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Questioning/Losing Faith

Harry Haller

Panga Master
SPNer
Jan 31, 2011
5,769
8,194
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Re: Questioning/Losing Faith

This forum is truly amazing, we have managed to turn an unsure, wavering man into a staunch Sikh all in a few pages, its a miracle, let us take a look back at the progress!

Recently I've been questioning religion and whether it is true.

ah yes, I remember this, the beginning, where it all started

I have the following doubts.

still unsure, but ready to learn!

Sorry if this offends people but I cannot live with this confusion.
you can almost feel the pain!

It would be great if these religious texts were just straight to the point without poetry and speaking in riddles.

oh wouldn't it just! It is so hard making sense isn't it?

Thank you all for your answers but for some of them I think, have you even read the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji?

oh here we go, the turning point, in the space of a few days our man has turned into a sant!

Karma and reincarnation are the fundamentals of Sikhi.

he's coming on! the doubts have vanished, the questions have gone, our man is now versed in the fundamentals of Sikhism, let us all bow before the great one!

Well how about these lines from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji:

what?? the ones mired in poetry and riddles? but wait, its ok, because you have an english translation that cuts through the poetry and riddles, yes, badly translated one liners to back up your new found confidence and knowledge! Bravo!!

Now how can there be any doubt on Sikhi's views on reincarnation.

absolutely not! now please take all my money, let me buy you a new Audi and kindly have relations with all my female relatives! oh, and have this red light on me!
 
Sep 19, 2013
132
287
32
Nottingham
Re: Questioning/Losing Faith

Sat Sri Akal ji.

Recently I've been questioning religion and whether it is true.

I like Sikhism and what it stands for but I cannot get my head around some concepts.
Even most born Sikhs can't get their head around some concepts of Sikhi. In fact, Guruji tells us in Japji Sahib:
ਸੋਚੈ ਸੋਚਿ ਨ ਹੋਵਈ ਜੇ ਸੋਚੀ ਲਖ ਵਾਰ ॥
Socẖai socẖ na hova▫ī je socẖī lakẖ vār.
By thinking, He cannot be reduced to thought, even by thinking hundreds of thousands of times.

Link to full Shabad:
http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=KeertanPage&K=1&L=5&id=5
Waheguru cannot be explained or deducted using reason, knowledge of Waheguru is only gained as a gift.

All religions were formed when people did not know a much about the universe and how it was created. I do still think that Guru Nanak was special because he did state that there were multiple planets, galaxies etc.
He also said that the universe has been created and destroyed multiple times, which fits in with the Big Bang and Big Crunch theories.
Although there are references to planets and galaxies in Gurbani, this is not the message that Guruji is trying to teach us. There are plenty of science books that describe and explain such things in far more detail. This is not the 'special' thing about Sikhi, Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji is not some magical tome that predicted future scientific discoveries like Nostradamus or something.

1. No religion has accurately explained the origin of life on Earth and backed it up with evidence.
If you want to know by what means the Universe was created, Carl Sagan or Stephen Hawking can teach you that. If you want to know for what purpose the universe was created, then go to Guruji. But even that isn't what Sikhi is really about, Sikhi is the art and science of cultivating the soul so that we can meet the Divinity and experience the Divine Love directly.

2. Why would God create things like Dinosaurs and so much before humans? If humans are the only ones that can achieve mukti, why waste time creating dinosaurs and other ancient animals, why not create humans as one of the first lifeforms. The sikh scriptures do not mention dinosaurs.
Gurbani tells us that the whole world is like a play, and Waheguru has created all of it for his pleasure. Just as an artist paints a portrait or a writer creates a novel. The dinosaurs and other prehistoric lifeforms, along with all the rocks, desolate expanses of space, dust particles and other seemingly lifeless and meaningless things, are just more of the colours and brush-strokes that make up the world we live in.

