SIKHISM RELIGION

SIKHISM 

 The brief history of Sikhism

The religion of Sikh originated in the area of Pakistan and northwestern India called the Punjab, meaning “land of the five rivers” at the end of the fifteenth century. At that time the local religions both Hinduism and Islam were presented in that area. The Sikh religion offered an alternative way of life. The movement of Sikhism was started from a small group of disciples gathered around the Guru Nanak (1469-1538)
to seek the presence of God. At he had at about the age of thirty, God was revealed to him as the “True Name” so God is called True name. The movement grew under the leadership of Nanak. His goal was a sense of union with God. Over the year they increased day by day and also developed a strong military power,until they became a distinct community.[1] So we can call Nanak is the founder of Sikhism, was born in the Punjab in 1469, a region which lies partly in northwestern India and partly over the border in Pakistan where Nanak’s hometown lies. Nanak was growing up into a Hindu family in India and remained the concept of Hindu until his 20 years. He became a herdsman, and later a civil servant and the father of two sons. When we think of India, it is totally influenced by the concept of Hindu and Muslim.

The movement of Sikhs was a little bit same with Hindu movement before 1800s after that Sikhs themselves made a determined effort to distinguish totally from Hinduism. From at that time they removed all Hindu Images from local Sikh building and from the famous Golden Temple and decade by decade they introduced greater distinctions between Sikh and Hindu rituals.[2] After Nanak spent his times by teaching his doctrines throughout the Punjab area, he died at around his age 70. Immediately Guru Angad Dev (1504-1552), was pointed to lead their disciples continuously. There are ten successive leaders: Amar Das (1479-1574), Ram Das (1534-1581), Arjian Dev (1563-1606), Har Gobind (1595-1664), Har Rai (1630-1661), Har Krishan (1656-1664), Tegh Bahadur (1621-1675), and Gobind Singh (1666-1708). Actually if we say, there has been ongoing argument in India between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. The Sikh temple in Amritsar was destroyed and 600 Sikhs were killed by Hindu (India Army) in 1984 because of this kind of conflict. Today however the effort of Sikhs is under way on the part of many Sikhs to create an independent Sikh nation to be named Khalistan (Lang of the Pure).[3] When the distribution of world Sikh population is estimated, there are approximately 20 million devotees worldwide almost 80% of which live in India ( mainly in the Punjab area), there are 13,000,000 in Punjab, 2,000,000 in Rest of India, 450,000 in UK, 200,000 in Canada, 150,000 in US, and 100,000 in the rest of world.[4]

The teaching of Guru Nanak

The teaching of Guru Nanak was come down from the teaching of Kabir and the Sant Tradition. Nanak was profoundly influenced by the ideas of Kabir (1440-1518). Even Kabir and others Sant (saint) were influenced by both Hindu and Muslim ideas. They drew the bhakti tradition from Hinduism and the sufi tradition from Islam. Regarding this both perspective, the highest duty of humans is to emphasize the oneness of God and the need for loving devotion to God. He said that the highest religious goal is a union with God, in Hindu terms, freedom from karma and rebirth. Kabir rejected both texts which were the Quran of the Muslims and the Vedas and Upanishads of the Hindus. In his teaching, he expressed deeply which loving devotion to God and the repetition of God’s name were more powerful than priest, sacrifice, or ceremony. Nanak copied almost all his messages. According to Nanak concerning religion goal “the goal is to break from the cycle of reincarnation and to be united with God. This liberation takes place not by removing oneself from the daily flow of life, as Hindu ascetics do, but by living selflessly in the world, doing one’s duty, and providing service and charity to others.”[5] Almost same with Christian’s teaching about God, tough that God was formless and non-anthropomorphic, and Sikhism is monotheistic. Said by Nanak there is no Hindu or Muslim, however there is one God. A true follower must follow the Sikh Code of Conduct and faithful be lived in human being which are: “(i) One Immortal Being, (ii) Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Dev to Guru Gobind Singh, (iii) The Guru Granth Sahib, (iv) The utterances and teaching of the ten Gurus and, (v) the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru, and who does not owe allegiance to any other religion.” [6]

