nogroup singh

Well, its not just sants but we should respect everyone on this earth. I fully agree with Rk that its not easy to find a true sant in this age. There was a time when sants like baba nand singh ji, Ishar singh ji were on this earth but these days most of the sants have become business-men. Politics should NOT touch sants deras but these days you can see it over there as well. I think its kalyug and we can't really do anything about it. Also, it has been mentioned in Gurbani that only bramgyani has the power to know who is right sant and who is not so I guess its out of our control unless or until we try to get to that level...

God test you on every step. Just take it as your test and if your belief/faith is strong then you won't have to worry about it. Brother its not just you but our Gurus and ancient Singhs were approached as well. You forgot the martyr/sacrifices of Choutte Shaibjaade? Guru Arjun Dev ji? Guru Tegh Bhadhur ji and so many others? Samething is happening with you and just think of themselves and it should make you proud of yourself because whenever you don't embrace them you are doing the samething which our GURUS and other singhs did but you are not getting killed for that...... Christianity/Islam Conversions are not new to this world. And don't feel bad just because you are singh and they approach you because our GURUs and ancient singhs were killed for not embracing Islam.

I have no intention to satisfy you. If you want to get satisfaction then you need to create Guru and student relation first. But its common these days that religion/GOD are easy to question and I don't find anything wrong in it but you can't understand GOD/GURu if you are looking for logic. One genetelmen asked me long time that why do we believe in GOD when we never seen it? I told him that its spirit and we believe in it and he was looking for logic behind it. And your question is similar to him. So, its not a matter of common sense and I have good amount of common sense with me so please don't take me wrong but you are not clear but any questions or post you make you just so curious to know but don't post your point of view clearly. First learn to have to patience and sense of humour to have debate. I wrote all those scriptures and if you go back then I have mentioned that please add your source of knowledge from where you getting confused or getting your logics. Please go back and read it once again. I didn't ask you to go and read all those scriptures but I have asked you for references. I love to clarify but giving satisfaction is only possible if you have faith and relation with Guru ji and he can only give you satisfaction. So again source of your knowledge and as well as references to your claims where you're trying to compare GOD/spirit of Sikhism with Christianity/Islam? May be! but not me because I believe that only GOD and Gurus are on that level where one can be convinced otherwise we would have been 1 billion sikhs by now. Guru Nanak ji were able to make 3 crores Sikhs in his lifetime and today after having so many scholars and our GREAT Guru Granth Sahib ji still we are decreasing in numbers not growing...... Yes, if you want to say that chinese is same as URDU then you may have to but not six thousands in real world you should have references to your claims. Brother from one side you're trying to make it big deal that there should be logic behind every post we make and that's how you can be convinced and on the other side without knowing the logic of Sikhism's GOD/spirit you have been comparing it... So please be logical if you really want us to be logical. Thanks! yes! To be honest you are not clear what your intentions are or what really you trying to ask.. Like one of the member asked above that please be clear what you trying to ask and let us know your point of view so we can understand it fully. Please, try to write your point of view so we can understand it fully..... Also, brother I have seen your post where you've called moderator " animal with long hair" so that tells me your tolerance as well. It was deleted but you know what im talking about... Thanks!

Guru Granth Sahib Ji ( Sikh holy scripture) is the only scripture in which you can see hyms and compositions of all the saints of Hindus and Muslims and as well as Sikhs. Get the fact below : The Gurus Guru Nanak Dev: 974 hymns including sloks and pauris Guru Angad Dev: 62 sloks Guru Amar Das: 907 hymns including sloks and pauris Guru Ram Das: 679 hymns including sloks and pauris Guru Arjan Dev: 2,218 hymns including sloks and pauris Guru Tegh Bahadur: 59 hymns and 56 sloks Guru Gobind Singh: 1 slok The Bhagatas: Saints of various faiths Kabir: 292 hymns Bhagat Kabir (1398 to 1495) was born to a Brahmin mother and raised by a muslim step mother. Bhagat Kabir was a proponent of the Bhakti movement. He lived as a householder, abhored the caste system and religious rituals. He was an saintly apostle of peace, love and unity and a great poet. Bhagat Kabir believed in inward purity, and was respected by both Hindus and Muslims. Namdev: 60 hymns Bhagat Namdev (1270 to 1350) was a celebrated saint from Maharashtra who travelled extensively across the country. He lived in Punjab for a number of years. Ravidas: 41 hymns A contemporary of Bhagat Kabir and a disciple of Bhagat Ramanand, Bhagat Ravidas represents the culmination of the Bhakti Movement. He came from a low caste cobbler family but had many desciples because of his spirituality. He stressed a life of simplicity and piety. Sheikh Farid: 4 hymns and 130 sloks Sheikh Farid (1175 to 1265) was a muslim Sufi saint of great piety. He is considered the father of Punjabi poetry. He was greatly loved for his kindness and humanity. He stressed living a simple yet purposeful life concentrating on One God. Trilochan: 4 hymns A contemporary of Bhagat Kabir and a celebrated sain of the Vaish caste. He believed in One God and condemned superficial rituals and stressed the holiness of the heart. Dhanna: 4 hymns Bhagat Dhanna was a Hindu Jaat from Rajasthan who was born in 1415. He lived most of his life as an idol worshipper but in later years became a worshipper of One God and renounced all superstitious practices. Beni: 3 hymns Probobly a contemporary of Bhagat Namdev, not much is known about him. He was unperturbed by poverty and enjoyed a life of solitude enriched by his spiritual persuits. He was a great scholar as is evident from his writings. Sheikh Bhikan: 2 hymns A muslim Sufi scholar saint Sheikh Bhikan died in the early part of Akbar's reign. He was one of the most learned men of his time. He believed that only God's name can heal a diseased mind and body. Jaidev: 2 hymns Bhagat Jaidev was a renowned poet laureate in the royal court of king Lakshman Sen of Bengal. His famous work of peotry Gita Govinda is well known for its poetic beauty and musical richness. Surdas: 1 hymn Bhagat Surdas was a Brahmin born in 1529. He was learned in Sanskrit and Persian and studied music and poetry. He was appointed a governor by emperor Akbar, but was later imprisoned for dereliction of duty. Towards the end of his life, he became a hermit and lived among holy men. Parmanand: 1 hymn Born in Maharashtra, little is known about Bhagat Parmanand's life. It is believed that he lived in Maharashtra and was a devotee of Krishna. He later became a proponent of One God. Pipa: 1 hymn Born in 1425, Bhagat Pipa was the king of the princely state of Gagaraungarh. He abducated his throne, travelled extensively and became a disciple of Bhagat Ramanand. He lived a life of extreme austerity and humility. Ramanand: 1 hymn Bhagat Ramanand, a Brahmin was born in 1359 in Madras. He is regarded as the pioneer of the Bhakti movement in northern India. A Vaishnava in his early life, he became a worshipper of brahm and condemned the caste system. Bhagat Kabir was the most renowned amongst his disciples. Sadhna: 1 hymn A butcher by profession, Bhagat Sadhana was born in Sind. His piety and meditation of God elevated him to saintly status. He was condemned by Brahmins and on a false charge was arrested and buried alive. Sain: 1 hymn Bhagat Sain was a barber of the royal court of Raja Ram, king of Rewa. He was a follower of Bhagat Ramanand and Bhagat Kabir. The Bhatts The Bhatts were a group of musicians who lived in the sixteenth century. All of them were scholars, poets and singers. Kal: 49 Swayyas Kalsahar: 4 Swayyas Tal: 1 Swayya Jalap: 4 Swayyas Jal: 1 Swayya Kirat: 8 Swayyas Sal: 3 Swayyas Bhal: 1 Swayya Nal: 6 Swayyas Bhikha: 2 Swayyas Jalan: 2 Swayyas Das: 1 Swayya Gayand: 5 Swayyas Sewak: 7 Swayyas Mathura: 10 Swayyas Bal: 5 Swayyas Harbans: 2 Swayyas Sikhs Mardana: 3 sloks Baba Mardana was a rabab (rebeck) player who spent most of his life as a disciple and musician of Guru Nanak. Born a Muslim, Baba Mardana was a childhood friend of Guru Nanak and accompanied him on all his great travels. Satta and Balwand: 1 Var Satta was a rebeck player who served Guru Angad, Guru Amar Das, Gur Ram Das and Guru Arjun Dev. Along with his fellow musician Balwand they jointly composed a ballad which appears in the Guru Granth Sahib. Sunder: 1 hymn Baba Sunder (1560-1610) was the great grandson of Guru Amar Das. His composition called Sadd (Calling) was written at the request of Guru Arjun Dev after the death of Guru Ram Das. Please visit for great information and stop disssing it for no reason as this is the great scripture we ever have which gives everyone the equal right so stop all this propaganda and BS about disrespecting GGS.... Source: http://www.sikhs.org/granth.htm