ਜੀਅ ਜੰਤ ਸਭਿ ਤੇਰਾ ਖੇਲੁ ॥
Jī▫a janṯ sabẖ ṯerā kẖel.
All living beings are Your playthings.

Link to full Shabad:
http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=KeertanPage&K=11&L=18&id=506

3. You are born into a religion, if I was born 2000 years ago in Norway I would believe in Thor and Odin.
Spiritual thought is not about which name you use to call Waheguru. An ancient Greek or a medieval Norseman can achieve liberation just as a Muslim or a Hindu can.

4. Countries where religion plays a big part in people's lives like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middle East, Africa, South America are generally full of poverty. Whereas in places like Western Europe, Japan, religion is not important at all. Guess which countries are more successful and tolerant.
Firstly, 'religion', when expressed as blind and superficial obedience to a specific set of dogmas and practices, is a destructive influence. After been trapped by this net for centuries the west has seen through this and now they are achieving success in the material world.
Secondly, although the west may be the better half of the world to live in, that does not make westerners morally or spiritually superior people. Who is driving climate change? The west. Which countries (not that long ago) went around the world destroying other nations in the name of racial and cultural supremacy? The west. Which people consume so many resources that the rest of the world sits in poverty? The west. Westerners are no better or worse than others.

5. Why was Guruship kept in the same family from Guru Ram Das onwards? I cannot imagine Guru Nanak giving the Guruship to a child like it was given to Guru Har Krishan or a child Guru Gobind. Even though these Gurus were great men who did a lot for us it seems like nepotism.
I'm not so knowledgeable on Sikh history, so others will probably explain the reasoning behind the decision to keep the Guruship in Guru Ram Das ji's family.
As for Guru Har Krishan ji and Guru Gobind Rai ji, we learn from this that children are perfectly capable of wisdom. This may seem strange nowadays (when people are considered children up to the age of 16 or 18, or even 21) but in other societies people grew up a lot faster.

6. Sorry if this offends people but Guru Nanak was against rituals, so why is it mandatory to drink Amrit, carry a kirpan, grow our hair.
We say we grow our hair because we don't want to change the form God made us in. So if we are born with an illness do we just leave it or do we keep it? We are a continually evolving species and we may one day evolve into one that has no hair.
Amrit, the Kirpan, our Kesh, are all objects and actions that contain meaning. A blind ritual is an action done for it's own sake but with no reasoning behind it beyond tradition. Rituals will not get you closer to Waheguru. An action that is imbued with meaning, with intention, though, can be like a form of meditation. A Sikh goes to bow his head before Guruji not because that's some kind of rule or custom they must follow, but because they sincerely love Maharaj ji.

7. Guru Nanak said if you're a Muslim be a good muslim, if you're a hindu be a good hindu, yet he criticised both religions. Even I can see that both religions have big problems. Islam with it's misogyny, violence, heaven and hell, virgins in heaven. Hinduism in it's belief in multiple gods, fairy tales, caste system. He should have been more critical.
Guruji criticises the counterproductive behaviours and thoughts of all people, especially those that result from superstitious or dogmatic beliefs. This isn't some kind of specific rebuttal or Islam or Hinduism. This should be taken to heart by Sikhs as well, there are some who base all their faith on krodh alone and think constantly of revenge on India, or those who believe that they are some sort of special super-determined superhuman, or those who just use their connections with the 'community' to get money.
The last comment there, "he should have been more critical", is really a contradiction of Sikhi in a fundamental sense. A 'Sikh' is a student. But really a 'Sikh' is a student in the spiritual sense, a Disciple. So 'Sikhi' could be translated as 'Discipleship'. A Disciple attaches themselves to their Teacher, their Master. And this attachment is in the sense of utter devotion, it is done entirely out of free will and the Disciple feels nothing but love for the Master. A Disciple does not contradict his Teacher or second-guess them, and neither does he want to.

