Our Religion.

A conversation with Bothers..

I have been thinking about an event that happened a few months ago. It was the Indian summer somewhere on the East Coast of United States, an extended Indian family was sitting around the patio of a large house, enjoying a lovely barbecue. Three generations of the family were bonding, the grand children, parents, children and grandparents. And the weather was lovely, warm, (hot for some and even just a tad bit cool for the ones visiting from India), with some clouds and a gentle breeze. The conversations had been lively over many topics, and then one of the mothers asked two brothers, as to what was happening in Punjab, and if the Christians were converting. While the overall response was mixed, to such a touchy topic, one brother tried to explain that almost all of this is politics, and that even some Bihari, Hindus have recently converted to Sikhism.

The other brother then said, that somehow in the present situation of India, all religions were taking stands of self propagating, and converting or re-converting both by coercion, and or by offering benefits. And in this dialogue the current situation of Hindu fundamentalism was also allured to. And then a booming angry voice of a third brother stilled the whole atmosphere, and he very categorically stated, that he was Hindu, and half Sikh, and was offended by the reference, that Hindus were in the wrong. And one other brother thought it was targeted towards him, so he also got up, and this impasse was fertile ground for a showdown. Luckily the other family members quickly intervened and mitigated the risks, and one brother stepped down and went into a different corner of the house, where some of the children were sitting. And the mothers calmed everyone down, so normality could come back into the family.

Now this episode really got ONE thinking, as to what it means to be a Sikh, or say a Hindu, and or a part of any other religion. Is it birth! But that does not seem right, for if it was based on birth, then other things would also hold true. Such as if you are born in a particular caste, say a brahmin, then automatically one would be a brahmin. Or say a profession, if one is born in a lawyers family, then one would be a lawyer. But almost all (at least educated humans) reject this notion, we say, that our birth should not define the rights we have, limit the education that we access, or obstruct the paths of our professional ventures. So if that is true then how can we say, we are Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian and or any other religion, just because we were born in that religion.

One, then questions, what was stated in Sanatan Dharma centuries ago, the whole human race is but one family with different names. Or One again reminds, a very simple, yet profound (controversial to some of us) statement made by the very first Sikh guru. Guru Nanak Dev Ji very eloquently stated that there is no Hindu, or a Muslim. This is where One comes and tells us that we all are born simple human beings, and based on our environments that we are born in we get fashioned, that is in a Hindu household we will get to know the Hindu way of life. However what we become, is what we train ourselves to be. In the same light, we only become a Sikh, if we practice the Sikh way of life, we believe in what the Gurus said directly, we bow our selves in humility and follow all their instructions.

Now I would say, I am doing that, however, each day of my journey, I realize that I am more influenced by what people tell me, or what popular narratives are shown, either by so-called religious heads, or some other people in power. I hardly take the time to actually pray in silence, meditate, and love. And this is what the One said through all the prophets, Gods, Gurus etc., the Paramatma only wants us to love each other, work hard honestly, share with each other and freely choose whichever path we want. I also realized that it is now I am actually becoming a Sikh, not because I was born into a family. Today I am learning to do the prayers as given by the Gurus, to meditate, work hard and honestly, and share. At some point the third brother came around and met the aggrieved brother, while not really apologizing for the outburst and threats, he did try to parley. During the conversation he mentioned how he respected all the Hindu deities, and Gods and the Sikh Gurus, but not the others. To which the other brother who is Sikh simply asked how can one say they respect or follow the Sikh gurus, when they differentiate between different people based on religion. One very important message of the Sikh gurus, which was very eloquently put by Guru Gobind Singh Ji was that all of Humanity is one family, with one father. He himself never discriminated between the Hindus and Muslims, and had many follow him and fight along with him against the tyrannical government of that time. And the Guru Granth Sahib is full of references of saints of all religions on the Earth, with a categorical message, do not claim that any one of them is false, instead become pure from within each one of those paths.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ik_Onkar

Ik Onkar

A statement of oneness

I Vikram Singh Atwal I First Follower ACC I

Inspired by Baba Virsa Singh Ji