Its worth reading and to see the message we have from our Guru Granth sahib. This is something you MUST read. Hindus, Muslims, Yogis, Sikhs or Christians. Its long but its worth it! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sri Guru Granth Sahib pg 902 RAAMKALEE, FIRST MEHL, ASHTAPADEES: ONE UNIVERSAL CREATOR GOD. BY THE GRACE OF THE TRUE GURU: The same moon rises, and the same stars; the same sun shines in the sky. The earth is the same, and the same wind blows. The age in which we dwell affects living beings, but not these places. || 1 || Give up your attachment to life. Those who act like tyrants are accepted and approved - recognize that this is the sign of the Dark Age of Kali Yuga. || 1 || Pause || Kali Yuga has not been heard to have come to any country, or to be sitting at any sacred shrine. It is not where the generous person gives to charities, nor seated in the mansion he has built. || 2 || If someone practices Truth, he is frustrated; prosperity does not come to the home of the sincere. If someone chants the Lord's Name, he is scorned. These are the signs of Kali Yuga. || 3 || Whoever is in charge, is humiliated. Why should the servant be afraid, when the master is put in chains? He dies at the hands of his servant. Page 903 || 4 || Chant the Praises of the Lord; Kali Yuga has come. The justice of the previous three ages is gone. One obtains virtue, only if the Lord bestows it. || 1 || Pause || In this turbulent age of Kali Yuga, Muslim law decides the cases, and the blue-robed Qazi is the judge. The Guru's Bani has taken the place of Brahma's Veda, and the singing of the Lord's Praises are good deeds. || 5 || Worship without faith; self-discipline without truthfulness; the ritual of the sacred thread without chastity - what good are these? You may bathe and wash, and apply a ritualistic tilak mark to your forehead, but without inner purity, there is no understanding. || 6 || In Kali Yuga, the Koran and the Bible have become famous. The Pandit's scriptures and the Puraanas are not respected. O Nanak, the Lord's Name now is Rehmaan, the Merciful. Know that there is only One Creator of the creation. || 7 || Nanak has obtained the glorious greatness of the Naam, the Name of the Lord. There is no action higher than this. If someone goes out to beg for what is already in his own home, then he should be chastised. || 8 || 1 || RAAMKALEE, FIRST MEHL: You preach to the world, and set up your house. Abandoning your Yogic postures, how will you find the True Lord? You are attached to possessiveness and the love of sexual pleasure. You are not a renunciate, nor a man of the world. || 1 || Yogi, remain seated, and the pain of duality will run away from you. You beg from door to door, and you don't feel ashamed. || 1 || Pause || You sing the songs, but you do not understand your own self. How will the burning pain within be relieved? Through the Word of the Guru's Shabad, let your mind be absorbed in the Lord's Love, and you will intuitively experience the charity of contemplation. || 2 || You apply ashes to your body, while acting in hypocrisy. Attached to Maya, you will be beaten by Death's heavy club. Your begging bowl is broken; it will not hold the charity of the Lord's Love. Bound in bondage, you come and go. || 3 || You do not control your seed and semen, and yet you claim to practice abstinence. You beg from Maya, lured by the three qualities. You have no compassion; the Lord's Light does not shine in you. You are drowned, drowned in worldly entanglements. || 4 || You wear religious robes, and your patched coat assumes many disguises. You play all sorts of false tricks, like a juggler. The fire of anxiety burns brightly within you. Without the karma of good actions, how can you cross over? || 5 || You make ear-rings of glass to wear in your ears. But liberation does not come from learning without understanding. You are lured by the tastes of the tongue and sex organs. You have become a beast; this sign cannot be erased. || 6 || The people of the world are entangled in the three modes; the Yogis are entangled in the three modes. Contemplating the Word of the Shabad, sorrows are dispelled. Through the Shabad, one becomes radiant, pure and truthful. One who contemplates the true lifestyle is a Yogi. || 7 || The nine treasures are with You, Lord; You are potent, the Cause of causes. You establish and disestablish; whatever You do, happens. One who practices celibacy, chastity, self-control, truth and pure consciousness - O Nanak, that Yogi is the friend of the three worlds. || 8 || 2 || RAAMKALEE, FIRST MEHL: Above the six chakras of the body dwells the detached mind. Awareness of the vibration of the Word of the Shabad has been awakened deep within. The unstruck melody of the sound current resonates and resounds within; my mind is attuned to it. Through the Guru's Teachings, my faith is confirmed in the True Name. || 1 || O mortal, through devotion to the Lord, peace is obtained. Page 904 The Lord, Har, Har, seems sweet to the Gurmukh, who merges in the Name of the Lord, Har, Har. || 1 || Pause || Eradicating attachment to Maya, one merges into the Lord. Meeting with the True Guru, we unite in His Union. The Naam, the Name of the Lord, is a priceless jewel, a diamond. Attuned to it, the mind is comforted and encouraged. || 2 || The diseases of egotism and possessiveness do not afflict one who worships the Lord. Fear of the Messenger of Death runs away. The Messenger of Death, the enemy of the soul, does not touch me at all. The Immaculate Name of the Lord illuminates my heart. || 3 || Contemplating the Shabad, we become Nirankaari - we come to belong to the Formless Lord God. Awakening to the Guru's Teachings, evil-mindedness is taken away. Remaining awake and aware night and day, lovingly focused on the Lord, one becomes Jivan Mukta - liberated while yet alive. He finds this state deep within himself. || 4 || In the secluded cave, I remain unattached. With the Word of the Shabad, I have killed the five thieves. My mind does not waver or go to the home of any other. I remain intuitively absorbed deep within. || 5 || As Gurmukh, I remain awake and aware, unattached. Forever detached, I am woven into the essence of reality. The world is asleep; it dies, and comes and goes in reincarnation. Without the Word of the Guru's Shabad, it does not understand. || 6 || The unstruck sound current of the Shabad vibrates day and night. The Gurmukh knows the state of the eternal, unchanging Lord God. When someone realizes the Shabad, then he truly knows. The One Lord is permeating and pervading everywhere in Nirvaanaa. || 7 || My mind is intuitively absorbed in the state of deepest Samaadhi; renouncing egotism and greed, I have come to know the One Lord. When the disciple's mind accepts the Guru, O Nanak, duality is eradicated, and he merges in the Lord. || 8 || 3 || RAAMKALEE, FIRST MEHL: You calculate the auspicious days, but you do not understand that the One Creator Lord is above these auspicious days. He alone knows the way, who meets the Guru. When one follows the Guru's Teachings, then he realizes the Hukam of God's Command. || 1 || Do not tell lies, O Pandit; O religious scholar, speak the Truth. When egotism is eradicated through the Word of the Shabad, then one finds His home. || 1 || Pause || Calculating and counting, the astrologer draws the horoscope. He studies it and announces it, but he does not understand reality. Understand, that the Word of the Guru's Shabad is above all. Do not speak of anything else; it is all just ashes. || 2 || You bathe, wash, and worship stones. But without being imbued with the Lord, you are the filthiest of the filthy. Subduing your pride, you shall receive the supreme wealth of God. The mortal is liberated and emancipated, meditating on the Lord. || 3 || You study the arguments, but do not contemplate the Vedas. You drown yourself - how will you save your ancestors? How rare is that person who realizes that God is in each and every heart. When one meets the True Guru, then he understands. || 4 || Making his calculations, cynicism and suffering afflict his soul. Seeking the Sanctuary of the Guru, peace is found. I sinned and made mistakes, but now I seek Your Sanctuary. The Guru led me to meet the Lord, according to my past actions. || 5 || If one does not enter the Guru's Sanctuary, God cannot be found. Deluded by doubt, one is born, only to die, and come back again. Dying in corruption, he is bound and gagged at Death's door. The Naam, the Name of the Lord, is not in his heart, and he does not act according to the Shabad. || 6 || Some call themselves Pandits, religious scholars and spiritual teachers. Page 905 Tinged with double-mindedness, they do not find the Mansion of the Lord's Presence. One who takes the Support of the Naam, by Guru's Grace, is a rare person, one among millions, incomparable. || 7 || One is bad, and another good, but the One True Lord is contained in all. Understand this, O spiritual teacher, through the support of the True Guru: rare indeed is that Gurmukh, who realizes the One Lord. His comings and goings cease, and he merges in the Lord. || 8 || Those who have the One Universal Creator Lord within their hearts, possess all virtues; they contemplate the True Lord. One who acts in harmony with the Guru's Will, O Nanak, is absorbed in the Truest of the True. || 9 || 4 || RAAMKALEE, FIRST MEHL: Practicing restraint by Hatha Yoga, the body wears away. The mind is not softened by fasting or austerities. Nothing else is equal to worship of the Lord's Name. || 1 || Serve the Guru, O mind, and associate with the humble servants of the Lord. The tyrannical Messenger of Death cannot touch you, and the serpent of Maya cannot sting you, when you drink in the sublime essence of the Lord. || 1 || Pause || The world reads the arguments, and is softened only by music. In the three modes and corruption, they are born and die. Without the Lord's Name, they endure suffering and pain. || 2 || The Yogi draws the breath upwards, and opens the Tenth Gate. He practices inner cleansing and the six rituals of purification. But without the Lord's Name, the breath he draws is useless. || 3 || The fire of the five passions burns within him; how can he be calm? The thief is within him; how can he taste the taste? One who becomes Gurmukh conquers the body-fortress. || 4 || With filth within, he wanders around at places of pilgrimage. His mind is not pure, so what is the use of performing ritual cleansings? He carries the karma of his own past actions; who else can he blame? || 5 || He does not eat food; he tortures his body. Without the Guru's wisdom, he is not satisfied. The self-willed manmukh is born only to die, and be born again. || 6 || Go, and ask the True Guru, and associate with the Lord's humble servants. Your mind shall merge into the Lord, and you shall not be reincarnated to die again. Without the Lord's Name, what can anyone do? || 7 || Silence the mouse scurrying around within you. Serve the Primal Lord, by chanting the Lord's Name. O Nanak, God blesses us with His Name, when He grants His Grace. || 8 || 5 || RAAMKALEE, FIRST MEHL: The created Universe emanated from within You; there is no other at all. Whatever is said to be, is from You, O God. He is the True Lord and Master, throughout the ages. Creation and destruction do not come from anyone else. || 1 || Such is my Lord and Master, profound and unfathomable. Whoever meditates on Him, finds peace. The arrow of the Messenger of Death does not strike one who has the Name of the Lord. || 1 || Pause || The Naam, the Name of the Lord, is a priceless jewel, a diamond. The True Lord Master is immortal and immeasurable. That tongue which chants the True Name is pure. The True Lord is in the home of the self; there is no doubt about it. || 2 || Some sit in the forests, and some make their home in the mountains. Forgetting the Naam, they rot away in egotistical pride. Without the Naam, what is the use of spiritual wisdom and meditation? The Gurmukhs are honored in the Court of the Lord. || 3 || Acting stubbornly in egotism, one does not find the Lord. Page 906 Studying the scriptures, reading them to other people, and wandering around at places of pilgrimage, the disease is not taken away. Without the Naam, how can one find peace? || 4 || No matter how much he tries, he cannot control his semen and seed. His mind wavers, and he falls into hell. Bound and gagged in the City of Death, he is tortured. Without the Name, his soul cries out in agony. || 5 || The many Siddhas and seekers, silent sages and demi-gods cannot satisfy themselves by practicing restraint through Hatha Yoga. One who contemplates the Word of the Shabad, and serves the Guru - his mind and body become immaculate, and his egotistical pride is obliterated. || 6 || Blessed with Your Grace, I obtain the True Name. I remain in Your Sanctuary, in loving devotion. Love for Your devotional worship has welled up within me. As Gurmukh, I chant and meditate on the Lord's Name. || 7 || When one is rid of egotism and pride, his mind is drenched in the Lord's Love. Practicing fraud and hypocrisy, he does not find God. Without the Word of the Guru's Shabad, he cannot find the Lord's Door. O Nanak, the Gurmukh contemplates the essence of reality. || 8 || 6 || RAAMKALEE, FIRST MEHL: As you come, so will you leave, you fool; as you were born, so will you die. As you enjoy pleasures, so will you suffer pain. Forgetting the Naam, the Name of the Lord, you will fall into the terrifying world-ocean. || 1 || Gazing upon your body and wealth, you are so proud. Your love for gold and sexual pleasures increases; why have you forgotten the Naam, and why do you wander in doubt? || 1 || Pause || You do not practice truth, abstinence, self-discipline or humility; the ghost within your skeleton has turned to dry wood. You have not practiced charity, donations, cleansing baths or austerities. Without the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy, your life has gone in vain. || 2 || Attached to greed, you have forgotten the Naam. Coming and going, your life has been ruined. When the Messenger of Death grabs you by your hair, you will be punished. You are unconscious, and have fallen into Death's mouth. || 3 || Day and night, you jealously slander others; in your heart, you have neither the Naam, nor compassion for all. Without the Word of the Guru's Shabad, you will not find salvation or honor. Without the Lord's Name, you shall go to hell. || 4 || In an instant, you change into various costumes, like a juggler; you are entangled in emotional attachment and sin. You gaze here and there upon the expanse of Maya; you are intoxicated with attachment to Maya. || 5 || You act in corruption, and put on ostentatious shows, but without awareness of the Shabad, you have fallen into confusion. You suffer great pain from the disease of egotism. Following the Guru's Teachings, you shall be rid of this disease. || 6 || Seeing peace and wealth come to him, the faithless cynic become proud in his mind. But He who owns this body and wealth, takes them back again, and then the mortal feels anxiety and pain deep within. || 7 || At the very last instant, nothing goes along with you; all is visible only by His Mercy. God is our Primal and Infinite Lord; enshrining the Lord's Name in the heart, one crosses over. || 8 || You weep for the dead, but who hears you weeping? The dead have fallen to the serpent in the terrifying world-ocean. Page 907 Gazing upon his family, wealth, household and mansions, the faithless cynic is entangled in worthless worldly affairs. || 9 || He comes when the Lord sends him; when the Lord calls him back, he goes. Whatever he does, the Lord is doing. The Forgiving Lord forgives him. || 10 || I seek to be with those who have tasted this sublime essence of the Lord. Wealth, miraculous spiritual powers, wisdom and spiritual knowledge, are obtained from the Guru. The treasure of liberation is obtained in His Sanctuary. || 11 || The Gurmukh looks upon pain and pleasure as one and the same; he remains untouched by joy and sorrow. Conquering his self-conceit, the Gurmukh finds the Lord; O Nanak, he intuitively merges into the Lord. || 12 || 7 || RAAMKALEE, DAKHANEE, FIRST MEHL: Abstinence, chastity, self-control and truthfulness have been implanted within me; I am imbued with the sublime essence of the True Word of the Shabad. || 1 || My Merciful Guru remains forever imbued with the Lord's Love. Day and night, He remains lovingly focused on the One Lord; gazing upon the True Lord, He is pleased. || 1 || Pause || He abides in the Tenth Gate, and looks equally upon all; He is imbued with the unstruck sound current of the Shabad. || 2 || Wearing the loin-cloth of chastity, He remains absorbed in the all-pervading Lord; His tongue enjoys the taste of God's Love. || 3 || The One who created the creation has met the True Guru; contemplating the Guru's lifestyle, He is pleased. || 4 || All are in the One, and the One is in all. This is what the True Guru has shown me. || 5 || He who created the worlds, solar systems and galaxies - that God cannot be known. || 6 || From the lamp of God, the lamp within is lit; the Divine Light illuminates the three worlds. || 7 || The Guru sits on the true throne in the true mansion; He is attuned, absorbed in the Fearless Lord. || 8 || The Guru, the detached Yogi, has enticed the hearts of all; He plays His harp in each and every heart. || 9 || O Nanak, in God's Sanctuary, one is emancipated; the True Guru becomes our true help and support. || 10 || 8 || RAAMKALEE, FIRST MEHL: He has made His home in the monastery of the heart; He has infused His power into the earth and the sky. || 1 || Through the Word of the Shabad, the Gurmukhs have saved so very many, O Saints. || 1 || Pause || He conquers attachment, and eradicates egotism, and sees Your Divine Light pervading the three worlds, Lord. || 2 || He conquers desire, and enshrines the Lord within his mind; he contemplates the Word of the True Guru's Shabad. || 3 || The horn of consciousness vibrates the unstruck sound current; Your Light illuminates each and every heart, Lord. || 4 || He plays the flute of the universe in his mind, and lights the fire of God. || 5 || Bringing together the five elements, day and night, the Lord's lamp shines with the Immaculate Light of the Infinite. || 6 || The right and left nostrils, the sun and the moon channels, are the strings of the body-harp; they vibrate the wondrous melody of the Shabad. || 7 || The true hermit obtains a seat in the City of God, the invisible, inaccessible, infinite. || 8 || The mind is the king of the city of the body; the five sources of knowledge dwell within it. || 9 || Seated in his home, this king chants the Shabad; he administers justice and virtue. || 10 || What can poor death or birth say to him? Conquering his mind, he remains dead while yet alive. Page 908 || 11 || Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are manifestations of the One God. He Himself is the Doer of deeds. || 12 || One who purifies his body, crosses over the terrifying world-ocean; he contemplates the essence of his own soul. || 13 || Serving the Guru, he finds everlasting peace; deep within, the Shabad permeates him, coloring him with virtue. || 14 || The Giver of virtue unites with Himself, one who conquers egotism and desire. || 15 || Eradicating the three qualities, dwell in the fourth state. This is the unparalleled devotional worship. || 16 || This is the Yoga of the Gurmukh: Through the Shabad, he understands his own soul, and he enshrines within his heart the One Lord. || 17 || Imbued with the Shabad, his mind becomes steady and stable; this is the most excellent action. || 18 || This true hermit does not enter into religious debates or hypocrisy; the Gurmukh contemplates the Shabad. || 19 || The Gurmukh practices Yoga - he is the true hermit; he practices abstinence and truth, and contemplates the Shabad. || 20 || One who dies in the Shabad and conquers his mind is the true hermit; he understands the Way of Yoga. || 21 || Attachment to Maya is the terrifying world-ocean; through the Shabad, the true hermit saves himself, and his ancestors as well. || 22 || Contemplating the Shabad, you shall be a hero throughout the four ages, O hermit; contemplate the Word of the Guru's Bani in devotion. || 23 || This mind is enticed by Maya, O hermit; contemplating the Shabad, you shall find release. || 24 || He Himself forgives, and unites in His Union; Nanak seeks Your Sanctuary, Lord. || 25 || 9 || Sri Guru Granth page 340 RAAG GAUREE POORBEE, BAAWAN AKHREE OF KABEER JEE: ONE UNIVERSAL CREATOR GOD. TRUTH IS THE NAME. CREATIVE BEING PERSONIFIED. BY GURU'S GRACE: Through these fifty-two letters, the three worlds and all things are described. These letters shall perish; they cannot describe the Imperishable Lord. Wherever there is speech, there are letters. Where there is no speech, there, the mind rests on nothing. He is in both speech and silence. No one can know Him as He is. If I come to know the Lord, what can I say; what good does it do to speak? He is contained in the seed of the banyan-tree, and yet, His expanse spreads across the three worlds. One who knows the Lord understands His mystery, and bit by bit, the mystery disappears. Turning away from the world, one's mind is pierced through with this mystery, and one obtains the Indestructible, Impenetrable Lord. The Muslim knows the Muslim way of life; the Hindu knows the Vedas and Puraanas. To instruct their minds, people ought to study some sort of spiritual wisdom. I know only the One, the Universal Creator, the Primal Being. I do not believe in anyone whom the Lord writes and erases. If someone knows the One, the Universal Creator, he shall not perish, since he knows Him. KAKKA: When the rays of Divine Light come into the heart-lotus, the moon-light of Maya cannot enter the basket of the mind. And if one obtains the subtle fragrance of that spiritual flower, he cannot describe the indescribable; he could speak, but who would understand? KHAKHA: The mind has entered this cave. It does not leave this cave to wander in the ten directions. Knowing their Lord and Master, people show compassion; then, they become immortal, and attain the state of eternal dignity. GAGGA: One who understands the Guru's Word does not listen to anything else. He remains like a hermit and does not go anywhere, when he grasps the Ungraspable Lord and dwells in the sky of the Tenth Gate. GHAGHA: He dwells in each and every heart. Even when the body-pitcher bursts, he does not diminish. When someone finds the Path to the Lord within his own heart, why should he abandon that Path to follow some other path? NGANGA: Restrain yourself, love the Lord, and dismiss your doubts. EVEN IF YOU DO NOT SEE THE PATH, DO NOT RUN AWAY; THIS IS THE HIGHEST WISDOM. CHACHA: He painted the great picture of the world. Forget this picture, and remember the Painter. This wondrous painting is now the problem. Forget this picture and focus your consciousness on the Painter. CHHACHHA: The Sovereign Lord of the Universe is here with you. Why are you so unhappy? Why don't you abandon your desires? O my mind, each and every moment I try to instruct you, but you forsake Him, and entangle yourself with others. JAJJA: If someone burns his body while he is still alive, and burns away the desires of his youth, then he finds the right way. When he burns his desire for his own wealth, and that of others, then he finds the Divine Light. Page 341 JHAJHA: You are entangled in the world, and you do not know how to get untangled. You hold back in fear, and are not approved by the Lord. WHY DO YOU TALK SUCH NONSENSE, TRYING TO CONVINCE OTHERS? STIRRING UP ARGUMENTS, YOU SHALL ONLY OBTAIN MORE ARGUMENTS. NYANYA: He dwells near you, deep within your heart; why do you leave Him and go far away? I searched the whole world for Him, but I found Him near myself. TATTA: It is such a difficult path, to find Him within your own heart. Open the doors within, and enter the Mansion of His Presence. Beholding the Immovable Lord, you shall not slip and go anywhere else. You shall remain firmly attached to the Lord, and your heart will be happy. T'HAT'HA: Keep yourself far away from this mirage. With great difficulty, I have calmed my mind. That cheater, who cheated and devoured the whole world - I have cheated that cheater, and my mind is now at peace. DADDA: When the Fear of God wells up, other fears depart. Other fears are absorbed into that Fear. When one rejects the Fear of God, then other fears cling to him. But if he becomes fearless, the fears of his heart run away. DHADHA: Why do you search in other directions? Searching for Him like this, the breath of life runs out. When I returned after climbing the mountain, I found Him in the fortress - the fortress which He Himself made. NANNA: The warrior who fights on the battle-field should keep up and press on. He should not yield, and he should not retreat. Blessed is the coming of one who conquers the one and renounces the many. TATTA: The impassable world-ocean cannot be crossed over; the body remains embroiled in the three worlds. But when the Lord of the three worlds enters into the body, then one's essence merges with the essence of reality, and the True Lord is attained. T'HAT'HA: He is Unfathomable; His depths cannot be fathomed. He is Unfathomable; this body is impermanent, and unstable. The mortal builds his dwelling upon this tiny space; without any pillars, he wishes to support a mansion. DADDA: Whatever is seen shall perish. Contemplate the One who is unseen. When the key is inserted in the Tenth Gate, then the Blessed Vision of the Merciful Lord's Darshan is seen. DHADHA: When one ascends from the lower realms of the earth to the higher realms of the heavens, then everything is resolved. The Lord dwells in both the lower and higher worlds. Leaving the earth, the soul ascends to the heavens; then, the lower and higher join together, and peace is obtained. NANNA: The days and nights go by; I am looking for the Lord. Looking for Him, my eyes have become blood-shot. After looking and looking,when He is finally found, then the one who was looking merges into the One who was looked for. PAPPA: He is limitless; His limits cannot be found. I have attuned myself to the Supreme Light. One who controls his five senses rises above both sin and virtue. FAFFA: Even without the flower, the fruit is produced. One who looks at a slice of that fruit and reflects on it, will not be consigned to reincarnation. A slice of that fruit slices all bodies. BABBA: When one drop blends with another drop, then these drops cannot be separated again. Become the Lord's slave, and hold tight to His meditation. Page 342 If you turn your thoughts to the Lord, the Lord will take care of you like a relative. BHABHA: When doubt is pierced, union is achieved. I have shattered my fear, and now I have come to have faith. I thought that He was outside of me, but now I know that He is within me. When I came to understand this mystery, then I recognized the Lord. MAMMA: Clinging to the source, the mind is satisfied. One who knows this mystery understands his own mind. Let no one delay in uniting his mind. Those who obtain the True Lord are immersed in delight. MAMMA: The mortal's business is with his own mind; one who disciplines his mind attains perfection. Only the mind can deal with the mind; says Kabeer, I have not met anything like the mind. This mind is Shakti; this mind is Shiva. This mind is the life of the five elements. When this mind is channeled, and guided to enlightenment, it can describe the secrets of the three worlds. YAYYA: If you know anything, then destroy your evil-mindedness, and subjugate the body-village. When you are engaged in the battle, don't run away; then, you shall be known as a spiritual hero. RARRA: I have found tastes to be tasteless. Becoming tasteless, I have realized that taste. Abandoning these tastes, I have found that taste. Drinking in that taste, this taste is no longer pleasing. LALLA: Embrace such love for the Lord in your mind, that you shall not have to go to any other; you shall attain the supreme truth. And if you embrace love and affection for Him there, then you shall obtain the Lord; obtaining Him, you shall be absorbed in His Feet. WAWA: Time and time again, dwell upon the Lord. Dwelling upon the Lord, defeat shall not come to you. I am a sacrifice, a sacrifice to those, who sing the praises of the Saints, the sons of the Lord. Meeting the Lord, total Truth is obtained. WAWA: Know Him. By knowing Him, this mortal becomes Him. When this soul and that Lord are blended, then, having been blended, they cannot be known separately. SASSA: Discipline your mind with sublime perfection. Refrain from that talk which attracts the heart. The heart is attracted, when love wells up. The King of the three worlds is perfectly pervading and permeating there. KHAKHA: Anyone who seeks Him, and by seeking Him, finds Him, shall not be born again. When someone seeks Him, and comes to understand and contemplate Him, then he crosses over the terrifying world-ocean in an instant. SASSA: The bed of the soul-bride is adorned by her Husband Lord; her skepticism is dispelled. Renouncing the shallow pleasures of the world, she obtains the supreme delight. Then, she is the soul-bride; He is called her Husband Lord. HAHA: He exists, but He is not known to exist. When He is known to exist, then the mind is pleased and appeased. Of course the Lord exists, if one could only understand Him. Then, He alone exists, and not this mortal being. Everyone goes around saying, "I'll take this, and I'll take that." Because of that, they suffer in terrible pain. When someone comes to love the Lord of Lakhshmi, his sorrow departs, and he obtains total peace. KHAKHA: Many have wasted their lives, and then perished. Wasting away, they do not remember the Lord, even now. But if someone, even now, comes to know the transitory nature of the world and restrain his mind, he shall find his permanent home, from which he was separated. Page 343 The fifty-two letters have been joined together. But people cannot recognize the One Word of God. Kabeer speaks the Shabad, the Word of Truth. One who is a Pandit, a religious scholar, must remain fearless. It is the business of the scholarly person to join letters. The spiritual person contemplates the essence of reality. According to the wisdom within the mind, says Kabeer, so does one come to understand.