8. Why worship this creator. Maybe it exists but how do you know it wants us to worship it and think about it all of the time.
How do we know? Because Guruji teaches this to us, and we are devoted to Guruji. That's the most fundamental part of it. We choose to give ourselves to Guruji in the hope that we will be led to liberation and meet Waheguru.
Of course, that leads to a further question: how do we know Guruji is true? This is really the crux of the issue. And the answer is different for different individuals. Just like how not everyone falls in love in the same way.

Whether we 'have' to worship God or not is irrelevant. If you don't want to worship Waheguru, don't. Think of it like the Matrix if you want: take the blue pill and remain countless lives in the illusory Maya, or take the red pill of Waheguru's Name and start the journey to Liberation. :)

9. Why has no religious 'prophet' discovered something amazing like Electricity or flying. These were supposed to be all knowing people but they did not help humanity in scientific advancement.
Scientific advancement is part of Maya. Guruji teaches us how to escape from Maya.

10. People turn to God when things are down and when going through depression. I am guilty of this as well but as soon as the storm clears and my rational thought returns I return to doubt.
This is the case for many people at the beginning of the path, but eventually it becomes the case that we think about Waheguru all the time, leaving us permanently in elation. Even sadness becomes sweeter, as it turns from mere misery into a deep longing and sense of separation from Waheguru.

11. There are so many religions in this world and most of them have only been around for 5000 years, whereas humans have been around a lot longer. People have worshiped all kinds of things throughout humanity, from the sun, to idols, demi gods, one god and now worshiping no god is rising.
Counterproductive and destructive thinking have been around for thousands of years, and so have enlightened and spiritual thinking. The names and labels and forms they take are irrelevant.

12. They could have sent out a big message by giving the guruship to a lower caste person, rather than keeping it in the high Khatri caste. They could have married out of caste. It would have sent out an even bigger message.
As others have said, India was highly socially-stratified, people wouldn't have listened to a low-caste person, they would have just dismissed it as the ramblings of a man who has forgotten his place. Little to be gained just by rebelling for its own sake.

13. Karma system has flaws. So if you are bad you are given a bad next life, but who cares, it's not like you will remember it. I think it's downright cruel to say that disabled people are born that way because of bad karma. Why don't we just stop helping the poor people, after all it is due to bad karma that they are born that way.
Generally the more money people have the more they succumb to vices, so
is it better to be born poor and believe in god or be born into a rich family where you are more likely do 'bad things'
First: I will make it clear that I personally disagree with the stance on Karma that this forum generally follows. I do accept this concept. But I also know that I don't really have the knowledge to debate it properly here, so I don't want this to spark anything like that off.
Secondly: whether what happens to us is just or unjust is a matter of perspective. The difference between suffering and happiness is also a matter of perspective. Sukh and Dukh are just millimetres from each other. I have many problems and disabilities, but I don't cry over these that God has been unfair to me. Whatever actions I did in my previous lives resulted in this, even though I can't remember.

14. Reincarnation. There are lines in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji that if you think of your family in your last breath you will come back as a pig. Well then I guess a huge proportion of people who die come back as pigs because that is what a lot of people think of when they die. Why is it wrong to think of your family when dying?
For specifics of Gurbani please see someone else's response. I could give my own thoughts here but I don't want to be twisting Guruji's words or trying to turn it into my own or something.

15. Yugas make no sense. We are supposed to believe in the yugas and we are supposed to be in Kalyug. Yet in the last 100 years we have seen the most advancement in human history compared to any other time in humanity. We are supoosed to believe that people lived a lot longer in the past, like for hundreds of years. I highly doubt this is true.
Yugas etc are not meant to be taken literally. But again, I am reluctant to speak here because I can't back this up with sources. However, I did speak to somebody about this recently and they gave a good explanation.


Please forgive me if I have made mistakes in this. Also, not sure if my citation/quotation layout is correct.
 
