Is there such thing as Ghosts according to Sikhism?

Hi All,

I am just curious if there is such thing as 'Ghosts' according to Sikhism? Please let me know your opinions on this topic...thanks.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/interfaith-dialogues/24049-there-such-thing-ghosts-according-sikhism.html

Regards,

Rani
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They are used as metaphors, and there will be people who take these references in Bani as metaphors as proof of existence. As Sikhs we don't concern ourselves with such things.

right..just metaphors....
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24049
Once a "Sikh" approached Guru Gobind Singh Ji and complained...Guru Ji..I see ghosts and demons ...
Guru Ji asked him..Do you keep Rehit...NO...
Do you ever read Gurbani,,Japji..Sohila..Sukhmani..etc....NO
Then YOU are more Ghost and Demon than any i know..says Guru Ji...

So YES..those types of ghosts and demons DO EXIST among US...Plenty of us so called SIKHS are these...

Once a person suffering from diarroehea soiled his chadar and became scared his wife would scold him.... so he bundled the chadar and threw it out of his window...it fell on to a DRUNK..walking home in the street.... as soon a s the chadar overwhelmed the drunk...he beagn to lash out wildly in all directions until he was all covered in ****... a policeman came along and asked him..whats happening.... i JUST BEAT THE **** OUT OF A GHOST..replied the drunk....

Gyani ji

Where do you find these jokes and stories

Different sikh scholars have different opinion on it

Like Gyani Sant singh ji maskeen ghosts do exists while there are other sikh scholarswho do not beleive in ghosts.So I think sikhism is neither pro ghosts nor it is Anti ghosts

aad jio..
these are what makes my classes so interesting..that time flies....
no one is ever bored.....since my gurbani vichaar/history classes run continuously for 4-6 hours non stop....i need these to liven things up..as well as get my point across...pointedly !!(pun intended)...so i have a large collection....my dad was one up on me..he could compose poetry on the spot to explain the point...i just cant do that..sad..because his two liners..or limericks in punjabi are hilarious....so many would get tummy aches from laughing so much...thats why he was a much better teacher than me..i really miss him.....god took him early..much too early..hukm.

I think Panjabi folk culture has a strong belief in such things. I remember my grandma telling us really "out there" ghost stories that both captivated and scared the cr4p out of me! She was illiterate and such tales were common back then. I remember once (about 10 years ago) telling a particular story to my mates and then one of them asking where my family were from. When I told him he said he knew the story was bullcrap because his own grandma told him the identical story.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24049

Both grandmas claimed to have witnessed the incident even though they lived at opposite ends of the Panjab.

As for Sikhi and ghosts - I think that it is a point of view. From my (limited) understanding overall Sikhi doesn't dwell on ghosts (pooths or preth in Panjabi), although it could be one of the 84 million forms. What becomes unhealthy is that often superstitious families will blame such things for negative events that take place (such as a miscarriage or divorce) and promptly run to some Sant-Baba type for a solution. Often they are fleeced or become akin to members of cults in the process.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24049

Really striking use of ghost imagery is used more extensively in the Dasam Granth, where ghosts are often portrayed as stalking the battlefields. I personally do not believe we are to take such things literally.

In our Indian culture especially in the Punjabi culture, the denial of mental problems that one may have invented bhoots and bad spirits. As the majority of the population was illitrate, hence could not read nor write, everything was passed down orally and when this happens it is like the 'telephone game', what is said to the first person totally changes when it gets to the 30th one. And here we are talking about millions of people and quite a few generations. That's why the culture Sadhus, most of them fake had a lot to do in shaping the uneducated culture of India. The people depended on others so called " educated charlatans" and whatever bizzarre stories they said were trusted as truth and passed on to the next generations.

One can see the perfect example of this in Kabir's Salok beautifully interpreted by Aad ji which I have posted at the bottom of this post.

All these Bhoots and evil spirits were invented by these kind of Sadhus that Kabir ji is talking about.

