Thursday, July 06, 2006

Sikhs: The Most Dynamic Community

There are many moments in your life when you feel proud to be a Sikh. Today, there was an event in my life which made me "extra" proud to be a Sikh. At my evening class, my instructor started a conversation on topics related to Kashmir (as there is a Kashmiri guy in my class). The conversation took a turn and came to religion.

Discussions ranged from terrorists misleading the concepts of Islam (my instructor is a Muslim), the Hindus believing in many Gods and horoscopes etc to the Christians not going to Church daily and still being the most successful. The discussion went on with very positive views on many topics. The Kashmiri guy was talking of 'Kundli'(horoscope made at the time of birth) and pointed that Sikhs also believe in Kundli. I just started explaining that he was wrong and my instructor interfered.

He started, among all communities that exist in this world, Sikhism is the most dynamic community in this world. The first example he cited was that, he had seen billionairs doing the cleaning service of the Gurdwara. This thing might not sound too exceptional for us, but for a Muslim it was like something very amazing. He added that he had not seen this in any other community. He expressed his regards for Sikhs as being the most trusted community. Then, I explained the concept of Sardar, a leader. I told him that Guru Gobind Singh Ji transformed us to lead. GuruJi's message was to help people at time of need.

After this short example, he has a whole lot of tales to explain how Sikhs were unique. He quoted an incident about his stay in Dubai, where his car broke down in the middle of the road. He asked for lifts but nobody stopped. He had started walking towards his destination and suddenly a Sikh trailor driver stopped his trailor in front of him and reached him for help.

He also told that a Sikh would never be a beggar. He said that, "a Sikh would die but would never beg for money. No doubts, Sikhs are the most hard working community. You would find them at top in almost every industry and every country."

Next, he added that there is Free Langar in the Gurdwaras at all times. He said that he was amazed to see the courtesy of the Sikhs. He quoted that if you go to Punjab and ask a route from a person sitting outside his house, he would definitely tell you the route and if possible take you to that place, but first, would ask you to have tea at his house. He emphasized that he is talking only about the 'Sikhs' in Punjab.

I was astonished to hear his views about the Sikh religion. A sense of being proud about my faith captured my mind for a few moments. But, then I thought, how much are we trying to follow the teachings of our beloved Gurus. Can we depict that we are the true disciples of our Guru?

Here's a message for all those who are bewildering from the path of Sikhism, read what others feel about Sikhs. Always, follow the teachings of the Gurus and be Proud to be a Sikh.

2 comments:

Gursharan Singh said...

Equally importantly, all the things that the instructor said are an outcome of a simple but true till eternity fact: Respecting humanity and humans is the biggest religion, and Sikhism has been unique in it, as history narrates the tales.

Sifar said...

I am a Sikh and recently had a similar experience. We were going to some Sikh Friends house in Malton. All we knew was his house was on the corner of first right turn on a cretain street. By mistake we took the wrong turn and went to another house which was also in the corner. We rang the door bell, they opened the door, we went inside, everybody came and wished us but I knew there was something wrong coz the people didnot look familiar. Any how we discovered that it was the wrong house and appologized and were getting out when the ladies stated insisting that we have at least a cup of tea before we leave. They would not take no for answer and we had tea with the whole family.