"There is only but One God, Who is the only truth, Who is the creator of all" SGGS. Pg. 1

Therefore:

Dear, Brothers and Sisters

My name is Kishan Kumar, I am 17yrs old and from Toronto, Canada. I like to read on religions and therefore like to read about what one religion thinks about other religions. I like to believe that I am on the path of seeking the truth: that is fulfilling the reason for being born (as I believe the reason to be)
I do not want to say this, (but I guess that is why I bothered to write in the first place) I read some of the posting on the Sikh Dharma page and was deeply saddened by what I saw. Unfortunately most people really misunderstand or just not choose to understand what Sikhi is. I can say this because at one time I was one of those people. For along time now Sikhs have seen this misunderstanding as a deliberate attack on their faith, maybe sometimes it might be so. I do not think Toofan Singh is not some Pakistani trained net-terrorist who is trying to destroy the "Hindu" way of life. In fact he is one of those Sikhs who after a lot frustration over this misunderstanding see the postings as an attack on their faith, whether the words belong to the person posting or were borrowed from someone else. Personally, I believe some of the writers are very ignorant in Sikhi. I wish not to argue on specific points for the reason that I just do not like arguing religious points. With prejudice people, it leads you no-where. However, if I may I would like to point out a few things. First of all a faith is not something your born with, thus it's not something in your blood as one of our friends said in the 'Khalsa Panth page. I just wanted to point that out, I am sure he did not mean that but it is a mistake we all make time to time. In 1499 when Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji returned from the court of the Almighty, he said. "I am not Hindu, I am not Musliman" Guru Ji did not say that He did not like these faiths, He just did not choose these faiths. Therefore how could the Sikhs who follow the teachings of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji through the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji be Hindu when their Guru was not. There are many examples of this, maybe in the future I might be able to share more. The definition of a "Sikh" is a student in Sanskrit, who could be anyone. A Sikh of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji or a Khalsa is different. A Khalsa (Sikh) is a person who believes in one God for all, has taken Amrit, has uncut (not even trimmed) hair, with a full Khalsa uniform (Kara, Khanga, Kirpan etc.) Does his daily prayers, believes Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji to be the message of God to all of humankind, and believes everyone is equal, respects all faiths. What I am trying to say is, unlike other faiths you do not become a Sikh by calling your self-one. The Tenth Nanak said "I love the discipline, not the Sikh."

There are a few other misunderstandings I would like to share maybe some time soon. I am not a Sikh yet, I hope to take Amrit soon and become Kishan Singh. If you would like more info on Sikhi or to meet the people who have helped me change, check out WWW.AKJ.COM Please feel free to respond. Forgive me if I have offended you.

p.s. I tried to post this on the Sikh Dharma page but it had been turned off.

Dear Kishan,

I really appreciate your efforts to understand the Khalsa Panth and help others do the same. I often find that today a Sikh is more confused than others about what being a Sikh actually means. Otherwise how can a Sikh find himself/herself closer to Islam but consider oneself totally different from Hindus? How can a Sikh totally forget or ignore what Guru Govinda Singh said about Hindus and protecting Hindu dharma? How can a Sikh seek his/her identity solely by contrasting oneself in the background of Hindu dharma? The reasons behind these would have to be understood and problems sorted out.

You are right that we are not born with a faith, we choose one. What is then the reason for you to say that "how could the Sikhs ... be Hindu when their Guru was not"? You are not born a Sikh either. You can always choose to be what you want. Isn't that what you understand from Guruji's "I am not Hindu, I am not Musliman"?

Please understand that a Sikh is more than merely a different external appearance and the formality of taking Amrit. Being a Sikh means understanding dharma, practicing it and vowing to protect it at all cost. That is what being a Hindu means to me and I am sure that is what all the Gurus have devoted their lives to.

Please post more frequently and make Khalsa Pantha better known to all.

good to see someone my age here... sat sri akal, sri kishan... may the search for truth open up your eyes to the dharma of others as well as your own, as it did mine...

