Previous

Next

Ask a Question

Summary of Question:	My Life As A Bad Sikh
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Sunday, 5/20/2001 11:25 PM MDT

Satsrikal Ji

i just want to tell you about myself. I am 17 and always have considered myself faithful to god. Although i do not follow the sikh religion well. Don't get me wrong i believe in it completely i just don't obey it. I am very well educated on all aspects of sikhism and fully understand it. I think it is the most sensible and practical religion in the world

I am a sardar. My family is a whole line of religous people. My dad used to be the president of the gurdwara and a Akand Kirtan Jatha

I am not a full sardar, i shave but never intend on cutting my turban but have i have thought about it. I feel if my cut my hair i will be better looking. But i won't do it because i can never forget my true idenity as a sikh.

I have had sexual contact with girls and sometimes. I enjoy sexual pleasure. But i do not intend on having sex because someone cannot call themselves a sikh if they have had sex before marriage.

I smoke, drink and smoke marijuana. I do this at party's, dances or other places i go. Is Marijuana just as bad as alcohol. Alchohol impairs all of our senses and marijuana boosts them?

I know i am a good person and a strong individual. I used to be very religous until peer pressure and curiosty took over. And i stayed with commiting these sins cause i believe they are fun actions.


I plan on being religous when i grow to be an adult, but i think i just say that as a defence mechanism to myself. To make myself feel better as my future as a sikh. Am i really bad sikh? I consider myself spiritual and enjoy talking to god and saying waheguru. I trying going to gurdwara whenever i get the chance. But my interest for sikhism is no more. I know its a great religion, just all have these sins have taken over me. They are my life now, not the guru.
I would like to change in one way, but i still like the things i do

So what i'm trying to say after all that is just educate me on how bad i am betraying god and my religion by commiting these sins. I need a wake up call and i need to realize what i am doing to myself. I can be really inspired by what people say, and i just need the encouragment and motivation to change

thank you so much for your time

****
REPLY
****


There is no place for sin or guilt in Sikhism. But we need to remember the law of karma or to say it more scientifically Newton's third law, that every action has a reaction equal and opposite. So what we do in life, we have to accept the results of our actions.

Again you can look up the scienfic studies about how alcohol and marijuana inpair brain waves which results in unclear thinking. It might feel like mariujuana is boosting or enhancing your senses, but it actually impairs memory function. If there are hospitals and treatment centers for people drugs and alcohol, it stands to reason that it must be a problem. If we believe in Ek Ong Kar that we are all one, it reasons that if something is bad for one it is bad for all.

As Sikhs we know the Guru's hukum. The Guru teaches us that the greatest intoxicant over marijuana, alcohol and opium is chanting God's name. It is in the ecstasy of chanting God's name which allows you remember your relationship as a finite to the Infinite, that true ecstasy can be experienced. It is in that consciousness that the Guru's words are written and why they are so uplifting and inspiring to rea

It sounds to me like you've answered your own questions! What you need to ask yourself is where all this sensory pleasure will lead you, and what you ultimately want to achieve in life. Curiousity is one thing, but when it leads to a way of life that is something else.

Try reading Japji outloud in a clear voice for 40 days. Listen to your own voice while reading it. See what that does.
ssk