How I Got Conviction For Sikhi And How The Same Draws Me Away From It

[Genie Singh]

I thought I might share a small part of my conviction for Sikhi and would like your thoughts and contributions to it. To begin with it was at an early age where I having heard about the events of 1947 and having learnt about popular worldly mythology such as the existence of Valhalla of the norse, the moutain of Olympus were Zeus reigned supreme ontop of Greece, the great romans and their gods. Then how the great roman god's fell made me feel that perhaps Sikhi might have been constructed by a political party such as the pre-akali's who have much contemporary history on them such as Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

For me the idea of such martyrdom's in Sikh history was difficult to digest since it felt almost impossible that it was in human nature to commit such evil against other human beings. And had it been done in my mind at that time then it was done by those who acted it out in the name of a god that we believe in who stood by and as Guru Nanak Dev ji says:

"Āpai ḏos na ḏe▫ī karṯā jam kar mugal cẖaṛā▫i▫ā.

The Creator Himself does not take the blame, but has sent the Mogal as the messenger of death.

Ėṯī mār pa▫ī karlāṇe ṯaiʼn kī ḏaraḏ na ā▫i▫ā. ||1||

There was so much slaughter that the people screamed. Didn't You feel compassion, Lord? ||1||" SGGS 360 mehal1 Guru Nanak

Guru Ji in the above shabad is talking about Babur's invasion of India and Babur in his own Baburnama admits to his actions. This shabad which I found much later explained something I felt for a long time when hearing about 1947 which was : "ṯaiʼn kī ḏaraḏ na ā▫i▫ā" "Didn't You feel compassion, Lord?"- SGGS 360


It didn't make any sense that such a great giver, who gives us so much in his universal justice of setting things right in the world through the law of karma and in the afterlife would not give some a chance. Where children who were massacred in 1947, 1984 and countless acts of violence such as the one of Babur's time truly deserving of that. In the same bani on the same ang number. Guru ji says:


"Sakṯā sīhu māre pai vagai kẖasmai sā pursā▫ī.

But if a powerful tiger attacks a flock of sheep and kills them, then its master must answer for it." SGGS 360

All those tigers in the past were all mastered by the Lord God himself, does the blame ultimately go to him. Such as Aurangzeb, it's Allah's fault after all then.

I remember hearing from some Muhammadens I knew that Sikhi was a fabrication of the british once, it caste some doubt in my early age and lack of interaction with true Sikh vidyaans and use of the Internet (it had not become widely used back then). But it was on a later course having visited India and having discourse with my relatives on matters of historical relevance of Sikhi did I realise the historical proofs for Sikhi such as the very existence of the buildings, the manuscripts in circulation, the vast huge buildings in Punjab such as Patialla forts which did not seem Muhammaden, Hindu or Christian in nature but had something unique about them.

It was a golden moment for me when I learnt the phrase History always repeats itself. When we don't learn our lessons from the past we repeat them. Then I saw a deeper glimpse of muhammaden behaviour which had exactly resembled that of the time of the Gurus which got me thinking. Perhaps that evil does exist in people so therefore my initial thoughts were dispelled. Human nature was more corruptible then I had thought at that time, having grown up around a Sikh environment I took for granted the teachings and actions that surrounded me and felt they were moral norms, that were exchanged through all schools of thought. Especially when I was taught all religions were the same. A notion which I left many years after only to later explore in a different way to understand that it had a different meaning behind it then I thought it had.

For me the haughtiness of muhammdens were all proven well when the titles of news media headlines resembled that of what the history books resembled. And the very initial surprise I felt for the corruptibility of the human fabric was starting to be felt by others. It brought me to realise that Sikh history did take place. But it saddened me to know that Sikhi as the answer had not fully curbed that corruptible disease which let out negative behaviour. It came apparent to me that such a struggle was an ongoing one which was internal and would then manifest externally.

The whole notion of Hindustan's dilemma of where Sikhi as it stands is quite strange to me, on one side you have a hindu religion without a strict dogmatic system which prides itself on that, and that it's ability to adapt allows it to be more tolerant and shifts the blame onto dogmatic religions for causing war. I wonder what stops many Hindu's from embracing Sikhi.

Going back to my proof: histories repetition was the key part, how our history could be proven based off that alone. But the lessons not being learnt were difficult to address. It seems when it came to the harshest of Haughty characters it took a miracle to change their hearts and sometimes that wasn't enough. Perhaps life isn't meant to be lived in putting magnifying glasses on the spiritual lives of others but just looking at our own.

Edited January 26, 2014 by JatherdarSahib