Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Who is a Sikh?
The word Sikh means a student, a learner, a follower or chella. Over the last five centuries, the word Sikh has denoted a distinct group of people who are followers of a faith or a religion, founded by Siri Guru Nanak Dev Ji during the fifteenth century, called Sikhi or Sikh religion. Anyone who follows the principles, laid down by guru Nanak dev Ji and preached by the next nine gurus, as we Sikhs call them, the next nine guru Nanak’s. We also believe that Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the eternal guru. A Sikh is a person who believes in above mentioned criteria. A true Sikh has to have certain qualities and follow specific guidelines set by the gurus for Sikhs to live his life by.The most important rules are the three golden rules of Sikhi as established by Guru Nanak and preached by each and every Sikh guru, and now, until eternity, are taught by the eternal Guru Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
1. Always remember Waheguru or God because he is the creator of all, is present everywhere and watches over us all the time. We cannot hide anything from him.
2. Earn your living by honest means. Do not try to gain material wealth by fraudulent means because it is forbidden by the guru and the guru-given common sense.
3. Out of your earnings, give some of it for the care of the needy who are less fortunate than we are. Guru Nanak Dev Ji has told us that the hungry man’s stomach is Sikhs golakh, or depository.
These rules to live one’s life by is not for the Sikhs only, but these are the guide lines for every human being on this earth, because Siri Guru Nanak Dev Ji did not bring this religion to this earth just for the Sikhs. He created a religion, called Sikhi, as a universal religion for everyone to live his or her life by to achieve salvation.
Any person who lives by these rules cannot commit any sins. All other Sikhi rules are derived from these three golden rules of Sikhi. If a Sikh does not follow these rules, then he or she can not be a good Sikh. Some of the sub-rules for a Sikh are as follows;
1. A Sikh gets out of bed at least before day break. The guru called it amrit bella. After taking a bath, a Sikh recites god’s name before he or she starts his or her daily chores. This has a profound effect on a person’s health, productivity, cheerfulness and accomplishment in general. We have all heard the phrase, “the early bird gets the worm.” This may not be a proper phrase to use here but it can remind us of some of the many practical, common sense benefits of early rising out of bed.
2. A Sikh never lies because it is against the principals of Sikhi and has important connotations. A person loses his or her credibility, loses respect of his peers, loses self confidence and, once you tell a lie, you have to remember it all of the time or you will be exposed as a liar. The benefit of speaking the truth is that you do not have to remember it.
3. A Sikh always has to be humble. Humble does not mean to be a coward; it means to be respectful but do not yield to a bully.
4. A Sikh believes in human rights and equal rights for everyone, because we are all created equal by the same or common creator. For this reason, all of us have the same privileges and rights to attain our own destiny. A phrase “to live and let live” describes this point very well.
5. A Sikh never cheats anyone out of any material things because it is immoral, illegal, fraudulent, and it is against the teachings of our guru.
6. A Sikh always has a guru given duty to protect and help the downtrodden and the weak who cannot protect themselves from predators.
7. A Sikh never steals or takes away anything from anyone or any place that does not belong to him or her.
8. A Sikh is always aware of shame and is the possessor of a true conscious. Without these two one cannot be a good Sikh.
9. A true Sikh never uses anyone or any public property to advance his or her own agenda or to achieve personal gain, whether it is material or self advancement of any kind.
10. A Sikh should be egoless.
11. A Sikh should put other people’s needs ahead of his own. That is, the legitimate needs.
12. The most important belief a Sikh has is that he or she believes, without a doubt, that the spirit that traveled through the ten gurus was one and the same and that is the spirit of Siri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. And now, this spirit resides in our eternal and universal guru, Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
13. A Sikh never bows to any human who claims to be a guru.
14. A Sikh never reads, listens or accepts anything else as Sikh scriptures except Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, as this guru is ordained by the tenth and the last in human form, Siri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who ordered the Sikhs that after his leaving this earth Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the one and only Sikh guru. There is not, and will never be, any other Sikh guru, and any Sikh who does not abide by this order is a manmattia, or a fake.
15. A Sikh never uses his religious place or gurdwara to promote his or her personal businesses or branches of these by the space or money that is donated by the sangat, or “congregation”.
16. A Sikh never fools or tries to fool the sangat by making them feel that he is doing it for the benefit of the congregation, but it is really money going into his pocket.
17. A Sikh never pays his pledges with fake money.
18. A Sikh never uses the gurdwara for banking purposes.
19. A Sikh always pays on his pledges. He never makes a false pledge to donate money, property or other material things or services of any kind. It is a sin not to fulfill that pledge.
20. A Sikh never becomes a dictator to the sangat but feels like a good sewadar to the community, always and under all circumstances.
21. A Sikh never uses foul language anywhere.
22. A Sikh never says to anyone that he or she is not a Sikh. Because he himself does not know if he is a good Sikh himself. Only the guru knows who is a Sikh, good or bad, and gurus, during their stay on this earth for two hundred and thirty-nine years never said to anyone that he or she was not his Sikh. Now, for two hundred and ninety eight years, our eternal guru has never said this either. Guru Ji tells us that, before finding faults in others, we should look for hidden ghosts in our own closets.
23. A Sikh remembers that his religion is the newest, practical, common sense and universal religion on earth, without an exception.
24. A Sikh should not question some one else’s Sikhi, because that part belongs to the guru alone.
25. A Sikh should try to learn to read gurbani. This is the best way to gain true knowledge of the guru’s message, otherwise, we fall prey in to the clever preachers hands by accepting the fables he or some one else has created.
26. A Sikh always loves everyone and everything because all of it is created by the omni-present Waheguru. He or she never discriminates against anyone because of their religion, creed, color, caste or occupation.
27. A Sikh should always remember that if something seems or feels bad, and your conscious agrees, then that deed is bad. A Sikh avoids doing bad things or bad deeds.
28. A Sikh always remembers that shame and conscious are the reminders to make him or her walk on the line of righteousness.
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