Faith

[JSingh]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa

Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

Few days ago, I was talking to a friend of mine about how detached I feel from Sikhi and my life in general. I have no physical disease or anything, but my spirit to do anything is dead. I don' know if you guys have felt or feel this way at certain time in your life.

He gave me a very good advice that I should quit reading and responding on Forums. He said that when someone says something wrong, it would put you in doubt, your mind would go into duality, and you will start losing faith in Guru. I think this is what had been happening with me. Today, something hurt me sooo much and I thought it is not a good idea to share your faith and belief in your Guru with anyone, because you never know what that person would say.

Today I was driving and my friend was sitting with me and my sister on the back seat. We started talking about Ardas. I told them that last sunday Bhai Sahib told a Sakhi of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and Akali Phoola Singh. Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and Akali Phoola Singh were going to a War. The weather was not good and I think there was a river too that they had to cross. The enemy had the tops (i think they are called canoes in english). Akali Phoola Singh did Ardas to Guru Sahib to give him aagya to go to War. Arfter Ardas, Akali Phoola Singh asked Maharaja Ranjit Singh to step forward. But Maharaja Ranjit Singh refused and said that enemy has tops and many other weapons, they are stonger than us, we cannot win the war. I can't go. But Akali Phools Singh told him that Ranjit Singh, I have done Ardas, and I have no choice, but to go for the War. A Sikh cannot step back if he has done Ardas. I

f the enemy have tops, I have Ardas. My Ardas is much more powerful than their tops. But Maharaja Ranjit Singh refused to accompany him. Then Akali Phoola Singh asked the Singhs that whoever wants to come with him, please do so. Some Singhs went with him and they faught sooooo well that the enemy ran leaving their tops. They could not stand against Akali Phoola Singh's khanda. When Maharaja Ranjit Singh saw the chamatkar of Ardas, he too stepped forward.

Just at the time I finished this Sakhi, that friend of my said, "ki pata kinni ku sachaaee aa es sakhi vich." It totally broke my heart. I felt sooooooooooooo hurt and ashamed that why did I shared this Sakhi with him. Then I told him, "a sikh is a sikh only if he has faith, if a sikh has no faith in his guru, he is not a sikh". The he said, "yaar fer gall tan faith te hi aa jandi hai". Then I told him, "Sikhi is all about faith. The Guru can do anything." He smiled. But it was a different kind of smile. I felt soooooooo bad on my self and felt that I humiliated my Guru. I put my Guru on shame by telling that Sakhi to him. Then I remembered something that I heard before and that is, don't talk about your Guru with non-sikhs. I think it is Bhai Gurdas Ji's bachan or in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. I learned my lesson today, practically!

[S1ngh]

You know what broo.. This is why i don't share anything regarding sikhi with others (only indians).. Indians have no manners in respecting religious feelings, personal emotional feeling plus it is very rude ! There is one way out.. "Juttey faar key marney ohday muh tehh, pata lagna see usnuu fir"..

same thing i heard from gurpreet sis.. She went to one of the sikh youth gathering (SSA) and ppls there were talking that how sakhis are made up legends and not reality.. example baba deep singh jeee.. and she felt sad/down/bad mood by hearing this from the organizers etc.. But anyway the point is that we need to tell those who are willing to learn something ! Don't feel down ... acutally u did best part of yours and that's what every sikh supposed to do ! Today one person didn't agree with you, tomorrow who knows hundreds of other ppls will agree with you and can learn something from you.. So don't give up, Keep trying more and more and that's what will make us Strong in our faith and history !

Regarding the incident of mahraja ranjit singh, i think the river name was Attock ! and the battle is known as "Battle of Attock" and below is the picture where maharaja ranjit was doing benti to akali phoola singh not to cross the Attock river.. ( i believe that's now close to pakistan/afghanistan border now)

[Saihajleen Kaur Khalsa]

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!

Very touching story JSingh Veer Ji. Really struck a cord. I guess you shouldn't feel bad for their closed mindedness. You have to keep hammering away, who knows when they might crack eh?

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!

[Akaali]

WJKK WJKFatehh!!

Don't worry veerji, the world is full of people like this, and you will come across many, best thing to do is to avoid them, or not try to reason with them, as you will end up in a arguement, and get overpowered by krodh.