Jul 18, 2007
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456
London
Re: Questioning/Losing Faith

Sikhi teaches us to change now, in the present, read, digest and act, circle of self improvement, inner journey and outer sorts itself out.

Reincarnation is based on a whole lifetime, and even then you don't know what you were, unless you go to a man with a round turban in white who will give you tall stories of being an ant, or that you were horrible to your servant and now are poor, disrespected, ugly because of those past actions etc etc and must repent to have another go! Yet you still wont remember next time!

Imagine Guru Nanak on his travel, "awakening" the sleeping souls like a sun rising and lighting up everything, wherever he went he created a change in psyche this is the power of Gurbani! Here and now, in the present.

Also, yes your super progressive expertise does suggest your just here to tell everyone disagreeing with you that they are not "Sikh" :realangrymunda:
 
Jul 18, 2007
147
456
London
Re: Questioning/Losing Faith

The questions were good, well structured, and it is enjoying to see someone asking questions others fear to ask and also, to read everyone's views regardless of them not necessarily being the same.

It's just the unfortunate end where you ask for views/opinions then compare with your own view and say but this is set in stone that "x" is correct, and the rest are incorrect which closes the openness of the discussion and learning.
 
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Aisha

SPNer
Oct 12, 2012
43
149
Re: Questioning/losing faith

I also sometimes think maybe Guru Nanak was a truly divine man and the Gurus after him although being great were not at the same spiritual level and introduced rituals.

I think you seem to forget that alongside all of Guru Nanak's teachings and actions, one of them was to appoint Bhai Lehna as his successor. He even went so far as to change his name to Angad, because Guru Nanak Sahib viewed him as an extension of himself. There was no difference between Guru Nanak ji and Guru Angad ji, And then Guru Angad appointed a successor, who appointed a successor and so forth until Guru Granth Sahib ji.

Do you think Guru Nanak made a mistake?

It would be great if these religious texts were just straight to the point without poetry and speaking in riddles.

You mean like a list of commandments? If Sikhi had those, I'm sure you'd be on here complaining about all the hard rules and regulations in the faith.

I'm pretty sure you're a Richard Dawkins fan. He routinely complains about the dogma of most religions, about how they don't allow for free-though and introspection. Sikhi forces you to think and use your own intellect. It is not a list of rules and commandments. So then why are you complaining?

Thank you all for your answers but for some of them I think, have you even read the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji?

Karma and reincarnation are the fundamentals of Sikhi.

Sikhi does not simply believe when you die that's it. If you don't believe in reincarnation then I don't think Sikhi is the religion for you.

There are also lines stating - how can you forget god, the one who created you.
So believing in god is again very much a part of Sikhi. This isn't buddhism.

With all due respect, I think you should avoid giving people on here lessons about what is and isn't a part of Sikhi, considering you make statements such as this:

I wonder that Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Guru Tegh Bahadur, Sahibzade were such great holy people who meditated a lot but they faced a gruesome demise. I thought by mediating such things could be avoided.

No offence bro, but if that is your idea of Sikhi (meditating to magically make all your problems go away), then to say you've completely missed the ball by a mile would be a gross understatement.

Rab Rakha.
 
Apr 11, 2007
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5. Why was Guruship kept in the same family from Guru Ram Das onwards? I cannot imagine Guru Nanak giving the Guruship to a child like it was given to Guru Har Krishan or a child Guru Gobind. Even though these Gurus were great men who did a lot for us it seems like nepotism.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/questions-and-answers/42357-questioning-losing-faith.html