DHANAASAREE, FIFTH MEHLAA
Wherever I look, there I see Him present; He is never far away. He is all-pervading, everywhere; O my mind, meditate on Him forever. He alone is called your companion, who will not be separated from you, here or hereafter. That pleasure, which passes away in an instant, is trivial. He cherishes us, and gives us sustenance; He does not lack anything. With each and every breath, my God takes care of His creatures. God is undeceiveable, impenetrable and infinite; His form is lofty and exalted. Chanting and meditating on the embodiment of wonder and beauty, His humble servants are in bliss. Bless me with such understanding, O Merciful Lord God, that I might remember You. Nanak begs God for the gift of the dust of the feet of the Saints. Page 677 of Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji]


Dear Brother JHA,

First, I would like to apologizes that I have not been posting frequently, I am truly sorry. Due to a busy schedule, it is hard, but I will try. Thank you for your response. I hope you understood where I was coming from. What you say is true to some extent. It is not a Sikh (Khalsa) that is confused it is that person who by just being born in a 'Sikh' family, thinks he is 'Sikh' that is confused. If we all believe that there is a Creator and He is the Creator of all. If in his view we humans are all equal, we are all his children. Then why does it have to matter weather Sikhi is closer to Hindu Dharm or Islam or for that fact any other Faith. It is our goal (Manjal) and what we are doing to attain it that really matters, does it not. Tenth Nanak Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji taught the Khalsa Panth to protect the weak and defenseless. In past history it had been the followers of Hindu Dharm. Today the Hindu Dharm is very powerful, it might not even need the help of the Khalsa Panth anymore. Nevertheless there are still others who are weak and defenseless, it is a Sikh's duty to help and protect. Yes, I do believe that one is not born with a Faith, but I think Brother JHA Ji you might have failed to understand me. It might be my own fault for not being more clear. When I use the word Sikh (unless I say otherwise) I mean a person who has by their own will chosen to take Amrit and has chosen to follow the Sikh way of life. To explain further, you would agree with me that a follower of Islam, is different from a follower of Christianity, or from a follower of Hindu Dharm in the way they practice their Faith. The way they follow their faith makes them separate religions. Even thou they believe the same Truth, the Almighty. In that same way, I believe a Sikh due to his teachings and way of life is separate from the Hindu Dharm. To me or any Sikh Amrit is not a simple formality, Dear brother, please do not say this, if you had known this and still said it I would have been deeply offended. By Guru's Grace, I soon will have experienced it. "understanding dharma, practicing it and vowing to protect it at all cost." Is not what being a Sikh or a Hindu should be, I believe this is what being Muslim, Jew, Christian or what ever Faith you believe should be. Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji taught everyone to follow their chosen Faith truthfully, and to fight for your beliefs, Guru Ji's message was never for Sikhs alone.

Dear Brother I am only trying to seek the Truth, so if I have offended you or anyone else I am very sorry, I am sure you will forgive your younger 'moorakh' brother. I include gurbanee in my postings because it can explain much more greatly then me.

Ek Oankar, Satnaam…

A Sikh friend had earlier sent this message to me and I thought it will be a useful addition to the thread:
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the gurus lived as hindus and never thought
themselves as different from them.Guru nanak dev ji is predicted as avtaar in the bhavishat puraan and at different parts of other sanatan scriptures.It was only after coming of the british that sikhs were pictured differently.The
british followed divide and rule system,so the divided the two brothers. Sikh scriptures mentioned about the lord krishna lord raam in every page. The ten gurus are from the lord raam chand's dynasty.
Actually sikh dharma is a sampardah of sanatan dharma like other sampardas eg.ramunajcharay sampardah,shankarcharay sampardah.

Gurus never aimed to be different from the sanatan dharma. That is why guru teg bahadur gave his head to save his beloved dharma the sanatan dharma. When Shri Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib was asked to become a Muslim, then he had replied to Aurangzeb as follows:

utra bhandyo dharam hum Hindu | aati priya ko kim kare nikandu ||
lok parlok ubhay sukh dani | aanan paayiyat yahi samaani ||
mati maleen moorakh mati jey-yi | isko tyagey paamar soi ||
Hindu dharam rakhey jag mahi | tumre karey vinsai yeh nahi ||

Translation: -

"My answer is that I am a Hindu and I love the Hindu Dharam. How can anybody destroy it? The Hindu Dharam provides happiness both in this world as well as in the other world. There is no other religion like it. Only a deranged person or a fool would leave it to become vile. The Hindu Dharam would remain in the world for ever. (Oh Aurangzeb) it is not going to be destroyed by your efforts." - Shri Guru Teg Bahadur, Hind dee Chadar

From here we see the respect guru had for his hindu faith.guru gobind singh ji was asked on why he formed the khalsa.the answer was "go bramin hit rachia."to protect cows and brahmins. In the following article you would know that guru was grown up as a pure hindu.

