Who are the Sikhs?
Gurpreet Singh Bhogal is a practicing Sikh and the Network Operations Manager, at Bell Canada. We talk about life and the Sikh faith.
Gurpreet please tell my audience a little about you.
I work with Bell Canada for a living and I teach The Happiness Program at The Art of Living as a passion.
Talk to me about the Sikh faith that you were born into.
It’s a vast field of knowledge. I am not fully versed in it. I am not an authority on Sikhism. However, whatever little I know, I will share my thoughts. Sikh faith emphasizes the connection with the divine through the remembrance of the true name, equality of all, respect for women, selfless service to humanity, and fighting against oppression and tyranny. Our last Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji formed the Khalsa who is a saint and a soldier.
Sikh history is full of legends who sacrificed everything to walk on the path of Dharma and righteousness. Guru Gobind Singh Ji sacrificed his entire family to save Dharma and showed us the path of dynamism combined with spiritual awareness and self-discipline.
How do you live practically in the Sikh faith?
The principles of the Sikh faith are the guiding light in daily life encounters. It gives me immense strength to walk the right path with honesty and life-nurturing principles.
In other words, hard work, sincerity, honesty, sharing with all, and standing up for righteousness help make me become a better person and teaches me commitment with self-esteem and humility in one package.
I attended the Langar with my family. What is Langar and why is hospitality so important to the Sikh community?
The tradition of Langar (free community kitchen) was started by our Guru’s and it represents the universal principles of sharing, caring, generosity, and equality as everyone who is able-bodied sits on the ground and eats with everyone. It is compassion in action and in Langar or the community kitchen, nobody is asked any questions, and irrespective of whom you are you are served food with love. You can go anywhere in the world and where ever there is a Gurudwara (Sikh temple) you can have food any time of the day without any conditions. The beauty of the Langar is that the food is never short and the Sikh devotees make sure there is enough food always.
Peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, compassion, forgiveness, and generosity are important in the Christian faith. How important do these values play in your faith?
The Sikh faith puts emphasis on the principles of peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, compassion, forgiveness, and generosity. We have plenty of examples of our Guru’s stand on these principles and asking the Sikhs to imbibe these principles as they make us better human beings who are connected to the divine and bring that inner connection.
How has marriage and becoming a father changed you?
Marriage and becoming and father subsequently have changed a lot in me as I have now become more responsible and my domain has expanded. I have become more caring and think of the family first.
Do you agree that our generation of men needs to become more sensitive, more involved, and more gentle in raising our families than the previous generation of men?
I don’t believe the previous generation of men was not all of the above. I believe they were sensitive, loving, and caring maybe the times they lived in were different and their expression and roles were different from the society we are living in. I am sure no well-meaning father or husband can be insensitive or not loving. If we find instances of such behavior it may be because these people were victims themselves somewhere.
Give me three pieces of financial advice that you follow personally.
- Curb wasteful expenditure.
- Save a portion of your earnings.
- Donate a portion of your earnings.
How do you balance faith, finance, food, and family?
The same way you balance yourself on a bicycle. It happens automatically when you surrender to the divine and do some work for the divine. The divine will take care of you.
Photo Credits: guru gobind ji by Aavtar Singh CC BY-SA 2.0, Amritsar, Golden Temple by Arian Zwegers CC BY-SA 2.0, Amritsar, Golden Temple by Ian Armstrong CC BY-SA 2.o, Gurdwara HDR by Charanjit Chana CC BY-SA 2.0
It goes to show that people are more alike than they are different! We just need to listen to each other and learn from one another. I learned new things reading this blog tonight! Very encouraging to learn about how the teachings of this religion and it’s follower devote themselves to building up and serving their communities. One love.