Not true, but I would like to see your references to back up your comments and then I will provide you to back up my points. How much time do you think you need to prove that Sikhism and other religions have the same teaching about life? I hope you will come up with references to prove your point? Yes, one can't rely on them blindly. Also, I would like to see references otherwise don't expect us to discuss it with you because we don't want to waste time for personal opinions. If you have solid evidences to prove your points then you are more than welcome to discuss it further. im waiting for your logical references that I have asked you above and oince you provide me then we will discuss it logically. I hope you will keep your words and try to discuss it logically as well? Because so far I've seen that you just post but there are no references/evidences with your posts...

Where do you stand as far as it goes to Sikhism's knowledge? Should I assume that you have done studying Hinduism/sikhism/Christianity/Islam? Ok here are few questions for you. Hinduism is a vedic religion so until or unless you don't understand their vedas, you can't compare their beliefs with other religions. If I go by your claims and questions then it seems like you have done studying the Vedas, Smiritis and Upnashids? Are you sure you have done it? If you really want to ask questions or want to claim something then please have some evidences to prove yourself that you know what you talking about... Let me know if you have done studing following sacred scriptures of Hinduism? As I can see that you are ready to compare them. If not then what's your source to claim your points you have posted above? 1. The Rig-Veda 2. Rig-Veda (Sanskrit) 3. The Sama-Veda 4. The Yajur Veda 5. The Atharva-Veda 6. The Upanishads 7. The Laws of Manu 8. The Dharma Sutras 9. The Institutes of Vishnu 10. The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva 11. The Mahabharata, Book 2: Sabha Parva 12. Rámáyan Of Válmíki 13. Indian Idylls 14. The Bhagavadgîtâ 15. The Vedântâ-Sûtras 16. The Vedântâ-Sûtras 17. The Devî Gita 18. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 19. The Sánkhya Aphorisms of Kapila 20. Songs of Kabîr Are you done with everything I have mentioned above? If you say yes then I will ask you few questions and let me know when you have time to come on this site, and we will have real time discussion..... Yes, we believe in recarnation and its not illogical and I will discuss that later on but first let me have references to your claims that those explanations are illogical. Are those your personal claims or do you have real solid evidences to prove that Islam and Christianity have the same concept? It's easy to say than proving so please if you really want to discuss then bring me references to prove your points. I will wait for your references.

The term "Brahminical" is usually associated with the ritual-obsessed form of vedic religion and the related caste repression. It is a standard construct in the historical narrative of subcontinent. It has got nothing to do with a person belonging to "Brahmin" caste as such and includes all paradigms and persuasions that justify decadent vedic religious and social practices. A person belonging to lowest caste showing respect for these paradigms and persuasions would as much be labeled "Brahminical". And all Jats, Khatris, Ramgarihas , etc who show respect to these paradigms, conveniently ignoring Sikh injunctions against them, are as much "Brahminical" .

Actually when I see comments like that where we hide our faults and throw everything on others it doesn't make sense to me. Hinduism is world's old religion and still alive. Just look at Sikhism we're just 500 years old and have all the qualities to become world's religion but we are not even able to keep the ones are Sikhs. Now fault is our but we just want to blame others for our own faults. Who brought caste system to Sikhism? Hindus? Who is following caste system in Sikhism? Hindus? Gurus and Sikhism has not failed but we are not fully dedicated to adopt their teachings. We have developed jathas and cults within Sikhism and after 500 years of sikhism's exisiting we still need anwser that who is Sikh... It makes me really sad... Sikh Gurus or Sikhism is not against any religion or faith. Sikhism is against fake rituals and abusrd teachings. Sikhism is not something which we should use to throw our frustration because that way we just belittle our religion. Sikhism is for everyone. This is the reason that whoever is done reading Guru Granth Sahib has great respect for Sikhism. Hinduism has two major wrong teachings and one is caste system and another one was injustice to woman. If they take out these two and stop following Manu Smiritu blindly then it has all the qualities to be called best spritual path. Guru ji opposed blind rituals like caste system and disrespect to women they didn't say that Vedas or Hindus are evil. Here is evidence to back up my points.

Garbroo, If you want to prove them that Sikhism is distinct religion then you have to make sure that you have enough evidences to prove them wrong and have them change their description. Here are the evidences just print them and make one folder so whenever you talk to them you have something to back up your claims. Here is a discussion which will help you just print all the articles. http://www.sikhnet.com/sikhnet/discussion....89?OpenDocument Few more links im posting here and use them a evidences as well. Sikhism and other religions. http://www.sikhs.org/religion.htm This is the ultimate guide for Sikhism's distinctive identity. http://www.sikhi.org.uk/articles/files/sikhidistincta4.pdf Note: Print all the articles and then present them to your university and hopefully they will understand your point. Let us know what they have to say and we will discuss it further.

