What And Who Is A Sikh....

[satbachan96]

Ive seen many topis such as a sikh girl marries non sikh, a sikh man weds a gori, a sikh rapes/kidnappess(just exagerating a little).......etc

a sikh means to learn and be a student...to be a student there must be an area of study for one to be a student...yes that area is atam vidiya.....common sense tells us to be a student we require a teacher...yes the teacher is guru granth sahib ji...so sikh wants atam vidya with teacher of guru granth sahib....

So..in terms of the world..a students (sikh) picks a topic(ie medicine) then gets his lecturer/teacher...then he becones a student and eventually a doctor....

in the same way unless we want to meet akaal purkh and this is our only purpose we can not claim to be a sikh and a student of guru granth sahib ji to attain mukhti....

for those who put emphasis on business and education to accumiilate wealth, call these worshippers of maya though they may have an apperance of a religious person.....

[luckysingh99]

Very few true Sikhs and gurmukhs.

Being a Sikh is a Life long practice.

A Sikh is to spend his/her whole life trying to be a better Sikh(learner).

The Sikh learner will continue to do so and the Sikh will never think he has learnt ALL or everything.

A grihasti jeevan is recommended....meaning, a Sikh has a life as a householder, family man, husband/wife and father/mother,.....meaning,  the Sikh must sail through the world ocean of Maya to get to the other side

A Sikh doesn't try to hide or become a recluse from society like the yogis in the caves do for their complete lifetimes. Detaching away to learn and find yourself in different environment is not all that bad, as long as it's a short term process.

Don't get me wrong.... Guru Nanak ji is Not saying that they don't get enlightened, but Guru Nanak ji says his sikh can get enlightened whilst maintaining a grihsti jeevan - living/working in normal society,,

EDITED.....

I've learned much more since this post. Mostly from abyaas and gurbani.  Our life is to bhog our karams AND to jap naam. Jap naam--> hearing naam -->naam getting pakhah and pargat...-->this leads to raising of surti-->Realization--->darshan of Waheguru and entry into nijh ghar. 

 

[satbachan96]

Fateh lucky singh. I understand what you are saying, but to say ghrisht is a must indicates duality....the key word is must.. there is no must in atam vidiya... yes in kalyug its a common practice but as you do casually put it that ghrist is a must can you casually say that most 'ghrist' is not the outcome of kaam....contemplate singh ji... most marriages including amritdharis are from the energy of kaam...

ghrist as so many liky to say as a cover to their kaam...please do not answer paaji unless contemplated on.... what is ghrist jeevan.....?

When you have an answer to ghrist,,, then know this to be the true form of ghrist....?

[luckysingh99]

I agree, ghrist does mean you are stepping on duality.

I think the idea is to make the line that separates duality as faint as possible because if you ignore ghristi jeevan and decide to stay on the extreme side of the line where you are a recluse and away from society in some caves like the yogis, then in effect you have not made the line any fainter have you ?

You have just chosen to hide and stay on one side of duality instead.

I know this can get complicated, but we all learn at different stages and at different times and this is my stance on the matter at this spiritual stage of mine.

Personally I think that we can't deny maya and neither can we deny duality.

BUT we must try to rise above it to get across.

Think of the lotus that floats across the ocean or river to get to the other side as mentioned in many shabads.

I gather that this ideal lotus is what the gurmukh is ! :biggrin2:

[satbachan96]

Fateh to lucky veer, Again , partially agree, again from what i have said there are many paths, hence the word partially...whether someone choses sadhu/sanyas/udhasi/ghristetc from gurmat siddhantit comes to honesty..l..ghrist and sahej avastha is encouraged by maharaj but to deny the others. Is duality, know this as true....my post was for people to understand who is a sikh,,to be in the house of guru nanak maharaj is a big thing.irs like playing for man united orliverpool fc..the traing is more intense then playing for birmingham football club...

to be ghrist does not mean mukhti....when you have no desire but to be with the divine then you are on the path...and you can have this desirenin any marg you follow...fateh

[luckysingh99]

Yes, I like your approach, as it is going the right way.

I think we all take different stages at different times.

Some start on bhagti stage and then deal with worldly affairs. Some start by getting mentally detached from maya and then try their hand at bhagti, simran and internal devotion....etc...

I don't think it matters as long as you don't get stuck there and never get to the true practice of inner devotion.

That's why it can be a life long endeavor being a Sikh.

Having the priority of being with Waheguru ji should be the mental focus. If we have this, then I think everything can slowly fall into place no matter what stage you are at.

I did say that one should be careful of getting stuck at a level and there are many of us that get caught up this way. For eg... there are some who want to prove their physical devotion and stamina for self development by reciting or reading gurbani Xamount of times/day..etc... They may do 6 sukhmani paths/day and then increase slowly to 20/day..... this is fine but they seem to get stuck there and can make it the be all and end all. Their practice and conduct in general life may not even change a hint !!!

