Sikhi Attacked In Schools - Double Standards

[singhbj singh]

When I was at high school, my religious studies teacher would set us essays pertaining to the religion we were studying. Whenever we were set an essay on Sikhi, the questions were never as subtle or as philosophical as they were for other religions. The questions here would invariably be of such a nature as 'Is Sikhism a Kshatriya form of Hinduism?' or 'Is Sikhism a synthesis of Hinduism and Islam?' or 'Is Sikhism the same as Buddhism?'

Why is Sikhi victimized so often by the ignorant as being a plagiarism from or a synthesis of Hinduism and Islam, when one considers that both of these faiths, and several others, are syntheses themselves? -

-'Hinduism' is an amalgam of the ancient Vedic faith of the Aryans, and the folk religion of the Indus Valley Civilization and surrounding tribesfolk. The precepts of reincarnation and karma, and the God Shiva (Pasupati) did not exist among the Aryans, and the rituals of havan and the gods Agni, Indar and Vishnu were to be found nowhere in the belief system of the Dravidians, until the two peoples' faiths merged in about 200BC.

-Islam is quite clearly a blatant plagiarism of the very worst bits of Christianity and Judaism, that has taken on accretions from Middle-Eastern Paganism - 'Allah' was a creator deity of the Arabian Pantheon and the Kabah at Mecca was a shrine to the very same pantheon, where all manner of idols were kept.

- Over half of the Christians' sacred text is constituted by the Jewish Pentateuch and Hebrew Bible. Moreover, Jesus' most celebrated teachings on brotherly love, namely, 'Do unto others as you would have them do to you'/ 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone' (really very similar to one another) were hardly unique. The Babylonian Rabbi Hillel said the exact same thing over a century before the birth of Christ, and a variant of it exists in the Analects of Confucius. The only completely new precepts introduced by Jesus, the ironically named Prince of Peace, were Hell and Judgement Day, eternal torture in a fiery pit and a brutal apocalypse. Christianity also appropriated dates from the Pagan calendars of Europe for itself, as well as the Pagan tales of immaculate conception, or virgin birth (Helios, Mithra, Horus, Krishna).

Which of these Sikh precepts may be found in another religion's scripture? -

- Complete equality of all irrespective of gender, caste, race or religion?

- The total abhorrence of all forms of ritual, such as fasting or pilgrimage?

- A God within that can only be realised/experienced through the total obliteration of one's sense of ego or I-ness?

- The injunction to preserve the god-given form as an act of humility (kes)?

Inform Sikh Coalition

http://sikhcoalition.org/our-programs/education/throw-the-book-at-national-textbook-publishers

[Balkaar]

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[Balkaar]

Inform Sikh Coalition

http://sikhcoalition.org/our-programs/education/throw-the-book-at-national-textbook-publishers

Is this organization US-based? I am from the UK.

[Koi]

The caste system is very much a religious, and not cultural issue. I believe it is documented in the many of the religious Hindu texts (Manu Simriti being one).

[Balkaar]

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[JSinghnz]

1 I'm just trying to say that those Aryans that believed in Zororastrianism can be seen as somewhat different the aryan Sri Shiva worshipers The Vedas were not made by Aryans.. They were made by God and given to Sri Brahma. I'mm sure Sri Shiva has the roop of Rudra, since there is a phat called Shiva Sahasranama (1000 names of Sri Shiva), and Rudraksha is one of the names. There are other phats dedicated to Sri SHiva called 'Rudrashtakam' and I'm sure that RRudra temples hold a Shivling in the centre which is worshiped as the murti.

2 The caste system can be seen as a cultural issue. Many people are nastik or not even believing in Hinduism and they only marry their own caste such as most people who call themselves SIkhs today. It's like how chinas are chinas right, we can't deny someones heritage! Whether you are born vaishya, you can go Christian or something else but you'll always be Vaishya. The issue is people discriminating against castes (which is unfair). Many temples allow anyone in Hinduism regardless of caste or GENDER to preform the phat. Besides, Sri Vaheguru ji is well aware that we will be born into whatever caste and family he decides, whatever we recieve is all karma of what we have done before. It is literally our own fault if something unwanted happens to us, but you should still have daya and not be biased towards anyone.

3 As for Sati, have you read the story of Sati?!?! In Sri Parvati's first birth she was born as Goddess Sati and she killed herself at phat because she was dishonored by her father for marrying against his will. Even Sri Shiva was mad that Goddess Sati did such a deed. So does it make sense to preform Sati now? Sati is a new thing, it is literally named after that incident and it wasn't preformed before that happened! It is supposed to be your own choice if you want to do it, but you don't have to do it yet some people force it because of their family's honor.

