Program / Course 18: World Religions / Lesson 3.3
What you will learn
- Describe the Sikh teaching of one God and the role of the ten Gurus.
- Explain why the Guru Granth Sahib is treated as the living Guru.
- Outline Sikh practice, including the Khalsa, the gurdwara and the shared meal.
- State how Sikhism differs from both Hinduism and Islam, which it is sometimes wrongly said to blend.
The big idea
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded by Guru Nanak in the Punjab region about 1500 and carried on by nine more Gurus. Sikhs believe in one God, the formless Creator who is present in creation and known through the divine Name. Salvation is union with God, reached by grace, remembrance of the Name, honest work, sharing with others and service. After the tenth Guru, the line of human Gurus ended and the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, became the eternal Guru. Sikhs number about twenty five to thirty million.
Key terms
- Ik Onkar
- The opening words of the Sikh scripture, usually translated One Creator or There is one God. The symbol of the faith.
- Guru
- A teacher who leads from darkness to light. In Sikhism it refers to the ten human Gurus, to the divine voice that spoke through them and to the scripture.
- Guru Granth Sahib
- The Sikh scripture, a collection of hymns by the Sikh Gurus and by Hindu and Muslim saints. It is treated as the living Guru.
- Gurdwara
- The Sikh house of worship, literally the door of the Guru. It houses the Guru Granth Sahib and always has an open kitchen.
- Langar
- The free communal meal served in a gurdwara to all comers, seated together without distinction of caste or religion.
- Khalsa
- The community of initiated Sikhs, founded by the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, in 1699.
- Waheguru
- A name for God used by Sikhs, often translated Wonderful Lord.
Background
Guru Nanak (1469 to 1539) was born in the Punjab, in what is now Pakistan, to a Hindu family in a land where Hindus and Muslims lived together. Sikh tradition says that after a vision in which he was called into the presence of God, he declared that there is no Hindu and no Muslim, and began to teach. He traveled widely and settled at Kartarpur, where a community formed. Nine Gurus followed him. The fifth, Guru Arjan, compiled the first Sikh scripture and built the Golden Temple at Amritsar. He was executed under the Mughal emperor Jahangir in 1606, and Sikhs remember him as the first great martyr.
Under persecution the Sikh community took on a military aspect. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, founded the Khalsa in 1699 and, before he died in 1708, declared that the line of living Gurus would end and that the Guru would thereafter be the scripture and the community. Sikh history is closely tied to the Punjab, to the British empire and to the partition of India in 1947, and Sikhs today live around the world.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: One God and the divine Name
The Sikh creed opens with the Mool Mantar, whose first words are Ik Onkar: one Creator, true Name, without fear or hatred, timeless in form, beyond birth and death, known by the Guru’s grace. Sikhs hold that God is one, beyond human description, and both beyond the universe and present in it. God is not to be pictured, and God does not take human form, so Sikhs do not believe in divine incarnations as Hindus of some schools do.
Sikhs are therefore monotheists who differ from Muslims, with whom they share a rejection of images, by holding to karma and rebirth, and from Hindus, with whom they share these ideas, by rejecting image worship, caste and incarnation. Many Sikhs object to descriptions of their faith as a blend of the two. They see it as a revealed religion with its own scripture and community.
Step 2: The human problem and the way
The Sikh Gurus teach that the human problem is haumai, ego or self-centeredness, which separates the person from God and traps the person in the cycle of rebirth. The remedy is to turn from the self to God. The Gurus teach three practices: naam japna, remembering the divine Name; kirat karni, earning an honest living; and vand chakna, sharing with others.
Liberation (mukti) is union with God. It comes through God’s grace (nadar), though it is reached with human effort in discipline and devotion. Sikhs accept karma and rebirth as the setting of human life. Many Sikh writers also say that a person can attain liberation while still living, and be at peace in the world, a state called jivan mukti.
