Interview with Gurpreet Kaur

Congratulations on being selected the youth of the month. please tell us something about yourself, your schooling, your interests and your hobbies.

This is another very difficult question for me to answer. Why? Because I still don’t know much about myself. So what can I really tell anyone about myself? Probably some psychological (personality) disorder I take it?…lolz. what am I suppose to tell?

Well I am a very selfish person, but slowly with guru sahibs kirpa it is changing. I just graduated from Univ, so now I’m back home. Will be applying for a job soon. If you haven’t noticed, like all the other Singhs and Kaurs, I love joking about and laughing (even if my jokes are lame... that’s besides the point here lol)! I got that from being with people who are very happy all the time. I’m sure you wanna know the reason? I did and I asked them for all of us;). It’s Gurbani. They listen to Gurbani kirtan, kathaas, and do naam simran most of their time. And and and of course most of them said they do lots of seva!

I have many hobbies but I will share some of them. I love taking long drives with loud kirtan playing or raag in the back. If there are some people traveling with me then it always become a good time/place for discussion! I love reading books and materials online, like Sikh forums, articles etc. I love surfing Net.

Who is your Role Model?

Everyone yet NO ONE! In other words Akal purakh(bani). Waheguru lives in all, and we can learn from everyone. We don’t know who (or in what situation) waheguru’s going to use to teach us a very important lesson. If my role model is Akal purah waheguru then it means everything in this creation can be considered as my role model, because as gurbani says he created the universe and also lives in it!=)

Just think of anything in this world, and now think about that thing’s qualities. All right I’ll be concrete. Think about: Water, dog, fish, rose, tree, star, sun…. list is limitless just as Akal purakh!

In your words how you explain sewa? How can today’s youth of western world take their time off to do sewa?
 
I have been blessed to have heard many gursikhs talk about seva at gurdwara sahib(s), audios (katha) and outside of gurdwara sahib. Seva: Literal meaning in English, is Selfless Service. When I was little I remember my Biji (grand mom) singing to us sometimes, “seva nu laddga meva kar koi dekh lou.” I never knew what it meant, but she would tell us what seva we can do and what we will get out of it (come on who doesn’t want reward for doing something when we were little? lol) and as long as I have lived in Punjab, I had noticed in people the humbleness and an intuitive desire to help others with no personal gain. This love for humanity and serving the creation is in all of us, but those who do seva know it is only by waheguru’s blessings that they are able to do what they are doing.

Till this day it makes me feel proud when I see people doing selfless service, and being kind to others. It’s the love for the others, the care and respect for others that they show. Seva isn’t something that can only be done on a bigger level, but it usually can be little things that everyone can do.

Few years ago I learned it from a little kid at gurdwara sahib. He talked about seva and said that he does seva by helping his parents when he really doesn’t want to help them. He said, “I would bring them a glass of water, and sometimes clean the table after eating.” Little things like that can be considered as sewa. I never thought that seva started from home until I heard from him, and saw his teacher at gurdwara sahib teaching everyone about what kind of seva they can do at home. Seva and simran go hand in hand as can be seen in our history. These two S’s help us a lot in reaching our goal (purpose of life)! Watch people do volunteer work or seva at Darbar sahib or any other place and you will see it! Experience it for yourself!

What do you think of the use of instant messengers like MSN, Yahoo etc..? What kind of impact do u think in general?

Every thing has its negatives and positives to it. For me, MSN have been a very positive experience. I have met most of my sangat of now through MSN or by other means of Internet communication. But one does have to manage one’s time. It is very easy to loss track of time when you are online. And we all know how valuable time is. Gurubani warns us about wasting time, and advices us to use it wisely to our advantage. By no means am I advocating that one should use MSN etc. We all should be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of using msn or any other communication devices. Use it for good and not for your or someone else’s destruction!

And don’t spend all of your time online (as I used to :( ). Smell the roses, and experience the beauty of nature. Waheguru lives in it. He creates these beautiful paintings for us to see each and everyday! (I don’t know about you but it makes me feel special J) They are never the same! Sun sets, clouds, stars, moon, rain, flowers, trees, birds, lil animals jumping around, list goes on and on…! Take sometimes to appreciate the creation and feel the presence and beauty of the creator in it.

Should youth only have friends from Sikhi background? What are your views on having Non-Sikh friends?

