Ultimate Questions

Sikhs consider that evil is caused by people and they will be punished for it. It is a result of free will which makes it possible for us to have the chance to enjoy a relationship with the One. The Sikh response can be seen as part of a more general mystical theodicy where suffering can cause people to re-focus their lives and bring them closer to the One.

The purpose of life is to become a “sachiara” – truthful, real, authentic – by breaking through the “dam of filth” (Guru Granth Sahib: 1) and re-unite with the One who dwells inside us as “fragrance in a flower”, a “reflection in a mirror”, “fire inside of wood”. In re-connecting to the “breath of life” humans connect with The One as “water flows into water”.

The final destiny of all beings is to re-unite with the One as “sparks from a fire”. These images are not literal descriptions of the relationship between humans and the One, however, since what language can tell us is limited. Language cannot capture the full sense of any experience or relationship.