Tell me about Sikhism

[Bengali Hindu]

I'm a Hindu, but I'm fascinated by the Sikh religion. Please tell me about your religion.

What is the underlying philosophy and beliefs of your religion?

Do Sikhs believe in Karma, Dharma, reincarnation?

Do Sikhs worship the Paramatman or the Guru?

Must one be born a Sikh, or can one become one?

Thx

[Singhstah]

The basic belief of God in Sikhi can be explained in Guroo Nanak Dev Ji's bani the Mool Mantar;

<> siq nwmu krqw purKu inrBau inrvYru Akwl mUriq AjUnI sYBM gur pRswid ]ik oa(n)kaar sath naam karathaa purakh nirabho niravair akaal moorath ajoonee saibha(n) gur prasaadh ||

One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent. By Guru's Grace ~

Anyone who wishes to become a sikh can do so by taking amrit and going through the baptism ceremony and following rehat of Guroo Gobind Singh Ji.

Reincarnation can be explained in the following shabad

This Shabad is by Bhagat Trilochan Ji in Raag Gujri on Pannaa 526

gUjrI ]goojaree ||

Goojaree:

AMiq kwil jo lCmI ismrY AYsI icMqw mih jy mrY ]

a(n)th kaal jo lashhamee simarai aisee chi(n)thaa mehi jae marai ||

At the very last moment, one who thinks of wealth, and dies in such thoughts,

srp join vil vil AauqrY ]1]

sarap jon val val aoutharai ||1||

shall be reincarnated over and over again, in the form of serpents. ||1

24;|

ArI bweI goibd nwmu miq bIsrY ] rhwau ]

aree baaee gobidh naam math beesarai || rehaao ||

O sister, do not forget the Name of the Lord of the Universe. ||Pause||

AMiq kwil jo iesqRI ismrY AYsI icMqw mih jy mrY ]

a(n)th kaal jo eisathree simarai aisee chi(n)thaa mehi jae marai ||

At the very last moment, he who thinks of women, and dies in such thoughts,

bysvw join vil vil AauqrY ]2]

baesavaa jon val val aoutharai ||2||

shall be reincarnated over and over again as a prostitute. ||2||

AMiq kwil jo liVky ismrY AYsI icMqw mih jy mrY ]

a(n)th kaal jo larrikae simarai aisee chi(n)thaa mehi jae marai ||

At the very last moment, one who thinks of his children, and dies in such thoughts,

sUkr join vil vil AauqrY ]3]

sookar jon val val aoutharai ||3||

shall be reincarnated over and over again as a pig. ||3||

AMiq kwil jo mMdr ismrY AYsI icMqw mih jy mrY ]

a(n)th kaal jo ma(n)dhar simarai aisee chi(n)thaa mehi jae marai ||

At the very last moment, one who thinks of mansions, and dies in such thoughts,

pRyq join vil vil AauqrY ]4]

praeth jon val val aoutharai ||4||

shall be reincarnated over and over again as a goblin. ||4||

AMiq kwil nwrwiexu ismrY AYsI icMqw mih jy mrY ]

a(n)th kaal naaraaein simarai aisee chi(n)thaa mehi jae marai ||

At the very last moment, one who thinks of the Lord, and dies in such thoughts,

bdiq iqlocnu qy nr mukqw pIqMbru vw ky irdY bsY ]5]2]

badhath thilochan thae nar mukathaa peetha(n)bar vaa kae ridhai basai ||5||2||

says Trilochan, that man shall be liberated; the Lord

shall abide in his heart. ||5||2||

[Gupt daasan daas]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

< God is One, without opposition. He is the creator

True is His Name

The doer of all that is manifest

He is without fear

He is without enmity

Timeless is His form

Beyond Births and Deaths

Self-Existent

Realised by the grace of the Guru

Meditate on this Name

True before the Ages

True at the start of the Ages

True now

Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji says He shall be true in the future.

bhula chuka maf

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

[Guest mehtab]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

babumoshay...kemunache...ki khobor...hope i said n spelt that right!!! :D ...oh if u guys dunno thats bengali

Anyways...its great to have u on here bro...i m myself born to Punjabi Hindu parents...still not a complete Sikh (actually not a Sikh at all) but hope to be one soon...in case u have preconcieved notions about Sikhism or Sikhs, please just ask them out here.

