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Summary of Question:	Are We Humans Not Selfish
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Tuesday, 6/26/2001 8:33 PM MDT

sat sri akal!

khalsaji, i have a doubt (may be geniune), that we read bani or go to gurudawaras so that our lives may become better, there would be lesser troubles.
is it not pure selfishness?
people like Nanakji donot exist anymore. moreover in this age with bundles of responsiblities to share (to make carrer, to satisfy ur parents, work pressures o),one is not able to find enough time for bhakti.
society says that u have to choose one between the two either this world which we difinetly have to live or bhakti?
sardarji , is it good to have doubts like this because one of my friend told that u are not trusting GURU if u are having doubts like this.
i belong to punjabi khatari hindu family with lot of faith in SGGSji since our ancestors. as u know in pakistan(from where my grandpa migrated) hindus and sikhs were considered one.

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REPLY
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Dear One:
Sat Siri Akaal Ji.
No, it is not selfish to pray or go to gurdwara, and I think that if more of us did this sincerely, the world WOULD have lesser troubles.
Do you think people had more time in Guru Nanak's time? I don't. Do you think the pressures of daily life were easier in Nanak's time? I sure don't. Imagine the hard life that common people lived then.

In Japji, Guru Nanak told us to remember God and our karma would be resolved and our affairs adjusted (pauri 4). God is the great giver. Giving 1/10th of our day to God gives us all we need to get through the pressures of the life.
It is not about God OR the daily pressures. It's about God in order to BE VICTORIOUS in the daily pressures and struggles. It is about having the sehej and open-heartedness to see God In All through the day and in the people we encounter. Our bhakti gives us the grace, energy, light and balance to approach our lives with sehej (balance, neutrality). We serving our spirit and soul and God all at once to do it, so we are better individuals for it.

I can vouch for the difference bhakti has made in my life: it has made me mellower, less high-strung, and given me a clear, balanced view of the troubles I face, which gets me through them better.

I am not going to say you do or don't trust in Guru. Your relationship to Guru is your own. Guru bless you to remember the Naam!
-DKK