Want to become more religious

[Guest Gregory House]

Hi there! I'm a 17 year old guy, born in a Punjabi family and need some help. Although my family calls itself "Sikh", no one in it is practicing or has much knowledge about the teachings of the religion. Over the past year or so I have become increasingly interested in Sikhi and am at the point now where I want to test the waters by getting into the practical stuff. The problem is that I don't know where to begin. I am fortunate that I live walking distance to a Gurdwara that is open all day every day and am going to start frequenting it a lot more but thought I would try my luck on here first.

I need a good place to begin. I've been spending a lot of time online listening to lectures by Sikh speakers and the one thing that got to me more than anything else was what this one man said, that Sikhi summarized in one sentence is "carrying out the teachings of the 10 Gurus". Simple enough but so many people neglect it. He said that it was not enough to simply listen to someone else speak or it isn't simply enough to read Bani, it isn't enough to just say "Waheguru", but you need to tune yourself into what you are doing, you need to carry out what you preach, you can't just read it. And that's what I want to do. I don't know how to do Simran, or how many times a day I need to do it for that matter. Should I meditate? Is that ALL I have to do?

I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me out

[Guest Mee]

What area are you from?

[Guest guest]

Fateh congratulations that you are thinking of walking on this path. Firstly, i would say be sehajdhari for about 6 months, could be less, cuold be slightly longer (you will get the feeling when you are completely ready), then take amrit as hukam of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Yes, and meditate alongside which is really important. Just to help you out, keep in mind that you cannot do these things: drink, cut hair, intoxication, adultery. Thats it! it isn't as hard as some people think, when you get admission into the panth (take amrit), you can then study further and further and become part of Waheguru.

Hope that helped you singh!

[Guest Gregory House]

Thanks for the replies guys

One more thing, when doing Simran, are we supposed to meditate on "Waheguru" or "Satnam"? I've found conflicting information.

Also, can this be considered as Simran?

Or does that not count?

[Guest guestt]

you should do simran of gurmantar. gurmantar=waheguru. nothing wrong with saying satnam. but to 'simar' means to repeat. You could do the mool mantar. Anything that relaxes your mind and makes you feel in bliss. you could even use a mala.