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Sikhism | |
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ਸਿੱਖੀ | |
Type | Ethnic religion; universal religion |
Classification | Indian religion |
Scripture | |
Theology | |
Governance | Panj Takht |
Region | Predominant religion in Punjab, India (58%), and widespread worldwide as minorities (Sikh diaspora) |
Language | Sant Bhasha[6] Punjabi (Gurmukhi script) Khalsa bole[7] |
Headquarters | Akal Takht, Amritsar, Punjab, India |
Founder | Guru Nanak |
Origin | 15th-16th century CE Punjab region, Indian subcontinent |
Separations | Ravidassia |
Number of followers | 25-30 million (referred to as "Sikhs" or "Sikh Panth")[8] |
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Sikhism |
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Sikhism (/ˈsɪkɪzəm/ SIK-iz-əm), also known as Sikhi (Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖੀ Sikkhī, [ˈsɪk.kʰiː] , from ਸਿੱਖ, Sikh, 'disciple / learner'),[i] is an Indian religion[9] and philosophy[10] in particular for the Sikh ethnoreligious group that originated in the Punjab region of India[ii] around the end of the 15th century CE. The Sikh scriptures are written in the Gurumukhi script particular to Sikhs.[11] It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups and among the largest in the world, with about 25–30 million adherents (known as Sikhs).[12]
Sikhism developed from the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the faith's first guru, and the nine Sikh gurus who succeeded him. The tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), named the Guru Granth Sahib, which is the central religious scripture in Sikhism, as his successor. This brought the line of human gurus to a close. Sikhs regard the Guru Granth Sahib as the 11th and eternally living guru.[13][14][15] Guru Nanak taught that living an 'active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is above metaphysical truth, and that the ideal man "establishes union with God, knows His Will, and carries out that Will".[16] Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh Guru (1606–1644), established the concept of mutual co-existence of the miri ('political'/'temporal') and piri ('spiritual') realms.
The core beliefs of Sikhism, articulated in the Guru Granth Sahib, include faith and meditation in the name of the one creator, divine unity and equality of all humankind, engaging in seva ('selfless service'), striving for justice for the benefit and prosperity of all, and honest conduct and livelihood.[17][18][19] Following this standard, Sikhism rejects claims that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly on absolute truth.[iii][20] Sikhism emphasizes simran (ਸਿਮਰਨ, meditation and remembrance of the teachings of Gurus),[21] which can be expressed musically through kirtan, or internally through naam japna ('meditation on His name') as a means to feel God's presence. It teaches followers to transform the "Five Thieves" (i.e., lust, rage, greed, attachment, and ego).[22]
The definition of a Sikh, according to the Rehat Maryada, the Sikh code of conduct, is any human being who faithfully believes in the following:[23]
- One Immortal Being,
- Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Sahib to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib,
- The Guru Granth Sahib,
- The utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus and,
- The baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru, and who does not owe allegiance to any other religion, is a Sikh.
The religion developed and evolved in times of religious persecution, gaining converts from both Hinduism and Islam.[24] The Mughal emperors of India tortured and executed two of the Sikh gurus—Guru Arjan (1563–1605) and Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–1675)—after they refused to convert to Islam. The persecution of Sikhs triggered the founding of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699 as an order to protect the freedom of conscience and religion,[25][26] with members expressing the qualities of a Sant-Sipāhī ('saint-soldier'). The Sikh community may be seen to correspond to A.D. Smith's definition of a politicized community, sharing common ancestry myths and historical memories of martyrdom and persecution under successive rulers.[11]
From the rest of this introduction to the Guru Granth Sahib, and from Guru Nank's compositions, it is a monotheistic, rather than a monist, view of God which emerges.
Since the Sikh concept of the divine is panentheistic, the divine is always greater than the created universe, its systems such as karma and samsara, and all phenomena within it. In Sikhism, due to the sovereignty of God, the doctrines of Nadar and Hukam override all systems, both concepts reinforcing panentheism. Hence one becomes a jivanmukt only in accordance with the Hukam.
Like the God-of-process theologians in the West (Whitehead, Cobb, Griffin, Hartshorne), the God of Sikhism is a dynamic God, a process moving within humankind, pervasive within the hearts of people, yet transcendent and eternal. The Sikh God is one with whom devotees become wholly absorbed: "As the fish, I find the life of absorption in the water that is God" (Sri Guru Granth. 1988, p. 166). As the fish is absorbed in the water that is God, the soul is absorbed in the lightness that is God. The fish, even though absorbed in the water that is God, does not lose its fishness, its fish identity-formation, even though absorbed in the light that is God. A panentheistic system, such as Sikhsim, allows the soul to retain its soulness while merging with God. The soul, in other words, is not identical with God, even after merging with God, but one might say God is part of the soul. A strict identity soul = God is incarnationism and this is considered anathema in Sikhism. The Granth uses the beloved/lover metaphor for the relation of the self to God. God is the beloved and the devo tee is the lover. The lover retains her identity yet merges with her beloved.
In looking at the teachings of the Gurus as a whole, it seems that Lourdunathan overstates the degree to which Sikh scripture is anti-monistic. Guru Nanak famously referred to the world as a "palace of smoke" (GGS: 138) and made countless references to the idea of maya (Illusion). While the Gurus did not teach a radical nondualism, it is perhaps more accurate to suggest that some aspects of Sikh thought constitute a qualified nondualism (in which Creator and Creation are part of the same whole) (GGS: 125) or panentheism (in which the Creator pervades the natural world) (GGS: 24), while many others are monotheistic, including passages in Japji Sahib, where God is described as the King of Kings (GGS: 6). These different interpretations lend themselves to varying understandings of the relationship between the natural world and divinity.
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A large number of Hindu and Muslim peasants converted to Sikhism from conviction, fear, economic motives, or a combination of the three (Khushwant Singh 1999: 106; Ganda Singh 1935: 73).
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