Why not read the following article as well? http://www.sikhe.com/gsdno/articles/letter..._letusthink.htm

I have seen it so many times during my debates that we ignore the whole message and just pick one or two lines from Sri Guru Granth Sahib just to give wrong picture of Gurbani. Read full page: Rahitnama Bhai Daya Singh (I think) says "The primary Rahit of a Sikh is to take amrit". Guru Gobind Singh said "Rahit is more important to me than a Sikh". Are these just to be ignored? I found an interesting part of the rahit here. http://www.sikhitothemax.com/Rehat.asp?ID=17 http://www.sikhitothemax.com/Rehat.asp?ID=93 http://www.sikhitothemax.com/Rehat.asp?ID=87

Following response sent for this debate http://www.faithfreedom.org/debates/sikhism.htm but Ali Sina didn't add it to his website just to show his freethinker mind. I thought anyone who surf that site will read the response to the original post. But since only Ali's response has been mention specifically, I would like to post Ryan's response to Ali's views. Further there is no response from Ali to Ryan. Ryan Ryan <ryan_american@yahoo.com> Ryan Responds to Ali Sina on Sikhism: Hi Ali, I sent you an e-mail about 2 days ago and havent recieved a reply, so I guess youre busy. Here is my response to your Sikhism debate. Please add it when you have the chance. I have dissected this argument so I can make my points easier. Yes Ali, there are good things in these religions but there are also some absurdities right? I mean many absurdities regardless of the way they are interpreted? I mean literal ones not philosophical ones (depending on the philosophy of course!). Well Ill try and help you out there. Well Sikhs are only human and do not necessarily reflect their faith. There are many African Americans who are criminals, doesn?t mean the actual ?race? is bad right? Still, that?s a political and financial dispute, it?s not over the actual religion they are fighting. Jesus said a lot of things, they weren?t all necessarily ?good?. In a way Christ had a good point but that doesn?t mean this standard is the right one to apply in all cases. Again if we look at the African Americans, they have a high crime rate and a high prison population. Doesn?t mean that all black people are bad does it? Most likely it?s the environment they are bought up in. Well they?re only human. Bill Gates is a very shrewd businessman, he is famous for it, his company?s products are often criticized as being of poor quality and functionality, it still doesn?t make him a bad person does it? He has given away millions to charity and poor people! So at least you know that they are not ALL bad. :-) Well like I said, there?s always a few who spoil the party. Good and noble goal, I wish you well. Why? Have you studies ALL religions? Good, so do I, and so does Sikhism. Sikh literally means a ?seeker of truth? Yes, most religions are, but not Sikhism. True to a point but not in Sikhism. In this religion, its Gurus (literally meaning ?Teachers?) taught people to stop believing in nonsense ideas and pointless rituals. They encouraged free thinking and the use of common sense. The religion started in a place called Punjab, in the modern day country of India, it began in the 1400?s. India was ruled by the Muslims at that time, but the majority religion was Hinduism. The Gurus pointed out the absurdities in both and said that the Hindu ?caste system? and ill treatment of women was wrong. They stated that ALL people are equal, they even said that they were not superior in anyway, they were ordinary people who believed in goodness and love of all humanity, they want to encourage others to think they same way. Sikhism is the only religion which clearly says that ?Women are equal to men?, as well as many other noble teachings. I know Baha?I claims the same about equality but Sikhism said it first! Ali why do we go to school? Because we need to learn about things we don?t know and to get educated in general as well as to become ?better? people. The teachers are more or less our guides, they teach us important information etc. Not in Sikhism, it says that you are allowed to think anything you want, you are allowed to question everything in it. I have done it myself and have come to the conclusion it?s a great faith. But Ill explain that later. Again, not the case in Sikhism. In fact, Sikhism is quite in tune with Science. It is the only religion I have seen that doesn?t go against evolution! Also Doctor Smith in his initial post mentioned some other facts in Sikhism. This is quite amazing when you consider that the religion is more than 500 years old and nobody else knew that information in the 1400?s!. No Ali, in Sikhism, the Gurus only guide you to be a better person, they encourage you too look for knowledge and to better your life and of those around you. If a problem comes up then the words of the Guru are there to guide you but you don?t have to follow them if you ?think? you know better. However, I haven?t seen anything bad in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS), the Sikh holy scriptures which gives bad advice. Theres a lot of great advice. So what? What?s wrong with that? No Ali, this is not backwardness, now you are applying your own personal standards of what is ?modern? ? what gives YOU that right? Tomorrow some young high school kid might tell you that you?re ?1970?s? style hair cut is ?backward? Now would that be right? :-) Does that mean that the young man is right? No, because even if we ignore the religious reason, its can still be all about personal choice. Many people wear a baseball cap, is that backwards? They as citizens have every right to be treated equally. Wearing a turban is a symbol of their faith. There is no harm in them wearing it. Or do you feel it is harmful in some way? Ali, are you intolerant or what? If you are getting mugged or about to be killed and some guy with comes and saves your life, are you gonna say ?no don?t save me, you have a turban on!?? Who cares? How does it get in the way of him saving your life? Also how did they bend a rule? Not all rules are right are they? Look at how many laws get repealed. Only as recently as 1993, millions of people were treated as second class citizens in South Africa (their OWN country!). It was the law that blacks can not go in white areas! Now tell me, was it wrong for the politicians to repeal the evil Apartheid rules? Was it right for Nazi Germany to make laws to persecute Jews? Was Gandhi right to break the ?salt? law in which he asserted his right to go to the sea and make salt? Not all laws are necessarily right or good. Yes but other religions also have absurdities which are absurd beyond belief. Sikhism doesn?t have these absurdities. I am not talking about the philosophical parts of a faith as philosophy is open to interpretation. When some guy said ?The World is your oyster? he didn?t mean it in the litteral sense. Do you see my point? I mean the parts like when it says ?kill all the unbelievers? in the Koran. This isn?t philosophy, this is a CLEAR instruction. It is absurdities like these I am talking about. FACT? Careful Ali, now you may be jumping to some obscure conclusions :-) Really? Based on what? I beg to differ Ali. Ill do this later in the debate. But I seriously think that the Baha?i faith is fundamentally flawed. Again you apply YOUR own standards, what if a kid says ?Hey Ali, whats with the grandfather 70?s clothes?? Again on what grounds do you say it is outdated? Clothes are clothes. What about mini skirts? They came out in the 60?s and went out. They are back in again. Indian women have worn saris (a long cloth type garment wrapped around there bodies) for 5000 years, they still wear them. Again my learned friend just because YOU consider something outdated, doesn?t mean it is. Clothes are a part of individual choice. Also they are optional, not mandatory. Symbolic only, it is not mandatory but again, what?s wrong with long hair? There are many people in Scandanavian countries who have long hair, again there are many Sikhs who have hair cuts too. There is a choice. This is a symbolic item, it is actually meant for protection of the weak and defenceless. It doesn?t have to be a big dagger in this day and age, you can get a key ring size one. Its all symbolic nowadays Ali. But in some countries you would do well to carry one. In Mughal India, they had to carry one as they were being heavily persecuted. These days of course there is no persecution, now its like the cross that Christians wear, only symbolic. Depends on which violence your talking about Ali, if you actually read Sikh history then you?ll see that they fought in both World Wars against the Nazis and many defensive wars in India against the Islamic invaders and persecutors. You should know what this feels like because your own country Iran is a defeated nation, whereas Sikhs are not. (no offence) Violence is not always a bad or evil thing, sometimes it makes the difference between survival and extinction! Even I praise them for their bravery. The Doctor is right to do so. Ali, if you knew anything about Indian history then you?ll understand why the Sikhs HAD to fight. The Baha?I were in Iran in the 19th century, by this time Islam in Iran was nothing compared to tyrannical Mughal India. The Baha?I would have been wiped out in 16th century India, like the millions of non-violent Buddhists in Sindh province were!. The Sikhs used non-violence for 200 years but it didn?t soften the Muslims resolve to convert them by force. 80 million Hindus were slaughtered because of using non-violence, tell me, how much crap should a person put up with? Until they are nearly wiped out? Look at Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kashmir etc. They are Muslim majority nations, you know why? Because they didn?t fight back, they were defeated and are now enslaved in Islam. Sounds similar to Iran. Where did non-violence get the Buddhists in Afghanistan? They were crushed easily and were forced converted to Islam, the effects of which are still being felt today. (Taliban etc.) No Ali, non-violence when taken to absurd limits is sheer STUPIDITY! Not bravery. When a person is willing to risk their own neck for the sake of others, that is bravery. When one fights back to protect their people and family, their rights to freedom and liberty, instead of ?submitting? like a coward, that is bravery. Gandhi was a believer in non-violence and it worked against the British, because they had a conscience, against Hitler he would have been crushed mercilessly. That?s cool with me. Yes it is. True, but what if an ideology promotes free thought anyway, then what?s wrong with that? I mean I vote for the republican party, I agree with their ideology, doesn?t mean I cant think for myself does it? Just means that I agree with them, that?s all. Yes and No. In school we do a lot of things, some are good and some are bad. We need teachers to tell us the difference sometimes. Same in adulthood, we still sometimes cannot distinguish between right and wrong because we ALL have different value systems. For example, my friend, she works in a hotel, she steals their stuff, stationary, towels, toiletries etc. I think she is wrong but she thinks she right, she says that there is no harm in it, the hotel makes millions in profit, what?s a few bucks worth of items? But I still say its stealing but she doesn?t agree! See what I mean? My values are not necessarily the same as hers. So sometimes we need some ?guidance? right? True, but not in Sikhism, they don?t look for converts, people become Sikh of their own free will once they learn about the faith. Also there?s nothing wrong with comparing ideologies is there? If we didn?t compare the ideologies of political parties we wouldn?t know who to vote for right? Not necessarily Ali, like I said about my friend who steals petty items, there are many gray areas. There are many things we sometimes are not sure about. For example, human cloning, there are lots of people who are for it and lots against it. Same with Abortion, so many people cant make up their minds. That?s where we could do with the help of a ?guide? right? Also many people follow ideologies they themselves agree with. If I vote republican, or for Bush, then I do so because I agree with the party politics. If I agree with a religion a great deal, and it makes sense to me, then why not use its guidance? I might get to a point in my life where I might have to make a tough decision, the religion might have the answer I am looking for? Do u see my point? Because Ali, as well as the reasons I have explained above, a person like the good Doctor is probably a middle aged man with a university degree and years of solid education behind him, I am sure he wasn?t born with all that intelligence and knowledge he has? It took him years to attain that level of knowledge and wisdom. However, most people are not as good as him or you. Most people are not Doctors and do not go to universities etc. They do not get the chance to develop their minds, and it is these people that religion (Well Sikhism anyway) can help. It can help intelligent people too, but especially the ignorant people who believe in nonsense and cannot use their own minds, the ones who still believe in fairy tales. Sikhism is not like other ?religions?, it does not claim absolute truth and knowledge. It doesn?t not make silly claims like the Bible and Koran etc. Although there are many fascinating scientific concepts in it. Ali, Sikhism doesn?t say that, nor does it ask you to ?follow? blindly, it asks you to use your own logic and rational thinking. Sikhism is supposed to be a guide. It believes in one ?God? or ?creative force? or ?life force? and its real aim is to help you ?reach? God. No Ali, it depends on an individuals value system. Although I don?t agree with ?killing? there are many who do. Not everyone is ?good? or ?humanistic? ? Someone like Hitler would have no problem in killing someone else. Also in Sikhism the Guru doesn?t ask you to follow him, they ask you to follow your own common sense. Sikhism believes in God, which is the only thing you can try to make an argument against. But I can even answer that it you want, but Ill let you ask me first of how I can come to a LOGICAL conclusion that a ?God? or ?creative force? exists! Also you are using the term ?Guru? incorrectly. It means ?Teacher? - Just like a teacher teaches you science, math or English at school, a true Guru teaches you about ?life? and ?God? in the same way. Ryan

Let's discuss this that what could be the reason behind it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Ar...210702/bb03.htm BruneiDirect.Com 21st July, 2002 First Sikh to convert to Islam :? The number of people of other faiths, who have converted to Islam continues to increase. Yesterday four people, including a Sikh girl, embraced Islam together at a ceremony at the Islamic Dakwah Centre in Kampong Pulaie, RTB reported yesterday. The Sikh girl, Amrita Kaur Sandhu's new Muslim name is Isya Aqillah binti Abdullah. Dayang Isya Aqillah, 17, is a student at Menteri Secondary School. She decided to embrace Islam because she believes that Islam is a truly holy religion. Records show she is the first Sikh to embrace the faith in the country, RTB reported. The conversion ceremony was witnessed by the Assistant Director the Islamic Dakwah Centre, Dayang Hjh Zasia Sirin. The three other new Muslim converts are an Iban, a Bisaya and a Chinese. Liew Che Liong is now known as Awang Muhammad Zulhilmi bin Abdullah. Saidi Anak Kayok has taken the Muslim name Awang Muhammad Saiful Saidinee bin Abdullah. Dayang Merdiana Anak Liang is now known as Dayang Nurdiana binti Abdullah Liang.

