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Summary of Question:	How Do I Get Back To The Path
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Monday, 1/06/2003 4:06 AM MST

waheguru. hi guys thanks alot for this, . ok i was born a sikh and i practiced it until i was about 16. then two years later i cut my hair and started smoking, drinking and having sex. these practices are against our religion. now i have always had trouble with whether god exists or not and i'll agree that this universe was created and the force that created it is God. what i don't get is that if god is all seeing and all knowing and all powerful then he knows what i'm going to do before i do it. so if i appreciate that i exist and all and am happy that god caused that, then he knows that already because he knew it before i arrived here. so are the gurus' teachings the best way for us to serve god's purpose for us? what if i don't serve my purpose will he get mad because i didn't even though he knew that i wasn't going to before i arrived? so if i believe that experiencing worldly things is ok as long as i am good to those around me and don't hurt anyone.also why are we doomed to hurt somebody?

(REPLY) Sat Nam. The problem is, you , and many people keep thinking that God is some separate "person" who is sitting in judgment on us, or could "get mad at us." That is nonsense.Our Gurus were enlightened people who EXPERIENCED the reality of God, and they gave us a pattern to follow in life so that we could also succeed in realizing that reality, and thus fulfill the very purpose of our lives. The Siri Guru Granth Sahib, our living Guru, the Shabd Guru, tells us over and over how important it is to make our relationship with God the priority in our lives. Smoking and drinking and having sex outside of marriage give people temporary satisfaction, but they also create the kind of karma that takes them farther and farther from the Truth -- the discovery of which is the purpose of life. So, through the law of karma, we keep having to be reborn and reborn and play this game of life, but we never can win until we stop messing up. Yes, God knows everything, and lets us make mistakes -- and then allows us to pay the karmic consequences. God is not a "person" who is emotionally involved in our lives, but rather and Infinite Being or Intelligence, or Consciousness that totally loves us and wants us to succeed, but has given us something called Free Will that has enabled some of us to turn our backs on Truth. We have the choice always, for aspiration or desperation and to choose our actions to bring us closer to God through purity, (Remember that's what "Khalsa" means!) and practice of virtues. The interesting thing is, that by following the Guru's teachings, we actually become happy! Blessings, SP