Seeker

yes curious man stop! stop now! Like exactly where I've categorically said to stop listening to guruji in my last post???? How exactly did you come to that conclusion??? read what is written not what you think is written :TH: so you'd rather know yourself by looking outward and not inward!?! Many of the Gurus did inexhaustible simran and paath as well as many other revered saints and prophets, yet were prosecuted and the masses were against them, should they accept who they are because people tell them what they are? you would look to a world of maya to find who you truly are? some one says your this another says your that...you still have to look inward to know which is true.... Theories change because our understanding constantly evolves(then theory), you simply cannot hold one view and say this is it, the world is dynamic. there is no 'guru ji' theory' you cannot simplify such a vast amount of knowledge/wisdom and call it a theory. What evolves is our ourstanding through experience. You may think you sussed out what a line in the SGGS means but something may happen to you, and you may gain a totally different understanding or insight from that same line!!!

hmmm yeh so does playing football you know everytime you header a football you lose 50 braincells! I think drinking to get drunk is stupid, not neccessarily evil or bad but stupid. But I think moderate drinking is totally acceptable. To be a Sikh I think you have avoid being ethnocentric too, I mean red wine represents the blood of christ, and the clergy are allowed to drink, to my knowledge( which was acquired watching episodes of Father Ted). In most cases in europe wine, beer is considered part of their culinary culture. However for my part even though I do not drink now(though i might in the future), I do not regret drinking or shun that part of my history, it has formed part of what I am now. i would say only in drunkeness have I known my true self for the worst in me and the better- I had a very profound spiritually aware experience while drunk. In reality alcohol and narcortics offer us a short cut or false/temporary happiness, they break down emotional and social barriers that should be overcome naturally anyway. Its not a question of good or bad, Its more a different strokes for different folks theory, the paths to god are innumerable!

Hello people, I was browsing the web and I somehow ended up here and read the whole thread! Randip- I like your views, because they're very similar to mine! But sometimes it feels like your fighting a losing battle, with some narrow-minded people!!! Just wanted to add my views to this discussion, a lot of people are here mentioning the true path, or the path of truth, what exactly is this path of truth? Is it one where one doesn't smoke or drink, does that bring you closer to god? make you more favoured by god? I mean even the wording assumes there is only one path that all other paths are wrong.... Guru Nanak ji said there utlimately is no good or bad. Meaning there is really ultimately no dualism.. just what is. Yet here I see self styled spiritual warriors ensnared in this very dualism, those in the antipub/drink camp and those who accept things are not always in black and white. Does going to the gurdwara make you a better person in the eyes of god then if you went to the pub? if someone has a answer to this, let me know how you communicate with the big guy...God is everywhere, and upon realising this I've realised that one place is not holier or more sanctified then any another, we are living in the biggest gurwara of them all! On my spiritual quest i have progressed and learned more about myself from people from all walks of life not exclusively from those who are teetotal or even religious figures. In my humble view I find Sikhi profound and multi-layered, it is for me much more than a religion, and it is here were the danger lies and bigotry becomes influential when someone starts to institutionise and organise something so it can be easily digested by the masses, open your minds people! Read the GGS without prejudice and come to your conclusions! not the conclusion of others!