I am Sikh, but I am having some troubles with religion. Some religions have 10 gods while others have one god. But what god should we believe in? Also, does praying work or no? I am just wondering a lot. There is a lot of debate and people are saying praying doesn't work. When I pray it works, but I am not sure. Please help me. I am really confused.
Jasdeep118 ji welcome to spn. Given number of posts I assume you are a new member.
Let me share with you what I personally know about your questions, i.e. if I were to answer the same questions were I to ask these of myself:
Q1: But what god should we believe in?
A!: We are all different. Some would like to believe without trying to understand simply because our Guru ji say so. This may lead to beliefs out of love for our Guru ji and SGGS rather an appreciation of the messages or teachings. I try to understand and generally less depend on simply believing. Since one cannot as a student have the intellect of a teacher (like our Guru ji and SGGS) then at times it does not hurt much to actually believe a little. In terms of god/God I am pretty clear and I am at peace with this belief/understanding. It goes like there is one creator; Guru ji and SGGS states that such cannot be fully describable hence a level of belief is always needed. What I believe starts with mool mantar where Guruji basically explain that such a creator is forever true; is a self creation so it is not a God who overseas lesser gods and vice versa; such has no fear so things that we may perceive as hurtful will happen in the realm of the creator because all is in accordance with ultimate truths as to how creator and creation is which we may or may not understand; such is not doing anything in human way of describing it as animosity; such is timeless and no incarnation or reincarnations driven and much understanding of the same comes through a confluence of benevolent and benevolence in the creator and creation.
Q2: Does praying work or no?
A2: Praying can be viewed as an external and an internal activity. The power of prayer lies in terms of the purpose of a prayer. We are enabled by creator and impacted by creation all around us. If one thinks, prays and acts in consonance with all that is around us, then it is quite likely that what you pray being inherently with how is will succeed. However if our prayer is out of synch with or out of consonance with what is all around us, we may be disappointed if we act and pray accordingly. An example is that I may pray that I want to be the President of the USA. Should I be disappointed and say prayer does not work if it does not happen. I know it is an extreme example but the logic can be equally applied to other scenarios. I could also on the other hand pray that I be good to people, have the strength to help others and so on. What would happen? Perhaps such will become an internal beacon, a mental reminder and I may so become. I know I have not given you a yes or no answer but that is how I understand it.
There are other nice threads at spn like the following that you may want to search:
http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/threads/faith-and-sikhism.44912/#post-201936
Feel free to comment back and don't be discouraged when people simply ask you questions in response to your question and it may appear as a push back.
All the best.
Sat Sri Akal.