Long time back one of my friend he is Gursikh was joking around and he was like if we don't cut our hair or try not to make up then we will see that GOD wants everybody to be Sikh...lol Just questions yourself... Does God wants us to cut our hair? Does God wants to us kill someone? Does God wants us feel jealous? Does God wants us to question him? If we keep questioning ourselves then we will see that there are 99 things out of 100 are that God doesn't want us to do but we do just because we are so into this world which is not forever. If you want to get the proper anwser then just ask yourself simple question. Why do we choose best college to study the same course? You can become doctor, engineer by going to any school but you choose the best and you will notice that all of them have different rules. So, samething goes to religion as well...... You want to reach that almighty by following religion and you choose the best which fits you and it has rules to follow in order to keep you in discipline....

canadian jatti, Welcome to the site and good thing about this site is that you are discussing your questions with members of your age so it shouldn't offend you. Let's talk about your questions now. Long time back one of my white friend asked me that why do we call a person Sikh who is wearing Turban and has beared and as well as a guy who is clean shaved and wears only bracelet? I had no anwser and still im looking for the anwser. We should respect Gursikhs the ones are keeping it with proper 5ks. They are the true Sikh of Guru as they keep what Gurus have given us. All this new version of Sikhism that sikhi is inside and it doesn't matter if we keep hair or not are pure disrespect to all of our great martyrs like Bhai Taru ji, Guru Arjun Dev ji and Bhai Mati Dass ji and more you can check on www.sikh-history.com .... They sacrified their life but didn't prefer to cut their hair and that's why they are on all sikh websites and getting great respect which they deserve. It shouldn't make you feel bad when someone tells you that you cut your hair and you are not sikh but it should give you more encouragement to compete with those the ones are keeping them and following it with "Rehat maryada".... I won't blame you for your situation and its common when you are living under dual culture. I will recommend that instead of taking those comments as an insult just take them as advices and make yourself so strong that tomorrow you can stand in the same row where those Gursikhs are at this movement. Just imagine how much respect you will get? When they will give your example to others? Also, don't take amrit or try to become sikh just to become famous or just to prove something. You don't follow any path just to make others happy but its a relation between you and your Guru so forget about this world when you want to become Sikh and think of about that almighty God. So, don't feel that someone is discouraging you by saying that you are not sikh but take it as challenge that you will show your Guru one day that you respect his path and care about those Sikhs the ones sacrified themselves just to follow the path of their Gurus. We call chair a chair because it has shape of chair. We call car a car because it has the shape and body of car. We call bus if we see the shape of bus. What makes us call bus, chair and car with those names? Just because all of them have distinctive shape. So, Sikh has that shape as well and its better to call a person sikh when he/she has that shape.

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa! Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!! This poem is for few of those Hindus who have completely forgotten the unparallel sacrifice of Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib. For you He left His family, His son, His wife For you He didn’t hesitate to sacrifice His life For you He courted arrest, and suffered all tortures To fill your life with the roses of happiness, and joy filled orchards For you He saw His Sikhs sawn and boiled The hands of the Mughals with blood were soiled For you He refused all pleasures and comforts And accepted the pains that can shake all hearts For you He rejected proposals of wealth So that your generations could thrive in health For you He sacrificed His body and His head So that you could live fearlessly and earn your bread Have you forgotten all He has done His people you made the object of fun Have you forgotten the legacy of His martyrdom that to the oppression of His people you act deaf and dumb? Have you forgotten His sacrifice, oh so complete! That today His message for you has become totally obsolete! Have you forgotten that He is your saviour Or the Mughals would do to you what else but devour Forget not the One who saved you Protected your honor and carried you through Forget not the One who took all the pains Death for Himself, for you all the gains Forget not the One who had His head severed Today His people are mocked by you, instead of being revered Wake up my dear, before its too late Your silence and indifference is ruining your own fate Wake up my dear, or you will pay a cost Hatred will fume and all love will be lost Wake up my dear, and recognize this fact What He did for you was an ultimate act! Wake up my dear, wake up and bow down Bow down to the Master of Sikhs, the Sikhs whom you labelled a clown Wake up my dear, and say after me Say with your heart and you will be free Dhann Guru Teg Bahadur, tu Hind di chaddar Tu hi sadda sacha patshah tu hi sadda rehbar Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa! Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

CLOTHES: It is traditional to enter the Guru’s Court in one’s finest clothes. Guru Gobind Singh gave us bana, as a means of elevating our consciousness, and it is appropriate for us to wear full bana when entering Gurdwara, if this is possible. Kurta, churidas and cummerbund are traditional; white clothes are preferable to colors. If one is dressed for work, it is appropriate to come to Gurdwara in clean work clothes.

Also check out this one as well... http://www.sikhawareness.com/sikhawareness...opic.php?p=6150

