Help! ... Where Am I! Am I A Sikh!? :-s

[question24/7]

Veero & Bheno,

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

I personally did not know who or where to turn to because I personally feel quite warey of asking this within my community which is quite close-knit.

I am a 20 year old youngster and I've always been an academic and generally quite popular (have often heard the phrase ' when not in need, you don't try to find god ' which may help explain my situation). Relating to my academic nature I am quite inquisitive and I'm intrigued by other's views, I can read Bani, koran and other religious scriptures and analyse them for many many hours. I have always had a deep deep pyar for Sikhi which slowly seems to be disintergrating and for which I feel really guilty and try to force myself to be more of a strict sikh.

I personally feel I am growing up in a society where the world is moving forward, Sikh's (not everybody) are moving backwards and enhancing fundamentalist views, and under a scope are picking and choosing philosophically what seems right to them in our Guru ji (SGGSJ) this I find a total hypocritical view of our beautiful, spiritual and peaceful religion. What I loved so much about my religion was the fact that it placed such a high value on the education, physical and spiritual strength of a person this to me seems to be gradually disappearing from the religion with which I feel deep in love with.

I regularly do speeches and seva at local gurdwaray but seem to be over-powered by bhai's or 'sants' (please not the sarcastic quotation marks) who repeatedly chant waheguru, and ask bibiyan to open bottles of milk in order to 'soak up the bani' yet not listening to a word of it themselves. I am surrounded by people who believe by simply carrying out naam simran I am going to complete my medicine degree. I have spent years doing charity work and always try to better myself as a person.

However ultimately I wanted to ask the general sikh community whether they feel our religion which was a beautiful philosophy of life, promoting equality, love, peace, courage, and self-sacrifice, is gradually turning in to a supersticious religion, are our fellow brothers who are complete taksali's and disagree with me saying we should read bani and UNDERSTAND and APPLY it to everyday life and use it in a relative manner in order to improve our lives instead of repeatingly chanting words which one may never even understand. Is our modern day Sikhi compatible with being an academic who strives for knowledge?

Are we still sikhs?

I don't mean to write our a lecture here (which I have) but, I feel I am losing faith through uneducated people taking primary positions to teach others about Sikhi, when they know little about it other than (questionably fictional sakhiyan and supersticions) our Guru ji's were humans with great knowledge but am I supposed to believe our Guru ji's also possesed magical powers etc. I find it much more comfortable to know there were these 10 great divinely inspired people who came upon this earth and attempted to spread a message which could completely improve a person's life?

Is our religion becoming fundamentalist and how are academics supposed to relate to 'old school' Singh's who believe sant's have direct contact with our Guru ji's? how am i expected to go about this.

Please try and help me because I feel I am losing faith in not only my community but respect for my religion and its preachers. I really do not want this to happen and hope this does not reflect negatively on me, I have been told by my seniors it is normal to question God but I feel I am questioning Sikh rituals, i.e divas, dhoof, paani bothalaan etc. I find these contradictory and can't help question the influence of an Hindu-Sikh alliance.

Am I still a Sikh.

Please Help..

WJKK WJKF

[mandeepraina]

U are absolutely right my dear...

This question is somewhere in every youngsters mind. I like the para I feel I am losing faith through uneducated people taking primary positions to teach others about Sikhi, when they know little about it other than (questionably fictional sakhiyan and supersticions) .. Our guru's are great souls there was no one ever born nor will in the future like them.

But what exactly is the motive behind their messages well at that time they come out with the best possible solution to fight against in humanitarian policies implemented by Mugals.

Their message to the world was to live life promoting equality, love, peace, courage, and self-sacrifice and to get closer to the all mighty god. And I am completely agrees with you that sometimes generous speeches given by a philosophers are over shadowed by few of our extra smart saints and dharmic pracharak kind of gianis. They are right too but sometimes they put things in such a way that it makes us think are our gurus magicians or these guys think we sangat are stupid enough to believe in what they meant to say, the best answer to this is use your own sense and keep it to the simple .... never be superstitious coz this is the worst which can happen to humans.. putting doubts in your mind for those things which are not possible is the worst thing we can think about.

Sikhism is the most logical and practical way of living a life shown by our gurus.

