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Summary of Question:	Misleading The Youth
Category:	General Q's from Non-Sikhs
Date Posted:	Thursday, 12/01/2005 8:17 AM MST

SIKHNET dont get me wrong I really really appreaciate all your seva, and really like your site, except for the Sikh Youth Q&A. I think it should be called Yoga Youth Q & A, for every question your answer is Yoga, and every time the youth want an explanation you give it to them from a Yoga point of view, and not a Sikh one. After all this is Sikhnet not Yoganet!

VJKK
VJKF

---reply

Many of our answers are answered using Yogic Technology but not all. We are students of Yogi Bhajan, a yoga master, who was also a devoted Sikh. He taught us about both desciplines. But we don't believe in doing things purely for dogma or ritual. Most people really appreciate that we answer the technology of why we wear turbins, don't cut or shave our hair, recite banis, are vegetarians and so forth. We follow a "lifestyle" not a ritual, which sets us apart from many other religions. Many Sikh youth are falling away from Sikhism because it has been presented to them as a dogma and a ritual..."do it because I say so...do it because we are Sikhs." We are in the Age of Aquarius, where those kinds of response don't work any more. In the Aquarian Age, we must experience to believe. I always tell people, "Use yourself like a labratory...experience it for your self." There is a reason we do what we do. In the Siri Guru Granth Sahib it talks about Raj Yoga. Yoga is a part of our tradition. What do you think Guru Gobind Singh was doing with his warriors? ...Yoga and meditation. They made them strong, one pointed and invincible, able to fight off many more than their numbers. Today, we need this technology to fight off all of the challenges we have.

So many of the people who write into this site have no clue how to manage their lives. Telling them to just not do it won't do a thing. They need a technology to get stronger and centered. If they all had more of a knowledge of yoga I would refer them to particular yoga sets or meditations, so usually I refer to a bani or shabd, which I hope they already know. Those who live in cities where yoga is being taught, go, study, get the benefit of it for your lives. We have started to teach yoga in Amritsar and New Delhi. The times are screaming for it. People are screaming for it. Yes, we are Yogic based...but don't over generalize. We refer to the Guru just as much. They are intertwined. Try it for your self. Don't allow your prejedice and ignorace to trying it cloud your perception. you will lose the opportunity to benefit from this ancient and effective technology which is very appropriate for today's living. Blessings. GTKK