The practice of Sikhism can be summarized thus: "Singing oneness." There is only one; and the purpose of a sentient being is to sing this one. Understanding what singing and oneness are, and how to sing is the subject of a Sikh lifetime. All other practices are unessential adornments. 

Guru Arjan's Ek Gusain

Bhagat Kabir's Pandit Mullah

Had a fun conversation

Because God in #Sikhism is the ultimate teacher (waheguru), this religion is fully compatible with #Atheism. Guru Nanak is quite revolutionary -- he created a all compatible religion.

The following is what John Smith wrote:

Dear Ali, please help us.

We were very impressed with your website and agreed that religion in general is no longer needed, we can all be humanistic and live in peace and harmony. We are in the process of making a website which will hopefully help to destroy the religious doctrines which divide humanity. We were doing great with knocking out Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Baha’i, even Buddhism but we have gotten very stuck with Sikhism. This religion is (to put it nicely) “a big pain in the ass” (Please pardon the language) We have only found one site which tries (very poorly) to argue that even this religion is not needed, but the argument is irrational and very unscientific unlike the very rational arguments you use.When we read the following from your website, we found what you said to be amazingly interesting:
“Doubt Everything Find Your Own Light.”

“Last Words Dear friend, if you look for meaning in life, don’t look for it in religions; don’t go from one cult to another or from one guru to the next. You can expend all your life or look for eternity and will find nothing but disappointment and disillusionment. Look instead in service to humanity. You will find “meaning” in your love for other human beings. You can experience God when you help someone who needs your help. The only truth that counts is the love that we have for each other. This is absolute and real. The rest is mirage, fancies of human imagination and fallacies of our own making.” By Ali Sina

Why is this interesting? Because we found this religion of Sikhism to be in agreement with you! This is why we have a problem. We tried to look at their holy text (Adi Granth) but didnt find the usual absurdities we found in the other religious books. In fact its refreshingly inspiring and very good!? Maybe you can have some better luck.

We tried to visit a couple of websites and got more of a shock. Did you know that they believed in Democracy, freedom of speech, choice, expression, freedom of religion, pluralism, human rights, equality between men and women, equality of all people regardless of race, religion, caste, creed, status etc. 300 years before the existance of the USA! Theirs is the only religion which says in their religious scriptures that women are equal in every respect to men. They even had women soldiers leading armies in to battle against “you know who” (The usual suspects – Muslims!) Their history is a proud one, they fought in both World Wars. Even Hitler praised them for their bravery and Aryan heritage! Dear Ali, this religion is hard for us to try and criticise but you are an expert and may find some faults overlooked by us. In their holy book, there is a round earth, water is made from chemical elements, there is even mention of the evoution process, big bang and life on other planets! This is pretty crazy and amazing stuff, who would have thought that these New York taxi drivers (There are lots of Sikh taxi drivers in NY) would have such an amzing faith? We read up some information of what Bertrand Russell had to say about Sikhism, this is the man who destroyed Christianity (same applies to Islam and Judaism) and exposed its absurdities, but even this great man got stuck when it came to Sikhism! In fact he gave up and said “that if some lucky men survive the onslaught of the third world war of atomic and hydrogen bombs, then the Sikh religion will be the only means of guiding them. Russell was asked that he was talking about the third world war, but isn’t this religion capable of guiding mankind before the third world war? In reply, Russell said, “Yes, it has the capability, but the Sikhs have not brought out in the broad daylight, the splendid doctrines of this religion which has come into existence for the benefit of the entire mankind. This is their greatest sin and the Sikhs cannot be freed of it.”

Please bear in mind that Bertrand Russell was a great philosopher and free thinker. We have been trying for weeks now to find a way to fairly and rationally criticize and find fault with this religion but have failed. We even found out that there are many people converting to this religion in the USA and Europe as well as Russia (Mostly well educated and affluent white people). We tried to find some of their literature and see what kind of claims they make, but unfortunatley they have no missionary material as they do not have missionsaries! People become Sikh by learning usually by chance or by coming in to contact with them. They are currently the 5th biggest religion in the world and growing quite fast in the west and Russia. Please help us as we are stuck, to give you an example of they are all about we found the following websites: http://www.hope.at/sikhism (This site is very easy to follow, check it out, they have a Womans section and a Martyrs section, it looks like that you are not the only one trying to expose the falseness of Islam, Sikhs scholars did it hundreds of years ago and got killed for it!) http://www.sikhs.org (This is the site that was on CNN when Sikhs in the USA were mistaken for Arabs and Middle Easterners and were attacked by mindless morons)

Please help us out, we cant make our website about religion being the cause of war and disharmony when we have this one and only religion which makes a hell of a lot of sense! lol (I thought Atheism had all the answers but were kind of stuck now.) We look forward to hearing from you, we respect your great views and want to promote them to everyone, thank you for your time, take care.