Soul, Death and Metempsychosis in Sikhism Maj. Gurmukh Singh The Sikh Review http://www.sikhreview.org/november99/religion.htm Death is the logical and inevitable consequence of birth. It is finis of the biological process called life. Yet it is strange that while man has acquired a great deal of knowledge about birth and life, he knows precious little of death. One thing, however, is certain, death is inevitable. Birth can be controlled and life can be managed, but death is entirely intractable. Regulated life and medical means may delay it, but, ultimately, it can neither be evaded nor avoided. Death is condition precedent of birth1 and is unpredicatable.2 Destruction is a must if creation is to continue and life is to sustain its freshness and vigour. Seed must drop and bury itself in order that a fresh plant may take birth. The flower must shed its petals for the sake of fruition, the fruit must drop off for the birth of the tree.3 Change is the order of Nature and the wish of God.4 Man is experiencing the brunt of imbalance between birth and death-rates of human population, particularly in underdeveloped countries. Death is generally regarded as a dreadful reality. But it is not always so, nor for everyone. Those who, instructed by the Guru, keep the name of God in their mind do not fear death. When all somatic systems stop functioning irretrievably, it amounts to somatic or biological death. The body becomes inert, stiff and susceptible to gradual decay. But the entire body does not die all at once because different cellular systems do not stop functioning simultaneously. That is why some parts of a dead body excised within a limited period are found still serviceable enough to be transplanted in other living bodies; or sometimes, patients lie in coma for long periods, practically dead but not dead enough to be declared as such. In some cases, as in paralysis, a part of the body dies while the body as a whole remains alive. And, rarely, it also happens that a person medically declared dead shows signs of life, or may even regain consciousness. Should we, therefore, conclude that each organ has a separate life of its ow n - separate animate existence, possessing separate animating spirit? Science has not discovered the whole truth yet. Will it ever? We do not know. Recently biological engineering and cloning has further complicated the questions of life and death. Explanation provided by religion is simple, yet complex: simple, because it presents a mystery of life matching the mystery of death, and complex because it makes the mysteries of life and death more mysterious. This explanation is based on a presumed entity, soul, an animating spirit, corresponding to energy of material science, but not produced by any element other that itself. This soul, or even an infinitesimal part of it, entering a body by its own, animates the latter and keeps it going until, again by its own will, the soul leaves the body, which is then reduced to dead matter. The continued appearance of signs of life in dead body for some more time, is explained by analogy of an oil lamp, where, even after the flame has been extinguished smoke and smell persists for a while. Soul is an axiomatic concept, inexplicable logically or scientifically, but widely believed by philosophers of different religions, although they differ as to its true nature and mode of functioning. For example, some accept soul only in humans, while for others all living beings (and even plants) live by virtue of soul. There are others who believe in a single Supreme soul which is immanent throughout the cosmic creation, and still others who hold that matter (prakriti) itself has the capacity to create life in the presence of another entity, purusa. For these speculative systems this concept, soul, is arrived at, or is revealed, intuitively and is sustained by faith. The idea of immortal soul and life in the hereafter palliates to some extent the fear of death. Rig Veda, the oldest and the most sacred scripture of the Aryans, makes no reference to the law of karma and transmigration of the soul, though continuation of the soul after death is accepted. "Vedic cremation hymns plead before the god of fire not to burn the ajobhaga (unborn) and amritya (deathless) part of the deceased, which would go to yamloka (nether world), pitraloka (land of the ancestors) or devloka (abode of gods, paradise) according to evil, good or virtuous deeds, respectively of the person?s present life.9 The Arya Samaj, similarly believes, following the founder?s "back-to-the-Vedas" call, that jiva (soul) after suffering/enjoying the consequences of its karma in the other worlds, returns to the mrituloka, this world of the mortals.10 Early Upanisadic sages emphasized two-fold nature of the single supreme soul - the real or transcendent; and the empirical or embodied. According to Mandukya Upanisad: "Om, this is immortal. Its explanation is this all; what was, what is, and what will be, all is verily `Omkar? ?. For this all is Brahman; this soul is Brahman ?." The Taittiriya Upanisad equates soul (jivatma) with the Supreme Soul (Paramatma; Brahman) on the one hand, and on the other hand, with mind and knowledge (i.e. consciousness). "A person who knows the bliss of Brahman from which words together with the mind return without comprehending it, is never afraid. This mind is the embodied soul of the former. Different from that (soul) which consists of mind is another inner soul which consists of knowledge?.12 Further, in the same Upanisad, the author says: "He (the Supreme Soul) desired: `Let me become many, let me be born?. He performed tapas. Having performed austerity, He created all this whatsoever, Having created it, He even entered it ? (He was now) with form and formless, defined and not defined, true and (comparatively) untrue - all this whatsoever was true (absolutely) ? 13 Another Upanisad, Prasnopanisad, has this to say: "from the soul is born this life (prana). As a shadow by man, so this (soul) is expansion of that (Brahman)."14 From this idea of soul as an extension of the Supreme Soul, the theories of individualised soul jivatma, and its transmigration were gradually developed by authors of Brahmans, Aranyakas and Upanisads. "Even the doctrine of karma has not been systematically elaborated in early Upanisads. It is regarded as something not to be spoken of openly (Brihadaranyaka, 3.2.13). As for the doctrine of rebirth, its first clear indications are seen in a passage in the Brihadaranyaka (6. 2.15-16) where it is mentioned as one of the three eschatological alternatives.15 But once the theory was fully formulated, it became so popular in India that even Buddhism, which accepts neither atma nor paramatma, believes in the endless movements and changes and suffering of the "mind" in the succession of deaths and rebirths from the beginningless time until men, following the astamarga (the eight-fold path), achieves nirvana.16 (liberation) Sankhya Yoga, another old school of philosophy, also does not make any reference to soul or supreme soul and considers the world as the outcome of the conjunction of two ultimates - prakriti, the uncaused, eternal, changeable, independent matter, and purusa, also uncaused and eternal but changeless, inactive, nonproductive yet discriminating pure consciousness. Each body has its separate purusa, and it would appear that purusa of Sankhya yoga is perhaps the equivalent of individualised soul of other philosophical schools; but, in Sankhya, "purusa" is explicitly said to be that which neither initiates action nor ever changes. Thus the sankhya-karika clearly testifies purusa to an ultimate principle other than matter which co-exists within our experienced world and is somehow greater than this observed world.17 Elsewhere it is said that "in reality no one is bound, no one is released, similarly no one transmigrates. Only prakriti in its various forms migrates, is bound and is released.18 But, again, a subtle bo dy (suksmasarira) is postulated which is even described as capable of transmigration.27 "This subtle body, previously arisen, unconfined, constant, inclusive of mahat (the Great One) through the tanmatras (the five subtle essences corresponding to the five senses), a linga (unconscious body) free from experience transmigrates while endowed with bhavas (fundamental psychic inclinations, urges or strivings)."27 "This thirteenfold subjective psychic instrument (suksmasarira)? is covered with an entity capable of retaining a basic sense of identity even while transmigrating."28 However, the final Sankhyan goal, kaivalya, is not the liberation of this transmigrating suksmasarira but "the realization of the total and absolute freedom of purusa."19 who has throughout been an inactive, independent, autocratic spectator, a witness to prakrti?s activities. Transmigration in these schools, it appears, was restricted to rebirth only as humans so that the soul, consciousness mind or purusa-in-linga, could progress gradually towards moksa (liberation), nirvan or kaivalya. It was later that other species were included in the cycle of transmigration. (It is not clear how the figure of 8,400,000 species was arrived at) Katha Upanisad where dialogue between Nachikets and Yama (god of death or Death itself) is related, brings in the possibility of passing through inorganic lives too. Says yama to Nachiketa, "Some enter the womb in order to have a body, as organic being, others go into inorganic matter, according to their work, according to their knowledge.20 However, this idea of transmigration of soul contradicts what Yama has been made to say earlier in this very Upanisad and what is the general thrust of the entire Vedanta literature, viz, the Advait (non-dual) theory of a single soul, Brahman. The acceptance of transmigration will mean acceptance of multiple soul like the multiple purusa of the Sankhya school and will comprise belief in the monotheistic nature of the Ultimate Absolute. The claim of unity in duality or multiplicity in Vedanta will then sound hollow. Dr. E. Roer has noted this deviation in Katha Upanisad which he suspects to be the result of the influence of Sankhya or yoga schools, and even that of the Buddhists, if not of Charvaks.21 Guru Nanak was obviously conversant with these old schools of religious philosophy each claiming its to be the last word on the Ultimate Truth. In typical humility, he conceded that what he knew for certain was that he did not know; "even if I knew, I could not describe that which is ineffable.22 This utterance proves that he really did know, as is the Upanisadic dictum: "Who soever knows that he does not know Him, knows Him.23 He took over several concepts, besides the idiom and phraseology, of traditional Indian religions, but in doing so, he so modified them as to make them distinctly different. For example, he took over the Upanisadic concept of a single Ultimate source of the entire existence, but he refused to treat the phenomenal reality as illusion, and introduced instead the doctrine of "immanence of the Transcendent One" which made the Creator?s creation also true.24 He adopted the devotional worship of the Vaisnava Bhakti movement, but rejected their belief in incarnation and idol worship. He and his successor Gurus frequently used in their hymns proper nouns such as Hari, Rama, Mohan, Syam and Narhari, but these referred - not to various Hindu deities - but to the one Creator who created all, including these exalted worthies. Prefixing the numeral 1 to the primordial Om was Guru Nanak Dev?s innovation unprecedented in history of religion. It eliminated once for all the possibility of duality, trinity or multiplicity of Godhead. Guru Nanak retained the doctrine of karma,25 the theory of transmigration of soul 26 and the idea of 8.4 million species.27 But he reconstructed these concepts in such a way that the soul shed much of its mystery, death its dread, and karma its rigour; and in the hands of his successors, even transmigration became somewhat doubtful. According to the Sikh Gurus "the entire intricate phenomena, including soul, life or self are but the manifest forms of the Imperceptible One. They are like waves that crop up from water only to merge into water again.28 He himself is Maya. He is his own shadow; He himself is the created world to which He himself is attached.29 "Everything is You, my Dear One!30 I am a sacrifice to your power manifest in nature."40. "He is himself the slayer and himself the slain. He himself creates, himself sets up and himself uproots"31 "None whatsoever is born, none whatsoever dies: He performs His own frolics."32 "He himself is the earth, himself the mythical bull (bearing it) and himself is H e the sky or ether. He himself reveals true virtues. He himself is the virtuous one, himself labour and himself the labourer."42 "Master and his slave are one and the same; (in raising the slave thus) the Master only exalted himself."43 In fact, "man, a mere handiwork, cannot understand the Master craftsman whatever is His Will (hukum), Nanak! comes to pass."33 Hukam (lit. order, command), the Divine will, is another original concept introduced by Guru Nanak Dev. It is synonymous with the Divine himself. Hukam may be interpreted as Divine Law which subsumes all laws of Nature, physical, physiological, chemical and psychological, as well as moral ethical. Japuji, the early morning prayer, which is placed at the head of the Sikh Scripture, describes hukam in the opening stanzas. After defining the Ik Onkar as truth eternal, Guru Nanak Dev proceeds: How to demolish the wall of falsehood? How can one in truth abide? By following the Divine Will and pleasure - Adds Nanak alongside. And the next stanza continues: Hukam causes all forms phenomenal, yet Hukam itself is indescribable; Out of Hukam come all the selves, Out of Hukam flow all the honours; By Hukam are some lowly, others higher, By Hukam are all pain and pleasure; By Hukam are a few blessed, While others to wandering sentenced; None is spared; to Hukam are all committed, By perceiving Hukam, O Nanak: ego gets demitted. And the next stanza again ends with: Having put Hukam on the job, the ordainer Smiles, O Nanak! Free of all care.45 On the Nature?s law of cause and consequence are based the doctrine of karma and theory of transmigration of soul. According to the traditional Indian view, jivatma the individual soul, pure light and immortal in itself, is different from the Maha or Param Atma called Brahman, though its source is in the latter. This soul becomes, on embodiment, oblivious of its divine origin and getting smeared with imperfection of the body becomes a partner in body?s good or bad actions whose consequences it must inevitably suffer, and must, on the death of the present body, migrate to another body, where, while undergoing the consequences of the deeds of the previous life, it commits fresh acts whose consequences it would suffer during the next life. Thus the cycle of birth, death and rebirth continues irresistibly until the jiva achieves, through proper religious conduct, penitence and austerities, moksa or nirvan. Guru Nanak Dev while accepting the doctrine of Karma juxtaposed with it his own concepts of hukam and nadar (lit. glance of Grace). While the former means God?s will and pleasure, the latter signifies God?s compassion, mercy or grace. This means that the doctrine of karma is not an indenendent, immutable law, and that its working far from being inevitable, is subject to God?s pleasure (raza or bhana).God being omnipotent can, if he so pleases, erase the effect of karma. Guru Nanak Dev says: "if a jiva makes friends with someone other than God, he suffers downfall and death. But by God?s nadar (compassionate glance) he is liberated and is united with Him."34 "If the Lord so pleases (even) the fallen are liberated,"47 says Guru Arjun Dev. Secondly, for a person who has so firm a faith in God that he dedicates all his actions to him, the doctrine of karma will not be applicable, because he can plead - with Guru Arjan Dev: "What at all can a man do? He acts as the Lord desires to make him act."35 Man if he could, would appropriate everything to himself, but as it is, he can do only what the Lord desires. If he is immersed in sin, this is due to his ignorance.Had he the knowledge, he would certainly save himself. Deluded by misconception he wanders all around and so does his mind. If such a person the Lord pleases to favour, he may join with nam-simran (remembrance of God?s Name)"48 Thirdly, according to Guru Nanak Dev, "all this is the Creator?s sport,"36 and Guru Arjun Dev elaborates."He is the efficient cause: whatever He desires happens:"37 He can instantly create and instantly demolish: creation, sustenance and re-absorption are by His will (hukam)?He, the Lord of both the worlds, the Omniscient one, enjoys his own sport: what He pleases He gets done:Nanak Can see no one else. Tell me what can man do? He make him do what He desires?(Man?s) soul and body both are His property, He, the Perfact Brahman, shines in everybody: all this is His own handiwork: Nanak Lives only to see His glory. Man?s might is not his own: God is the Lord of causes and actions of all. The poor creature (jiva) simply obeys: happens that which He desires?The Playful one sometimes dances in various forms and sometimes He sleeps throughout day and night: sometimes He is horrendously enraged and sometimes He becomes the dust of everyone?s feet. At different times He plays the part of a great king, a lowly beggar, a defamed person, a gentleman, a savant, an ascetic, a pilgrim, a preaching divine. Sometimes He becomes an ant or insect and sometimes an elephant, or any other creature. Thus He roams in various births or species, Like a mimic He appears in different grabs and makes the creation dance to His own tunes. Only that which He desires happens. There is none other than He, O Nanak:"50 Elsewhere Guru Arjun Dev says: "poor jiva is but a wooden puppet: the puppeteer knows (how it is supposed to dance): it will be dressed as dictated by the needs of the puppeteer?s play."38 The Creator has many types of habitats (i.e. species) under His guard: the poor jiva shall reside where he wills it to."51 To quote Guru Nanak Dev, again: "You are the creeper, you the flower, you the flower sucking bee, and you the all three together?The forests are green and trees laden with flowers, and you are enjoying their fragrance. You are the prakrti (kavala) and you the purusa (kant): you, having set them up the word, ravish them. You are the calf, you the cow and you the milk: you are the house, you the support and you the entire body. "You are the action and you the actor:?you are the preceptor and you the thinker. You, the doer, watch over your own deeds: and you give to innumerable creatures light and sustenance?"39 And at another place: "He Himself makes us perform actions, good or otherwise, and Himself firm s up devotion."40 If all this is true (and there is no reason to doubt what the above - quoted verses mean, viz, the monistic aspect of Sikh monotheism), there is hardly any place for individuated souls and metempsychosis in Sikhis. There is, then, Guru Nanak Dev?s verse: "Metempsychosis is for those tradesmen who have built up a market (of cults and garbs) Those who have cultivated love for Truth in their minds stay firm glorifying the True One." And the couplet immediately following these lines is: "Worldly karma, O Nanak! is a tree bearing fruits immortalizing as well as poisonous. The creator, Cause of all causes, knows whom He would feed on which of the two.41 Elsewhere there are verses using the image of bubbles, to picturise the nature of life.42 Bubbles are small globules of air within thin casings of water which go on forming and bursting with the slightest disturbance. This image is appropriate to express the fragility, uncertainty and evanscence of life, but it is not legitimate to believe that the air of a particular globule of a burst bubble goes to form another bubble, as souls are supposed to do in metempsychosis. In fact the concept of individual souls, jivatma in addition of the one supreme soul, paramatma, is not necessary, because out of the five fundamental elements (pancha tatvas) of which the phenomanal reality is believed to be composed, while four (water, fire, air and earth) are gross and material, the fifth (akash or ether) is subtle. Even if all the five are not accepted as divine (because God is both material and efficient Cause of the world), spirituality cannot be denied to akash (lit, sky) which semantically stands for heaven as well as fo r all-pervading ether and is a metonym for God.43 Significantly, Guru Arjun Dev in one of his hymns lucidly analyses a funeral scene, with the conclusion: "No one dies; none comes orgoes".44 Air has merged in air, Fire has mingled with fire, Earth has become one with earth, Wherefore is the mourner?s lament? Who had died? Who has expired? Come ye possessors of knowledge divine And consider this instant wonder! Nothing is known of the hereafter: The mourner, too, bound in misconceived affection Blindly muttering as in sleep, Is for sure to follow thither. Coming and going by the infinite Divine will Is but a system of the Creator?s doing: (In fact) no one dies, none is liable to death; One ceases not but becomes everlasting. This is not what you think it to be, I am a sacrifice to one who knows: The Guru has lifted all doubt, says Nanak, No one dies, none comes or goes.57 The idea of "nothing comes, nothing goes" appears in several hymns of Guru Granth Sahib (e.g.209, 281, 695, 736, 878, 1074). Where the end of destruction of the world is meant, the verbs samauna (to merge, comingle, to be accommodated or absorbed), dhahupa (to demolish) or dhahina (to be demolished, to fall) are used more often than binasana (to perish, to be annihilated), signifying that the end of physical existence is not its obliteration, or reduction to nothingness, but its return to whence it had emerged, that is to say, its re-absorption or resumption by the metaphysical transcendent Reality. While the existence of inviduated souls and their transmigration in multimillion species may thus be subjected to "reasonable doubt", the question of apparent contradiction or inconsistency in the holy verses still remains. World has been declared both true 45 and false,46 Man has been made responsible for his action.47 but he has also been declared free of sin and virtue.48 The reason is simple. The Guru Granth Sahib is not a systematically built up scholastic treatise. It is an anthology of hymns, mostly devotional, which the Gurus composed under divine inspiration and recited to different audiences at different times and places. Their purpose usually was "to bring divine knowledge, spiritual experience and ethical thought to the simple, working folk."49 This compassion for mankind, caught in sin, and engaged in daily toil, has been characteristics of the mission of the holy Gurus, and is visible no less in the preparation of this Scripture than in all the other measures adopted to spread and consolidate the Sikh faith."62 But the Gurus also talked, discussed and argued at times with the learned of other faiths such as Brahman priests, yogis and siddhas. Now, as every teacher and public speaker knows, unless the teacher/speaker speaks at the level of his/her audience, or at only a slightly higher level than theirs, all what he says will go over the head of the listeners. The bulk of the bani of the Sikh Gurus, aimed as it was chiefly at the toiling masses, contains general truths in simple language that stimulate ardent faith rather than deeper, discriminating thought. But the Gurus also had to teach higher, subtler truth which they knew was not everybody?s cup of tea, because it had, of necessity, to contain references to the classical, using their diction a nd idiom. Secondly, the entire text of the Sikh Scripture is in the poetic mode. Poetry, being an art, needs ornamentation (alankar) by means of figures such as repetition, metaphor, poetic fancy, hyperbole, contradiction, even incongruity; poetry is neither pure emotion and thought nor mere manner. A beautiful idea must appropriately incarnate itself in a beautiful expression?.The function of alankar is to heighten the effect: it is to aid the poet to say more pointedly."50 Deeper and more careful study with proper regard to context should, however, easily lead to clear understanding of seemingly contradictory verses. For example, if we know that in "True are your regions and true the universes"58 the word "true" means "real" - against "illusion" of Sankaracharya, while in "False is king, false the subjects and false the entire world."59 "false" does not mean "opposite of true" but lacking constancy and immortality of truth"; the contradiction vanishes. Similarly, in Guru Arjun Dev?s hymn given above,57 joti (sanskrit jyoti) in line 2 contextually means not light or soul but "fire", one of the five elements, as are "air" in the preceding line and "earth" in the succeeding one. In conclusion, we may say that death, instead of being a mystery, is a moral and integral part of the natural process of existence, a mere means to keep life ever fresh through recreation and rejuvenation. Dread of death arises from the impending loss of what must be left behind, and is directly propertionate to the intensity of one?s attachment to worldly goods and relations. Only if we could visualize how, in our small bodies somatic cells are constantly making and breaking, without our being aware of them, death would no longer remain a "dreadful calamity" for us. Karma, the law of cause and effect, is operative, under hukam, in this very world which is nothing but an extension or phenomenal aspect of the noumenal Ik Oankar All the elements of material existence including akas, the animating energy, belong to Him, the Cosmic Soul. Individuated souls and their transmigration might be justifiable as useful tool to explain complex concepts, but we cannot be sure about them. Their only justification is the pla yfulness of the Cosmic Creator who has set up this Cosmos - of name and from - as His sport,42 and who, sitting Formless in the Region of Truth, enacts, watches it thoughtfully, and enjoys it with benign glance.52 REFERENCES 1. maranu likhai mandal mahi ae. (GG, 686, 876,1022) 2 marani na murati puchhia puchhi thiti na var. (GG, 1244) 3. Jo janamai tisu sarpar marna kirat paia siri saha he. (GG, 1032) jo aia so chalsi sabhu koi ai variai. (GG, 63, 474) 4. Jo upajio so binasi hai naro aju kai kalu. (GG, 1428) jo upajai so kali sangharia. (GG, 227) 5. Rabindranath Tagore, Religion of Man, 1961 ed. 1963 impression, P.123. 6. phai karan phuli banrai, phalu laga tab phul binai.(GG, 1167) 7. The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfils himself in many ways. Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. (Tennyson, The Passing of Arthur) 8. ram bamu naru nisi basur mahi nimakh ek uri dharai. Jam ko trasu mitai nanak tih apno janamu savaral.(GG, 902) 9. Kabir jisu marane te jagu darai merai mani anandu, marane he te paiai puranu paramanandu. (GG, 1365) jih maranai sabhu jagatu tarasia, so marana gursabadi pragasia.(GG, 327) 10.maranu na manda loka akhiai je koi mari janai maranu munasa suria haku hai je hoi matani parvano. (GG, 579-80) 11. Ramkali Sadu, Guru Granth Sahib, P. 923. 12. Chandi Charitra. I. 233 13. The Encyclopaedia of Religion, Macmillan, 1987. Vol.13. pp. 432-36. 14. Liu Wu-Chi, A Shoirt History of Confucian Philosophy (Penguin), 1955, P.94 15. atman sri basudevasya je koi janasi bheva.(GG, 1353) atma basudevasyi je ko janai bheu. (GG, 469) atam ramu ramu hai atam har paiai sabdi vichara he. (GG, 1030) 16. dharam dhira kali andre ihu papi mul na tagai. ahi karu kare su ahi karu pae ik ghari muhata na lagai. (GG, 1098) 17.The Encyclopaedia of Religion, vol. 13, p.439. 18. Kishordas Svami, Bharatiya Darshan aur Mukti Mimansa, varanasi, 1980, pp.3212 and 452-58. 19. to 22. Roer, E. The Twelve Principal Upanisads. Vol. I, Delhi, 1979, pp. 174-77, 214, 217, 113. 23. The Encyclopaedia of Religion, Vol. 15, p. 208 24. The Surangama Sutra, "The Essence of Mind", in The Speculative Philosophers, Random House Pocket Library edition, 1954, pp.142and 150. 25. to 29. Podgorski, Frank R., Ego revealer - Concealer, University Press of America,1984, p. 29, 69, 188, 215, 70. 30. Kathopnisad, Ii. 5.7; Brihadaranyak, II, 2. 13. 31. The Twelve Principal Upanisads, Vol. I, pp. 52-53. 32. je hau janba akha nahi kahana kathanu na jai. (GG, 2) 33. Ken Upanisad. 2. 2. 34. Nanak sache ki sachi kar. (GG, 7) 35. Karami avai kapara nadari mokhu duaru. (GG, 2) 36. Ehu jiu bahute janam bharammia ta satiguri sabadu sunaia. (GG, 465) 37. Lakh chaurasih jant upae, mere thakur bhane sirji samae. (GG, 1182) 38. Ihu parpanchu kia prabh suami sabhu jagjivanu jugane. Jiu salalai salal uthahi bahu lahari mili salalai salal samane. (GG. 977) 39. ape maia ape chhaia, ape mohu sabha jagatu upaia. (GG, 125) 40. sabh kichhu tun hai tun hai mere piare, teri gudarati kau bali jai jiu. (GG, 98) 41. api marai mare bhi api, api upae thapi uthapi. (GG, 413) 41A. naha kicchu janamai naha kicch marai, apan chalit ap hi karai. (GG, 281) 42. ape dharti dhaulu akasan, ape sache gun pargasan. Jati sati santokhi ape ape kar kamai he. (GG, 1021) 43. apas kau api dino manu, nanak prabh janu eko janu. (GG, 282) 44. karte ki miti na janai kia, nanak jo tis bhavai so vartia. (GG, 285) 45. Japu. 1-3. 46. an ko kijai mitara khaku ralai mari jai jiu. Bahu rang dekhi bhuli bhuli avai jai jiu. Nadari prabhu te chhutial nadari meli milai jiu. (GG, 751) 47. Prabh bhavai ta patit udharai. (GG, 277) 48. Sukhmani, XI. 3 (GG. 277) 49. ape khel kare sabh karta aisa bujhai koi. (GG, 1330) 50. Sukhmani, XI. 1-7. (GG, 276-78) 51. Gauri, M.5, 126, 3-4. (GG, 206) 52. Basant M.1, astpadi 7. (GG, 1190) 53. karm sukarm karae ape ape bhagti driraman. (GG, 635) 54. Nanak maia karam birkhu phal amrit phal visu. Sabh karan karta kare jisu khavale tisu. (GG, 1290) 55. jiu jal upari phenu budbuda taisa ihu sansara, jiste hoa tisahi samana chuki gaia pasara. (GG, 1257-58) 56. Kahn Singh, Gurusabad Ratnakar Mahan Kosh, 1981 edition, p. 93. 57. Ramkali, V, 10 (GG, 885)