Same thing happened to me recently, this "indian" asked about my appearance, and why i wear a sri sahib so i told him the whole history. He was impressed, but jealous at the same time, and I told him how we read Gurbani, and now everytime I see him, he has a smart- comment to make like, don't take out your kirpan at me, etc. lol, I know he's a fool, and prolly just wants to create an arguement or something, so I avoid him, but if he gets offensive, fer tan mein banda banaunga.

Guru sahib says, "Asankh moorakh andh ghor", countless fools spread ignorance. I know how much it hurts when certain people don't understand the entire philosphy of sikhi, and try to degrade it with ignorant comments, best thing to do is avoid em, even if they're your so called "friends"!! "Your only companion is your lord!"

MY TWO CENTS!

[Balait_da_Sher]

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!

Very touching story JSingh Veer Ji. Really struck a cord. I guess you shouldn't feel bad for their closed mindedness. You have to keep hammering away, who knows when they might crack eh?

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!

Tottaly agree with this but i think what needs to be remembered is that you yourself have to have faith. There is no point in telling something to anyone if you dont 100% belive in it. If you belive in what you are telling the other person then no amount of negativity will break ur belief.

You have to kep hammering away, Bhenji said

here is an analogy i just came up with after hearing the above sentence.

Guru is the artist. You are his Hammer. Keep hammering away on hard rocks and eventually they will become beautiful statues :T:

So the point is that the hammer has to bear some pain, but the effect you have on the other person,

slowly but surly will produce a beautiful statue.

[Guest mehtab]

my closest friend here is a jatt...11 days back he sucked my blood for 2 hours forcing and then begging me to shave off my beard...all the while i was and he was almost :'(...i tell u our Punjabis are the biggest enemies of Sikhi...hindus, muslims, and even goray over here have appreciated when i tell them why i look what i look like now (no i still dont wear a pagg)...its our Punjabis who have and will always have a big problem..."Sikhs" in my university have been the greatest source of discouragement for me on the path of Sikhi...they will say that now u r in western society and so its only wise to mix up with them...teri aisi di taisi...jaake mooh te chitta paint maar leh fer te naale gora bannja...the way i look at it is that the world is not gonna accept u 100% anyways, and Gurujee is gonna accept u 100% always...so why the hell u wanna be what the world wants u to be???...there have been Punjabis who even crack dirty jokes on Guru Sahibaans (one was inside the premises of a Gurdwara)...i bet there wont be any hindu or muslim who would stoop so low...but our Punjabis just have to set records...so dont care about what anyone says...Punjabi or indian or muslim or gora no one is gonna go with u in the end.

[harminder]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

Fist of all many thanks Jsinghji for sharing your expereinces here.

someone who hasnt tasted sweetness can never tell how good it feels,when he is not able to do it himself he makes fun of others who do feel it,and he becomes sarcastic of others being able to enjoy the sweetness.This is my analogy of your situation.(not too bad..right )

I dont blame that person entirely who condemned the sakhi,he might be ignorant of it,ignorant of sikhi and its sweetness so was just being sarcastic.

But veerji we should not survive only to please other people,at a deeper level we know that its all maya here.So in such maya if we just waste away our time caring how to fit in?..how to please others? how to get other peoples attention? then we are wasting our "manukha janam". So it doesnt matter whether my long beard or Dastaar is not something that everyone around me is wearing.It doesnt matter if i look different or if some people dont like it on me.It doesnt matter if some ignorant person has condemned a sakkhi which we know is true.Sometimes it tests our faith in Guru.

I will suggest that we dont make acceptance of sakhis or sikhi philosophy by people around us,a base for our faith in Guru.Our base has to be more firm,more strong,more un shakeable than that.Our base has to be love and faith for Guru.Our base has to be kirat karo,wand chako,naam japo.Our base has to be gurbani.Our base has to be rahat.Our base has to be in living in Gurus bhana.If we have

such base then its really unshakeable.So we should contantly strive to have such base and do ardaas to Guru with all our hearrt for His Nadar.

bhul chul maaf.

Gurfateh

[Guest noonespecial]

I get grief from family members as well about wearing a bigger kirpan that most of them but I don't even mind anymore.

A Gursikh once said ' as Khalsa it is not your duty to change for society...it is society's duty to change for you! '

[Guest SikhForLife]

dude i feel ya.. ppl say that to me all the time.. it does hurt but cant help it... i mean u gotta have faith but they think they r smarter and need proof.. esp those kala afghana ppl here.. (there are soo many of em where i am)

[mann_kaum_layee_qurbaan]

"top" is a cannon....