Punjab, rightly claimed as the traditional sword-arm of Bharatvarsha, has valiantly borne the first brunt of all the pre-European aggressors on her.
And one of the most luminous stars which rose in that north-western horizon and shed its lustre over the entire length and breadth of the country is undoubtedly Guru Govind Singh the tenth and the final Guru in the holy tradition initiated
by that great saint Guru Nanak.

Richly had Guru Govind Singh inherited the legacy of the fearless martyrdom of his father - Guru Tegh Bahadur. Guru Tegh Bahadur, with a view to instilling courage and confidence among the Kashmiri Hindus to withstand Aurangzeb's
fanatical tyranny and threats to Islamize them, challenged the Moghal emperor to convert him first. And the great Guru preferred to have his head roll down in Chandni Chowk of Delhi rather than sacrifice his faith, Govind Singh was just a
boy of nine years at that time. On coming to know of his father's terrible end he exclaimed: "He saved with his blood the honor of Hindu Dharma. Oh, what a remarkable act in this Kaliyuga! He preferred to give up his life, but not his
faith!"

It is with such a fiery note of idealism that the young Govind Singh embarked upon his life-mission even from his infancy. As a child he had drunk deep at the fount of Raamaayana, Mahaabhaarata and Puraanas. He was inspired with the heroic
examples of Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, Bheema and Arjuna. He felt convinced that he too like those great forbears was born to vanquish the wicked and protect Dharma. He began preparing himself in a thorough-going fashion to play that historic role. He assimilated the spiritual truths enshrined in the Vedas, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Geeta. He became adept in Persian, Arabic and Punjabi languages just as in Samskrit and Hindi, and was a peerless poet as well. As an archer he was unequalled in the whole of Hindusthan. No wonder, equipped as he was with such a rare combination of brahmateja and kshaatrateja, he wrote in his autobiographical poem Vichitranaatak that he was commanded by
God to take birth to uphold the true path of Dharma.

No catastrophe to his personal self or to his family members, however tragic,
could shake his rock-like resolve to pursue his chosen mission. When his two elderly sons, Ajit and Jujhar whom he had sent to lead the battle laid down their lives before his very eyes thus did the Guru offer prayers to God: "O Lord, I have surrendered to Thee what belonged to Thee." Later, when his two younger kids Jorawar and Phatte were bricked alive by the Moghals for refusing to succumb to Islam, and the heart-rending news reached the Guru, he simply lifted his hands in prayer and uttered the words: "These two, Thy trust, I have rendered unto Thee." The Guru's mother, Gujjari Devi, from whom the two kids had been snatched away, broke her heart and died.

The tone of the historic epistle which the Guru wrote some time later to Aurangzeb is evidence of the majestic equanimity and the supremely high moral posture he maintained even in the wake of such dire calamities: "I know you believe neither in God nor in your prophet, nor do you know the worth of an oath on Koran. Did your God ask you to tyrannise over others? Fie on your sovereignty
and on your regard for God and religion! Fear God, who is the Master of earth and heaven and Whose vengeance is terrible. What if you have killed my four sons? By putting out a few sparks, you cannot quench the blazing fire. My protection is God than Whom there is no one higher."

The Guru bore all the cruel blows of Fate with an invincible will and fortitude and pressed forward in rousing and organizing his countrymen in the cause of Swadesh and Swadharma. He moved from the north to the southern parts of the country contacting and trying to string together the various patriotic forces. Finally, in the south he found a great warrior turned into a yogi, Maadhav Daas by name, and charged him with the task of proceeding to Punjab to lead the struggle there. Maadhav Daas, known in history as Bandaa Bairaagi, abided by the Guru's command and carried out the war of liberation with such remarkable ability and was crowned with such rare success - finally falling a martyr to the
cause in the true tradition of the Gurus - that even to this day he stands as a glowing testimony to the magic touch of Guru Govind Singh.

Finally the Guru himself, while in the south at Nanded, fell a martyr to the treacherous designs of the Moghals and embraced Mahaasamaadhi in the true tradition of yogis.

