“If you are not a Sikh then what are you?” She asked me.

I thought about it for a moment and then it came to me. “I am a nothing, Being a Sikh is an Honour” I replied. I knew she had a tough time understanding what I just said but she remained silent not wanting to probe further.

I believe and have faith in God. My parents call him “Waheguru” and they taught me to call him that too. Does that make me a Sikh?

I wonder…

I am happy and I am a Nothing, even a “nothing” is a label. How do I put to words this feeling of not needing to define my faith on Waheguru. This feeling from deep within me which knows that I don’t have to label myself as anything to belong.

It was in the rainy months of November when we had this debate of who is a Sikh and who is not in Sabha house. Everybody had their own definitions. All of them we right, no body got it wrong however something seems to be missing.

I knew what everyone expressed is just another justification for them to belong to something. We all need to belong to something otherwise who are we?

We call ourselves Sikhs just because we can belong in a group called Sikhs. So we know that when someone asks us who we are, then we can answer them with confidence. It really doesn’t matter that we continuously renounce and reject the practices and believes of the Sikh faith does it?

Wo!..backup, backup. Did I just excuse you of renouncing and rejecting the Sikh religion? Yes I did. (with a smile)

Sikh is not a philosophy that you can choose to believe and not practice it. There is no “Sikh-ism” Sikh is a way of life. It’s the Sikh Way or the highway mates J

You cannot call yourself a Sikh if you don’t follow “The Sikh Way”

There is no “Sikhs by default” or “Clean Shaven Sikhs” or “Khan-phind Sikhs” or “Mona’s” period. If you don’t choose to follow “The Sikh Way” then you are not a Sikh.

You are just like me, a nothing. Being a Sikh is an honour.

Then there is this guy who will take out this little book which I call the “Sikh Bushido” (Reth Maryada) and points out to Section 1, Chapter 1, Article 1;

The Definition Of a Sikh

Any Human being who faithfully believes in

I. One Immortal Being

II. The 10 Guru’s

III. The Sri Guru Granth Sahib as a living guru of the Sikhs

IV. The teaching of the 10 Guru’s

V. The baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru

VI. Who does not owe allegiance to any religion

Let read that again. Does it say in there you need to follow any of these teachings because I really believe in them but I choose not to practice them? So what are you taking about says this guy?

And my reply to him is he is right. The book says that and for a lot of people the definition in the book is enough to justify their belonging. However it’s not enough for me.

Let’s imagine for a while that you have never learned how to drive a car before. You read a book that says all you have to do is to believe and you have achieved. So for the life of you, you believe you can drive a car. In you mind you imagine yourself driving down the highway. It so clear that it might be real.

Now you get into a car not knowing how to drive it but not to worry you believe you can drive the car with all your heart. It will work, the book said so. You sit there in the driver seat and wonder why you are not driving already.

Would you really drive the car by just believing you could? Would you really be a Sikh by just believing in the ten gurus and their teaching? Could you?

No you’ll need a guidebook showing you how to start the engine which gives the car the energy to start moving. Where the gas peddle are so you can actually drive the car and where the break peddle are so you know how to stop when something goes wrong.

Then you take a deep breath and with some courage practice to drive the car. First you try to start the car. When you accomplished it you will have the confidence to practice the next thing. Slowly with practice you drive the car and soon you become the driver.

So believing in the teaching of the ten gurus don’t make you a Sikh and neither being born in a family who descended from Sikhs makes you one.

So who are you and what are you?

You are just like me, a nothing. Being a Sikh is an honour.

I say it’s an honour because even if you practice being a Sikh. You do all your prayers, become an amrithadri and sacrifice you life for the panth, do your meditation and Naam Japna, do everything that is required for one to be a called a Sikh. You still are not a Sikh.

You are only a Sikh when the Guru pleases it so and that’s why being a Sikh is an honour.

Even taking a single step in the direction of being a Sikh is an honour which not many gets. I am thankful and grateful that I am being given the chance to take these few first steps of being a Sikh. I know I have been given this chance many times before and I have chosen to flow with the herd instead of doing what my heart tells me to be the truth.

Not many people get this chance and not many people who were given this chance choose to act on it.

I sit here reading these words on this paper and find my self wondering am I really a Sikh. Do I justify my existence just to belong or is it something else, something deeper. I wonder…

She continued looking at me as if she was trying to figure me out. She was almost going to make a judgment on me and label me something when I said

“Maybe we all are Sikhs and maybe we all are given the chance to being Sikhs and who knows maybe we all are special enough to be given this honour because we were born in Sikh families, aren’t we? I don’t believe God make mistakes, do you?”

She just sat there more confused then she started off with.

This entry was posted by Mr.J, on Sunday, December 3, 2006. You can leave your response.