Thanks to Guru Nanak, we can get rid of this kind of belief system only through Shabad Vichar.

Tejwant Singh

ਕਬੀਰ ਪਰਦੇਸੀ ਕੈ ਘਾਘਰੈ ਚਹੁ ਦਿਸਿ ਲਾਗੀ ਆਗਿ ॥
कबीर परदेसी कै घाघरै चहु दिसि लागी आगि ॥
Kabīr parḏesī kai gẖāgẖrai cẖahu ḏis lāgī āg.
Kabeer, the robe of the stranger-soul has caught fire on all four sides.

ਖਿੰਥਾ ਜਲਿ ਕੋਇਲਾ ਭਈ ਤਾਗੇ ਆਂਚ ਨ ਲਾਗ ॥੪੭॥
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24049
खिंथा जलि कोइला भई तागे आंच न लाग ॥४७॥
Kẖinthā jal ko▫ilā bẖa▫ī ṯāge āʼncẖ na lāg. ||47||
The cloth of the body has been burnt and reduced to charcoal, but the fire did not touch the thread of the soul. ||47||

ਕਬੀਰ ਖਿੰਥਾ ਜਲਿ ਕੋਇਲਾ ਭਈ ਖਾਪਰੁ ਫੂਟ ਮਫੂਟ ॥
कबीर खिंथा जलि कोइला भई खापरु फूट मफूट ॥
Kabīr kẖinthā jal ko▫ilā bẖa▫ī kẖāpar fūt mafūt.
Kabeer, the cloth has been burnt and reduced to charcoal, and the begging bowl is shattered into pieces.

ਜੋਗੀ ਬਪੁੜਾ ਖੇਲਿਓ ਆਸਨਿ ਰਹੀ ਬਿਭੂਤਿ ॥੪੮॥
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24049
जोगी बपुड़ा खेलिओ आसनि रही बिभूति ॥४८॥
Jogī bapuṛā kẖeli▫o āsan rahī bibẖūṯ. ||48||
The poor Yogi has played out his game; only ashes remain on his seat. ||48||
"The robe of the stranger-soul:" The robe is the flesh, muscle and bone -- this can also mean the false ego or false self which entangles us in avidya, or ignorance of the true self. As long as we persist in attachment to products of our own thinking, our soul remains a stranger. We are estranged from our true identity. But when the robe is burnt the soul is untouched, unharmed. The soul is immortal, durable and pure. The soul can join with What is Great (Al Kabir).

There is a repeated metaphor of a thread that weaves through the soul, joins the soul to What is Great (making a jug with something better than the pretentiousness of our false self) because "the fire did not touch the thread of the soul."

The begging bowl is the sign of the humility of the Yogi. But Kabir is telling us that this begging bowl describes the pretense and self-delusion of the Yogi. The Yogi's identity or false self is all tied up in the image of poverty, humility and renunciation. But to what end? The Yogi will also die, leaving a pile of ashes where he sits. And what seat is that? The seat from which the sadhus would preach to others, even while they were entangled in their own avidya and delusions. The yogi dies and all of his samskara (mental formations, habits, and experiences) attach to him regardless. There is a better way.

Some notes: George Wescott, a fellow of Allahabad University, relates in 1907 that Kabir himself believed that meditation of the Naam was the only path to release from the cycle of life and death. At the time of his arrest at the age of 60 the Qazi (Sheik Taqqi) accused him of claiming to have Divine powers. Brahmins accused him of defying sacred traditions. When the emperor Jodhan banished Kabir rather than having him executed for heresy, the same Brahmins may have tried to burn him alive in a hut (the robe of the stranger-soul has caught fire on all four sides). The yogi he speaks of may have been Gorath Nath who was the founder of the Nath yogi sect (The poor Yogi has played out his game).

http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/gurmat-vichaar...abir-ji-6.html

Definitely a factor!!! I've heard families speaking of "possessions" and the symptoms seem absolutely identical to some form of schizophrenia.