Fundamentals
Today I was studying in the library when a lovely young girl I know came and sat with me. She's muslim, and I am Sikh. We started discussing the differences and similarities between our faiths.
And since Sikhism is not as widely understood as Islam, she was surprised at how similar our beliefs are. It made me happy inside to feel that two people with completely different backgrounds could discuss our different paths so openly and yet feel completely in touch with the reality of the same destination.
When we started talking, she had many questions and I told her that I am not one that can give you all the accurate answers because I'm still learning myself, but nonetheless we reached a consensus that even across boundaries, love, ethics, patience, humility and morals are the keys to being succesful humans and followers of faith.
But she posed me a very interesting question, being a student of political history (or something along those lines). What defines good? If we truly believe we are doing what is right, who can tell us that we're wrong? If the world started off preaching killing/harming etc etc as the 'right' way to do things, would we believe that now? Does it matter?
Her example of Hitler was one, he honestly believed what he was doing was 'Good' and 'Righteous'. Why did the rest of us feel it was wrong? How could we get the point across to him that the rest of us believed he was wrong?
haha I thought at that stage, allow, we're living in the present. We should accept what is considered as 'good' by society now...and live accordingly. But then I thought, many of us justify what we want to justify as good, so our impressions of such are skewed. Like I think going out and having a good time clubbing is Good because I'mhaving a laugh and being happy. But I know some others that would beg to differ, saying it's a waste of time and dancing doesn't benefit you in any way (i'm exclduing alcohol in this). So who's right?
Anyways, this goes out to any Sikh reading this who knows, Do Sikhs at any stage mention Abraham, Gabriel or the 'prophets'?
And did Guru Nanak Dev Ji at any stage have a conversation with God?
I'm just wondering because she asked me at one point, so how come Guru Nanak Ji started 'preaching' Sikhism....was it from his own belief or was he a messenger of God...and to be honest, I didnt' know how to answer that question?
5 comments:
It's true! Sikhism and Islam have many fundemental beliefs in common. A friend of mine converted from Sikhism to Islam, and she told me that they are really really similar. Which unfortunately, alot of people don't realise......
Btw, regarding your line 'And since Sikhism is not as widely understood as Islam'......I dont think Islam is 'understood' as such.....but I suppose you could say it is more...'known' because of the media, world events etc....
Omg amrita what's happening, why are we discussing religion on blogs. Can somebody make me study......
Posted by VIMAL: Toor, very intersting entries. Im currently taking a break from religion. Just something I wanted to do because I think its important that I choose to believe rather than follow the crowd and believe smth.I still believe in God. Its just I wanted to do my own study on why there are so many manifestations of Man's wanting to be "with" God so there's my thoughts on the issue of religion. Hope to be more helpful once I come up with any preliminary (you can never be sure about anything when it comes to religion) understanding on the issue.
Posted by AMRITPAL: my dear, guru nanak was having a bath in the river when he disappeared. all thought that he drowned. 3 days later, he appeared with plenty to share with the people. that was one occasion that he may have been enlightened or had tea with god. dear children of the fatih, it is imperative that you realise that "good" became as such because that is the purest state. infants don't lie. everyone is born righteous.
dear vimal, God is omni-present. However, most men want to be "with" god as they have yet to understand life. Undoubtedly, it is important that we meditate on God.However, it is more so important that we become functional human beings and play fruitful roles in the development of society. that is where the joys are..Sikhism does not mention any prophet. the holy book doesn't tell a story unlike the bible. it is merely a lifestyle rule book. and it explains the wonders of God.
Posted by VIMAL: that's really interesting Amrit. I share your sentiments about being functional. It really motivates me that I am in the company of people who think this way. On the issue of manifestations..So far I think the manifestation depends on the capability of the people to understand and digest things.hence, at different stages of evolution, different periods of time and different regions required a different manifestation. But then this is "pre"-preliminary observation.on the issue of "good" - I feel there are so many ways to look at the concept of "good" - u can choose to be cynical and question this imposition or conditioning of what is good...or otherwise. Who decides what is good. This brings another philophical question - why is there law in the society we live in. Who decides what is good. Who should decide.... there are so many questions. And each of us are entitled to have our views on the issues...in fact, its because of our diverse positions on these issues that we are in a world composed as such
Vimal I completely agree with your stance of not following the crowd. We had this whole dialogue of 'Questioning' in one of our discussion sessions. Half the crowd was for 'blind faith' - Do not question the greatness of God, just have faith -and the other (such as myself) believed there was more to it that just that - In order to truly believe we must first understand, as long as the questioning is contructive. I believe in Science, so for me I won't take things at face value unless I can justify it in my mind. However, I came across this site on the web earlier on how the essence of Science is that if something cannot be proven, it does rule out its existence. So..
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