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Summary of Question:	Claify This For Me
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Saturday, 7/19/2003 6:42 PM MDT

Hi, i read the reply to the question about heaven and hell after death and it seems seriously contradictory. On one hand you say that there is life after life and then that there is no life after death! Hello! As you believe in reincarnation, how can there not be life after death in your religion? i.e how can you become something else when you're already living your life as one creature????? seriously confusing. Also, how can your holy Book be a divine revelation from God when it was made up? If it truely was a revelation from God, why was the 'conduct of a sikh' drawn up and then not agreed upon? Why, only recently has it been changed to fit your modern lifestyles for your own conveniences? Surely if your religion was a revelation from God, you would accept it.Surely if it was a revelation from God there would be no contradictions? On one hand you say that you do not believe in worshipping images and idols and yet you have images displayed in your temples as a sign of respect. To avoid anything that may cause the worship of images and idols, then these pictures should be removed! Sikhs i have spoken to say that only the good bits of other religions were taken to culminate in the Sikh holy book. So does sikhism not recognise the consequences for the actions that you take? Do you just keep being reincarnated? What if you come back as an ant and you get stepped on? What do you become after that? does sikhism not believe in the day of judgement? If your religion was a revelation from God in its own right, why are your scriptures compiled from sources that have nothing to do with your way of life? If Sikhs are neither Muslims or Hindus, why is their text from Muslim and Hindu scriptures in yours? Why have these 'good' elements been taken from other religions to create a manmade religion? What if a Sikh commits a murder? What is the consequence of his actions? What Divine Laws do you govern with or do you just go with the once again contradictory law of the land? If your religion is comprised only of good then how can there be punishment of crime? If your God does not lay down the consequences of your actions, then what right do parents have over their children when they are disobedient to them?

This may all seem harsh and hurtful to those of you who believe in Sikhism, but can you seriously, truthfully answer these questions? I used to be a sikh and at one point in time these comments may have evoked rage and anger in me. But the emergence of such comments and questions shows the contradictions that are present in this lifestyle. So many questions are left unanswered. So much does not make sense!

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I can feel your pain in your words. I am sorry that you are in such conflict. I think you have misunderstood the explanation about heaven and hell. Yes, there is something called karma, yes, we pay for the consequences of our actions. Yes, there is a heaven and hell; but as Sikhs, we do not believe it to be the same kind of place as Christians. To us, heaven and hell are here on earth as well as after death. The heaven or hell we create for us here will follow us after life. If we die angry in life, we will have to deal with that hell in our next life. For example, you are in hell right now, because of the anger and anguish and confusion that you are carrying around. If you can release it, you will immediately be in heaven on earth. What ever consciousness you live in while alive will determine what consciousness you will bring with you into the next life. The ultimate heaven of course is when you can just merge with the Divine Consciousness, while alive and then when you die. May God and Guru guide you to ultimate understanding and union with Them, lovingly easing your pain. GTKK