Mr Curiousman I would like to add another point as well to this question, that Guru Nanak never spent much time with his kids to raise them, he sacrificed his own families knowledge and advancement for the sake of the advancement of humanity. Humanity should have returned that knowledge and advancement back to the upbringing of his children while he was teaching the world they should have given the love back, as he spent a lot of his time teaching the world, nobody was honest enough to give that truthful approach, or maybe no one understood enough at the time as it was a new approach, to give the advice back to his kids, I guess it showed the measure of humanity, even after seeing the great man no one was wise enough to realise the true and real seva they could have given to him at the time, which would have been to teach them the truth of Nanak's own philosophy, to his immediate family his family was humanity so he never differentiated, so he let god/nature play its game. When the seat of authority was given to the second Guru, they tried there level best to give that approach to them, but they had gone beyond his limit at that point the children watched in amazement and instead they developed into what surrounded them Guru Nanak's fame and fortune, others wanted to gain the power and be in control of the understanding of this power through his children they hoped to control the enlightenment and power of the Guru Granth Sahib ji after Guru Nanak the Guru's did not travel as much. The birth of something had started and nature had its own process of looking after itself, (just as a baby is born it first learns to suckle milk from its mother its own self then it slowly learns to fend for itself, it was a growing process for Sikhism as an example); and I guess it worked out the way nature intended it too. The succession of Guru Ram Dass ji who wrote the marriage rights in Sikhism, he being the Guru had situations and circumstances that others did not, and the others had different situations and circumstances, and thus further development happened, with his choices he added different rights and words that became enshrined into the Granth and the Panth it grew, it had become more and if the Guru granted his own children full knowledge of himself who would have been better to guide the Sikhs to this in depth point of knowledge that was being passed on naturally. I guess in Sikhism the Guru's temporal seat could have went to anyone, it would have went to the best person it was a natural temporal seat of God that developed itself. Such as it did in Guru Nanak's time only at the time of the development process Sikhism developed the best way it could naturally, there simply was no one more better that understood Nanak's philosophy at the time, and nature then worked its own progress on there families in a sad way, it was a sadness they should never have experienced but god creates, and desecrates it all, nature works in its own great way, there bloodlines may have finished and the ones that tried to finish them there bloodlines may have finished as well, but the essence of the truth for what they lived for through there sacrifices and religion, Sikhism, still lives on. The aggressor and the defender both lose always so that is why peace matters as no one ever gains, its gods game. The non spiritual man could call them both fools at each side of the spectrum realistically they fought for what they thought was right, it is not about wining or losing it is a inner guidance of pure love. In a way it was left for humanity to look after the Truth and they never did it, so the Guru's had to look after the Truth themselves, the soul of humanity=children=love=family=god, development, education. My own spiritual education does not belong to my biological, mother and father, they have contributed in some ways I guess but I don't get on well with them, I personally have always classed god waheguru, the guru granth sahib ji as my parents and my guidance, not perfect, we are humans but I am always learning=Sikh. God is where my love resides. http://youtu.be/8wRW57nBLMI, The best way I understand it
 
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CuriousMan

SPNer
Apr 20, 2014
6
10
Thank you all for your replies.

I think I will speak to a gyani at my local gurdwara. I believe he would be the best person to have a discourse with.

Thanks again.
 

Aisha

SPNer
Oct 12, 2012
43
149
Thank you all for your replies.

I think I will speak to a gyani at my local gurdwara. I believe he would be the best person to have a discourse with.

Thanks again.

Well, if you're looking for answers from a Brahmanized, literal, skim-the-surface version of Sikhi, which treats the SGGS ji as a book of prose rather than the spiritual poetic compilation that it is, then yes, he would probably be the best person to have a discourse with.

Although I think maybe, just maybe, it'd be worth your while to also ask questions on here so that you can get more than one set of opinions. In my experience, the overwhelimg majority of Gyanis are from India, and they often can't tell the difference between authentic Sikhi and Hindu imports.
 

chazSingh

Writer
SPNer
Feb 20, 2012
1,644
1,643
Re: Questioning/losing faith

Thank you all for your answers but for some of them I think, have you even read the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji?

Karma and reincarnation are the fundamentals of Sikhi.
Some of you are saying there is no reincarnation and some are saying there is no god.
Seems like you have a very liberal interpretation of bani.

