10,212

Spiritual

Mar 13, 2009

Europe

Desk job

Sikhs believe that human beings spend their time in a cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. They share this belief with followers of other Indian religious traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The quality of each particular life depends on the law of Karma. Karma sets the quality of a life according to how well or badly a person behaved in their previous life. The only way out of this cycle, which all faiths regard as painful, is to achieve a total knowledge of and union with God. Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak Dev Ji who shaped a new, unique and distinct religion during his lifetime. Under the stewardship of the Ten Gurus Sikhism was able to gather many followers from other religions. Although the Gurus were critical of other religions they very strongly believed in religious freedom. They also emphasized that the most important thing was not which faith one followed but the remembrance of God at all time and the leading of a decent and honourable life. Due to it's relatively young nature Sikhism is sometimes misunderstood to be only a reform movement or branch of older existing religions. This is certainly not the case, like all religions there are some similarities as well as differences. * During his lifetime the 10th Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji established the Khalsa order (meaning The Pure), soldier-saints. The Khalsa uphold the highest Sikh virtues of commitment, dedication and a social conscious. The Khalsa are men and women who have undergone the Sikh baptism ceremony, and who strictly follow the Sikh Code of Conduct and Conventions. They wear the prescribed physical articles of the faith. One of the more noticeable being the uncut hair (required to be covered with a turban for men) and the Kirpan (ceremonial sword). In 1699, Sikh men were given the last name Singh (lion) and women Kaur (princess) by Guru Gobind Singh Ji. This initiate intended to end the caste system, social stratification and much of the apparatus of Hindu ritual and legalism. In Indian society an individual's surname reveals his or her caste, and Sikhs were freed from the caste system by having all men incorporate Singh in their names, and all women Kaur. Based on the premises of gender equality, Kaur was also given to Sikh Women to establish an identity independent of their father or husband. Even though Sikhism is an ideally progressive social structure, ironically some still find it difficult to let go of the caste system and the use of last names. The use of family Names is still prevalent and most people tend to use Kaur and Singh as middle names. Before his death in 1708 Guru Gobind Singh Ji declared that the Sikhs no longer needed a living Guru and appointed his spiritual successor as The Guru Granth Sahib Ji, and his physical successor as the Khalsa. Guru Gobind Singh Ji felt that all the wisdom needed by Sikhs for spiritual guidance in their daily lives could be found in The Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the Eternal Guru of the Sikhs. Sikhism does not have priests, which were abolished by Guru Gobind Singh Ji. The Guru felt that they had become corrupt and full of ego. Sikhs only have custodians of the The Guru Granth Sahib Ji (granthi), and any Sikh is free to read The Guru Granth Sahib Ji in the Gurdwara or in their home. All people of all religions are welcome to the Gurdwara. A free community kitchen can be found at every Gurdwara which serves meals to all people of all faiths. Guru Nanak Dev Ji first started this institution which outline the basic Sikh principles of service, humility and equality. * Conception Of God: Sikhs do not view God as a man in the clouds or any other form of human being, male or female. The concept of God in Sikhism is of oneness with the entire universe and its spirit. God is found not by searching in remote places, but by eliminating ego, which is said to allow a deeper, more accurate perspective on the nature of reality. A simplified Sikh definition of God is as follows: The Enlightener, The One Everlasting Reality, The Creator, Without Fear, Without Hostility, Beyond Time And Space, Not Born But Self-Originating. This basic definition is thoroughly elaborated on in The Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Most of the virtues of God described above are in common with other faiths. However, the digit one included at the beginning of the above invocation is unique. It reflects that there is only one God for the whole of humanity. Just because many different names have been assigned to Him does not mean there are many different Gods. Most faiths do not believe that the Gods described by other faiths could possibly be the same. Reality praised in different words due to different histories, cultures, and interpretations. They tend to believe that their particular God is the true God, and all the other Gods are separate, false Gods. Sikhism does not agree, and hence from the very definition of God it begins to strongly diverge from other faiths.

View Of Other Religions: Sikhs believe they have no right to impose their beliefs on others or even to cajole members of other religions to convert. Such practices are strictly forbidden in Sikhism. Sikhs are required to defend the freedom of worship of other religions just as they would their own. Sikhs do not believe that followers of other religions are doomed in the eyes of God regardless of their personal character and behaviour, nor does being born into a Sikh family guarantee salvation. However, this does not mean Sikhs view all religions as being similar. The philosophy, practice, and history of Sikhism are unique and seen as clearly distinct from any other religion. Like most other religions, Sikhism has its own religious dress, its own marriage and initiation ceremonies, its own religious Scripture, and its own philosophy, history, and culture. Unlike most other religions, Sikhism does not claim that all the followers of other religions are doomed to hell. Many religious scholars agree that Sikhism is the most nonconforming religion in the world, in that it repudiates the practices of other religions rather than building on top of them. The Sikh belief that religious bigotry is wrong, far from undermining the uniqueness of Sikhism, emphasizes its distinctiveness. For example, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, the supreme head of Sikhism from 1665 to 1675 CE, voluntarily sacrificed his life to protect the right of worship of a different religion. No supreme head of any other religion has ever made such a contribution to the defence of a different faith. * The Khanda is the symbol of the Sikhs, it reflects some of the fundamental concepts of Sikhism. The symbol derives its name from the double-edged sword (also called a Khanda) which appears at the centre of the logo. This double-edged sword is a metaphor of Divine Knowledge, its sharp edges cleaving Truth from Falsehood. The circle around the Khanda is the Chakar. The Chakar being a circle without a beginning or an end symbolizes the perfection of God who is eternal. The Chakar is surrounded by two curved swords called Kirpans. These two swords symbolize the twin concepts of Meeri and Peeri - Temporal and Spiritual authority introduced by Guru Hargobind Ji. They emphasize the equal emphasis that a Sikh must place on spiritual aspirations as well as obligations to society. * Guru Granth Sahib Ji is a collection of devotional hymns and poetry which proclaims God. It lays stress on meditation on the True Guru (God), and lays down moral and ethical rules for development of the soul, spiritual salvation and unity with God. The majority of the language of The Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the Punjabi dialect prevalent at that time. Some hymns are also found in Persian, medieval Prakrit Hindi and Marathi, Sanskrit as well as Arabic. All of these hymns are written in the standard Punjabi script known as Gurmukhi, popularised by the 2nd Guru, Guru Angad Dev Ji. The Guru Granth Sahib Ji is exactly 1430 pages in length. Each page contains in bold print 18 or 19 lines dependent on the page size. The hymns of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji have been laid out in a very scientific and well planned manner devised by Guru Arjun Dev Ji. The hymns have been arranged according to the melody (Raga) in which they are meant to be sung. Secondly they are arranged on the nature or the metre of the poems themselves. Next they are arranged by author and finally on the clef or key deemed appropriate to them.

Outlook: Like the Jewish faith which has been subject to extreme historical persecution, Sikhs have faced extreme pressure from a variety of groups. Being a small but vocal minority, they were subjected to wide scale oppression by Muslim invaders on multiple occasions and again later by the British Raj during the colonization of India. More recently, they have suffered a great deal from attacks by Hindu fundamentalists. However, they have always seemed to rebound strongly and overcome such horrors. Sikhs played the leading role in ending both the Muslim Mughal imperial rule and the British Raj of India. Sikhs today are thriving and remain one of the fastest growing religions in the world. Practitioners of Sikhism can now be found in every major city in the world.

The Guru Granth Sahib Ji