3B As for widows not remarrying, what is the problem in that?? It's our bad karma that we get, and you should be loyal to your husband or wife if this happens! Honestly, it goes both ways, men shouldn't be allowed to be remarried as well since they were supposed to be loyal! It is fine if he remarries someone else while receiving the permission of his 1st wife though.

4 PLEASE do not disrespect hinduism and give yourself countless paaps! I am SURE that true followers of Hinduism who followed it in a NIRMAL way recieved mukhti such as Raja Janak/Meera/and our SIkh Bhagats who were Hindu. How else do you think they receive shaktis by living such a nirmal life? Inequality is not part of Hinduism at all! If you read my previous post with an open mind everything would make sense to you now.

5 Islam isn't part of this conversation ! In Hinduism it is your own choice if you want to go on a yatra, it doesn't say anywhere that you must! The only must yatra is when you are cremated you must have your ashes dumped into any river. I've heard katha vachaks say that we must go to Sri Harimandir Sahib at least once..!

6 Yeah, is is their culture to do what their caste works as! It is their own karma, God knows what they will go through because of their own karma, who cares about what job they do. I;m sure if they live their life well they can afford enough to feed themselves. The goal of life is to get out of the fire of DESIRE and understand mahamaya. Being rich and succesful is useless in our dharma and in hinduism. That isn't the goal of life at all, all you need to do is bhakti! Even in some of our own phats, it says words like 'A Brahmin who reads this will know the secret of the Vedas, and a Vaish who reads with will attain comfort of wealth and family.' ETC ETC. Now, if our Sri Guru ji didn't believe even 1% in our caste system, why would they write that in our phat?

7 Um, I'm sure that is a lie because there are probably countless sadhus who own priceless gold murtis/shastars which they worship and are of extreme value. They even have their own wardrobe..!

8 They are usually temples dedicated to Deva Ayyappan such as 'Sabarimala Mandir'. I'm sure that there are other temples that are dedicated to other Devas/Devis/ParBrahman that have the same rule though.

Can you take your mythological nonsense to a hindu website.

And do do some "phats" so that you get sensible enough to post here.

[Balkaar]

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[JSinghnz]

Hey, I'm just answering questions if you have something to add then it'd be fine. Please don't spam.

What part of English do you not understand? This is a Sikh website and you are mistaking it for a hindu website

with your comments about hindu mythological figures which have no importance in Sikhism. You are telling fairy tales

about your so called dieties which are meaningless for Sikhs who believe only in ONE formless God and not your "33 crore"

devi devtas you are referring to here, sri shiva, sri parvati and God knows who else.

Your fairy tales are suited for a hindu website, so entertain readers there.

[Sikhistan]

Didn't I mention that some temples have a rule of nobody who cuts their hair is allowed in?

Wow!! Such a welcoming temple. How can they bar certain types of people from entering such places and that too a religuous place. Our gurus never did that even we hold such a high importance of hair and other kakaars but we dont close doirs to anyone.

[JagsawSingh]

When I was at high school, my religious studies teacher would set us essays pertaining to the religion we were studying. Whenever we were set an essay on Sikhi, the questions were never as subtle or as philosophical as they were for other religions. The questions here would invariably be of such a nature as 'Is Sikhism a Kshatriya form of Hinduism?' or 'Is Sikhism a synthesis of Hinduism and Islam?' or 'Is Sikhism the same as Buddhism?'

Why is Sikhi victimized so often by the ignorant as being a plagiarism from or a synthesis of Hinduism and Islam, when one considers that both of these faiths, and several others, are syntheses themselves?

There's 2 ways of looking at that Balkaar. The first is to see it as a problem, i.e. the assumption that Sikhism is an off-shoot or even part of Hinduism. The second way of looking at it is the real way. See it as a golden opportunity. Academic questions like that are a golden opportunity to score excellent marks on a purely personal level and more importantly a golden opportunity to advance intellectual thinking about Sikhi in a wider academic realm.

Waheguru works in mysterious ways. Think of it this way: Hinduism, Christianity and Islam has been discussed so much on an intellectual level that one would have to come up with something pretty spectacular and original on an academic level about them in order to gain a doctorate or be published whereas the way your exam question was asked was almost begging for you to spread knowlege about Sikhism. They asked you that question in that way in High School because their function is to try to get you to think more deeply about certain things. I'm sorry to say but reading the title of the question and making inferrences from it is a fail on that front.