Dear Brother and Sisters WGKWGF :-
What does “ Sikhism mean to me ”. This may of course vary for different men and woman .
Sikhism is an contemporary religion which enshrines today’s human aspirations. To name some of the several values enshrined in Sikhism are
- Diversity
- Unity
- Change
- Respect for nature.
- Courage to fight fearlessly for above values , right causes and right to live with dignity.
- Spirit to learn imbued in the word “ SIKH ”
1 Diversity (Different): - If you see mother nature all around you shall see that there is lot of diversity around you in all living and non living things which go on to define life and our universe. It is a kind of unwritten law. Great many discoveries and inventions have taken by people who dared to take an different route.
Sikhism follows this law of diversity in terms of “belief in God”. That I can be different and still have the right to my belief. I need not belong to any of the major religions of the world and still have the right to my own thought and still be part of the same one God. It was toward this direction we refused to get converted to ISLAM under Mughals . It is not that there is any thing wrong in Islam but Sikhism as a concept says “ We too have the right to have our own thought about how I conceive MY GOD our more appropriately our GOD ” .
2. Change :- Also “"Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." John F. Kennedy.
It is like Darwin’s evolution in that change is our constant companion. Sikhism is an expression of this law in terms of “SPIRITUALITY.”
3. Unity:- We all know that the “ M theory” is the currant most intelligent theory written by man. It seeks to unify all the different forms of forces known in nature.
Sikhism imbue this spirit of “ unification” in terms of GOD and says that there is only one GOD for all its children .We as true Sikhs don’t believe in caste and creed viz “ Nanak nam chadi kala tere bane Sarbat tha bhalla ” ..
It is the unfortunate that preperators of 9/11 throw up challenges to such belief. We as a community are then made to suffer due to such hate crimes.
4. Respect of nature: - By keeping long hairs given by God we enshrine the value that we respect mother nature . Global warming disasters happen when we tamper with our Nature beyond a point
5.Courage to fight fearlessly for above and right cause:-
Since the time of our birth we have been guarding these values in different civilizations at a great cost to our lives. Be it the Mughal invader , or world war 1 or the “ NAZI hate campaign” or preperators of 9/11 we have been with our friends from India ,Europe , African and American continents in there struggle.
6. Spirit to learn imbued in the word “ SIKH ”:- We are a young religion and still have a lot to learn from our own and others mistakes . All major religion have gone through this process . The word “ SIKH” means a learners. So we are still learning and shall always be learners
So if you have the “courage to be different ” say like “Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)” who walked on this planet at the same time as “The First Master Guru Nanak Dev Ji (1469-1539)”
Welcome to the “ SIKH fold ”
SS Akal , Nameste , Greetings and Salam wale kum.
Dr HP Singh.
