Sikhism Leaving India?

[amritpaln]

Do you think Sikhism, or the study of Sikhism (by the common man) is leaving India?

There has to be a reason for the growth of cults that target Sikhs, and our leadership is too weak to respond.

- We recite Gurubani in Gurudwaras, understanding for which is gained over a lifetime.

- We do not talk about the teaching of the Gurus.

- No attempt is made to inspire the youth. As long as they go to the Gurudwara they are Sikhs, but what do they gain from the experience that will ‘tickle’ the mind?

Now you look at the West, a lot of people have become westernised. But eventually some will attempt to understand who they are. A lot of young Sikhs who have worn turbans their whole life suddenly have a hunger to understand - so starts a study of their roots & religion. The knowledge and understanding that is gained is clear and crisp…

Do you think things will get a lot worse before getting better?

I do not wish to offend anyone. I understand that there are very many learned Sikhs in India who have enriched their lives. And I bow to you with envy.

These are some of my thoughts which I hope will incite a fruitful debate.



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[simpy]

Respected Saadh Sangat Ji,

me neech thinks that instead of debating who is right and who is wrong and measuring specified time and trend for recovery, one should actually use that knowledge, energy and time to do something that inspires the youth and the others to follow the right path-DHAN DHAN SIRI GURU GRANTH SAHIB JI .... Live the truth yourself and become an example ....

humbly asking for everybody's forgiveness

 

[amritpaln]

I believe ‘It’s all God’s will’ idea is also letting us down. Religious leadership need to become more media centric and dump politics. Communication is pathetic, responding vary late to events that have already taken their course. Over the decades there has been no attempt to pre-empt the growth of cults or an exodus of Sikh youth shedding their hair. Any attempts to get back into the game now sound hollow.

 

[kds1980]

the problem of sikhism is that it give over importance to 5ks.dress code's are part of all religions but majority of people try to avoid.we all say that muslims are very strict
in their religion but still majority of muslim males don't wear beards when mohammed clearly recommended that all muslims should wear beards.the sikh leaders should understand that there is no way that 100% population is going to wear 5ks.the first
thing they should do is to develop spirituality and sikh pride among sikh youths
if we will force our young generation to wear 5ks then these people will further drift
away from sikhism.this will not only result in downfall of sikhism but it will give also boost to other deras's like sacha sauda,radhaswami,nirankari's etc

 

[luv4u]

Hi kds1980 ji,

I do agree with you that the dress code is difficult to maintain. The identity Of sikhs is almost lost here. The turban is fast disappearing from Punjab. Only old persons wear turban. There is alternative that i can think of. Had there been strong role model in Sikhs one would have felt proud with identification. I think the sitaution is worst in US as well , my cousins have recently shifted to US and the first thing they did within 2 days was to get shaved off. They are 19 and 22 respectively.

In India we had persons like 'Inder jit singh , Bhai Mohan singh and Raunaq singh and sikhs felt that they have someone to whom other look for identification. This 'icon' is missing these days. Sikhs have only Akalis glued to them for identification.

I cannot say ,for sure, if 'Dera' culture is on this account. These catered to the needs of ,generally, lower strata of society, I do not think that there are many sikhs subscribing to the theory of 'Deras'.

Your observations are correct and hit directly the bull's eye.

 

[drkhalsa]

Majority of people in sacha Sauda Dera from punjab are from Malwa Belt ( District of Bathinda , Mansa Sangrur, Barnala...)

and majority of them are from lower strata in terms of social status and catse

The reason they are popular?!

.1. Thick castism in punjab with even seperate gurdwaras for dalits
2. even the mangaing boards like SGPC is constituted of so called high class Idiots and serve no purpose to lower class people who happen to be most deserving candidates to be SIkh converts
3 everybody in punjab is targeting to get these so called lower caste people to convert to their fath namely Christian , Deras( beas , Sacha Sauda) and even Hindu missionaries BUT NOT SIKH ORGANISATION BY ANY Chance . they only form DARAM PARCHAR COMMITIES which are good for nothing
4. SOME OF YOU WILLBE SURPRISE TO KNOW THAT SO CALLED VERY GREAT 96 CRORE NIHAN SINGH ARE THE CHAMPION IN THIS CASTE GAME

THEY CONDUCT AMRIT SANCHAR CEREMONY AT THERE HEAD QUATER IN WHICH THEY PREPARE TWO KINDS OF AMRIT
1. ONE FOR HIGHER CASTE ( ZAMINDAARS)
2 OTHER ONE FOR LOWER CASTE ( CHAUTHA PAUR)

AND THEY VERY PROUDLY CLAIM THAT IT WAS SO DONE BY GURU GOBIND SINGH JI HIMSELF

NOTE: THIS ABOVE INFORMATION IIN NOT HERE SAY AS I MYSELF WITNESS TO ALL THIS CASTE DRAMA IN AMRIT CEREMONY IN NIHANGS


DO YOU STILL THINK PEOPLE OF LOWER CASTE SHOULD NOT GO TO SACHA SUADA DERA AND TAKE AMRIT FROM RAM RAHEEM GURMEET SINGH AT LEAST THEY GET RID OF THEIR LOWER CASTE





Jatinder Singh

 

[truthseeker]

Waheguru ji ka khalsa, Waheguru ji ki fateh

I can not really comment from personal experience because i have not been there, but from what i have heard from others is that, just like someone else already said you very seldom see a youth with their hair.
I have friends who have gone from here, canada, to india and said that they felt as if they were the only ones to have kept their hair, received amrit and so forth.
I find this sort of shocking and sad because its on those grounds that our gurus travelled to share sikhi with everyone. Its on those grounds that our shaheeds died for our faith.

Also, in a few of the posts they talked about how today we tend to concentrate on the 5 k's. I dont feel that children should be forced to keep their hair or anything. but they should be raised in an environment that gives them the opportunity. If they are given the tools as children once they become older they will be able to make a more educated decision as to which path they would like.
I find today many of the youth want to fit in with western society, and feel that they can love their Guru and still go what is in style. Whether or not it happens more in india than places like Canada, the US and the UK, im not really sure just making an overall statement.
Many Sikhi is drifting away from india because people take advantage of the fact that they live in the homeland of our Gurus. In other parts of the world many people work very hard to teach us youth about Sikhi, and they let us embrace it and fall in love with the essence of the whole thing.

just my two cents
Bhul Chuk Maaf karna

Waheguru ji ka khalsa, Waheguru ji ki fateh

 

[luv4u]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/29/news/turban.php

AMRITSAR, India: The day 14-year-old Jugraj Singh abandoned his turban and had a lifetime's growth of hair cut off, he collected the tresses from the barber shop's floor and packed them into a plastic bag. Then he threw the bag into a river flowing out of Amritsar, the spiritual home of the Sikhs.

"It was my parents' idea to float it down the river; they thought it would be a display of respect to the hair I had cut off," said Singh, now an 18-year-old business student. "For me it wasn't an emotional moment."
Like many young Sikhs, he found the turban a bother. It got in the way during judo classes. Washing his long hair was time-consuming, as was the morning ritual of winding seven meters, or more than 20 feet, of cloth around his head. It was hot and uncomfortable.

"In the end," he said, "it was a question of fashion. I felt smarter without it."
Sikh spiritual leaders voice dismay at the rapidity with which a new generation of young men are trimming their hair and abandoning the turban, the most conspicuous emblem of the Sikh faith.