges and entices its owner in to forever wanting more and more. Any
individual, who can overcome worldly wants and immaterial goods, has achieved
the ultimate in harmony. No other external force or soul can dislodge a person
who has reached this level of self-being and only this type of person is truly
blissful.
All
nations and factions have armies. The larger the army and the greater its
arsenal, will ultimately create a stronger opposition against its enemy.
To
look at some examples,
America
has it’s own army, France has it’s own army and the UK has it’s own army.
But
can any one say that they represent the army of God?
A
Sikh, who has been baptised, is an icon of God’s army, not any man made army.
Was
Sikhism created to oppose Islam? Definitely NOT!
Sikhism
was created to fight against injustice and inhuman activities, at a time when
cruelty was great. Such was the extent of this, God himself had to present
himself on planet Earth, encapsulated in the Gurus.
Sikhism,
which has proved to be a flawless religion, was thus created and presented to
mankind as the way forward.
It
was such the case that during the time of its creation, Muslims were creating
great injustices with Hindus. The Gurus fought against this oppression as many
battles were fought.
In
the Guru Granth sahib there are several scripts taken from Muslims who had a
close relationship with the Guru’s. A Muslim, also laid the first stone in the
creation of the Golden Temple, which is the Sikhs must holiest shrine.
Youngsters
these days don’t understand or are not aware of this, hence there is sometimes
tension between some minority groups within the two religions.
Often
I get posed the question from atheist friends.
“I
would believe in God if some one could show him to me.”
My
reply is quite simple.
Do
you call for him? , Have you got the true love, want and need in your heart to
see him?
If
you want to become a scientist, does it come naturally to you?
No,
you have to study hard and spend many years practicing the subject in order to
achieve and develop a close relationship with your selected profession.
The
same principal is comparable if you wish to contact God.
Remembering
God and praying hard, will allow you to meet your creator. Sikhism say’s the
doors to heaven are open between the hours of 12am to 5am in the morning. During
this time, praying hard will greatly enhance your relationship with the all
mighty. Ultimately it was show and answer all your worldly uncertainties.
Guru
Nanak was once asked the question by a Muslim, “which religion is better?”
Guru
Nanak replied, your religion is good for you, my religion is good for me.
At
the end of the day, there is only one God.
It
doesn’t matter which religion you practice, but what matters is your
dedication to God and living a honest and good life.
What’s
the purpose of life?
The
purpose and ultimate aim is to remove your self from the circle of births and
deaths.
There
are 8.4 million different life forms, and the human life form is the highest
rank. Only in this mould can you actually preach the name of God and achieve the
ultimate reward, of reaching God.
Those
who waste this life will be put back through the vicious cycle again.
You
should not waste your time chasing immaterial objects, passions or possessions,
as these are all temporary and will not go with your soul once you have left
your body, which itself is on loan.
Guru
Gobind Singh scarified his father (Guru Tegh Bahadur), in order to save the
Hindu religion. Had this not taken place, Hinduism would have dissolved.
When
India does battle with other nations, Sikh soldiers are always in the front
line, and inevitably have the most casualties. During world war two, thousands
and thousands of Sikhs fought for Great Britain in the UK.
Sikhism is the only religion in the world, which celebrates its birth.
Another sad but true practice seen in today's society, is the practice of witchcraft. This is being carried out by many people all over the world, and plenty of adverts in magazines are displayed, claiming to solve all your problems and desires. It seems that some people have lost their faith in God, and hence are taking the alternative and dangerous walk of life. This may bring short term happiness, but ultimately, it will send your soul to hell, once you have left this world, as recorded in the Guru Granth Sahib.
Below is a list of adverse acts committed by Sikh youngsters these days.
Drugs, Alcohol and nicotine abuse.
Wearing baseball caps over their patkas (small turban).
Shaving or trimming their beards.
Not giving or sharing as they should.
Not praying and listening to bani, instead spending more time listening to bhangra music and watching tv.
Not going to the Gurdwara on a regular basis
Not listening to their parents and elders.
This type of behaviour causes your body and soul to loose touch with God, and ultimately you loose track of the aim of life that was given to you by the all mighty. The result of this causes the 5 evils to take hold of your actions, which directs you away from becoming a Gursikh.
He ‘Is’ The Only ONE GOD:
There is not Hindu, Neither Muslim, Nor Christian, Nor Sikh.
GURU NANAK puts emphasis in these Words: The LORD Is MANIFEST in three worlds.
He Is The ETERNAL GIVER and ‘There is no other.’
(There Is Only One GOD but There are many forms of worship)
‘There is no other’; this expression says than GURU NANAK is Alive, in this time and in the all the time. God ‘Is’ EK, THE ONE.
There Is Only One GOD; EK ON KAR.
There Is Only One humanity family;
Oh!! NANAK, Who will be Able for to Live to The Highest of Your Teaches?
