Friday, May 18, 2007

Questions That We Frequently Ask

I was going through a website of sikhism, www.realsikhism.com There I found a few intersting questions that we sikhs always ask and the answers as well. The answers here are fantastic. I have copied some of them here, do read it, as you also may understand the purpose of life. For more articles visit the website.

Q: What is the purpose of life?

A: The purpose of life is to worship God and eventually become one with the One.
God is the greatest spirit of all and our soul is a part of God. Our soul has been separated from God and it’s dignity remains in merging back with God. The purpose of this life is to become one with God, to merge in the One whom we originated from. Our Guru tells us “This human body has been given to you. This is your chance to meet the Lord of the Universe. All other works are useless, join the holy congregation and meditate on the Name of God” (Guru Granth Sahib, 12).

In addition, “The blind (those who do not recognize the importance of God) have forgotten the Name of God. The self-willed people are in utter darkness. Their comings and goings in reincarnation do not end; through death and rebirth, they are wasting away” (Guru Granth Sahib, 19). Furthermore, “Those who meditate single-mindedly on the Name of God, and contemplate the Teachings of the Guru. Their faces are forever radiant in the Kingdom of God” (Guru Granth Sahib, 28). If you are not meditating on God, you are wasting your life.


Q: What does Sikhism tells about the image or description of God?

A: Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Holy Scripture describes the characteristics of God. Through the 1430 pages the Guru Granth Sahib explains about God, praises God, and informs on what essentially makes God.

The opening of the Scripture is a description of God: ‘God is one. He is the supreme truth. He, the Creator, is beyond fear and beyond hate. He is immortal. He is neither born and nor does He die. By Guru’s grace shall He be met. In the beginning He was the truth. Throughout the ages He has been the truth. He is the truth here and now and He shall be the truth forever’ (Guru Granth Sahib, 1).
The most important aspect of being a Sikh, is to understand that, there is one endless God. He is indescribable, inestimable, indubitable, infallible, intangible, imperishable, immutable, immortal, immaculate, immanent, unconquerable, unique, formless, fearless, deathless, timeless, ageless, compassionate, omnipresent and creator of all.

God loves everyone. Sikhs believe there is no one superior to God. Furthermore, Sikhs believe that God created all beings, all animals, birds, all creatures, including humans. When the First Great Guru, the founder of Sikh faith, Guru Nanak Dev gave this definition to the people who believed differently in God, they were surprised and they asked him, who told you this and how God came in existence? The Great Guru said, “God Himself told me that He is self-created.” They asked him, “how does God look?" and the Great Guru preached that God is formless. God is beyond gender and form. God has no body.

The main difference between Sikhism and some of the world’s other religions is that there are people who worship Jesus and believe Jesus is God, some people worship Buddha and believe Buddha is God. The Sikh Gurus themselves said that they are not to be worshipped. They expressed very clearly not to worship anyone except God.


Q: Christians always talk about going to heaven or hell, what does Sikhism say about it?

A: Christians believe that God lives in heaven and Christians always talk about going to heaven. First of all, salvation is not reached just by entering in heaven. Salvation is reached by merging in the Holy Spirit. Salvation is not reached by just talking and doing good deeds, it is reached by meditating on God, and living the life by renouncing lust, greed, anger, emotional attachment and egotistical pride. “As long as the mind is filled with the desire for heaven, he does not reach God” (Guru Granth Sahib 325). The desire should be to meet God, not to go to heaven. Heaven and Hell are not created to live but to award and punish. Your good deeds will be paid off in heaven, your bad deeds in hell; you will then take birth again until you become One with God.


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

answers to these questions are really good.

PROUD SIKH
http://www.proudsikh.us