Can We Do Crime For The Cause Of Sikhi?

[Sarbloh]

This is just my assumption.

I think we underestimate our Shaheeds or Soormay and assume they were driven by their own strategies, accommodating human emotions of anger, animosity, pain and hate. But our true Saheeds were Gurmukhs, not Manmukhs.

It may sound wishy washy to most if us, but the Bhagats (devotee) of Sri Akal Purakh have a unique path (Chaal Nirali). Stepping on that path is like stepping on a thin hair and as sharp as a sword edge. As Maharaj says in each “Jug” (spiritual age) the “Chaal” is different but only those distinctive Bhagats understand the “Chaal”. Whatever the Bhagat does, it is in the best interests of mankind as guidance comes straight from Sri Akal Purakh. However, if we are not yet Bhagats then we can only witness individual actions and humanise them as per our worldly thinking.

bhagtaa kee chaal niraalee.

The lifestyle of the devotees is unique and distinct.

chaalaa niraalee bhagtaah kayree bikham maarag chalnaa.

The devotees' lifestyle is unique and distinct; they follow the most difficult path.

lab lobh ahaNkaar taj tarisnaa bahut naahee bolnaa.

They renounce greed, avarice, egotism and desire; they do not talk too much.

khanni-ahu tikhee vaalahu nikee ayt maarag jaanaa.

The path they take is sharper than a two-edged sword, and finer than a hair.

gur parsaadee jinee aap taji-aa har vaasnaa samaanee.

By Guru's Grace, they shed their selfishness and conceit; their hopes are merged in the Lord.

kahai naanak chaal bhagtaa jugahu jug niraalee. ||14||

Says Nanak, the lifestyle of the devotees, in each and every age, is unique and distinct. ||14||

[BhForce]

Your question isn't really addressed by religious granths (whether ours or others') per se. Rather, I think you would go to natural law, social contract theory, etc.

For example, it's a sin to take a life. But then there's also the concept of dharam yudh, as a very last resort. So, I don't necessarily think the question is stealing riches for a dharam yudh justified, rather it's whether the dharam yudh itself is justified.

By the way, the police are authorized by law to steal peoples cars and other property in certain emergency situations. It's called "commandeering". This is the prerogative of legitimate governments.

The question is, if a government has broken the social contract whereby it promises to protect the governed, is it still a legitimate government?

[BhForce]

Also, as to the specific question of Mughal wealth and bank robbery:

The Mughal wealth was all looted anyway.

The banking system is just pure deception and thievery. The Federal Reserve is owned by member banks, which are private. The Bank of England is a private bank. In India, Indira Gandhi nationalised the all the banks. With banks in govt. control, deposits in Punjab would be used to fund industry in other states. The robbery hurt the government that was using peoples own money to fund a genocide against them. If you say, well then just don't make deposits in banks, the GOI made keeping cash of more than a half lakh (50,000 Rs.) illegal. Yeah, they thought of everything.

Nothing in this post is meant to encourage people to rob banks or anything else immoral.

[satpunga singh]

there is a crime and a sin. both different.

e.g. it is a crime to kill someone. it is a sin to kill someone. BUT it is not a sin to kill someone in selfdefence (within reason) or to save someone else's life.

and the Singh who went and "stole" from the mughals werent xactly stealing. if a robber take something of yours, and you take it back...it is not stealing, and not a crime.

[citizen_soulja]

back in the day there were battles and various guerilla attacks against the moghal hakument (mogul GOVERNMENT, FYI: it was the most powerful government in the world at the time) Singhs sometimes did not have rifles like the moghal soldiers who were a paid ''professional'' army so they used to wait for nightfall and creep into the moghal encampments and steal rifles then fight the moghals with their own stolen rifles.

BhForce said it nicely:

The question is, if a government has broken the social contract whereby it promises to protect the governed, is it still a legitimate government?

by the way GOI not only broke the contract they peed all over it...

if you are really acting for the movement you'll know the right answer

[SunSingh]

Those who are fed food from dishonest earnings will become more dishonest. Those who are fed from honest earnings will become more honest. Dishonest donations can do nuksaan on the sangat.

The mughals and sikhs in the old days, btw, were at war. To attack an enemy's economy is a typical war tactic.

[citizen_soulja]

''the life of man upon earth is warfare'' - Job 7:1 thats in the bible

Sikhi teaches us that we are at war everyday with the 5 choors and also tyrants and oppressors, we may have forgotten the war but the war has not forgot us!! thats why everyday Sikhi is getting attacked, its the same continuous plot that has been there since the inception of Sikhi. There are forces at work that continually undermine our faith our Sikhi. They don't rest; their very way of life is an affront, injury and disrespect to Sikhi!! Sikhi teaches peace, love, humility, equality and respect but it also preaches about justice, courage, strength, valour and standing for truth on principle...Sirh Jaaveh Ta Jaaveh Meri Sikhi Sihdak Nah Jaaveh.

Think about it like this: Sikhi is a collective of Sikhs which are people that are affected by the 5 choor and the whole world is affected by the 5 choor, thus our enemies also because they are people too just like us. what im trying to say is that as we battle internally with our 5 choor we are also battling with the whole world, once you have conquered the 5 in your mind thus the world is conquered....Man Jeeteh Jug Jeet...not only that but Gurbani tell us so many times that you have to conquer your inner self to attain oneness with Vaheguru, and you inner self is attacked by the 5 choor.

Back to the original post and idea, what i believe the poster is trying to ask is that whether it is acceptable to fund and propagate the rebellion against an unjust fascist regime (GOI) by moving against those that would have us underfoot and their supporters. Every War of Rebellion in history has utilised the resources and opportunised on the weaknesses of the opposing and often vastly superior forces. This has meant deception, theft and commandeering of resources, strategic strikes and guerilla warfare.

This leads to another issue: war is not a pleasant affair people get hurt and are very likely to be killed, but it's a choice one makes whether through free will or coercion.

Sikhs are vicious fighters they have a long and illustrious history of brazen conflicts, small bands of Gursikhs challenging vast forces and winning the victory whether territorial, moral or political.

Many of our strikes have involved the use of the aforementioned war strategies but the key difference between the Sikh War of Rebellion and others is that we are entrusted to attain and maintain the moral high ground and never act bellow our high Khalsa Standards. i.e don't harass women, children or the elderly, kill unnecessarily, target civilians all of which governments do massively during their Wars of Control, think, WW1, WW2, 1^st Iraq war, 2^nd Iraq war, Afghanistan, Israel vs Palestine, GOI, Raj,... the list is very long and stretches back centuries.

in short we are duty bound to act but act a certain way...Sikhi is simple and practical.

[TheSuperbell]

If it’s something that happened and long time back, forget it because forgiveness is a part of Sikhi

If it’s something that happened recently, then take action. However!!!! Under any circumstance don’t try do a crime for your own good, or for yourself in anyway.

If it’s for some helpless family or person who had been a victim, then there’s no shame in picking up the sword. Sikhi teaches you to defend against evil, so this applies in that sense.

There are different reasons you can justify a crime, but from my own personal ethics i don’t believe money should be a cause for you to do a crime. This means anything related to money. Waheguroo is in everybody!

The truth is because you asked the sangat about this, and you have a split thought. I don’t think you would be able to do anything, any hesitation is a no no, everything that is righteous and that god wants you to do happens within a snapp of a second, akal purk gives you a message. This would happen automatically, you wouldn’t get double thoughts.

All past events/incidents that singh’s were involved in acted upon a message from akal purk, their body snapped into a decision. E.g. Binderanwale, beant singh.... and other shaheeds.

I say don’t do it, and eat ladoo