It's like reading a book about how to swim and then reading it 20 times/day until you master it and know it by heart.

But what would be the point in just reading it and then NEVER actually swimming ??? ...........you get what a I mean ??

We have to be careful not to get stuck and caught up in such ways. One way is to keep reassessing your own conduct and keep trying to keep it as much gurmat at all times.

Our Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji gives us clear instructions on How to live, think and conduct yourself as per gurmat.

[UKLondonSikh]

In the spiritual sense Lucky Paji is absolutely right ... that very limited are the numbers of those true blessed (Gur)Sikhs ... but in the cold hard political landscape (where population demographics matter) that has forced our Qaum to endure repeated Genocides at the hands of our enemies ... we need to widen what a Sikh means to encompass as many decent people as possible and thereby simultaneously reduce the political base of our Panth's enemies.

At a stroke the vasty majority of so-called Hindu Punjabi's, Sindhi's, Satnami's, Kabirpanthi's, Jatavs, Vanjara's and many Adivasi tribes and Dalits that previously took to Sikhi prior to 1947 would all be re-integrated into a stronger and more diverse Panth (which would be less parochial and less inward looking and would thus look at the bigger global agenda for seva more with its greater collective power to fight in the best way possible for Sarbat Da Bhala).

That would mean re-instituting the general Puratan definition of a Sikh as being anyone who bows before Maharaj.

[Mahakaal96]

When a teacher teaches a classroom full of children she is faced with a room full of children all at different levels of budhi and gyan. Each child will have different strengths and weaknesses, each child will have different reasons for coming to school and different ambitions of what they want to achieve as a result of their coming to school.

Similarly the house of Guru Nanak is filled with students at various levels of gyan, budhi, icha, dyaan, sharda, bharosa etc

Sikhi is not something that happens in one lifetime as manush, it is a journey that spans over many lifetimes as a manushya. If you look back at your previous janams in the house of Nanak it will probably show an evolution in your gyan, budhi, guna etc but some unfortunate souls undo their good gains because of bad karam etc it's all part of the journey.

For me a Sikh is someone who has recognised The Guru as their Guru, they may only go to the Guru to ask for worldly gains but their journey in the house of Nanak has started, it will evolve over their coming janams and more importantly with 'gurprasad'. We are born out of maya into maya, the whole world sits in the lap of maya, we eat in maya, sleep in maya and die in maya, understanding maya is very difficult, even more difficult is detaching from it, this is not possible without gurprasad.

[satbachan96]

I like what you say lucky veer about reading on how to swim but never actually swimming, its funny you say this and mention sukhmani sahib path as the opening shabad starts simroa simar simar sukh pavoh, in these words is the direction, maharaj is telling us to do simran and find peace or experiance sukh..but we repeat these words again and again but do not practice simran...

also what you say about finding your level/awareness/understanding is very important as this is a practice of sat/honesty.. the example by mahakal veer is very fitting, we all are students on different levels etc, when one students looks down on another student because his level/awareness is higher then we are straying away from the message from maharaj..

from my understanding maya is a energy/shakti which has many forms, it only becomes positive or negative when we humans play with it, i like how maharaj puts in saying it serves the holy and spoils the worldy people..

"Understanding maya is difficult, even more difficult is detaching from it"...well said

For me, sikhi is the practice of finding the root of "me", my knowledge tells me i am one and part of one but my experiance leaves "me" in duality.....without gurprasad nothing can be achieved....

[DSGj]

In the spiritual sense Lucky Paji is absolutely right ... that very limited are the numbers of those true blessed (Gur)Sikhs ... but in the cold hard political landscape (where population demographics matter) that has forced our Qaum to endure repeated Genocides at the hands of our enemies ... we need to widen what a Sikh means to encompass as many decent people as possible and thereby simultaneously reduce the political base of our Panth's enemies.

At a stroke the vasty majority of so-called Hindu Punjabi's, Sindhi's, Satnami's, Kabirpanthi's, Jatavs, Vanjara's and many Adivasi tribes and Dalits that previously took to Sikhi prior to 1947 would all be re-integrated into a stronger and more diverse Panth (which would be less parochial and less inward looking and would thus look at the bigger global agenda for seva more with its greater collective power to fight in the best way possible for Sarbat Da Bhala).

That would mean re-instituting the general Puratan definition of a Sikh as being anyone who bows before Maharaj.

Please provide some type of references to that definition.

ਸੀਸਿ ਨਿਵਾਇਐ ਕਿਆ ਥੀਐ ਜਾ ਰਿਦੈ ਕੁਸੁਧੇ ਜਾਹਿ ॥੧॥