There is a passage in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji where it explains how in previous incarnations who were this species and that species now this is the chance to meet god because you have finally achieved human incarnation you can be free from the cycle of birth and death.
Reincarnation and rebirth have been mentioned so many times in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

Bani constantly mentions that this human life is the chance to end the rebirth cycle.

Sikhi does not simply believe when you die that's it. If you don't believe in reincarnation then I don't think Sikhi is the religion for you.

There are also lines stating - how can you forget god, the one who created you.
So believing in god is again very much a part of Sikhi. This isn't buddhism.

Some of you all make it sound like Guru Nanak was just a highly philosophical man rather than a 'messenger' of god. Maybe that is true and that makes me wonder why should I just follow what another man says rather than make my own decisions and use my own judgement.

i think you are finding out as many of us do, on a forum you will get a mish mash of view opinions ideas etc etc... :)

if you're curious about God, do what bani says...live honestly, truthfully, share your earnings, be helpful to the people around you...
and also spend time away from the 5 senses and do your Simran (i do Amrit Vela, but do anytime you can) and find out the answers for yourself...no one can give you the answers...

with regards to you mentioning that some of the gurus has a bad death and that surely meditation would have prevented such events from taking place...

the Gurus showed the power of naam...and when a person meditates on Naam then they go beyond pain and suffering..doesn't matter what people see (i.e. the torture)...within themselved i'm sure they would have been in total peace...

if there is a part if you that really really wants to know...make the effort to find out...your life will never be the same...the giani ji can only give you tips...forum members can only give you tips..in the end you must walk yourself

just another tip and opinion...
 

kggr001

SPNer
Nov 3, 2011
123
129
Amsterdam
Recently I've been questioning religion and whether it is true.

I like Sikhism and what it stands for but I cannot get my head around some concepts.

All religions were formed when people did not know a much about the universe and how it was created. I do still think that Guru Nanak was special because he did state that there were multiple planets, galaxies etc.
He also said that the universe has been created and destroyed multiple times, which fits in with the Big Bang and Big Crunch theories.

I have the following doubts.

1. No religion has accurately explained the origin of life on Earth and backed it up with evidence.

Religion and science are two different things, religion is just a path which guides you in your spirtual life.

2. Why would God create things like Dinosaurs and so much before humans? If humans are the only ones that can achieve mukti, why waste time creating dinosaurs and other ancient animals, why not create humans as one of the first lifeforms. The sikh scriptures do not mention dinosaurs.

God is something we can't comprehend and we shouldn't try to do it simply cause we won't be able to do it.

You could ask the same for that why god created the universe. it's his will we can't comprehend it, there doesn't need to be human comprehensible logic behind it.


3. You are born into a religion, if I was born 2000 years ago in Norway I would believe in Thor and Odin.

Yes, you would, If you were born as an animal you would have no religion.

4. Countries where religion plays a big part in people's lives like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middle East, Africa, South America are generally full of poverty. Whereas in places like Western Europe, Japan, religion is not important at all. Guess which countries are more successful and tolerant.

Having no religion doesn't necessarily mean that your a good person, I believe that in those countries there are more honest people.

5. Why was Guruship kept in the same family from Guru Ram Das onwards? I cannot imagine Guru Nanak giving the Guruship to a child like it was given to Guru Har Krishan or a child Guru Gobind. Even though these Gurus were great men who did a lot for us it seems like nepotism.

I'm pretty new to Sikhism, I have no answer to that question.

6. Sorry if this offends people but Guru Nanak was against rituals, so why is it mandatory to drink Amrit, carry a kirpan, grow our hair.
We say we grow our hair because we don't want to change the form God made us in. So if we are born with an illness do we just leave it or do we keep it? We are a continually evolving species and we may one day evolve into one that has no hair.

