I decided to touch this topic because, we Indians have actually forgotten our glorious heritage and have become too much regressive. Sexual conduct not only is a critical topic to discuss in order to make a better atmosphere within the county but also to educate youngsters about the rising cases of rapes and sexual violence. Unless, the future generations are not thoroughly educated about this issue, there is a minimal chance to check crime against women, children and and helpless people.
Sexual energy of the young generation definitely needs to be regulated but in a country where live-in relationships have been legalized, there should not be any sexual violence, but this has not happened even after legalization of live-in relationships. Sometimes, we Indians are so much consumed with the belief of the superiority of the western culture that we assume that there's no sexual frustration in the west or there's no violence against women and children in the west, but that is not true. Though statistics have shown that the sale of porn video DVD's and photos is maximum in the conservative middle eastern countries but their draconian laws that even go to the extent of crippling the offender from his private part induces a very high degree of fear in the minds of the criminals. We cannot afford to have such laws in India which I believe is also a conservative nation.
First we need to have a clarity on the fact that it's not just the unstable teenagers who commit this crime, it could be anyone, it could be a mentally disturbed adult committing it out of a broken marriage or separation. We also need to reinvent our roots where talking about "sex" was never a taboo and I've already mentioned about the presence of Ajanta & Ellora caves and Maharishi Vatsyayana's work. Though I want to highlight a fact here that there are some full-time brothels working in major cities of India and prostitution is an absolutely legal business in the cities of- Allahabad, Jaipur, Mumbai, Muzaffarpur, Nagpur, New Delhi and Pune. But these red-light areas have a limited outreach confined to their surrounding urban and rural areas only. But the presence of these brothels do not ensure a complete absence of sexual violence in these areas. Neither it is possible to have govt. approved brothels in the conservative places of India having a religious heritage like Varanasi, Haridwaar, Amritsar etc. Hence, I would rather take a neutral but a conservative stand on checking the sexual violence in the country by just saying that the legal punishment of a sexual offender should be increased and adequate measures should be taken to rehabilitate the victim with full dignity.
Now talking about the sikh rehat-maryada, it has been clearly defined in the rehatnama that a sikh should limit himself/ herself to only his/her spouse and pre-marital or extra-marital sex accounts to a major "kurehat". The unmarried are advised to practice celibacy and marriage is solemnized in the presence of the holy Sri Guru Granth Sahib and sikhs strictly practice monogamy.
No forceful seduction into marriage is allowed, neither bride capturing or stealing is allowed neither a custom of paying a bride price persists. This tradition was present in the tribal parts of India and is still practiced in some areas. Though, Guru Nanak always advocated that householder's life is the best form of worship and encouraged his sikhs to have a "grihasthi" because only in such a condition i.e. "grihasthi", the person can know the true meaning of selfless service. Though some radical sikh preachers say that sikh couples should have sex only for procreation (i.e. only to have kids) but their logic seems redundant in front of the fact that "sex" is not just a physical phenomenon happening due to the secretion of hormones. It's a psycho-somatic phenomenon strengthening an emotional bond between the couple.
Unlike Islam, which allows its followers to have multiple wives at one instance of time, sikhism allows subsequent marriage only in case of death of a previous spouse. Though there are some intellectuals who claim that polygamy was practiced by the tenth guru but there are some accounts to prove that guru sahib solemnized second marriage after losing the first wife and the third wife was symbolically named as the mother of Khalsa and wasn't the biological mother of any of the sahibzadas. Though both Lord Ram and Guru Nanak taught us the same thing i.e. to be loyal to our spouses and the practice of monogamy becoming a standard tradition followed by hindus and sikhs across India based on their teachings but Guru Nanak didn't ever subject his better half to "Agni pareeksha".
Sexual energy of the young generation definitely needs to be regulated but in a country where live-in relationships have been legalized, there should not be any sexual violence, but this has not happened even after legalization of live-in relationships. Sometimes, we Indians are so much consumed with the belief of the superiority of the western culture that we assume that there's no sexual frustration in the west or there's no violence against women and children in the west, but that is not true. Though statistics have shown that the sale of porn video DVD's and photos is maximum in the conservative middle eastern countries but their draconian laws that even go to the extent of crippling the offender from his private part induces a very high degree of fear in the minds of the criminals. We cannot afford to have such laws in India which I believe is also a conservative nation.
First we need to have a clarity on the fact that it's not just the unstable teenagers who commit this crime, it could be anyone, it could be a mentally disturbed adult committing it out of a broken marriage or separation. We also need to reinvent our roots where talking about "sex" was never a taboo and I've already mentioned about the presence of Ajanta & Ellora caves and Maharishi Vatsyayana's work. Though I want to highlight a fact here that there are some full-time brothels working in major cities of India and prostitution is an absolutely legal business in the cities of- Allahabad, Jaipur, Mumbai, Muzaffarpur, Nagpur, New Delhi and Pune. But these red-light areas have a limited outreach confined to their surrounding urban and rural areas only. But the presence of these brothels do not ensure a complete absence of sexual violence in these areas. Neither it is possible to have govt. approved brothels in the conservative places of India having a religious heritage like Varanasi, Haridwaar, Amritsar etc. Hence, I would rather take a neutral but a conservative stand on checking the sexual violence in the country by just saying that the legal punishment of a sexual offender should be increased and adequate measures should be taken to rehabilitate the victim with full dignity.
Now talking about the sikh rehat-maryada, it has been clearly defined in the rehatnama that a sikh should limit himself/ herself to only his/her spouse and pre-marital or extra-marital sex accounts to a major "kurehat". The unmarried are advised to practice celibacy and marriage is solemnized in the presence of the holy Sri Guru Granth Sahib and sikhs strictly practice monogamy.
No forceful seduction into marriage is allowed, neither bride capturing or stealing is allowed neither a custom of paying a bride price persists. This tradition was present in the tribal parts of India and is still practiced in some areas. Though, Guru Nanak always advocated that householder's life is the best form of worship and encouraged his sikhs to have a "grihasthi" because only in such a condition i.e. "grihasthi", the person can know the true meaning of selfless service. Though some radical sikh preachers say that sikh couples should have sex only for procreation (i.e. only to have kids) but their logic seems redundant in front of the fact that "sex" is not just a physical phenomenon happening due to the secretion of hormones. It's a psycho-somatic phenomenon strengthening an emotional bond between the couple.
Unlike Islam, which allows its followers to have multiple wives at one instance of time, sikhism allows subsequent marriage only in case of death of a previous spouse. Though there are some intellectuals who claim that polygamy was practiced by the tenth guru but there are some accounts to prove that guru sahib solemnized second marriage after losing the first wife and the third wife was symbolically named as the mother of Khalsa and wasn't the biological mother of any of the sahibzadas. Though both Lord Ram and Guru Nanak taught us the same thing i.e. to be loyal to our spouses and the practice of monogamy becoming a standard tradition followed by hindus and sikhs across India based on their teachings but Guru Nanak didn't ever subject his better half to "Agni pareeksha".
Wow, this Sikh wedding videographer in London is absolutely amazing! I recently attended a Sikh wedding ceremony, and the videographer captured the essence of the event so beautifully. Every moment was expertly documented, from the vibrant and colorful attire to the heartfelt rituals and traditions.
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