Step 3: The ten Gurus and the Guru Granth Sahib
Sikhs hold that the ten Gurus shared a single light, passed from one to the next. They are not considered divine but are venerated as perfect teachers. Their writings and those of some earlier Hindu and Muslim saints, such as Kabir and Farid, were gathered into the Guru Granth Sahib. It has 1,430 pages in a fixed pagination and is written in poetry set to musical measures.
The Guru Granth Sahib is treated with deep reverence. It is installed on a raised seat under a canopy in the gurdwara, attended with a ceremonial fan and covered at night in a separate room. It is the center of every ceremony. Sikhs do not worship the book as an idol. They say they honor the Word of the Guru that it contains, as the voice of God.
Step 4: Practice, the Khalsa and the gurdwara
A gurdwara is open to all people. Worship consists of singing hymns (kirtan), readings from the Guru Granth Sahib and prayer, followed by a communal meal, langar, which is cooked and served by volunteers. Langar embodies the rejection of caste and the equality of men and women. Service (seva) is a central virtue.
Initiated Sikhs of the Khalsa follow a discipline that includes wearing the five articles of faith, often called the five Ks: uncut hair (kesh), a comb (kangha), a steel bracelet (kara), a short sword or kirpan, and a particular undergarment (kachera). Men take the name Singh (lion) and women the name Kaur (princess). Not all Sikhs are initiated, and the turban worn by many Sikh men is a mark of identity and respect.
Step 5: Sikhism among the religions
Sikhs hold that truth is not the monopoly of any one religion, and the Guru Granth Sahib includes the voices of Hindu and Muslim saints. But Sikhs also hold that the Gurus’ teaching is the way revealed for this age, and most Sikhs would not say that all religions are the same. The scripture criticizes empty ritual in all faiths.
Sikhs have often been mistaken for Muslims or Hindus, and since 2001 many Sikhs in the West have suffered violence because of that confusion. Learning to recognize Sikhism as a distinct faith is part of respecting a neighbor.
- What does it mean to say that God is both beyond the world and present in it?
- Why do Sikhs say that God does not become incarnate, and how does that compare with the Christian doctrine?
- How does haumai compare with the Christian idea of sin?
- Why is the shared meal an expression of belief and not only of hospitality?
- What does it mean to treat a book as a living teacher?
- How would a Sikh respond to the claim that Sikhism is a blend of Hinduism and Islam?
Examples
A Sunday in a gurdwara
Worshipers remove their shoes and cover their heads, bow before the Guru Granth Sahib and sit on the floor. Musicians sing hymns, a reading is chosen from the scripture and a prayer is offered. Afterward everyone eats together in the langar hall, served by volunteers. A visitor of any faith is welcome. (A constructed, typical example.)
Three duties
A Sikh engineer begins the day by reciting hymns, works honestly and gives part of her income and time to a gurdwara kitchen. She would say that she is following the Guru’s three teachings: remembering the Name, honest work and sharing.
A misidentified neighbor
A Sikh man in a turban is asked whether he is a Muslim. He explains that he is a Sikh, that Sikhs believe in one God and keep their hair uncut, and that the turban is a sign of his commitment. The question shows how little the faith is known outside the community.
Different perspectives
Sikh
Sikhs hold that the Guru Granth Sahib is the final and living Guru and that the ten Gurus taught one truth. They also differ among themselves about the Khalsa discipline, the role of Punjab culture and how to relate the faith to modernity. Some Sikh writers emphasize universal themes, and others stress the Khalsa’s distinct identity.
Catholic
Catholic teaching regards the Sikhs as people who worship one God and share many moral values with Christians. Catholic dialogue with Sikhs has focused on service, peace and the dignity of the person. The Church holds that the fullness of revelation is in Christ, and that Sikh teaching on the divine Name and grace should be heard with respect.
Orthodox
Orthodox Christians appreciate the Sikh emphasis on remembering the divine Name, which echoes the Jesus Prayer of Orthodox spirituality, while noting that the Orthodox pray to a Trinity and believe that God has become man in Christ. Orthodox Christians have had little formal contact with Sikhs, and their position is stated mostly in general terms about other faiths.