I'm also against rituals, I've no idea why the Guru's later did allow it, as for the Hairs we should keep ourself as god created us seing it as a gift that god gave us.

7. Guru Nanak said if you're a Muslim be a good muslim, if you're a hindu be a good hindu, yet he criticised both religions. Even I can see that both religions have big problems. Islam with it's misogyny, violence, heaven and hell, virgins in heaven. Hinduism in it's belief in multiple gods, fairy tales, caste system. He should have been more critical.

Religion is there to not let you stray of the path it's not a necessity to gain Mukthi/spiritual progress, however without a religion most people easily get derived from there paths, religion is kinda there to make you feel like your forced to stay on the path. eventually you will get used to it and it feel like a normal thing in your life and you wont feel forced. Which means you learned how to walk on the path without losing it.

8. Why worship this creator. Maybe it exists but how do you know it wants us to worship it and think about it all of the time.

God doesn't ask to be worshipped, he won't get any greater or lesser without our worship.

9. Why has no religious 'prophet' discovered something amazing like Electricity or flying. These were supposed to be all knowing people but they did not help humanity in scientific advancement.

Whats the point in them showing you how electricity works, Guru's told us a way to get out circle of life and birth, so far I know you won't be taking electricity with you when you dead. Sure live does get alot easier with it, but for an enlightend person it doesn't matter if he lives in a house with electricity or he lives in a cave. Guru's were happy no matter were they had to spend there night. All the they cared about is chanting lords name.

10. People turn to God when things are down and when going through depression. I am guilty of this as well but as soon as the storm clears and my rational thought returns I return to doubt.

I think thats normal, as humans we are not perfect, however it's important to try to do beter.

If you want really want to remember god all time, do what guru ji did chant gods name everytime and try to meditate, it will be difficult at first, it's like when you go to a shooting range and you try to hit bullseye it takes practice to do that, some people can do it within minutes for other people might take hours and for some it might take days/weeks/months. but eventually most of people will be able to hit bullseye, now when you stop practicing you might lose your aiming and won't be able to hit bullseye. and you will have to practice again in order to hit the bullseye, same goes for meditation, stop and you find it harder to meditate, meditate everyday and it will get easier.


11. There are so many religions in this world and most of them have only been around for 5000 years, whereas humans have been around a lot longer. People have worshiped all kinds of things throughout humanity, from the sun, to idols, demi gods, one god and now worshiping no god is rising.

12. They could have sent out a big message by giving the guruship to a lower caste person, rather than keeping it in the high Khatri caste. They could have married out of caste. It would have sent out an even bigger message.

No idea, I pretty much don't know anything about sikh history

13. Karma system has flaws. So if you are bad you are given a bad next life, but who cares, it's not like you will remember it. I think it's downright cruel to say that disabled people are born that way because of bad karma. Why don't we just stop helping the poor people, after all it is due to bad karma that they are born that way.
Generally the more money people have the more they succumb to vices, so
is it better to be born poor and believe in god or be born into a rich family where you are more likely do 'bad things'

In Sikhism we believe in Karma, we believe that we are part of writting our story in next lives, by doing good you will receive good, by doing bad you will receive bad in the next lives. We should help everyone, and that by not having a thought in the back of our heads that we will receive good karma, if we help a person we should do it as seeing that person as part of god creation and that person needs our help, also by doing sewa you learn to conquer your greed, anger and mostly ego

14. Reincarnation. There are lines in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji that if you think of your family in your last breath you will come back as a pig. Well then I guess a huge proportion of people who die come back as pigs because that is what a lot of people think of when they die. Why is it wrong to think of your family when dying?

The guru's here are trying to tell, that when you can't leave your worldy attechments you will be born again and again.