Here are a few things i'd like u to know before we proceed :

(1) Sikhism is a religion totally different from Hinduism.

(2) Sikhism is NOT a mixture of Hinduism and Islam.

(3) Sikhs who want a separate homeland do NOT hate Hindus or Indians for that matter.

(4) There is no caste system in Sikhism, if u think there is, then thats more of a class system which is totally different from caste system as practised by Hindus, and is 100% Punjabi thing and NOT anything to do with Sikhism.

(5) Sikhs are NOT permitted to drink alcohol and/or eat meat as many people believe.

(6) It is very unfortunate that there are people out that who make fun of Sikhs. For more, read this...an article i wrote in October last year :

Sardarjee! Bara bajj gaye! Think again!

Red is the color in which the history of the Sikhs has been written. Yes

you guessed it right. It has been written in blood. The martyrdom of

the fifth and the ninth Guru, the martyrdom of the young sons of the

tenth Guru who were seven and nine years of age and countless other

Sikhs who were killed in the most brutal and inhuman ways makes Sikh

history a saga of sacrifice. Yet we have done injustice to them by

making them the laughing stock in our country. That is exactly what I am

going to talk about.

It was the year 1739. India was still under the rule of the Mughals. It

was during this year that the Persian invader Nadir Shah invaded Delhi

wrecking havoc on the inhabitants. Around 150,000 people were killed

mercilessly and a large number of women taken as captives. Nadir Shah

had to pass through Punjab on his way back to Persia. The Sikhs in

Punjab during this period were facing a lot of persecution at the hands

of the tyrant government. A price was put on the head of every Sikh.

Each head brought would be rewarded with Rs. 25 and each Sikh caught

alive and brought was rewarded Rs. 100. The ones brought alive were cut

to pieces.

What these brave Sikh warriors did was that they started attacking Nadir

Shah’s convoy at 12 noon as well as 12 midnight and managed to free the

women whom they escorted back to Delhi. Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Afghan

invader raided India nine times between 1748 and 1765 AD. He captured

2200 women who were again rescued by the brave Sikh warriors and

escorted back to their homes. This heroic act also occurred at 12 noon

or 12 midnight. (Source : The Sardarji Joke by Preetinder Singh). Thus

the belief started that Sikhs would lose their mind at 12 o clock.

Instead of being grateful, people started poking fun at Sikhs by calling

them as the people who lost their senses at 12 o clock. Th

ey forget the

fact that if it were not for the Sikhs, the womenfolk of these very

same people would have been taken away and raped or sold as slaves in

foreign lands. It was in 1798 under the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh

that eight centuries of repeated foreign invasions into northern India

ended. This was a result of the Sikhs gaining control of Khyber pass,

thereby shutting out any possible invasion from central Asia and/or the

middle east.

I do not intend to end this article without talking about other

contributions by Sikhs, especially in the Indian freedom struggle.

Perhaps most of the readers may never have come across these facts.

The boycott of English goods was done by the very first time by Baba Ram

Singh in 1863. The British tied eighty two Sikhs to canons and blew

them apart and Baba Ram Singh was exiled to Burma. Mahatma Gandhi issued

the call for a similar satyagraha fifty six years later in 1919.

When Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose started the Indian National Army (Azad

Hind Fauj), sixty seven percent of those forty two thousand recruits

were Sikhs, ie twenty eight thousand.

Out of the one hundred and twenty one hanged, ninety three were Sikhs,

ie seventy seven percent. Eighty one percent of those imprisoned for

life and sixty two percent of those who were killed at the Jallianwala

Bagh massacre were also Sikhs. (Source : History of Indian National

Congress).

Five Param Vir Chakras, forty Maha Vir Chakras and two hundred and nine

Vir Chakras have been won by Sikhs serving in the Indian army.

After the partition of 1947, most of the fertile land of western Punjab

was lost. Thanks to the hard work on part of the Sikh farmers, today

eastern Punjab is more productive and contributes forty percent of rice

and fifty one percent of wheat to India’s central pool of foodgrains.