Dialog from a Sikhworld visitor :
Muslim's all over the world are getting
closer and closer to their faith, whilst us Sikh's couldn't be further from
Guruji's values. If we do not act now we will go the same way as the ancient
Romans, Macedonians, and the Mongol’s. They were all great cultures and brave
warriors but now they are just living in their past glory. We need to act and
act now. Sikh’s are forgetting the true teachings of Sikhi, instead we are
becoming far too westernised. Cutting our Kesh, drinking, smoking and eating
filthy meat.
When you go to the Gurdwara, how often do
you see young Sikh’s in the congregation sitting and actually taking part in the
prayers? Instead you will see the older generation performing Seva and joining
in with the Kirtan. Young Sikh’s in the West may well be proud of our faith but
we do little to uphold the values of our great ancestors. Sikh men & Sikh Women
are encouraged to cut off their Kesh, not only by their young female peers but
also by their parents, who find the custom old and thus irrelevant.
On days such as Vasakhi, our
youth drive in fancy cars waving the Nishan Sahib in one hand, whilst holding a
can of beer, or a cigarette in the other hand. They know not of the Sanctity of
our flag, we rub the name of Guruji in dirt.
The youth of Islam however
are far more versed in their faith. They go to their Mosque and learn the
teachings of their prophets; they read their Nimaz and gain the knowledge of the
religion.
Sikh men fight and curse, we
are known (and in many cases are proud of) to enjoy our drink. As whole
promoting casteism goes "Jatts do this" , "Jatts do that" in bhangra song not
actually promoting unity songs rather than promoting casteism "an barrier in
Sikhism. All that jazzy bee's and bindy johal lovers try to copy their style by
putting colouring their hairs put "MASSIVE KHANDA" yet not even knowing the
purity or history behind the Khanda. In chat rooms come across with the term "Jatt"
or "Jatti" being used as though it is a religion in its own sense Whereas people
from other faith laugh at us We see it as being quite normal to get drunk and
fight our brothers. We see no harm in this.
We can’t possibly
say our Islamic counterparts don’t behave in the same way as, but they certainly
aren’t seen doing so. Many Muslim men act saintly and over time simple people
would see them as nice good men. Is it really such a surprise that our womenfolk
turn to them when in trouble. We say these girls are slags and so we do not need
them in our faith, but you tell me how many of our sisters would we have left.
This is happening because our Sikh youth has "Less Knowledge and Faith" in sikhi.
They think Punjabi way of living and religion is more or less a same thing.
Whereas, its not. There is a fine boundary line between them. How can a person
convert if they don’t know first universal thing about Sikhism? They get sick
tired of family, casteism and other typical Punjabi life styles them illusioned
that if it was a religion and go out with Muslims and get converted. Its lot
happening in
England. Days are not far when
Islamic extremist will start doing this in north America, luring our Sikh
sisters into Islam by emotional blackmailing and other propaganda.
We talk about our immigration to
Canada and U.S and England like
100 years back but we still getting humiliation and couldn't make any good image
in western countries and still have issues within our communities.
I am not here to stereotype against
Muslim’s but I must make it quite clear that only doom stands in front of us if
we do not act. We need to learn about our faith so we can teach others. We need
to show our brothers, our sisters, our friends and even our parents what Sikh is
really about. Otherwise we risk being forsaken by Wahe-guruji; we have been
taught by example what Sikh’s are capable of. Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji had
stated that an Amritdhari Sikh is as powerful as the Guru who created the
Khalsa.
Let us not destroy the little we have left
of our great faith, but let us learn and teach the ways of our Guru.
By the way how many of us
know people, who are one of them or are into votes going in the Gurdwara’s. If
you are one of them, I have to say is haram jadho kutha dhur fiti mu thada.
Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, you are going to the Gurdwara to get closer to
Guru Ji not TO fight. If you go and want to vote or say hey I want that
committee to lose or hey man our side won your a stupid immature not a Sikh
monkey. Sikhism is not about votes. All I will say is change your ways, or you
will regret it. By the way please send to anyone you know tell this to your
parents and others and if you know someone that is like what I have
explained..... Just print this and show them thanks.
The Ride of Your Life
This'll make Sikhi so much
better and easier to understand...
Why is it so important to remember God's
Name (Nam Simran)? It
seems like a pretty strange
thing to do - I mean Nam Japna means
saying the same Name over
and over again, day and night, seven
days a week for all of your
life? Perhaps this will make it
clearer:
The human body is like a
wedding car. The mind is the chauffeur and
the soul is the bride
sitting in the back seat. She sat in the car
thinking that she would be
driven to the marriage ceremony at the
tenth door (dasam duar)
where God Himself would be the Husband.
Then He'd take her away to
Sach Khand (Realm of Truth: God's abode)
and they'd be living in
wedded bliss happily ever after.
But soon after sitting down,
she found the chauffeur was a very
cunning driver. He opened
all the doors so that his 5 friends called
Anger, Greed, Lust,
Attachment and Pride could have their wicked way
with her. She just couldn't
get out and instead of driving the car
to Sach Khand, he pushed it
around slowly and awkwardly in any
direction he wanted
depending on where his 5 friends wanted to go.
