1) Sikhism is a practical religion. It does not consist in a certain set of beliefs or mere words. Religion does not imply wandering to shrines and tombs, or following austerities of Yogis. Sikhism is a way of life, something to be lived according to a pattern. Its main virtue is simplicity. There is no supernaturalism or mythology on which it rests. It does not believe in devils or angels or heavenly spirits.
2) Sikhism is a universal religion.
3) Sikhism is opposed to all ritualism and formalism.
4) Sikhism does not enjoin blind faith. Blind obedience to an external authority is dis-couraged. The death of the intellect can not be a condition of the life of the spirit. Faith does not start with surmises or absurdities.
5) Sikhism is a faith of hope and cheer. Though it affirms Karma, it recognises the possibility of the modification of one's Karma with the grace of the Guru or God. It does not lead to despair and defeatism.
6) Sikhism is a democratic religion. The decisions of the Sangat are regarded as resolutions having the force of law (Gurmatta) Guru Gobind Singh Sahib vested the authority of the organisation in the Panth.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
About "Sri Guru Granth Sahib" by Non-Sikhs
"Max Arthur Macauliffe" writes about the authenticity of the Guru's teaching:
The Sikh religion differs as regards the authenticity of its dogmas from most other theological systems. Many of the great teachers the world has known, have not left a line of their own composition and we only know what they taught through tradition or second-hand information. If Pythagoras wrote of his tenets, his writings have not descended to us. We know the teachings of Socrates only through the writings of Plato and Xenophon. Buddha has left no written memorial of his teaching. Kungfu-tze, known to Europeans as Confucius, left no documents in which he detailed the principles of his moral and social system. The founder of Christianity did not reduce his doctrines to writing and for them we are obliged to trust to the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Arabian Prophet did not himself reduce to writing the chapters of the Quran. They were written or compiled by his adherents and followers.
"But the compositions of Sikh Gurus are preserved and we know at first hand what they taught."
Pearl Buck, a Nobel laureate, gives the following comment on receiving the First English translation of the Guru Granth Sahib:
.... I have studied the scriptures of the great religions, but I do not find elsewhere the same power of appeal to the heart and mind as I find here in these volumes. They are compact in spite of their length, and are a revelation of the vast reach of the human heart, varying from the most noble concept of God, to the recognition and indeed the insistence upon the practical needs of the human body. There is something strangely modern about these scriptures and this puzzles me until I learned that they are in fact comparatively modern, compiled as late as the 16th century, when explorers were beginning to discover that the globe upon which we all live is a single entity divided only by arbitrary lines of our own making. Perhaps this sense of unity is the source of power I find in these volumes.
"They speak to a person of any religion or of none."
They speak for the human heart and the searching mind....
The Sikh religion differs as regards the authenticity of its dogmas from most other theological systems. Many of the great teachers the world has known, have not left a line of their own composition and we only know what they taught through tradition or second-hand information. If Pythagoras wrote of his tenets, his writings have not descended to us. We know the teachings of Socrates only through the writings of Plato and Xenophon. Buddha has left no written memorial of his teaching. Kungfu-tze, known to Europeans as Confucius, left no documents in which he detailed the principles of his moral and social system. The founder of Christianity did not reduce his doctrines to writing and for them we are obliged to trust to the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Arabian Prophet did not himself reduce to writing the chapters of the Quran. They were written or compiled by his adherents and followers.
"But the compositions of Sikh Gurus are preserved and we know at first hand what they taught."
Pearl Buck, a Nobel laureate, gives the following comment on receiving the First English translation of the Guru Granth Sahib:
.... I have studied the scriptures of the great religions, but I do not find elsewhere the same power of appeal to the heart and mind as I find here in these volumes. They are compact in spite of their length, and are a revelation of the vast reach of the human heart, varying from the most noble concept of God, to the recognition and indeed the insistence upon the practical needs of the human body. There is something strangely modern about these scriptures and this puzzles me until I learned that they are in fact comparatively modern, compiled as late as the 16th century, when explorers were beginning to discover that the globe upon which we all live is a single entity divided only by arbitrary lines of our own making. Perhaps this sense of unity is the source of power I find in these volumes.
"They speak to a person of any religion or of none."
They speak for the human heart and the searching mind....
Char Sahibzade
1. Sahibzada Ajit Singh
2. Sahibzada Jujhar Singh
3. Sahibzada Jorawar Singh
4. Sahibzada Fateh Singh
Monday, July 6, 2009
Panj Piyare
1. Bhai Daya Singh
2. Bhai Dharam Singh
3. Bhai Himmat Singh
4. Bhai Mohkam Singh
5. Bhai Sahib Singh
2. Bhai Dharam Singh
3. Bhai Himmat Singh
4. Bhai Mohkam Singh
5. Bhai Sahib Singh
Friday, July 3, 2009
Sikh Guru Sahibaan
1. Guru Nanak Dev Ji
2. Guru Angad Dev Ji
3. Guru Amardas Ji
4. Guru Ramdas Ji
5. Guru Arjan Dev Ji
6. Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji
7. Guru Har Rai Ji
8. Guru Harkrishan Ji
9. Guru Teg Bahadur Ji
10. Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
and Now a days and forever
Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
2. Guru Angad Dev Ji
3. Guru Amardas Ji
4. Guru Ramdas Ji
5. Guru Arjan Dev Ji
6. Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji
7. Guru Har Rai Ji
8. Guru Harkrishan Ji
9. Guru Teg Bahadur Ji
10. Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
and Now a days and forever
Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Definition of Sikh
Any human being who faithfully believes in
i. One Immortal Being,
ii. Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Sahib to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib,
iii. The Guru Granth Sahib,
iv. The utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus and
v. the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru, and who does not owe allegiance to any other religion, is a Sikh.
Reference: Sikh Rehat Maryada, Chapter 1, Article 1.
i. One Immortal Being,
ii. Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Sahib to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib,
iii. The Guru Granth Sahib,
iv. The utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus and
v. the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru, and who does not owe allegiance to any other religion, is a Sikh.
Reference: Sikh Rehat Maryada, Chapter 1, Article 1.
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