Thinking about family isn't bad, but when you start crying/feeling hurt when someone died is. It should be your Higher Consciousness which should control you and not your emotions. You should realize that dying is a part of this world you can't avoid it no matter how hard you try, everyone will die someday, crying will bring none back.
A person without Higher Consciousness is pretty much like an animal he is being controlled by his anger, ego, lust, greed and attachment


15. Yugas make no sense. We are supposed to believe in the yugas and we are supposed to be in Kalyug. Yet in the last 100 years we have seen the most advancement in human history compared to any other time in humanity. We are supoosed to believe that people lived a lot longer in the past, like for hundreds of years. I highly doubt this is true.

I think someone who read the Sri Guru Granth Shahib Ji can help you with this.

Sorry if this offends people but I cannot live with this confusion.
I think there is some kind of higher power but no religion has explained it. No one can truly know until they die.

Can anyone answer these questions/doubts.

Answered some of you questions in blue inside the quote.
 
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arshdeep88

SPNer
Mar 13, 2013
312
642
35
1) No Religion? are you sure? i think the Bible and the Quaran do mentions about how the universe was created and how it came into existence.But the question is how would it change my current day scenario and situations?Guru Granth Sahib Ji More or less deals with the latter part rather than the first for me.

2)You dont want the gurus to exactly pin point the word or reference to the Dinosaurs in Guru Granth Sahib by the Gurus.There are many references i think where it is mentioned innumerable species are there and all come into the existence by the Will of the creator.For Mukti ,i think its a rather a state of mind than a place to go after you Die as Harry ji mentioned in one of the answer.

3)There is a more to it than just being born and brought up in a particular religion.It is sheer love that attracts you to a particular religion and takes a lot of dedication ,devotion,efforts and open mindedness to understand it.There are many knowledgable persons born out of sikh family but who took to Sikhi in their life at some stage of life.

4)Its more to do with i think how people define Religion.Personally for me Sikhi has helped me a lot to be tolerant ,peaceful and move slowly and slowly towards the things i should be concerned with.

5)Here i think we should trust the Gurus to whom did they passed the Guruship to and to whom they didnt,shouldnt we?They were the perfect persons to judge according to the circumstances and have an awareness to pass the Guruship to the well deserved person. i Believe Harry ji has perfectly answered this question about the child part.
i have quite a lot cousins but there is one cousin of mine who is the brightest of all,well behaved and i can judge this being an oridnary person who seldoms read gurbani.I dont know what do he turns out to be in later part of life but the point is that age is not a barrier to judge someone ,some children do have something special in them. Guru Gobind Singh Ji was such child and his Life ,his sacrifices,his bravery ,his courage did shows the same and so did Guru Har Krishan Ji's


6)During my childhood days i was very much a fan of WWE.My favourite use to be Undertaker and Kane.The way WWE was presented.They were my heroes and i use to imitate every move ,every style of thiers.we do copy our heroes ,we do want to look
like them,don't we?
That's what the followers of Sikhism do,Gurus are their r heroes,they love their Guru so much that they try to follow
them in every aspect of life.Keeping hair ,wearing the same attire is more of a love towards the way how the Gurus Life rather than something
Else from my point of view.

7)i think he was criticizing people behind the curtains of religion and doing immoral things and practicing hypocrisy rather than the religion itself.

8)Yes you are right why worship the creator.Why one would want to be worshiped,nor does he/she pay heedsto it i think.More imporant is how we follow the way of life for me.


oh! am really Sorry i could answer only first 8 questions of you,getting late for other things that i need to do for right now.Others have answered your
questions very well,will try if i can if i can answer some of those other questions.
Indeed a good questions ,its like answering yourself.

Good luck :mundakhalsaflag:
 

Jass Singh

SPNer
Nov 2, 2005
56
0
CuriousMan, I hear your cognitive dissonance, doubts & genuine desire for truth. Before I can comment on your questions would you mind clarifying two simple questions? [/FONT]
1) 1) [/FONT]What religious tradition are you originally from? & [/FONT]
2) 2) [/FONT]What attracted you to Sikhism?
[/FONT]

[/FONT]
 

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