The following is an excerpt of the speech I wrote which brought me all the way to Sikh Youth Symposium Internationals back in 2015.
Why Am I a Sikh?
WHAT IS AN IMPORTANT TIME SIKH RELIGION HAS BENEFITED IN YOUR LIFE?
In our Religion there is the Guru, and there is a Sikh. There is the Teacher and there is the student. Being a Sikh or "Student" is to learn from the troubles and hardships we have all faced, taught by our teacher the Guru Granth Sahib Ji in the words of "Gurbani." To help us learn from our "MISTAKES."
This is shown many times in the stories written by Dr. Gurbaksh Singh, An example is where he wrote about a young girl who treated her mother with so much anger and rage that her mother never talked to her again. As a result her mother committed suicide, and young girl later realized from Gurbani that Anger never brings peace.
I remember only 2 weeks ago where I had a nightmare that the Guru Granth Sahib was casted off a cliff into danger and I had to choose either to jump and save the Guru or save myself. Then in the end I choose myself, because i was to greedy to make the sacrifice which I will never forget.
Personally, I have learned that these bad things are a part of the 5 evils, Kaam - lust, Krodth - anger, Lobe - greed, Moh - Attachment, and hankaar - Ego.
Kaam krodhu mani mohu sareeraa. Labu lobhu ahankaar su peeraa
The Mind and body afflicted with these evils lead only to pain. The job of a Sikh is to always keep god in mind, and by abolishing these 5 evils it will keep us on the right path, which can be achieved by practicing the words of Gurbani, which are alike "medicine to the mind".
This is how it has benefited my life.
This is why I am a Sikh.
WHY ARE PEOPLE LOSING THEIR RELIGION OR CULTURE?
But what happens when we don't Keep Waheguru in mind? What happens when we forget and lose our faith? Today, many people in the world from various religions are letting go of their religion and losing their culture, but why is this?
Sometimes we are too busy playing Xbox, talking about income tax, or watching some Kabadi to really remember why we are here. We forget who we are.
When we forget our religion, We lose our Dedication to god.
Pagath Karo Har Ke Gun Gavo, Ahatt Pe-hair Apanaa Khasum Thiaavo, Sonee Kee Sewii Rupaae Kaa Thagaa, Naamae Kaa Chith Har So Laga.
To Perform devotional worship and sing glorious praises to god. Twenty four hours a day, to meditate on god. With Naam woven into the mind.
When we lose our dedication then we are nothing. A animal being does not practice his faith, ignoring our faith means refusing to be a human being.
We need to give all an opportunity and create interest in order to promote dedication.
The job of a Sikh is to always keep god in mind, but when we forget there are consequences. We Conform and we lose our identity such as the 5K's, we lose guidance, we become uneducated, and forget our past. Worst of all we lose the reason to defend our religion. When we are discriminated against we forget why we should stand up. We forget why our Guru's fought for our religion, we forget why Guru Gobind Singh Sacrificed his family for our us, and we forget to fight for what we believe in. We need Dedication for our religion to live and thrive.
_________________________________________________
Photo collage by Tejvir Singh Mann