Apas Ko Jo Karmwant Kahawa, Janam Mara Buh Jon Bharmaway... sukhmani sahib Ki jana Karam Kevod Vadi dat ...it is somewhere in Guru Granth sahib. The meaning of it is whether one is doing good Karms or bad Karms it is a gift from GOD. Katae Duh Bhuk Sda Mar Ahi bi dat thri datr... Japji Sahib. thus dukh is dat because Dukh Daru sukh rog pya. One is more likely to remember GOD when one is in pain! In hindu religion it is assumed if one does good now then one is going to have better nextlife. This is more or less true. But then we see a dog is travelling by car where as a man is walking. Does it mean that Dog had better Karm than the man who is walking. Of course not. Animal life though remember GOD( Gava Khani Charah, Rehras, Sodar) but still lives in ignorance ie in darkness. Among all the lives, man has the least path to travel to reach GOD. In sikh religion it is thinking behind the act which has more importance. In other words it is True Karms which are important. At the end of life what soul takes with it is collection of Sanskars(the essence of thoughts or the way one think). The way we are thinking in this life is thus linked to the way we were thinking in our previous lives. We are talking about thought processes and not sukh/ dukh. If in previous life one broke someone's leg then his/her leg is going to be broken and this is what we call Apa beej Apa he Khae. What ever we do in our this life the decision we make is influnced by our Sankars of previous lives. Thus it appears that there is no way out because one is going to go on collecting( through the process of birth and death) the kind of Sanskars one has( it is like Snow ball the more you roll it the heavier it is going to become). One is on a slipper slope. Thus if collection of Sanskaras become too bad and heavy then one drops into darkness, ignorance, that means one's june changes an d one end as a dog travelling by car ! Even in humans the way one thinks and acts one get glimpses of various previous lives. So how can one get out of this slipper slope. One cannot . It is only when GOD blesses one meets Guru and by adopting a Guru one gets NAM. Reciting(and listening with attention,otherwise it has no effect) of this NAM one starts removing bad Sanskars and gaining good Sanskars. You might have come across NAM DHAN. Whether one's Nam Dhan is increasing or decreasing is reflected through the way one thinks and acts. Because it is the quality of NAM that it is going to clear Auhgun and increase Gune. .... auhan kat gune ridda vasae.. I believe it is somewhere in Rag Dhanasari. Should a sikh be looking into one's previous lives. I think it is not good. All religions are against it. Human life is the most advanced( it is written in Granth Sahib) of lives we are aware off. If spirtually,we start looking into lower levels of lives( scientifically we can look because we look only bodies) then what we are trying to do is pulling our thinking process into lower level of thinking and hence our sanskars would be moving us backwards. On the other hand if we think about GOD then Sanskars would become better and we may be a step more closer to GOD. Sikh religion does not say renounce wealth etc ... tini vicha maya paya.. Anad Sahib..Provided one remeber GOD the effect of Maya does not bring bad Sanskars. Raja Janak , father of Seeta was king but he was very kind and religious person and his soul went back to GOD. On the other hand Aurangzab was also king and religious( he would write Koran and make mala and sell these to buy food to eat, and would not use his kingdom's wealth for his own needs)person but he backed out of his own Vows and thus all his acts were useless as for as religion was concerned and most probably chaged his june. But then it is up to GOD which ever way GOD pulls one, one follows that path. source: Click here

Page 76 & 77 SIREE RAAG, FOURTH MEHL: In the first watch of the night, O my merchant friend, the Lord places you in the womb. You meditate on the Lord, and chant the Lord's Name, O my merchant friend. You contemplate the Name of the Lord, Har, Har. Chanting the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, and meditating on it within the fire of the womb, your life is sustained by dwelling on the Naam. You are born and you come out, and your mother and father are delighted to see your face. Remember the One, O mortal, to whom the child belongs. As Gurmukh, reflect upon Him within your heart. Says Nanak, O mortal, in the first watch of the night, dwell upon the Lord, who shall shower you with His Grace. || 1 || In the second watch of the night, O my merchant friend, the mind is attached to the love of duality. Mother and father hug you close in their embrace, claiming, He is mine, he is mine; so is the child brought up, O my merchant friend. Your mother and father constantly hug you close in their embrace; in their minds, they believe that you will provide for them and support them. The fool does not know the One who gives; instead, he clings to the gift. Rare is the Gurmukh who reflects upon, meditates upon, and within his mind, is lovingly attached to the Lord. Says Nanak, in the second watch of the night, O mortal, death never devours you. || 2 || In the third watch of the night, O my merchant friend, your mind is entangled in worldly and household affairs. You think of wealth, and gather wealth, O my merchant friend, but you do not contemplate the Lord or the Lord's Name.You never dwell upon the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, who will be your only Helper and Support in the end. This wealth, property and Maya are false. In the end, you must leave these, and depart in sorrow. Those whom the Lord, in His Mercy, unites with the Guru, reflect upon the Name of the Lord, Har, Har. Says Nanak, in the third watch of the night, O mortal, they go, and are united with the Lord. || 3 || In the fourth watch of the night, O my merchant friend, the Lord announces the time of departure. Serve the Perfect True Guru, O my merchant friend; your entire life-night is passing away. Serve the Lord each and every instantódo not delay! You shall become eternal throughout the ages. Enjoy ecstasy forever with the Lord, and do away with the pains of birth and death. Know that there is no difference between the Guru, the True Guru, and your Lord and Master. Meeting with Him, take pleasure in the Lordís devotional service. Says Nanak, O mortal, in the fourth watch of the night, the life-night of the devotee is fruitful. || 4 || 1 || 3 ||

"What good is social class and status? Truthfulness is measured within. Pride in one's status is like poison-holding it in your hand and eating it, you shall die (pg 142)." "Recognize the Lord's Light within all, and do not consider social class or status; there are no classes or castes in the world hereafter (pg 349)." "Recognize ye all the Human Race as one."-Guru Gobind Singh "Do not be proud of your social class and status, you ignorant fool! So much sin and corruption comes from this pride. Everyone says that there are four castes, four social classes. They all emanate from the drop of God's Seed. The entire universe is made of the same clay. The Potter has shaped it into all sorts of vessels. The five elements join together, to make up the form of the human body. Who can say which is less, and which is more? (pg 1128)" "In the world hereafter, social status and power mean nothing; hereafter, the soul is new. Those few, whose honor is confirmed, are good.(pg 469)." "Those who believe in high and low social classes, only sing songs and chants of egotism."-pg 1162 "God does not ask about social class or birth; you must find your true home. That is your social class and that is your status - the karma of what you have done."-pg 1330 "O Nanak, one who becomes Gurmukh chants the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, and rises above all social classes and status symbols. (pg 260)" "Chanting the Name of the Lord is the highest religion. Chanting the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, erases social classes and ancestral pedigrees.(874)." "This is the way to meet your Husband Lord. Blessed is the soul-bride who is loved by her Husband Lord. Social class and status, race, ancestry and skepticism are eliminated, following the Guru's Teachings and contemplating the Word of the Shabad."-pg 1198 "Those who know God and recognize His Shabad lose their ego and class consciousness. (pg 67)" "That slave, whom God has released from the restrictions of social status - who can now hold him in bondage?"-pg 376 "O Nanak, those who are denied Your Grace, find no shelter at Your Door; they continue wandering. Some do not understand their origins, and without cause, they display their self-conceit. I am the Lord's minstrel, of low social status; others call themselves high caste. I seek those who meditate on You."-pg 468 "To the Gurmukh, the Lord Himself is social class, status and all honor."-pg 117 "The Praises of the Lord are my good conduct, occupation and social class. Listening to the Kirtan of the Lord's Praises, I am in absolute ecstasy."-pg 715 "Kabeer's Lord and Master is joyous and blissful; He does not care about anyone's social class."-pg 1105 "People say that Kabeer has gone insane. Only the Lord realizes the secret of Kabeer. Turning away from the world, I have forgotten both my social class and ancestry. My weaving now is in the most profound celestial stillness."-pg 1158 "Says Ravi Daas, one who chants the Naam, the Name of the Lord, is not concerned with social class, birth and rebirth."-pg 1196 "I am a sacrifice to this Love, by which social class and status, color and ancestry are taken away."-pg 1367 "All the religious robes and social classes look just like dust. Whoever is born, continues to come and go. O Nanak, only the Naam and the Lord's Command are eternal and everlasting."-pg 352 "The Lord is like sugar, spilled onto the sand; the elephant cannot pick it up. Says Kabeer, give up your ancestry, social status and honor; be like the tiny ant - pick up and eat the sugar."-pg 972 "The Lord?s slave sets aside his own social status. He dedicates his mind and body to the True Guru, and seeks His Sanctuary. His greatest greatness is that the Naam, the Name of the Lord, is in his heart. The Beloved Lord God is his constant companion."-pg 363 "Your name and social status shall not go with you hereafter; the self-willed manmukh is consumed by pain."-pg 514 "God, the Lord and Master, is the caste and social status of His humble Saints."-pg 667 "As long as the light remains in the body, the beast does not understand himself. He acts in greed to maintain his life and status, and sees nothing with his eyes. Says Kabeer, listen, O mortal: Renounce the doubts of your mind. Chant only the One Naam, the Name of the Lord, O mortal, and seek the Sanctuary of the One Lord."-pg 692 "When the One Liberator does me a favor, then what can the world do to me? Erasing my social status, I have entered His Court. You, Mukanday, are potent throughout the four ages."-pg 875 "High and low, social class and status ? the world wanders lost in superstition. The Ambrosial Word of Gurbani proclaims the essence of reality."-pg 1243 "How rare are those humble beings in this world, whom the Lord tests and places in His Treasury. They rise above social status and color, and rid themselves of possessiveness and greed."-pg 1345 "Your Mercy is my social status."-pg 16 "Pride in social status is empty; pride in personal glory is useless. The One Lord gives shade to all beings. You may call yourself good; O Nanak, this will only be known when your honor is approved in God's Account."-pg 83 "It (Maya) torments us through character, lifestyle and social status. It torments us through everything, except for those who are imbued with the Love of the Lord."-pg 182 "Social status and beauty will not go with you hereafter. As are the deeds done here, so does one become. Through the Word of the Shabad, one becomes the highest of the high. O Nanak, he is absorbed in the True Lord."-pg 363 "Hereafter, no one is questioned about social status; excellent and sublime is the practice of the Word of the Shabad. Other study is false, and other actions are false; such people are in love with poison. They do not find any peace within themselves; the self-willed manmukhs waste away their lives. O Nanak, those who are attuned to the Naam are saved; they have infinite love for the Guru."-pg 1094 "Power, wealth and youth are all just shadows, as are the vehicles you see moving around. Neither your body, nor your fame, nor your social status shall go along with you. In the next world it is day, while here, it is all night."-pg 1257 "One's body and social status do not go along to that place, where all are called to account. Those who are attuned to Truth are saved; those in the love of duality are miserable."-pg 1346 "Kabeer, everyone laughs at my social class. I am a sacrifice to this social class, in which I chant and meditate on the Creator. "-pg 1364

