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| Why do we need
religion? |
Religion has been an important place in the history
of civilization. It gives a meaning and purpose to
human life and satisfies man's longing for peace and
salvation. Religion has been defined as “the
relationship between man and the super- human power
he believes in and depends upon”.The goal of
religion is getting in tune with the infinite.
Moreover, the philosophy of religion is neither
ceremony, nor ritual, nor going to the temple, but
an inner experience which finds God everywhere.
Religion consists of a number of beliefs relating to
reality which cannot be proved by science, such as,
does God exit? What happens after death? How did we
come into existence? Why are we here? Religion
helps to extend the view of an individual beyond our
dimension |
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Is there a heaven and hell?
Sikhs believe in reincarnation, heaven and hell. Heaven
and hell are not created to live but to reward and
punish. Your good deeds will be paid off in heaven, your
bad deeds in hell; you will then take birth again until
you break the cycle of birth and death and become One
with God. Salvation is not reached by entering heaven.
"As long as the mind is filled with the desire for
heaven, one cannot meet God" (Guru Granth Sahib Ji,
325).
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Quotations |
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How is Sikhism a direct way to meet God? |
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Sikhism instructs that
God loves everyone. One does not have to belong to a
certain color, class, gender or culture in order to
become close to God. One can only meet God by doing good
deeds and having pure love towards God. Sikhism focuses
purely on moral and ethic values while having love
towards God and His creation.
Since, all you need is love towards God and remember Him
for each and every possible second; Sikhism shows one to
be in direct contact with God. One does not have to
perform any ritual, self infliction, go to pilgrimages,
attend church every Sunday or perform any kind of
sacrifice to feel God’s presence. Sikhism helps one to
remain focus and become close to God directly by
meditating on God without depending on any other source.
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Will
God hate us if we drink or smoke? |
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Sikhism does not say
that God will hate you if you drink or smoke. Sikhism
says that drinking and smoking is an obstruction in
meditation and meeting God.
How can you expect one to drink at night and then wake
up early in the morning to meditate? People that are
addicted to smoking smoke many cigarette packages in a
day. How can they focus on meditating on God when they
have an urge to smoke most of the time?
The concept is not to do anything that will deviate you
from your path to meet God. Sikh Gurus created a
lifestyle with which one remains focused in life to meet
God. |
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Do Sikhs
believe all humans are equal spiritually too? |
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Sikhs believe
that all humans are equal no matter which religion they
are from but people can differ in spirituality.
Spirituality is attained by meditating on God. When a
person meditates on God, his or her spiritual level
rises. That person begins to understand this world and
realize the importance and role of God. This is of
course different for every individual. Thus it is
important to realize that people can be at different
points on their spiritual path. People can grow their
spirituality. Anyone from any religion has a potential
to become spiritual by meditating on God and keeping Him
in their heart and mind. |
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Why we
should not believe in superstitions? |
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A real Sikh never
believes in superstitions.
Sikhism instructs not to believe in good moments, or bad
moments, good days or bad days, good numbers or bad
numbers. According to Sikhism, all days of the week and
all numbers are the same, no one day or a number is
better than the other.
Many Hindus believe Tuesday to be a sacred day. Hindus
that eat meat do not eat meat on Tuesdays. Muslims
consider the month of Ramadan sacred. Some Christians
consider 666 as a bad number or the number of the devil
while 777 as a good number. Sikhism does not endorse any
such beliefs.
One of the superstition include that if a cat crosses
your way, most people would turn back home and go and
wait there until some time passes because they believe
something bad might happen to them. If someone is
leaving the house and you sneeze, it is believed that
you will not be able to accomplish your work. Whether it
is a black cat, a brown cat, whether it goes in front of
you or behind you, it doesn't make any difference to the
real Sikh. Whether some one sneezes or coughs, it
doesn’t make any difference to the real Sikh. Sikhism
considers these types of beliefs as superstitions.
Furthermore, Sikhism instructs not to fast, perform
animal sacrifice, go on pilgrimages, conduct self
torture, or any other similar tasks. The only way to
please God and be one with Him is to love Him. One need
not perform any rituals or believe in superstitions to
receive God’s love.
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