Sikhism teaches that the purpose of life is to reunite with God through mukti (liberation) However, in order to do this, Sikhs must ensure they develop the virtuous characteristics that enable them to become gurmukh (A pure Sikh)

The five vices

In order for Sikhs to become gurmukh and be reunited with Waheguru (God), they must get rid of their negative characteristics. This means removing certain barriers to mukti known as the five vices. These are:

• lust (kama)
• greed (lobh)
• anger (krodh)
• attachment (moh)
• pride (ahankar)

They must also remove three other barriers:

• The illusion that things in this world that are temporary and unimportant (such as material possessions) are permanent and valuable. This is known as maya.
• Being egotistic. This is known as haumai.
• Being self-centred. This is known as manmukh.

Sikhs must focus on removing these barriers and try to avoid the temptations of life in order to move closer to Waheguru.

Why do we want to meet Waheguru (God?

Why is it that meeting Waheguru is THE purpose of Human Life, of our very existence? Guru Sahib Jee tells us that our soul (Atma), the essence of our existence, is actually a piece of the Supreme Soul (Parm – Atma). In fact, this whole life is a game designed by Vaheguroo whereby the objective of this game is to merge back into Oneness.

Another way of thinking about this is that this whole life is actually the ultimate love story wherein our Soul yearns to be with the One that created it. Along the way to realizing True Love, the soul must come to understand that it is in fact a part of the One, and therefore look inwards to find Waheguru sitting inside, where He was and has been sitting in our hearts, the whole time. However, to get to this point of realization, to truly feel this and become one with Waheguru Ji, it’s a long journey.