hi
i would like to say that there r castes system in our sikh religon...i know that it is not supposed to but what can we do bout this...please give me some answers....email me at [email protected]
maninder
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REPLY
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Dear Maninder Ji,
Historically when Guru Nanak Dev Ji began teaching his students came from two groups. The first being the Hindus ( where the caste system began) and the second being the Musalman. The students mainly came from the upper classes. This is quite common with Philosophers, Socrates students were also of the higher classes in Greece. I dont mean to equate Socrates with the Guru, but I personally think it stems from a practical point of view. It is most likely that the poorer classes simply did not have much time to stop in the middle of their day to listen to Holy men or Philosphers. It is true of course that GuruJi felt that the simple life held great value, and often stayed in the houses of the Farmer, Wood worker etc. while on his travels. The thing of it is that the caste system was and is designed for power issues. Reallity tells us that no man is lesser than any other. As that is the case the people who are in power and wish to stay there do what they can to maintain their control. This is a simple and complete logic. It happens today in every country on this planet. Everywhere there is someone keeping others down either to maintain power or to keep their wealth growing. It is the way of the world, as they say. Well Guru Nanak Dev Ji observed this and preached for the abolishment of the caste system saying that " there is no Hindu and there is no Musalman" this means exactly as it sounds , there is no better person or race as we are all equal in the eyes of God. Now, later on as our religion grew and its principles became more widely known and as the Line of the Guru's continued, this policy of acceptance drew in people of other classes as well ( I'm not trying to suggest that there were no people of the lower classes during the times of Guru Nanak Dev Ji who were students ) these people who had converted did not just give up there previous beliefs simply because they were now sikhs. No, they had been generations within the caste system, they may have been Sikhs but they still carried on those ideas. This has not been bred out our religion yet, there are still these feelings. Did you know that when Constantine the First Christian Emporer of Rome adopted the religion, the bible in the following years was changed enormously in order for the people to adopt it. The Bible was edited, because of prevalent beliefs. We are lucky that in the course of time we still have the Guru's words as they were spoken and written.
Now on to the solution : there is truly not that much that can be done on a massive scale. What can be done of course is we can anytime we see it, point it out and repeat the Guru's words. We must try not to react about it. The people who feel that they are being discriminated must stop feeling victimized. The grace that the name brings will cover you. As Guru Nanak Dev Ji says in the JapJi " All happens according to the plan of God". If anybody is out there and has felt the discrimination, try to understand that in the modern day you are as a Sikh free of that discrimination. Live your life by the NAM, and peace will come to you as a person and these silly wordly things will not bother you anymore. Thank You Maninder Kaur, I hope that this information will help you.
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Re: Types/Number of Caste prevalant in Sikhism (09/24/1999)