Welcome!

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa
Waheguru ji ki Fateh

Welcome to my new blog, and thanks for visiting.

In this blog, I'll be sharing my experiences as I embark upon a new spiritual practice called Sikhism. This post will be long in order to get most of the intro stuff out of the way. I'll try hard to make sure future posts aren't so long.

After practicing Buddhism for over a year, I stumbled across Sikhism through the music of Snatam Kaur Khalsa, an American songwriter of Sikh devotional music. At the time, I didn't know what tradition from which her music came. I just knew it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. After a few months of listening to Snatam Kaur, I decided to research her tradition and began learning a lot about Sikhism. But it still took a while for me to even consider it as a possible spiritual practice because I was committed to Buddhism. (By the way, Snatam's website is linked on the right side.)

For some reason (I don't know why exactly) something hit me like a bolt of lightning - Sikhism is the path I have been traveling my whole life and I didn't know it. I had always been a Sikh ("student", "learner", "disciple"), moving around different spiritual traditions and researching various religions. Studying religion has been a hobby of mine for a few years now, but it took a random journey into Sikhism to understand why I'm so fascinated with religion and spirituality.

It's a beautiful faith, full of messages of social justice, gender equality and devotion to God. The holy text of Sikhism - the Sri Guru Granth Sahib - is the only holy book in the world to include the writings and prayers of saints from different faiths (Islam and Hinduism). Sikhism is a universal faith - the 5th largest in the world in terms of followers - and is also the youngest of the big 5.

There is a thriving Sikh community here in the States consisting of two different sub-sections - the Indian/Punjabi Sikhs who's families immigrated here, and the native-born American Sikhs who converted to the faith through the teachings of Yogi Bhajan (a Kundalini master from India who introduced the yoga practice and Sikhism to the West). American Sikhs are overwhelmingly Caucasian, and referred to by native Punjabis as "gora", meaning "light-skinned" or "fair-skinned".

There is some debate between native Punjabi Sikhs and American Sikhs as to the place of yoga in Sikhism. This has to do with the apparent admonishment of the yogis by Guru Nanak (the founder of Sikhism) and the interpretation of the historical stories about Guru Nanak's son, Sri Chand, the founder of the Udasi sect, which practiced yoga and asceticism (asceticism being strictly against the Sikh lifestyle Guru Nanak preached). Many believe Guru Nanak and the Sikhs outcasted his son, but many others believe this is not true and that yoga indeed has a place in Sikhism as the scriptures actually allude to the benefits of yoga quite frequently. I, personally, don't really get into this debate. I like Kundalini yoga because of its health benefits and the wonderful community that has grown around it because of Yogi Bhajan. The majority of American Kundalini yoga practitioners are Sikh because of Yogi Bhajan, so it's a built-in community of like-minded people. And because of my previous spiritual research and practice, Kundalini yoga seems very practical and real to me. (You can learn more about Yogi Bhajan and his yoga community, 3HO, by clicking on the link to the right.)

I hope to practice the Sikh lifestyle fully. I have already begun awakening early in the morning to chant and pray, as well as wearing a turban everyday. The next step is to visit a gurdwara (Sikh temple) and learn the traditions of the religious services. I also would like to learn to read Gurmukhi, the sacred script developed and perfected by the ten Sikh Gurus, and learn to speak Punjabi. That way I can actually read the holy book as it is in the gurdwaras and not have to rely on the online translations I'm currently using.

The final step to complete my transformation into a Sikh is to undergo the Sikh baptismal ceremony, called the Amrit ceremony. Amrit roughly translates into "nectar", and is the name given to the sweet holy water one drinks during the ceremony. Once the ceremony is complete, I will be a part of what is called the "Khalsa", which means "pure ones". The tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, established the Khalsa as a warrior-saint order. Because of the horrific persecution of the Sikhs by Islamic and Hindu rulers in India, Sikhs were forced to pick up the sword and defend themselves. Many sacrificed their lives for the preservation of their culture, religion and freedoms. They even fought for and died for the rights of other religions to practice freely - the only religion in the world to do so. Guru Gobind Singh wanted to make sure Sikhs never ran away from social justice and always fought against tyranny and oppression. So he established the Khalsa, giving his followers the fearless spirit of a warrior as well as the devotion of a saint of God. He required his followers to wear distinctive clothing, which includes the turban, so they would always be recognizable as people to who anyone could turn for help. Here in the States, 99% of those wearing a turban are Sikhs, NOT Muslims.

There's a lot more I want to say, but I'll stop there for the sake of brevity (haha).

I hope you will continue to read and learn more about this beautiful faith, as well as comment on anything I have written. My next post will answer some common questions people have about the Sikh lifestyle. After that, I'll post at least once per week.

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa
Waheguru ji ki Fateh
(The Pure Ones belong to God, the Victory belongs to God).