I have been fortunate to have friends from many different backgrounds. Our Guru Sahib was friends with all. And we are blessed that our Guru sahib preaches that. I’m sure we all have heard many sakhis(life stories) of guru sahib and people from different backgrounds. There are just so many. One that I stands out to me from the first Jyot , Guru Nanak dev ji’s, is the one where he went to two different towns. I am going to be very brief about it because we all have heard of it. He was treated very differently in both towns. The town that treated him with respect and were very kind to him, he blessed them and told them “Ujjaar javo” (Abandon – Scatter). I think of it that way. Good people are everywhere, and they can be found in every corner of the world proudly wearing guru’s given turban.

I have had many people come up to me and ask for help, just because they see me wearing turban. It always shocks me. I’m sure most of you have had similar experiences. It’s something about the way Guru Sahib has given us this dress, that pulls others towards us. Really a blessing.

Anyhow back to the question. We all live in a diverse society, and we should be grateful for that. As much as I have learned about Waheguru Akal purakh, and His creation, it is by having discussions with my friends of different backgrounds about religion. My friends asked me such questions that I would’ve never asked myself about my religion, God, or even the culture I was brought up in. It was these questions that pushed me towards Sikhi. My friends helped me see the beauty in Gurbani, and the lifestyle of true Sikh. I also asked them questions about their way of living, and got to learn a lot about them as well. I think because they were from different faith helped me actually become a stronger person.

It also has made me more open to everyone’s views. Guru sahib told us to love everyone, and see One jyot (Akal) in all; see the similarities in others/ see them as human beings not what color, creed, race, religion etc they are from. And having diverse friends has just done that for me. I don’t see them as what their religion is, but as human beings.

Also it works both ways. My friends got to learn about me, and I got to learn about them. So there aren’t any insecure feelings left between us. So at the end of it, I would say it helps us realize something very beautiful: (that) we all really are the same (human) and living on a same planet. For me loving them has been very easy because of what Maharaj ji teaches us about life on earth and being a human being!

Guru sahib tells us to have a good company and by good fortune all my friends were godly people. Once my friends and I sat down and ended up puzzled by this: how is that we all are strong in what we believe in, yet it has never created any type of fights between us. Have friends who will help us become a better person! And be a person who helps other become better. And please don’t judge others.

What is your message to Sikh youth reading this interview?

I am not the one to actually give a message to anyone. I myself am a learner, and have many faults within me. Gurbani is the bani of Akal Purakh as we all know and is the true message that should be followed to live a happy, content, and successful life. It helps us live our life to the fullest. It frees us from the bondages set by the society; Maya, illusions etc. As Guru Sahib says: Naam Jappna (simran), Vandh Chakkna (share) and Kirt karni (honest earning). Listen to as much Gurbani, Kirtan, Kathaa as you can! I can never get enough of it because there is just so much to learn and feel the love! It is the only way we are going to understand ourselves.

Here I would also like you to think about this story I heard from other: Once there was a spiritual person living in a town. And every time he would pass by this one house, the owner of the house; a lady standing on her house roof would taunt him by asking “Tell me is your dhari (beard) better or a dog’s tail?”

This happened almost everyday but the sadhu/saint never bothered to answer her.

Then came that day, when he knew that it was time to leave this body. It was the end of his journey, and he asked the people to go and get that lady. They brought her to Sadhu’s place. He said to her “Remember how many times you asked me single question that whether my beard was better than a dog’s tail? Well let me tell you now, it’s the beard that is better! And the reason I couldn’t answer you before was, because it wasn’t the end of my life and I could’ve done something so destructive and wrong that it would’ve made a dog’s tail better than my beard.”

In other words, as kabeer ji says “kabeer garab n keejeeai ra(n)k n haseeai koe ||
Kabeer, do not be so proud, and do not laugh at the poor.

ajahu s naao samu(n)dhr mehi kiaa jaano kiaa hoe ||39||
Your boat is still out at sea; who knows what will happen? ||39||”

I really don’t deserve to be the youth of the month. I don’t do anything that a Sikh should be doing. I’m just a particle who is filled with so many demerits. I have no virtue, and that’s why I am far away from the reality of things. Please know that I am on a path just like all of us are, and sevadars asked me to do this interview, but I am nowhere close to being dhoor of a Gursikh. My views on several issues will change, as I meet more Gursikhs in life, for better!

And know this too about me “gala(n)aee asee cha(n)geeaa aachaaree bureeaah ||
We are good at talking, but our actions are bad. manahu kusudhhaa kaaleeaa baahar chittaveeaah ||
Mentally, we are impure and black, but outwardly, we appear white.”

I’m not a writer or a good speaker so forgive me for the lack to clarity and writing ability.

Gursikha ki har dhoor dey ham papi bhee gath paahie

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!
 

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer the above questions,
and we hope you can continue to carry the torch of Sikhi and inspire others alike.