What is Sikhism?

        Last week I went to one of the conversations on diversity that Chico State holds, the topic was Sikhism.  Dr. Dan Veidlinger, a professor of Eastern religions gave a presentation on Sikhism. 

        To start off he told us what the definition of Sikh is, a Sikh is a disciple; who is associated with a teacher called a Guru, who is a teacher of religious things.  The number of Sikh’s in the world come to around 25 million, most of them located in India where they make up 1.5% of the population.  In India most are located in the Punjab region. 

        The Punjab region is in the northwest part of India and half of this region is in Pakistan.  This area is a lot like the Sacramento valley which is why there is a large population of Sikh’s in Yuba City, there was a large immigration in 1902 and they found similar agriculture to what they were used to in the Punjab region. 

        Sikhism was founded in 1500 by Guru Nanak who lived from 1969 to 1539.  The core ideas are in the statement of faith or Mul Mantra.  These ideas are that there is one Supreme Being who is the creator, immortal eternal one.  God cannot die, has no fear, devoid of hatred, and known by grace through the Guru.  Guru Nanak was upset about all the religious fighting so he wrote the Hymn of Nanak because he wanted to get rid of rituals and show that people were being led astray by words.  Also in the sacred scriptures are prayers that are written by other faiths such as Kabir, Muslims, and Hindus. 

        There were 10 main Guru’s over time; the 5^th built the Golden Temple in Amritsar.  The Golden Temple is their most sacred site where all their sacred scriptures are kept.  The 10^th Guru wanted to make sure that Gurus were never worshipped, as happens in other faiths so he made the 11^th and final Guru to be the Guru Granth Sahib, which is the holiest literature in the Sikh religion. 

        In Sikhism there is a smaller group who are sworn to defend Sikhism spiritually and physically, they are known as the Khalsa.  You can identify someone from the Khalsa by five things they always have on them; the Kara is a steel bracelet, the Kanga is a comb, Kes means uncut hair, the Kirpan is a small dagger (ritual only), and Kaccha are short pants worn underneath clothes. 

        This was a very informative discussion; I learned that Sikhism has a lot in common with other religions.  I found it very interesting that the 10^th Guru looked ahead and realized that the Gurus would start to be worshipped instead of God so he make a scripture the last Guru.  The question and answer portion was also very informative, one interesting fact was the Sikh’s were the only ones excluded from meeting with the Pope when he came to the United States because they refused to rake off their Kirpan’s.  Sikh have also been persecuted lately because people see them as terrorists, who they are not, Sikh’s are patriotic citizens.