And please dont lose faith in Sikhism or path shown by our gurus.. We dont need sadhu or sant to make us closer to god neither there is ny one on the planet who can help us out..

Certainly d day I will find any other best way of living a life i will follow that path but I know there is nothing as good as being a Sikh.

Ask yourself any question n u will find answer in Guru Granth Sahib ji.

WJKWJF

[Matheen]

No Sikh will disagree with you when you say that we should apply Bani to our lives rather than forget it the instant we close our Gutkey. Gurbani is Truth, by definition truth doesn't change over time so why do feel that being strict is 'going backwards'?

It seems you've got preconceived ideas of what Sikhi is or should be - your best source is Gurbani. It WILL clear all your doubts and answer the questions you've asked here.

Guru Sahib was not a normal human being, but a physical manifestation of God. What you see as 'magic' was all part of their hukam. 'Miracles' happened then, and continue to happen today. What you see as a miracle or 'magic' is normal for someone at a high spiritual stage. Just like curing a disease with medicine is a 'miracle' for a villager in some remote part of Africa, but normal for you.

e.g. how do you explain a terminally ill cancer patient being completely cured after an Akhand Paath?

Does being an academic mean you stop believing in what Gurbani says? Sant Teja Singh Ji was a PhD from Harvard......there are many, many Sikhs with 100% faith in Gurbani who are career academics or have studied to a level much higher than where you are at the moment. If anything, your critical thinking will help to strengthen your faith - you just have to study the right things. In the case of Sikhi, that is Gurbani. You should also try to find out why some traditional jathas light dhooph, jyoth etc before dismissing these as empty rituals. There is a good explanation for many of our rituals - you just need to ask the right people.

You mention that you study Gurbani - do you have knowledge of the languages used within Guru Sahib or are you reading translations, because many problems seem to arise from the poor quality translations we have? It seems to me you've read books but not much Gurbani. Many of our modern books are written by 'scholars' who are clueless themselves, which is something to bear in mind.

(PS: what did you mean by "are complete taksalis"....?.)

[akitosforever]

SSA to all,

This experience is not new or alien to anyone who want to see their faith and religon in these testing times where religion seems more like spiritual contests.

Now the real problem is that people that you are claiming to be Hypocrites and posers are at the end of the day Humans and they will remain so . even when you listen to them or visit some youth forums there will be conflicting opinions about so many belief systems and practices that are going on with in the panth. that is because more often they add their own interpretation to Gurbani and give the their (non)value add opinions. But gurbani does not need interpreters ....may be translators at the most. The messages though out the SGGS draw parallels and hardly have any scope of misunderstanding.

So if you are in a position to read and understand bani....you are very luck and can escape this falsehood in bold manner. But at the same time commit to yourself that you will take charge of making something right . But that true wisdom and strength can only come through Path and Seva. once u have that inner strength u will automatically distguish the real wrongs from the apparent wrongs.

As far as your question about your faith goes......it as as pure as u felt for the first time and the time Guru ji created it.....it is we the Humans who have been losing many battles due to EGO and Greed. However these characteristics prevail in every religion and faith and group.

If you practice yoga even there ..there's each group claiming that their yoga works the best for you.

I have ended up giving a lecture ...though Im no one to teach or tell anyone but Sangat jee correct me if I'm wrong anywhere and pick up anything that you feel could benefit you.

Fateh

[Bundha]

Bhaji I understand your frustration as there are many people who do the talk but do not walk the walk, but you find these people in all walks of life and the knack is to identify these type of people and avoid them.

Why do you feel our faith is going backwards? Is it because people are not following your brand of Sikhi?

There are many types of education, a Phd will not necessarily give you knowledge of Sikhi and gurbani. This was an accusation thrown many times by journalists and academics at Sant Jarnail Singh Ji (notice the absence of sarcastic speech marks) that Baba Ji was illiterate and hence did not know what they were talking about. I beg to disagree. Baba Ji was an immense soul with a deep understanding of Gurbani, degrees are ten-a-penny.

I hope I do not sound out of terms but reading between the lines you seem to suggest that unless one is academic one cannot have a deep knowledge of Sikhi or gurbani.

<<< repeatedly chant waheguru, >>>>urely this is a good thing. As you have a deep knowledge of Gurbani you will know that in Skhmani Sahib it says – saas saas simro Gobind, man antturki uttray chint.