Not only this, but the Sikhs who settled in Terai in UP have also made

the area as fertile as P

unjab.

Having read about their extraordinary accomplishments, here is the

kicker : Sikhs form only two percent of India's population!

Every possible injury has been inflicted on Sikhs. Not once but

repeatedly. Yet they are the ones who have learnt to fight back and

succeed, and also possess their unique sense of humor. It is just

unfortunate that we have Hindi movies today portraying them as clowns on

one hand and as macho fighters on the other, whatever brings in the

money. This article has been written with the hope that things change

for the better in future and we refrain from poking fun at the ones who

have time and again stood up to fight for not only us, but also the self

respect and honor of our motherland.

WaheGuru Ji Ka Khalsa

WaheGuru Ji Ki Fateh

Rochak Sharma

Electrical Engineering Technology

email : rochak1979@yahoo.com

references :

http://jatt.com/sikhism/empty.pitcher.asp : An Empty Pitcher Makes Noise

http://jatt.com/sikhism/sardar.joke.asp : The Sardarji Joke by

Preetender Singh

The indians at my university rejected this article coz i guess it was way too intimidating for them...

i m sure the sangat here has answered ur basic questions about sikhi

plzz feel free to ask specific questions regarding anything that u may have in mind :wub:

and before i forget...

(7) i blabber a lot on this forum...lol

[Saihajleen Kaur Khalsa]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

Welcome to the forum. I think everyone has answered your questions already, just wanted to say it's great to have you here and we hope to do whatever we can to help you realise the beauty of Sikhi. It's an experience, and for that you will have to take the first steps of searching. Sometimes the greatest pleasure is in the search itself. Oh, I wanted to warn you, but Rochak my mad brother has already told you that he talks a lot

Gurfateh

Saihajleen Kaur

[Saihajleen Kaur Khalsa]

Oops, I forgot how to delete a post and I accidentally posted twice so now I have to write something here cos I dont know how to delete it, man Im setting a good example eh?

[Bengali Hindu]

Sorry for my delay in replying.

Thank you everyone very much for the responses. I read everything you posted, and also did some research on my own. You have a wonderful religion, and I am considering becoming a Sikh, hopefully everything will work out well.

babumoshay...kemunache...ki khobor...

Ami khoobi bhalo achi bhai Thanks for asking.

About the article you wrote, the honor and bravery of the Sikhs is well known in Bengal. When the Pakistanis were killing and raping, the Sikh regiment fought them off. Some Sikhs even removed their turbans to save the honor of the women (Of course the Bangladeshis don't acknowledge it, but the Bengali Hindus and Sikhs remember).

Anyways thanks again for all your help, If I have any more questions I'll ask

[Guest mehtab]

My dear brother

About the article you wrote, the honor and bravery of the Sikhs is well known in Bengal. When the Pakistanis were killing and raping, the Sikh regiment fought them off. Some Sikhs even removed their turbans to save the honor of the women  (Of course the Bangladeshis don't acknowledge it, but the Bengali Hindus and Sikhs remember).

u r absolutely right.

Rabindranath Tagore was a great Bengali poet and writer. No one in India has ever written poetry like him. Did u know that once on his way back from UK to India, he threw away his shaving kit in the trash of the airplane saying that i will never cut my hair and shave ever again! He was so much influenced by the teachings of Guru Gobind Singh!!

Subhash Chandra Bose who set up the Azad Hind Fauj was also from Bengal. As i mentioned, 67% of the forces were Sikhs.

And not to forget Swami Vivekanand, the first Indian to go abroad and speak on religion was also from Bengal. He once remarked, that if India was to progress, every Indian will have to become like Guru Gobind Singh.

You have a wonderful religion, and I am considering becoming a Sikh, hopefully everything will work out well.Gurujee is with u and the entire sangat is behind u...go for it bro...maybe a dum a$$ like me can follow your example

[moorakh mugadh]

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!

well said rochak singh

[V]

BHOLLLLLLEY SOOOO NIHAAAAAAAAL!

SAT SRI AKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!