WHY I CHOSE SIKHI?
Japjeet Kaur Khalsa, from Leicester speaks of her journey into Sikhi in the Huffington Post Newspaper:
"I was brought up in Weelde, near Antwerp in Belgium, my Western name is Nele Bemong. I was quite religious as a child, with quite religious Catholic grandparents, my parents much less so. I was baptised, and went to Catholic school and university. I was always a spiritual child, I prayed a lot and talked to God before I went to bed.
After the age of eight or nine, I began questioning God, when some people very close to me died and I couldn’t understand why God would allow that. Other Catholic concepts, like for example, original sin also did not make sense to me and it was hard for me to agree with what institutionalised religion had turned the intrinsically very beautiful teachings of the Bible into.
By the time I went through high school, I had really stopped practicing anything. I am very much a Westerner who practices Sikhi, but I don't adopt Punjabi culture. It is very uncommon in Europe to be a white Sikh. There are more white Sikhs in America but they tend to live in communities of other white Sikhs, not so much in the Punjabi community.
I am one of very few white people in this country, who have converted and live amongst the Punjabi community. But I do get a lot of respect, and often Punjabi people will start looking anew at what Sikhi offers, if they see that I have adopted it and have given up my previous life in the process. They will often even say 'you're a proper Sikh' – a mirror is being held up and often that inspires them to re-evaluate Sikhi. It can be quite inspiring for young people, who sometimes think there is nothing in Sikhi for them as the spiritual side has often gotten mixed with deep-seated cultural practices. I help them see the immense value of the Guru’s teachings and how much contentment and happiness there is to be gained by adopting the spiritual teachings into one’s life."
We have great karma and are blessed to be born in sikh families, yet we choose to ignore the Gurus teachings. To be punjabi is not being a sikh, sikhi is way beyond this. Sikhi is a beautiful way of life, combined with the True Gurus physical discipline and liberating spiritual wisdom. This has to be lived and not just talked about.
We should all take steps towards the True Guru and accomplish the purpose of this life, which is to liberate this impure mind through the love of Vaheguroo's name, by becoming one with him.
Guru Ramdas Ji Says, "Come, and join together, O my companions; let's sing the Glorious Praises of Vaheguroo, and follow the comforting advice of the True Guru"
Vaheguroo!