<<<< ask bibiyan to open bottles of milk in order to 'soak up the bani >>>> I have no idea what you mean here.

<<< I feel I am losing faith through uneducated people taking primary positions to teach others about Sikhi, when they know little about it other than (questionably fictional sakhiyan and supersticions) our Guru ji's were humans with great knowledge but am I supposed to believe our Guru ji's also possesed magical powers etc. “ >>>>

- this is the big question. You call them poorly educated ? because they do not have a Phd?

- More importantly you seem to suggest that the Gurus were human (agreed, which they were) with deep knowledge. So when Guru Gobind Singh Ji says – Dway tai eke roop havaey gayoo” – That after much tapasia the two (AkalPurkh and Guru Ji) became One, do you disagree with this?

- Do you also disagree with the beheading of the Panj piaray and the bringing back to life of the panj by Guru Sahib Ji? This is a fundamental question. Call me a fundamentalist, but if you deny this then you deny the whole foundation of Sikhi.

Sants who have direct links with Guru Ji and have darshan, do have a direct link and do have darshan, there is no doubt about this. This cannot be obtained by a Phd - this is not to say that one should give up ones academic education, far from it, Guru Ji says that we must succeed in getting on in life, there is no contradiction here, but to believe that one can pursue an academic route and then gain spiritual knowledge without putting in the required effort is misguaided.

Repetition of Gurmantra is necessary to remove the spiritual dirt that sticks to our sour over janams and jamans. If a glass is covered in years and years of grime then how can one look through it to see the wonders on the other side unless one cleans the glass. Unless one removes the paap and dirt from our aatma then one cannot see the wonders of God, but I am afraid this requires a different type of discipline, where one submits of your Guru, awake amirtwella and do naam simran.

If you do not understand jyote, if you do nto understand dhoof then you need to gain the understanding rather then dismissing it.

[ekongkar]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

There is no need to read a book like the Koran. Once raagi brought a whole load of books to Baba Isher Singh Ji Kaleranwale. Sant ji said what is all this? i only read the literature of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

Raagi said why is this literature not accepted? Babaji said because on entering Dargaah you will have to get Sunnat done.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

[lowest of the low singhni]

vaheguru ji ka khalsa vaheguru ji ki fateh

It seems like you're being disheartened by what you see around you rather than anything else. This is Kaljug - people going astray from spirituality is part of life. The idea is to retain your inner peace and hope without being sidetracked with what other people say. As long as you keep up your simran/Gurbani/seva etc then you will be okay.

Is our religion becoming fundamentalist and how are academics supposed to relate to 'old school' Singh's who believe sant's have direct contact with our Guru ji's?

I'm not sure what you mean by fundamentalist. Also as someone of the same age group and doing the same degree I wouldn't dream of calling myself an academic and even if I did I wouldn't base anything on that. Perhaps it would be prudent to read Guru Sahib's definition of a true academic.

I fully agree with Bunda's post and would add that Sants who have merged with Akaal Purakh only attained such a level through actual 'doing' rather than observing/studying/talking. And unless a person has achieved a similar level then it is unwise to comment. Until such time as we give up the 'I am right' or the 'I'-anything attitude, we will not get very far on this path.

The rituals you mentioned in the last line of your post are not Sikh rituals, and for someone so 'academic' it's extremely strange that you think they are, especially when there's a whole list of such things expressly forbidden in the panthic Rehat Maryada. There will always be people who have Hindu influences or distort our faith, but that doesn't mean Sikhi itself has flaws or is moving backwards in any way. These issues are usually due to ignorance, lack of reading Gurbani and no knowledge of what Guru Sahib actually says.

vaheguru ji ka khalsa vaheguru ji ki fateh

[Guest shastr]

i think maybe u dont understand the fact that our 10 guru sahibs are not "human" like me and u. maybe they look like us, they walk like us, they talk like us, but they deff. dont think like us. the 10 avatars of our guru sahibs, thats akaal purkh himself. 10 different saroops, one same jot. and akaal purkh gave his sikhs his ultimate saroop, sir guru granth sahib ji maharaj.