Protestant
Protestants have engaged Sikhs mostly through missions in the Punjab and through shared service in the diaspora. Evangelical Protestants hold that Sikh devotion is real but that salvation is in Christ alone. Others focus on common work for justice and religious freedom.
Scholarly
Scholars debate the early development of Sikhism, with some stressing its roots in the Sant tradition of North India, which also produced Kabir, and others stressing Nanak’s originality. Sikh scholars often insist that the faith is a distinct revelation, and this is an active question in the academic study of Sikhism.
Why it matters
Sikhism is the fifth largest religion by number, little known in the West and often confused with other faiths. It is also a monotheism that arose in the same land as Hinduism and the same period as the early Reformation. The Sikh case shows how a tradition can share ideas with others while forming a new whole.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Sikhism is a mix of Hinduism and Islam.
Correction: Sikhs consider their faith a distinct revelation. It shares ideas, such as one God and karma, with earlier traditions, but it rejects caste, image worship and incarnation and has its own scripture and community.
Misunderstanding: Sikhs worship the Guru Granth Sahib as an idol.
Correction: Sikhs worship God alone. They show the scripture great honor as the Word of the Guru, as many Christians honor the Bible in procession and with reverence.
Misunderstanding: All Sikhs wear turbans and carry swords.
Correction: Only initiated Sikhs of the Khalsa keep all five articles of faith, and many Sikhs are not initiated. The turban and kirpan are marks of commitment, not weapons of aggression.
Misunderstanding: Sikhs are a military religion.
Correction: Sikhs honor those who defend the weak, and the history includes warfare under persecution. The core teaching centers on devotion, honest work and service, including feeding all who come.
Knowledge check
What are the three central practices Sikhs are taught?
They are naam japna, remembering the divine Name; kirat karni, earning an honest living; and vand chakna, sharing with others. Together with service (seva), these express the Sikh ideal of a life of devotion lived within the world and not apart from it.
Why is the Guru Granth Sahib called the living Guru?
The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, declared that after him the Guru would be the scripture. Sikhs therefore treat it as the permanent voice of the Gurus and of God, and consult it in every ceremony and for guidance. They honor it as the Word, and do not worship the book itself.
How does Sikhism differ from Hinduism on caste and images?
The Sikh Gurus rejected caste distinctions and the worship of images, and they taught that God does not take human form. Sikhism shares with many Hindu schools the ideas of karma and rebirth, but it treats these within a strictly monotheistic faith.
What is langar and why does it matter?
Langar is the free communal meal served in a gurdwara to everyone who comes, eaten seated together on the floor. It enacts the Sikh teaching that all people are equal before God, rejecting divisions of caste, class, gender and religion, and it practices service to others.
Think it through
- What might Christians learn from the way the langar turns a belief about equality into a daily act?
- How does the Sikh account of the Word as Guru compare with the Christian understanding of Scripture?
- What are the strengths and the risks of describing one religion as a blend of two others?
- What could you do to make a Sikh neighbor feel understood and not mistaken for someone else?
Independent assignment
A Sikh account of Sikhism
In your notebook, write about 300 words describing Sikhism as a Sikh would, covering God, the Gurus, the scripture, the three practices and the gurdwara. Read the Mool Mantar in an English translation from a Sikh source and copy it. Then write 150 words on two ways in which Sikhism differs from both Hinduism and Islam. Fill in the Sikhism column of your comparison grid.
Further study
- Huston Smith, The World’s Religions Read the section on Sikhism, which is short, and compare it with a Sikh author’s own account.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Religious Diversity (Pluralism) Read for the philosophical context in which Sikh claims about truth in all religions can be assessed.
- Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Use for the history of Christian missions in South Asia.
- Deuteronomy 6:4 The Lord is one.
- Matthew 25:35 I was hungry and ye gave me meat, a text on feeding the stranger.
- Psalm 145:18 The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him.