The Five Thieves as Parts: A Sikh Lens on IFS Inner Work
- Nov 28, 2025
- 3 min read
In Sikh wisdom, the Five Thieves,
lust (kām),
anger (krodh),
greed (lobh),
attachment (moh), and
ego (haumai),
are seen as inner forces that pull the soul away from its divine center. They are not simply enemies to destroy but energies to understand and transform.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) offers a modern psychological language for this same sacred process, meeting our inner parts with compassion so they can return to their natural harmony with the Self.
Understanding the Five Thieves as Parts
In IFS, every emotion, impulse, or reaction belongs to a part, an aspect of consciousness that tries to help us survive, protect, or achieve. Even our most destructive patterns arise from parts with good intentions that have taken on extreme roles. The Five Thieves in Sikhism can be seen in this same light, not evil spirits but wounded or fearful energies acting out of imbalance.
Lust (Kām) often hides a part that longs for love, connection, or beauty but has confused physical desire with divine union.
Anger (Krodh) is a protector part guarding the pain of betrayal or injustice, seeking control when the heart feels powerless.
Greed (Lobh) reflects a frightened part that believes accumulation brings safety or worth.
Attachment (Moh) belongs to the part that clings to people or things, fearing loss or emptiness.
Ego (Haumai) is the manager part that tries to keep order by separating “me” from “You,” forgetting the Oneness of Waheguru
When we meet these inner thieves with judgment, they dig in deeper. When we meet them with curiosity and compassion, they begin to reveal the pain or longing beneath their surface.
Compassion as the Transforming Fire
Sikh teachings remind us that divine love melts even the hardest tendencies. “When the Word of the Guru’s Shabad enters the heart, the thieves are subdued.”
In IFS terms, when we bring Self energy, calm, compassion, clarity, courage, curiosity, confidence, creativity, and connectedness, to a part, that part relaxes and reorients itself toward balance.
Instead of fighting anger, we can listen to it. Instead of condemning greed, we can ask what it fears. In this gentle space, each thief begins to transform into its divine counterpart:
Lust becomes devotion.
Anger becomes strength and justice.
Greed becomes gratitude and generosity.
Attachment becomes love rooted in freedom.
Ego becomes humility and divine alignment.
Through this alchemy, we see that every thief was only guarding a doorway to virtue.
The Sant Sipāhī Path of Inner Leadership
The Sikh ideal of the Sant Sipāhī, the Saint Soldier, offers a profound metaphor for IFS practice. The saint embodies compassion and inner awareness, while the soldier stands firm in truth and courage. To live as a Sant Sipāhī is to lead one’s internal world with both tenderness and discipline, transforming the thieves not by suppression but by sacred dialogue.
IFS gives us the tools to enact this leadership in daily life. By recognizing our parts, listening deeply, and letting the Self guide, we mirror the Sikh journey from haumai, self centeredness, to hukam, divine alignment.
Walking the Path of Integration
True mastery in both Sikh spirituality and IFS comes not from denying the inner thieves but from integrating them. Meditation, Simran, and parts work all lead toward the same goal, to live from the divine center within.
When the thieves are met with the Guru’s light and the Self’s compassion,
the war within turns into worship.
the mind becomes still,
the heart opens, and
the soul remembers its oneness with Waheguru.
In the end, the thieves were never enemies at all, they were lost children waiting for the light of home.
Comments