maharaj says "waho waho satgur nirankaar hai, jis ant na paravaar" we will never find out about who our guru's sahibs were from reading textbooks, or doing science experiments or other research.

maybe ur one of the highly educated people in sikhi who dont believe in things unless they see it for themselves. like those people who have never done nitnem in life, dont know anything about bhagati and they read some books and are like "oh show me where god is". i dont know about anybody else, but in pendu boli, thats know as nastak.

this is why i freaking hate poeple who think since they have a phd or some other pointless degree, they think they know wat there talking about. the worlds knowlegde doesnt come from books, books were created by man, but man was created by maharaj. so instead of reading all those books, we should be reading our maharajs bani.

it doesnt matter how eduacated u might be, or how many differnt scriptures u can read. without bhagati, u r the most uneducated person on earth. maharaj says "bhagat bina boh doobai siaane" without bhagati, even those who are educated, will drown.

tell me, can u sit for 18 hours in 1 spot and do waheguru simran??? can u do hundreds of jap ji sahibs everyday? can u do sukhmani sahib nonstop for 40 days? and then u say how r we supposed to believe that sants have connection with maharaj. well if u have never done the things a sant does, how the hell do u know wat kind of connection that person has? maharaj says "mane ki gat kahi na jaye" u will never be able to figure out somebody who believes in gurbani. because that person has no limit, just like our bani has no limit.

baba deep singh ji used to do 110 jap ji sahibs along with panj granthi everyday, and in the end, they had power to fight with their head in their palm. and our worlds science will tell u thats impossible. but that doenst change the fact that it really did happen. and since we get educated, we read these lil books and we too start to question such things. sikhi is not about being educated, maharaj doenst care how many degrees u have or how many years u spent in school learn something thats pointless anyways. for a guru ka sikh, saying satbachan to maharaj is the best way. watever maharaj says, we should do it no questions asked. there is no room for shanka here. maharaj cares about the love inside u, he cares about ur nitnem. about ur rehat. our father says "rehat piyari mujh ko, sikh piyara nahe"

maharaj says "jo parani govind dhiavai, parddia, anparddia param gat pavai". who ever prays on akal purkh, no matter if they are educated or uneducated, they will get ultimate dignity.

and u asked if u we wer still sikhs or if u were still a sikh? here is wat maharaj says about those who call themselvs sikhs of the guru:

ਮ ੪ ॥

ਗੁਰ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਕਾ ਜੋ ਸਿਖੁ ਅਖਾਏ ਸੁ ਭਲਕੇ ਉਠਿ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਧਿਆਵੈ ॥

ਉਦਮੁ ਕਰੇ ਭਲਕੇ ਪਰਭਾਤੀ ਇਸਨਾਨੁ ਕਰੇ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਸਰਿ ਨਾਵੈ ॥

ਫਿਰਿ ਚੜੈ ਦਿਵਸੁ ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ ਗਾਵੈ ਬਹਦਿਆ ਉਠਦਿਆ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਧਿਆਵੈ ॥

ਜੋ ਸਾਸਿ ਗਿਰਾਸਿ ਧਿਆਏ ਮੇਰਾ ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਸੋ ਗੁਰਸਿਖੁ ਗੁਰੂ ਮਨਿ ਭਾਵੈ ॥

ਜਿਸ ਨੋ ਦਇਆਲੁ ਹੋਵੈ ਮੇਰਾ ਸੁਆਮੀ ਤਿਸੁ ਗੁਰਸਿਖ ਗੁਰੂ ਉਪਦੇਸੁ ਸੁਣਾਵੈ ॥

ਜਨੁ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਧੂੜਿ ਮੰਗੈ ਤਿਸੁ ਗੁਰਸਿਖ ਕੀ ਜੋ ਆਪਿ ਜਪੈ ਅਵਰਹ ਨਾਮੁ ਜਪਾਵੈ ॥੨॥

so tell me, do u do those things listed above? do u get up early and do ur nitnem? do u get up and do ishnaan early morning?

do u do simran with every breath? if u do those things, then yes, u are a sikh, but if u dont do those things, pls, dont think u have become a guru ka sikh over some education u might have.

maharaj says without bhagati, u will not get liberated. "bin har bhagat na mukat hoye"

[Surinderjit]

shastr bhai ji,

great post as always!