Could such a string of stirring martyrdoms of all his four sons, his father, his mother and finally he, the great Guru himself, followed by that of his successor, ever go in vain? The flames of those sacrificial offerings soon spread and inflamed millions of hearts. By the turn of the century, the vast areas of the strategic north-western region of Bharat right up to the Khybar
Pass were freed from the foreign Islamic yoke and the tide of one thousand-year old invasions from that quarter turned back once and for all.

The spirit of oneness and harmony which the Guru infused in the society has also made him a social reformer of the highest order. His vision encompassed the whole of Bharat, and his love embraced within itself the lowliest in the society. The Panch Pyaare, the five self-sacrificing heroes of the Khaalsa whom he chose through a fiery ordeal on a aVaishaakhaPratipada, were those drawn from distant parts of the country, right from Bidar in Karnataka, Jagannaath Puri in Orissa, Dwaraka in Gujarat to Delhi and Lahore. And three of them belonged to the so-called lower castes.

The Guru's breadth of national vision could not brook any idea or gesture which would even remotely suggest an exclusive or a warped mind. The Khaalsa, the Pure, were to be the devotees of Akaal - The Timeless Reality - in the true
tradition of the Hindu tapaswis. The Guru had founded the creed for the achievement of all-round glory of Hindu society and Hindu Dharma. He thundered:
Sakala jagat me Khaalsa panth gajei (may the creed of the pure and the dedicated flourish the world over) and Jagai dharma Hindu sakala bandha bhajai. (may the wickedness vanish and the Hindu dharma live for ever.)

The five signs the Guru prescribed for the Khaalsas signified the highest virtues of heroic Hindu manhood; unshorn hair like that of the ancient sages and kshatriyas as a pledge of dedication, a comb to keep it clean, a steel bracelet indicating the universality of the Almighty, an underwear to denote chastity, and a steel dagger to remind him of his role as the defender of Faith.

The Guru knew the potency of ancient Hindu epics and Puraanas and had organized a Poets' Council to translate the Puraanas into Hindi. His own poetry composed in Hindi, in its Braj form, overflowed with the essence of Raamaayana,
Mahaabhaarata and all the Puraanic legends and their Gods and Goddesses and radiated the lofty spiritual message of Upanishads andBhagavadgeeta. Sarvakaal was to him the father and Devi Mahaa Kaali the mother. The Guru Granthsaheb which he re-edited contained the hymns and couplets of saints of various regions. Neither the Sikhs nor the rest of Hindus ever considered themselves
distinct or separate from each other. Right up to the recent times, every Hindu family used to nominate one of its boys as a Sikh. Blood relationship between the Keshadhaaris and non-Keshadhaaris continues undisturbed even to this day. Brothers belonging to both sections living under a common paternal roof is not an uncommon sight even today.

Rarely do we come across in the annals of human history a life of such all-round greatness as that of Guru Govind Singh - a yogi and a warrior-martyr, a poet and a social reformer, a national emancipator and a dhaarmic rejuvenator - all
rolled into one supremely majestic personality commanding the reverence of his countrymen and even of his enemies.

No better appreciation could be there of the inspiring legacy left behind to the entire nation by that great Guru than what Swami Vivekananda has observed: "Mark me, every one of you will have to be a Govind Singh, if you want to do good to your country. You may see thousands of defects in your countrymen, but mark their Hindu blood. They are the first gods you will have to worship, even if they do everything to hurt you; even if every one of them sends out a curse to you, you send out to them words of love. If they drive you out, retire to die in silence like that mighty lion, Govind Singh. Such a man is worthy of the name of Hindu; such an idea ought to be before us always."

Great hindus like swami vivekinand admired the sikh gurus.but sadly to say the today most of hindu know nothing about this great sampardah of sanatan dharma,whose followers have fought for the well being of sanatan dharma,and have given there lives to save our beloved sanatan dharma.There was a time in punjab when the elder son in every hindu family was grown up as a sikh.Hindu and sikh stayed under same roof .I pray to satguru nanak dev ji maharaj and lord sri
raamchand who actually are a one to bring unity among the two brothers sikh and hindu.

HINDU SIKH UNITY JINDABAAD
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Best wishes,

Vishal

A relevant article is available at

http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/dec/20varsha.htm