I just saw this video from Professor Darshan Singh; he has been an eminent Sikh lecturer and musician. In more recent years he has thrown himself into some controversy on religious texts. It seems his mission in life has become to grow doubt in people's minds about the authenticity of the Dasam Granth, the name given to the collected works of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru. Many people have not agreed with his view over the years, and some have. His new argument is if people don't want to join him in denouncing this book, why not at least confirm that the Guru Granth Sahib (a collection of poems singing about oneness) is the ONE and ONLY superior holy book for the Sikhs.

Thats a problematic statement for anyone who understands the poems contained within the Guru Granth Sahib. These poems are about the absolute truth, and cannot be constrained for only the Sikhs. To me that is vehement attack on the very soul of Guru Nanak which sings of equality.

Although I have been personally touched by Professor Darshan Singh because he encouraged me to memorize the poems from the Guru Granth Sahib that I have grown to love, I have not really understood the vehement opposition to the Dasam Granth.  Professor Darshan Singh's position is that there are some parts of that book that were inserted by Hindus to propagate their religion -- or to cast a doubt on the authenticity of Guru Gobind Singh.

I claim no knowledge of Dasam Granth's authenticity, but I still don't like the professor's arguments.   My thinking is that even if one poem in the treatise was written by Guru Gobind Singh, it is fruitful to study every poem to find it. And once you have read any one poem from the Guru Granth Sahib (and all of them are really pointing to the same Ek Omkaar), you should not have any trouble deciphering which portion of the Dasam Granth has the soul of Guru Nanak. The same is true with the Old Testament or New Testament, or Koran.

In my opinion any claims of superiority of any religious doctrine, book or work cannot be made by the soul of Guru Nanak which believes only in Ek Omkaar.

There is a story where Guru Nanak once meets Mia Mittha a sufi poet who tells him to recite the kalma. Guru Nanak asks him what he wants him to say. Mia Mittha asks the Guru to repeat these words:

Pehla Naam Khudai ka, dooja naam rasool.
Nanak kalma je paden, taan dargeh paveh kabool.

Translated:
First name is God's, second is Prophet Muhammad
If you read this prayer, you will be accepted in heaven.

Guru Nanak abjectly refused to accept this. How can anyone who believes in equality or even one God not refuse this thinking? In Guru Nanak's view there are thousands of Muhammads lining at God's door. In a different poem, he reminds us that God's door is in our own heart. The idea of having a lineage -- God on top, messenger just below and the rest of the universe under them -- does not fit well with the teachings of Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak himself never claimed to be only second to God. In different poems he calls himself a slave or a dog.

The sikh supremists have created a Guru with a body and an ego. They treat the Guru Granth Sahib like a deity. They offer prayers to it and want to claim there is no other book or thing in this world that is as pious.

What is in the book that can revolutionize our thinking is largely ignored. What is really cool and different about the Guru Granth Sahib is the homogenous focus on Ek Omkaar and on equality for all. There is no claim of superiority and that these truths cannot be found elsewhere; there is no such ego here. This is what makes this book of poetry more beautiful than other self propagating religious texts.

What is the difference in the idiotic thinking of superiority of the Guru Granth Sahib and the equally idiotic thinking of God having only One son, or God having a last messenger.  Its quite idiotic. Our leaders today are taking us down an idiotic path and we keep feeding our and their egos.  Guru Nanak's essence is lost in such thinking.

Guru Nanak's word is not constrained by the Guru Granth; he didnt stop writing once he had finished the Japji Sahib. Guru Nanak continues to write and sing today. And I hear him all the time. He calls himself a dog. There is no air about him. No supremacy.

VIDEO 1:
 

 VIDEO 2: