Sikhism started with Guru Nanak which started approximately 500 years ago and was mistakenly took for a mix between Hinduism and Islam. He was trying to further the teachings of the Sant traditions and give a community of the same school of though. Originally Sikhism was a meat eating religion and throughout time
changed here and there. Angad took over for Nanak. After Angad Amar Das took over and allowed Sikhs to challenge "the social hierarchies of the Hindu World." He also created new rituals and ceremonies and allowed a more friendly atmosphere to the religion. After this his son in law Mar Das' took over he built the city of
Amristsar as the center of the religion. He requested and was granted the piece of land from Mughal Emperor Akbar. Next was Arjan who put together their sacred book and a huge temple known as Hari
Mandir for the worship of God. Sikhists also are monotheists believing in only one God, they also believe in reincarnation and not hurting living things. During his lifetime the Sikhs were persecuted like several other religions in today. This forced the Sikhs to develop a militia type attitude in their religion. Har
Gobind developed the first Sikh army and created more symbolism into their religion. Har Rai took over after this and was beheaded after fighting the emperor's policy to destroy all other religions besides
Islam which further proves that Islam isn't necessarily a peaceful religion. Gobind Singh was taken over and contributed many more teachings to their holy book and taught many more military ideas.
He created what is called the "orthodox" of their religion known as the "Khalsa".
Today Sikhism is almost like Christianity in the fact that it has many different denominations all hailing they are the pure and closest to the original attempt at the religion. Gobind Singh was the last of their leaders since he gave the leadership role to the book of their religious teachings. This allowed the religion to
never die with one of their leaders and continues today to be a very powerful religion.
Even today and in the past 200 years more fighting has continued against the Sikhs and they have merely either conquered their opponents or merely moved around. Their religion never dieing or
fading because of persecution. All this is a great example of religion staying alive since most
religions have taken on similar roles of going from normative and peaceful to having a military role due to persecution to peacefulness again and etc. As with Christianity today it seems we
are a mix between defensive and offensive as it is being persecuted in several parts of the world and the terrorists have waged Jihad against the Christians. The Christians spread the bible without the fighting they did back during the crusades however. Similar in recency with Sikhism.
Well McLeod felt that Nanak didn�t create Sikhism yet added his own flavor to it while Singh Sabha says yes. Singh means lion and is given to males. Singh Sabha is an organization of Sikhs which have a simple modern view of Sikhism. They feel that is hasn�t changed where McLeod sees Sikhism as changing much from it�s original inception.
Question 6:
In this chapter we learn several things including what Hindu's believe people want, how they attain it, and how they view God and other religions. Their are four things people want one of them is pleasure which is what we are born with. As is stated in the book we are born with pleasure-pain receptors that help teach us which
things are bad and can eventually kill us (like burning or pain caused from a sharp knife) to pleasure and things which help life continue. The next is wealth, fame, and power, and success. The next two are called "the path of renunciation". The first of the two is community and the second is what we really want which is to
be happy. Hindu's call this "liberation". "Liberation from everything that distances us from infinite being, infinite
awareness, and infinite bliss." In order to attain this we must cleanse ourselves from our distractions, our wrongs, our personal desires, and look beneath all of that to our inner self. Hindu's talk about four paths to the ultimate goal. They call this potential of understanding the human is called "yoga". "Yoga is a
method of training designed to lead to integration or union." Each of the four paths are designed for four different types of people. You do not have to use each of the paths to achieve your goal yet
they say you should try each and do which suits you best.
The first is the "Way to God through Knowledge". This involves three different stages. The first is hearing and listening to sages and to the written scriptures. The second step is thinking which is meditating and coming up with ideas on life. As well as reflecting on your own life and life itself. The next is to understand the
ongoing self and the fact that the self does not die, the inner self is infinite, yet everything else is finite and will perish or leave. You must focus on what is infinite.
The next "Way to God" is "through Love". It is said that the strongest emotion is love so what better way to God then through love. The aim of this goal is "the yoga of love and devotion is to direct toward God the love that lies at the base of every heart." I like the passage in the book that talks about the mans love for his
wife to where he couldn't stand to miss her for even a day. She told him that if he would just focus that energy on God he would find Him very quickly. So he did just that. "First, as healthy love is out-going, the bhakta will reject all suggestions that the God one loves is oneself, even one�s deepest Self, and insist on
God's otherness." Basically stating to share your love with others and not focus on your needs but help others. The second goal in this is to adore God with every part of your soul, body, mind. Give everything to Him. Put God above all other things in your love levels.