Kali on Guru Hargobind sahibs sword

[ChardikalaUK]

There's nothing wrong in my opinion.

I have a statue of Shiva and Buddha but I don't worship them or perform any rituals. I just like the artwork and symbolism. The power of Shiva and tranquility of Buddha.

No different than having a statue of a Greek or Egyptian god.

[Suchi]

  On 4/23/2021 at 2:44 AM, ChardikalaUK said:

There's nothing wrong in my opinion.

I have a statue of Shiva and Buddha but I don't worship them or perform any rituals. I just like the artwork and symbolism. The power of Shiva and tranquility of Buddha.

No different than having a statue of a Greek or Egyptian god.

It is different if you believe in them and do mantras in their honour. Having them on flags and on swords is a good omen  not just decorative art.

[S1ngh]

For Sikhs it is only for decorative reasoning & no significance in any religious way. We do not believe putting any symbols or pictures on anything for the good omen. Our guru sahib jee taught us to be away from such Andhvishvaas.

[puzzled]

Its just symbolism. Kali is the goddess of war, destroyer of demons and evil, so its no surprise her image was carved onto swords and other weapons. Other deities associated with war were used as well.  

While South Asian Muslims refrained from using images of humans and used patterns instead, Sikhs were Ok with depicting images of humans or human like figures. And I'm guessing the gurus were Ok with it as well.

Another popular image was a tiger/lion chasing a deer. You can find this motif at Hazur Sahib and at Harmandir Sahib as well. I'm sure other old Gurdware which were demolished had this motif as well. Tiger chasing deer is also found on puratan shastars as well. The deer in Indian art represents beauty, pride, temptation etc while the tiger chasing it represents the destroyer of these emotions. So its no surprise old Gurdware have this image.

Here's one from Hazur Sahib. You can see a tiger chasing a deer while the deer looks back.

 

So all these things, kali, durga, animals they are like symbols representing different emotions. 

A bit like how when going to war Singhs used to sing ballads about wars between gods and demons, krishna vs kharag singh etc  these ballads woke that warrior spirit in them, a desire to kill!  Just like that these images we see in old Gurdware and puratan shastar were no different, they evoked an emotion, either of bir rass or spirituality. 

But we don't see this kind of art in new gurdware so some people misunderstand it. 

I think the tiger chasing deer looks quite cool!  though I think some Sikhs today would consider a image like that in Gurdwara offensive, lol. 

[Suchi]

  On 4/24/2021 at 11:13 PM, S1ngh said:

For Sikhs it is only for decorative reasoning & no significance in any religious way. We do not believe putting any symbols or pictures on anything for the good omen. Our guru sahib jee taught us to be away from such Andhvishvaas.

https://qr.ae/pGNmjM

Here is something that suggests otherwise. 

[Arsh1469]

How do we know that truly is Guru Ji's sword?

[S1ngh]

Quora is your source?

are you saying that Sikh Gurus told Sikhs to believe in murti pooja and keep figures or drawing for good luck or omen?

[SargunNN]

I really don't understand the whole obsession over idol worship.  People here take it to an extreme and seem to think it means all symbolism should be removed from Sikhi and the religion should become as austere and shallow as modern-day Islam.

Obviously, mindless idol worship is bad, everyone would agree with this (including Hindus), but its also obvious Hindu symbology had a spiritual influence on the gurus, and if you actually do naam jaap you'll find you can engage with these symbols in a way that is deeper than idol worship.  Any personal practice of sikhi that doesn't even attempt to engage with this symbols, is incomplete and ahistorical in my opinion.

[intrigued]

  On 4/26/2021 at 4:55 AM, SargunNN said:

I really don't understand the whole obsession over idol worship.  People here take it to an extreme and seem to think it means all symbolism should be removed from Sikhi and the religion should become as austere and shallow as modern-day Islam.

Obviously, mindless idol worship is bad, everyone would agree with this (including Hindus), but its also obvious Hindu symbology had a spiritual influence on the gurus, and if you actually do naam jaap you'll find you can engage with these symbols in a way that is deeper than idol worship.  Any personal practice of sikhi that doesn't even attempt to engage with this symbols, is incomplete and ahistorical in my opinion.

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If you do naam jap you'll find that Waheguru has no form

[SargunNN]

  On 4/26/2021 at 5:02 AM, intrigued said:

If you do naam jap you'll find that Waheguru has no form

Maybe. Personally I feel Waheguru is both formless and formed as the concept of Sargun and Nirgun tries to illustrate. I try to focus on both in meditation.