He just couldn't be bothered
to get to the wedding at the dasam
duar, not that he even knew
where it was - I don't think he even had
a map and none of his
so-called friends knew where to go. The
strange thing is that
everyone in this world is pushing their cars
with the bride trapped with
the 5 strange thieves and no-one thinks
it's strange because it's
what they are used to - I mean everyone’s
been doing it like that for
thousands of years and they're all
lost. They're number plate
reads: 'M A N M U K H'.
All of a sudden a car speeds
by with a chauffeur sitting in the
driving seat driving
normally. His number plate is 'G U R M U K
H'. ManMukh stops and talks
to him, 'Excuse me, why do you drive
your car while others push
them?’
He replies, 'Well, I used to
be a MAN-MUKH pusher like you, but I
met a very spiritually
gifted holy man who told me that I was
driving my car all wrong. I
used to love my car and I didn't like
it when he said that. My car
was the best car in the world. It had
fluffy dice and go faster
stripes. It had wheels that would bounce
the car up and down; I'd
even fitted a £10,000 music centre into the
boot. My car was beautiful
and everyone used to tell me how
beautiful it was. `
`The holy man then told me
that if I wanted to know how to drive
fast then I'd have to go to
a special place called a Gurdwara-Nam-
Petrol station where I'd
meet the Supreme Being, called the Guru
Granth Sahib jee and that if
I became a disciple and promised to
follow the Guru's
instructions then I too could be whizzing around
to my true destination. `
`Of course, I didn't believe
him at first and my pusher friends all
laughed at the absurdity of
it whoever heard of someone driving
their car? They just
wouldn't believe that I'd seen this 'G U R M U
K H'. Anyway, I met the 'G U
R M U K H' again and I went to the
Gurdwara-Nam-petrol station
and I saw lots of people driving really
fast just like him. I was so
exited, I had a tingly feeling in my
stomach - I just couldn't
wait to meet the Guru Granth Sahib jee.'
`Then I drank the amrit-nectar
and became a disciple. I promised
I'd obey my Guru's
instructions and I wouldn't do all the silly
decorations that I'd done to
my car. The first thing Guru jee told
me was that this hole in the
top of the car, called the mouth was
for a special reason. He
told me I'd been pouring the wrong kind of
fuel in it. I'd been saying
so many useless words but they weren't
helping me at all. The real
fuel to pour into the mouth was The
Name of God: Waheguru. If I
kept pouring this Nam-petrol into my
car day and night then I'd
have the power to reach God the Husband.'
My Guru jee also told me to
sing my daily prayers so I'd I find the
directions and to serve the
saints so I'd get the hints and tips of
their blessings. And look at
me now, I'm whizzing around like
nobody's business. It was
hard at first, but now I'm used to it and
I'll soon be at God's Door
and this Divine marriage of Bliss can
take place. I tell you, I
can't believe I'd been such a fool for so
many years. My friends still
don't believe me, but I don't hang out
with them any more.'
`Plus my Guru jee gave me
this new Number plate 'G U R M U K H' it
means the one who has got
his face towards the Guru - I follow my
Guru now, before I used have
my face towards my own minds desires
and cravings so I was a 'M A
N M U K H'. So if you're interested in
learning how to drive your
car then come and meet the Supreme
Being - Guru Granth Sahib
jee. He'll help you just like he helped
me.
Isn't it strange?
Isn't it strange how a 20
dollar bill seems
like such a large
amount when
you donate it to the gurdwara, but
such a small amount
when you go shopping?
Isn't it strange how 2 hours
seem so long when
you're at the gurdwara, and how
short they seem when you're
watching a good movie?
Isn't it strange that you can't
find a word to say when
you're praying,
but you have no trouble
thinking what to talk about
with a friend?
Isn't it strange how difficult
and boring it is to read
one chapter
of the Guru Granth Sahib, but how easy
it is to read 100 pages of
a popular novel?
Isn't it strange how everyone
wants front-row-tickets
to concerts or
games, but they do whatever
is possible to sit at the back
of the gurdwara?
Isn't it strange how we need to
know about an event for
the gurdwara 2-3
weeks before the day so we can
include it in our agenda, but we can
adjust it for other events in
the last minute?
Isn't it strange how difficult it
is to learn a fact about
Waheguru to share it
with others, but how easy
it is to learn, understand,
extend and repeat gossip?
Isn't it strange how we
believe everything
that magazines and newspapers
say, but we question the words in the
Guru Granth Sahib?
Isn't it strange how everyone
wants a place in
heaven, but they don't want
to believe, do, or say anything
to get there?
Isn't it strange how we send
jokes in e-mails
and they are forwarded
right away,
but when we are going to send
messages about Waheguru, we think
about it twice before we share
it with others?
IT'S STRANGE ISN'T IT?