Excellence of Sikhism, Sarup S. Alag Mr. B.S. Murthi, former Minister of State for Health, Government of India, wrote a book entitled 'Opressed and Depressed'. In this book he described the problems of opressed and scheduled(backward) castes in India and advised the socially backward brethren that if they wanted to live a life of pride, honour and poise then they should accept the baptism of 'Khande Bate da Amrit' and take refuge in Guru Granth Sahib. Thus they will be saved from the age long chronic disease of social stratification and inequality. He further states: "In India, there is more need to bring awakening in scheduled class compared to any other caste. Their situation will not become better with reformation alone. They will have to be emancipated by accepting baptism('Khande Bate da Amrit'). Scheduled caste people are those sparrows, who have been haunted for generations by the religious stubborn and politically supreme hawks. As Guru Gobind Singh thought, these sparrows have to be taught to fight with the hawks who were proud of castes. If the backward caste have any self respect left in them, if their youth have any ambition to lead a respected purposeful life and if their women have to be freed from the fear of molestation and disgrace by the proud upper class arrogants, then it should not be difficult for them to make up their mind. It is said that the sword which Guru Gobind Singh provided to the Khalsa Panth with His magnificence, Guru Nanak provided the steel for the sword. Guru Nanak Sahib used the hindu community as a raw ore, melted it and cleaned the impurities of fraud and carelessness of masterly class, deception and pretence of the priest class, and burned the slag in the furnace to achieve the steel for the sword. The reservoir of backward caste form of pig iron, needs to be gainfully employed as soon as possible. The frustations and escapism of these unfortunate and exploited people need to be moulded to prepare a new kind of steel in India. To leave the backward caste people in their present form will be like wasting a large number of lives living a meaningless life without any hope or passion. If the backward castes can be united in the form of Sikhism then surely these people will take the country forward on a progressive path and equal to the developed countries. It is not just an imagination but its living proof is evident, as mentioned by historial Irvin, as follows: "The lowest of the low, once needed to leave home and join the Guru - blessed Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, then within a short time came back to his birth place in the form of an all-powerful ruler. As soon as he stepped back into the boundary of his area, the rich and upper class wealthy were waiting for his order." Continuing his argument Mr. Murthi states: "...May be it won't happen like that today, neither it should happen like that anyway because today we are living in a free democratic society, but it is certain that after becoming a Sikh the backward caste won't have to remove his shoes and turban when entering the village, or as it happens in many places, remove his shirt and dhoti and wear a loin-cloth. He won't be called by the village head for questioning and after becoming a Sikh he will be able to walk swingingly and confidently with his head high with pride and full of self-respect." According to Mr. Murthi" "The white pigeons of Panchsheel would only be able to fly fearlessly in India's free skies, when there is also Guru Gobind Singh's white hawk flying in the air to protect them." Thought: "Nanak naam Chardhi Kala tere bhane sarbat da bhalla" ('Praying for dynamic optimism of Naam and welfare of all'- Is our(Sikhs) morality.)

RELIGIOUS CO-EXISTENCE AND SIKHISM Ms. Meena Sawhney Religious Co-existence describes a situation in which various religious traditions and belief systems live side-by-side and in which none of them holds a privileged status. Religious Co-existence in the main, refers to, inter-religious relations. In this matter of inter-religious relations only a balanced, positive and tolerant understanding of the diverse religious traditions can lead to peace and fellowship. Since time immemorial the religious traditions have emerged and grown and existed in diverse ways. But at that time society was primarily isolationist and exclusivist. The life of a community was mostly confined to the tribe, race or nation. Interdependence and interpenetration was almost non-existent. Intolerance and proselytization were the ways of dealing with the foreigners. However, now the discoveries of science and technology have turned the whole world into a global village. Means of transport and communication have dissolved the distance existing formerly between communities, nations and ideologies. The physical closeness has greatly facilitated interdependence and interpenetration between the communities. Isolationist and exclusivist communities and ideologies are no longer relevant. The great religious traditions of mankind are face to face with each other, not to convert or destroy each other, but to devise ways and means of greater co-operation and fellowship. Emphasizing the need for co-existence and co-operation among the communities and nations in the present-day world, Radhakrishnan writes[1]: "Belief in co-existence is not the outcome of expediency or of weakness. It is the only way to rid the world of exclusiveness, intolerance and misunderstanding. There are no more closed societies. The order we seek is not either national or continental. It is neither eastern nor western. It is universal. We must develop a sense of perspective and realize that our nation is one of many, and each makes a specific contribution to the richness and variety of the world. Humanity is not this race or that nation, but the whole of mankind which is getting together, we hope, for purpose of cooperation." No doubt, the crying need of the hour is one of co-operation and harmony. The mutual understanding among the followers of different faiths. Professor Arnold Toynbee has visualised a special role for Sikhism in the growing interaction and interpretation among the religious traditions of the world. He says[2]: "Mankind's religious future may be obscure, yet one thing can be foreseen: the living higher religions are going to influence each other more than ever before, in these days of increasing communication, between all parts of the world and all branches of human race. In this coming religious debate, the Sikh religion and its scriptures, the Adi Granth, will have something of special value to say to the rest of the world." The Sikh Gurus laid stress on co-operation and harmony among different communities. Sikhism is dedicated to uphold the unity of society. The Sikh religion is universal in its orientation. It is not bound by geographical, cultural and theoretical barriers. TRUTH, COMPASSION, TOLERANCE, FORGIVENESS, CO-OPERATION and LOVE are the hallmarks of Sikh religion. It is the source of humanity's finest principles, qualities, virtues and values. Awareness of these values breaks down all barriers between people, and shows that all people are members of one family. Trilochan Singh writes[3]: "Guru Nanak awakened the world over the spirit of co-operation and confidence in goodwill, in justice, in goodness, in helping downtrodden, and the lowly, in compassion for the weak and the outcaste, in human dignity and the power of love and truth. This is what the world needs. This is the only solution to the present world crisis." This shows that Sikhism believes in co-existence. According to the Sikh philosophy no single path or door has the monopoly of access to the ultimate Reality. No single system or theory can be all embracing panacea for all people in all times in all countries. Any absolutist claim of this nature is foreign to the spirit of Sikhism. Trilochan Singh, with religiously diverse perspective in mind emphasizes,[4] "No religion can survive in isolation. It is possible to understand other people only after understanding their faiths and beliefs and showing what is moral and good in their life. No religious culture can progress and prosper unless it imbibes some noble qualities of other faiths. No religion today operates in its pure original form. There is much we need to learn about the lost glory of our own religion." The Sikh Gurus recognized and accepted the plurality of existing religions of the world. They recognized the basic truth of all religions. The Sikh religion is a staunch believer in religious freedom and religious diversity. The writings of Guru Nanak prefers a positive attitude towards religious diversity. He shows his respect for the best in all religions. In the "Japuji" which is the gist of Guru Granth Sahib, Guru Nanak describes the multiplicity of religious beliefs and practices: Innumerable are the prayer-chants; Innumerable the forms of devotion. Innumerable are the forms of worship; Innumerable the modes of doing penace. Innumerable are those with vows of silence in unbroken contemplation. How may I give an idea of Divine might? All thou willst is good, thou Formless one ! Immutable, ever perfect art thou.[5] The Sikh Gurus were enlightened and awakened enough to realize that it was possible to have many different approaches or paths to a better understanding of ultimate Divine reality, that is, to have different religions whose approaches though generally considered mutually exclusive, in essence had much in common. All the scriptures and religious books are different expositions of the same eternal Truth. The same absolute power is being worshipped at all the different places of worship in diverse forms of worship. Guru Gobind Singh emphasizes that all the men, the world over, whether they are Arabs or French, Gorkhas, Tibetans, Chinese or Dravidians from Talangana, they all bow to Him ultimately, and worship Him, though may be following different paths lead to the same pinnacle. He sees one common factor in all these various ways of worship, and this common factor is obedience to His Will and His ultimate service.[6] Guru Gobind Singh further declared that: "There is no difference between a temple and a mosque, nor between the prayer of a Hindu or a Muslim. Though differences seem to mark and distinguish, all men are in reality the same. The monastry and mosque, worship and 'namaz' are the same, there is among all humanity, a striking unity in diversity." [7] According to the Sikh Gurus, ultimate aim of religion is to attune the individual will to the Will of the Supreme Reality, and until that is achieved mechanical performance of worship, rites and ceremonies are of no avail. The attuning of the individual will should also result in righteous deeds: One realizing God in this life, shall there too have realization. All other dispute of Hindu or Muslim is false. All at the Divine Portal shall undergo reckoning None without good deeds liberation shall find.[8] The Sikh Gurus did not condemn either Hinduism or Islam or their institutions in their original or pure form. What Sikh Gurus denounced was the corrupt and evil practices which had prevailed in their time. There is truth in all the Vedas, and so they may not be scrapped out; this is the beautiful aspect of Sikhism, to appreciate all that is available in any culture. Guru Nanak says: Each of the four Vedas have expressed same truth. Those studying and expounding them realize What is appropriate action from what is inappropriate." [9] In speaks volumes of the profundity of spiritual insight of Guru Nanak. Among all the apostles, it is he alone, who expresses so pointedly the close resemblance between the message of the Veda and the message of the Quran. This brings about a complete revolution in the mutual relations of the Hindus and Muslims. There is nothing in the Sikh Gurus' hymns which offends against the Hindu sentiments, and there is nothing in the Guru Granth Sahib which is repulsive to a Muslim. In Gurbani it is explained as below: Some utter His name as Rama, others as Khuda; Some serve the Lord of the universe, others Allah; Gracious Lord Almighty, compassionate show Thy Grace. Some bathe at Hindu holy spots, others perform Haj; Some prefer 'puja', others bow their heads in 'namaz'. Some study Vedas, others the Quran; Some wear blue, others white. Some are called Muhammadans, others Hindus Some seek 'bihisht' others 'swarga' Saith Nanak: whoever the Divine Will realizes, The Lord's mystery has understood.[10] The Sikh Gurus have emphatically maintained that it is the same reality that manifests in various forms. Diversity to the Sikh Gurus is the irrefutable proof of underlying unity. Guru Nanak says that the true preceptor is one who recognizes this underlying unity and aims at uniting all: Saith Nanak: The true Preceptor is one, By whom all in Union are bound.[11] The Sikh Gurus recognized various avenues to Divinity. There are different paths to the mansion of truth, but the goal is practically the same, we must respect the religions of our neighbours, because all human beings are the creation of the Almighty. Each faith is born in a particular environment. Basically, all religions have many fundamentals in common, and all of them lay stress on a truthful and honest living. We therefore can learn from each religion. Other religions help us gain deeper understanding of our own faith. The Sikhs believe in the co-existence of all religions and do not claim that theirs is the only way. Exclusivism and forcible conversion from one faith to another is totally foreign to the spirit of Sikhism. NOTES & REFERENCES [1] Radhakrishnan, S. "Religion in A Changing World" [2] Trilochan Singh & Others, "Sacred Writings of the Sikhs", Foreword by A. Toynbee [3] Trilochan Singh, "True Humanism of Guru Nanak" [4] Trilochan Singh, "Responsibility of the Sikh Youth" [5] Guru Granth Sahib, Jap, M.1. pp.3-4 [6] Guru Gobind Singh, Dasam Granth, Akal Ustat. 1:S:255 [7] Guru Gobind Singh, Dasam Granth, Akal Ustat [8] Guru Granth Sahib, Ramkali, M.1 p.952. [9] Guru Granth Sahib, Asa, M.1, p.470 [10] Guru Granth Sahib, Ramkali, M.5.p.885. [11] Guru Granth Sahib, Sri raga, M.1, p.72.