Sikh Religion

Overview
About God
Principles
The Gurus
History
Today's Order
Shabads

Overview

Foundation
Sikh religion was founded by Guru Nanak in the form of ten Gurus or Masters (1469 - 1708) in India. The tenth Master, Gobind Singh, ended the personal Guruship and proclaimed Guru Guranth Sahib (The Holy Scripture) as the eternal spiritual guide.

Holy Scripture
Guru Guranth Sahib was written and compiled by the Masters themselves and hence it is authentic. No body is allowed to change even a comma or a period in it (1430 pages). The Holy Book is the perpetual spiritual guide; there is no place in Sikhism for a living Guru today.

The name of God is the central theme in the hymns of the holy scriptures. The power of God is glorified and admired in Sikh Scripture. It is the cure of all sufferings. In the scriptures, Nam is another name for God. It is God that sustains all beings and the universe. He is not a mental abstraction. He is the source of all life-physical as well as spiritual. Nothing is so perfect that it could or would exist apart from and independent of HIM.

The holy scripture does not narrate the life story of the Gurus, but it is entirely dedicated to the glory of the Almighty God. Sikhism is not a blend or a reproduction of earlier religions but it is a new revelation altogether.

GOD
The Gurus preached Sikh religion strictly as monotheistic- requiring belief in none other than One Supreme Being. Sikhs believe that all religions believe in the same God by different name. Hence, it is not religion that will save a person but his devotion towards the Supreme Being. In other important issue in Sikhism is the belief that God cannot take human form.

Salvation
To attain salvation, Sikhism rejects all fasts, rites and rituals. It rejects the claims of Yoga, fasting, religious vegetarianism, pilgrimages, superstitions, veneration to miracles, mortification of body, self-torture, penances and renunciation. Sikhism does not believe in the worship of many gods and goddesses, stones, statues, idols, pictures, tombs or crematoriums. Only One God, the Formless, is to be Glorified. The five cardinal vices are; Kam (lust), Krodh (anger), Lobh (greed), Moh (worldly attachment) and Ahankar (pride). If one can overcome these, the path to to salvation will be opened.

Reencarnation
Rebirth in descending order is a punishment and curse for one's deeds. The soul passes through animal lives suffering untold agonies. Human life is a blessing. Human being is the crown of His earthly Creation. Man has the capacity of being conscious of his own being. He has the capability to attain the highest pinnacle of spiritual advancement. Human form is the opportunity for the spiritual and moral progress. No religion and no philosophy can exist on this earth without man. Sikh Gurus sing the nobility of human being because he has the awareness of the Divine and it is only through human body that one can get salvation by meditating on Nam. Man cannot find his way to salvation through intellectual acrobatics and speculative ventures or ceaseless trance. It is achieved only through meditation on God. When the Gurus, saints and prophets of the world sing the Praises of the Lord, they sing them to man. They encourage man to advance to the loftiest peaks of spiritual glory. The exhortation "Nam Japo" (Praise the Lord) by the Gurus is directed towards man because the highest spiritual goal is within the reach of man only. Praising the Lord aims at spiritual evolution which is the ultimate goal of the followers of the Sikh religion.

All human beings are equal.
The idealistic approach of Sikhism is that it recognizes the existence of the same heavenly Light in every human being, rich or poor, high or low irrespective of caste, creed, color, race, sex, religion or nationality. The Guru's stressed the full equality of women, rejecting female infanticide, wife burning, permitting widow remarriage and rejects women wearing veils.
In the late sixteen hundreds, Sikh women fought next to men in liberation battles against the Mogul Empire.

Therefore the doors of the Sikh temple are open for all in this world without any prejudice or social discrimination. Every person in this world has equal right to enter and join the services in the Sikh temple.

Social Life
Normal family life is encouraged. Celibacy or renunciation of the world is not necessary to achieve salvation. The devotee must live in the world yet keep his mind pure. He must be a soldier, a scholar and a saint. Honest labor and work are the approved way of living ones life. It is considered honorable to earn ones daily bread through honest work and not by begging or dishonest means. Sharing with others is also a social responsibility. The individual is expected to help others in need through charity. Community service is also an integral part of Sikhism. The free community food service that can be found at every Sikh temple , is open to people of all religions and is one expression of this community service.

Free Food For All
The institution of Langar (Free Food in Temples) was started by the first Guru and strengthened further by the later Gurus. The rules of the Langar require that all should sit in the same row and partake of the same food without any discrimination of being high or low, rich or poor, and prince or the peasant. The institution of Langar, thus, translates the principle of equality into practice. It was the injunction of the third Guru that none would have his audience unless one had eaten in the Langar. Even Akbar, the Emperor of India, had to sit with common people and dine before he could see the Guru.