Do You Know Your Religion?

Every time I meet a stranger I have to explain him/her that I am a Sikh but I don’t wear a turban. That doesn’t mean that I don’t respect my religion, perhaps I am just a moderate sikh who molded the fundamentals of the religion according to my comfort; to support my point sometimes I articulate “Its more important to be a sikh than to look like a sikh” But do I really know what a sikh is and what my religion is?

 “Were you taught your religion in schools?” One of my German colleagues asked me during a coffee table conversation.

“No” I said feeling proud of Indian secularism.

“Why?” He was amazed because in here Christianity is being taught in schools.

“Because India is a secular country and there are number of religions. So its better not to teach religion in a school than to burden students with lot many books about lot many religions” I tried to explain a bit, to him and to myself as even I was not sure about my explanation because I never thought about it.

“Then how do you get to know your religion” He was surprised on my answer and interrogated further.

“I inherited it from my parents and that’s it”

“Ya, that’s right but I mean to ask, do you know your religion? How can you say that, whatever you are following is correct?”

I was mum on that. Because I never tried to read about my own religion let aside the others, I never tried to read Guru Granth Sahib or other holy books so how can I compare or say which one is good?

In a while the conversation diverted from the topic and he went busy with another colleague, but I was stuck there till days. Same thing had happened few years back also, when I was in Seoul – one of my Muslim colleagues asked me “Why I follow Sikhism? Is it better than other religions? Have I read about Quran?” The way he asked me was not impressive; it was more like marketing Quran than to give me some insight into the word Religion, so I didn’t bother about it.

This time the question by this German guy hit the right cord. It made me think about my principles of life, my fundamentals, my ideologies. I know, I am in no position to tell anything about my religion as even I don’t know much, all I know is what I was told by my elders. I go to Gurudwara and bow to the Guru Granth Sahib, I visit temples and I bow to the idols even when the idol worship is prohibited in Sikhism (I do that for the respect of the other religion) and that’s it. That’s what I know about following a religion and most of us do only that, without giving a thought to what I am doing and why I am doing?

I believe in God. But the question here is not about the existence of GOD which many people confuse with; the question is why were these religions created? Obviously not by the GOD, but by the people. So, now it’s my job to know about what I am following and why I am following - But how?

I choose to read; presently I am reading ‘A History of the Sikhs by Khushwant Singh’. Will surely try to read and understand Guru Granth Sahib and other holy books in future and will try to implement their teachings to my life and that will be the day when I will be able to say “I know my religion and I know what I am following”