Beliefs of Sikhism

The belief of Sikh is that the idea of God are most informed by Muslim views, and ideas of humans and their dilemma are most informed by Hindu beliefs, and the ideas of the solution to the human plight are informed by both. Some will be mentioned as follows:

God

There is no many gods but one God, the oneness of God is foundation to Sikhism who is creator, and it is to him and to him alone. He possesses two distinct natures within the totality of his divine being. One is personal nature called Sanguna and other is impersonal nature called Nirguna. They thought that God cannot take not only the human form but also any other form. Instead, they understood God is a supreme guru, and those who seek to worship Him can be understood God’s name. They believe that God is the same God for all religions and much higher than human.[7]

Humans

The nature of human is the highest stage in the cycle of samsara, a system of reincarnation based on the forces of karma. Sikh gives the highest respect to the equality of all humans. Separated one human from another is totally rejected by Sikh religion. They stress the equality of between woman and man. This practice influenced within the Sikh community. In this case, it is very different with Hindu and Muslim tradition. The full equality of women with men is affirmed, especially in matters pertaining to the practice of the Sikh religion.[8] The responsibility of human being is to worship True name and a union with Him every day.

Creation

True name created the universe and an infinite number of other worlds, each containing its own set sentient creatures. The entire universes which all are the creatures of Him are maintained by God’s loving power and are governed by both his justice (nian) and his grace (nadir).

Sin

In Sikh religion, good morality is so important so they try to have good morality. They absolutely love righteousness (dharmsal) and avoiding vices. There are the five principal vices in their religion so if you cannot keep away from these principal vices, you will be a sinner as their perspective on sin. The five principal vices are worldly attachment (moh), pride (ahankar), anger (Krodh), lust (kam), and greed (lobh). People ought to love each other and which more with loving others in a pure manner is so powerful in their religion. The tradition of Hindu practice burning wife (Sati) and oppressing female when her husband died is evil and sin. In fact, Sikhism is also the religion of work, not grace.

Salvation

Salvation can achieve by breaking the cycle of death and rebirth (awagaun) and merging with True Name (God). Libration does not mean worldly practice like fasting, celibacy, yoga, or pilgrimages. Instead, it should take the ordinary responsibilities of every day life, along with studying the Granth Sahib, meditation, and daily remembrance of God (Nam simran). For getting salvation, no need to try and practice in many ways.  There however is one way which if you can overcome the five cardinal vices, you will achieve salvation.

Afterlife

For merging with True Name (God), all souls need to incarnate many times before union with True name. Eventually, every soul will be engaged into the divine essence so it is necessary to die in order to achieve liberation. Everyone should not be mourned or seen a grievous loss when someone whom his/her relative is death because the death provides that the soul departs from physical body to become one with True Name.[9]

The Sikh religion is mixed religion both Hinduism and Islam, originated in the Punjab area in five centuries ago. The founder, Nanak emphasized the loving devotion to God and the formless of God. In his teaching, so many ways are appeared like Hinduism and Islam. Some Sikh religion’s beliefs are almost same with Christian beliefs but its ideas differ significantly from Christian teaching. Sikh religion is also the religion of Work, not grace. Especially they keep good morality in their religion which it is included among the main teaching of Sikh religion. Today, Sikh religion is recognized as the fifth largest religion in modern world. Sikh religion separates the whole world and they are living in most country today.   There is no priest and leader in their religion. 
(Note: This is my weekly paper of World religions's class)

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[1] Douglas Davies, “Religion the Gurus: The Sikh Faith,” EErdmans’ Handbook to the World’s Religions, eds. R. Pierce Beaver and others (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994), 197.

[2] Thomas A. Robinson & Hillary Rodrigues, eds., World Religions: A Guid to the Essentials (Massachustts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006), 233-4.

[3]H.Wayne House, Chapters of World Religions (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 86.

[4] Linda Woodhead and Others, eds., Religions in the Modern World (London: Routledge, 2002), 70.

[5] Robinson, World Religion: A Guide to the Essentials, 236,244.

[6]Bob Larson, Larson’s Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), 444-5.

[7] Larson, Larson’s Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality, 445.

[8] Rodrigues, World Religions: A Guide to the Essentials, 243.

[9] House, Charts of World Religions, 85.