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Summary of Question:	Donating Blood Or Organs
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Monday, 4/03/2000 7:50 AM MDT

Is it acceptable for an amritdhari sikh to donate blood, or hold an organ donor card? I believe that the healthy body naturally makes up any blood that is lost, and once you are dead, then your body is just a shell - if part of it can be used to save someone else, then it should be. But some people say that if you have taken amrit, then the amrit is in your blood, and you shouldn't give it to someone you don't know. Also, that when you die, your body should be cremated whole, as you came into this world - which view is right?

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REPLY
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Dear One:
Sat Siri Akal. Yes, it is OK for any Sikh to donate blood or organs. Use searchwords "donating blood or organs" and search this Youth Forum for other replies on this.

As for cremation, the Sikh way of disposing of the dead is cremation and only cremation. Guruji mandated this as a way of reminding us that the body is just a vehicle for spirit, and that we must not be ATTACHED to the body as if there is no spirit. We do not take the physical body with us when we leave, and cremation reminds us (the living) of this.
Rab rakha,
-DKK