What is Sikhism? Beliefs, the Gurus and the Five Ks

Sikhism is the religion founded by Guru Nanak in Punjab, in northern South Asia, around 1500 and shaped by nine Gurus after him. It teaches devotion to one God, the equality of every person, honest work and sharing with others. A Sikh, from the Punjabi for "learner" or "disciple", follows the teaching of the ten Gurus, now embodied in the scripture Sikhs treat as their living Guru, the Guru Granth Sahib.

In short

• Sikhs believe in one God, without form or gender, who can be known through remembrance, honest living and service, not through ritual.
• Ten human Gurus led the community from Guru Nanak's time until 1708; since then the Guru has been the scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, and the community itself.
• Initiated Sikhs belong to the Khalsa, founded in 1699, and wear the Five Ks; every gurdwara runs a langar, a free kitchen open to all.

What did Guru Nanak teach?

Nanak was born in 1469 at Talwandi, now Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, in a Punjab ruled by Muslim sultans and home to both Hindus and Muslims. Sikh tradition tells that around 1499 he disappeared while bathing in a river, the Bein, for three days, and came back with the words "There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim." He meant that God looks past religious labels to how a person lives. He then traveled widely, teaching in hymns, before settling at Kartarpur, where he and his followers farmed and prayed together.

His teaching begins with the first words of the scripture, Ik Onkar, "there is one Creator". God is one, without form or gender, present in all creation and in every person, and approachable by anyone directly, without priests, idols or caste (BBC Religions). People are caught in a cycle of birth and rebirth shaped by karma, and blinded by haumai, self-centered pride. The way out is not withdrawal from the world but living in it well, and is often summed up in three duties:

1. Naam japna: remembering God, in prayer and meditation on God's name.
2. Kirat karni: earning a living by honest work.
3. Vand chakna: sharing what one has with others, especially those in need.

Sikhs see liberation, mukti, as union with God, reached by God's grace through a life of devotion, work and service, by householders, not by monks or ascetics. Nanak also taught the equality of all people, including women, at a time when caste divided society sharply.

Is Sikhism a mix of Hinduism and Islam?

No, though the idea is common. Sikhism arose where Hindu and Muslim traditions met, and it shares some terms with both: karma and rebirth with Indian religions, one formless God with Islam. Some Western writers in the 19th and 20th centuries described it as a blend. Sikhs reject that, and most scholars now treat it as a distinct religion with its own revelation, line of Gurus, scripture, practices and institutions. It also rejects caste distinctions and the worship of images. The scripture includes hymns by holy men from outside the Sikh tradition, such as the poet-saints Namdev and Kabir and the Sufi Sheikh Farid, because the Gurus judged their words true, not to merge faiths. How Sikhism differs from the traditions around it is clearer next to Hinduism and Islam themselves.

Who were the ten Gurus?

Each Guru chose the next, and Sikhs believe the same divine light passed from one to the next, as one flame lights another.

Guru	Guru from	Known for
1. Guru Nanak	c. 1499–1539	Founder; his hymns open the scripture
2. Guru Angad	1539–1552	Standardized the Gurmukhi script in which Punjabi scripture is written
3. Guru Amar Das	1552–1574	Made the langar central and organized the community into districts
4. Guru Ram Das	1574–1581	Founded the town that became Amritsar
5. Guru Arjan	1581–1606	Compiled the scripture, the Adi Granth, in 1604; built the Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple; executed by the Mughals in 1606
6. Guru Hargobind	1606–1644	Wore two swords, for spiritual and worldly authority, and armed the community
7. Guru Har Rai	1644–1661	Known for healing and care for nature
8. Guru Har Krishan	1661–1664	Became Guru as a small child; died in Delhi in 1664 while tending the sick
9. Guru Tegh Bahadur	1665–1675	Executed in Delhi in 1675 on the orders of the emperor Aurangzeb
10. Guru Gobind Singh	1675–1708	Founded the Khalsa in 1699; named the scripture as Guru after him

Before he died in 1708, Gobind Singh declared that there would be no more human Gurus. The Guru from then on would be the scripture, with his own father Tegh Bahadur's hymns added, renamed the Guru Granth Sahib, and the community of the faithful, the Panth (BBC Religions).

What is the Guru Granth Sahib?

The Guru Granth Sahib is a collection of about 6,000 hymns, shabads, written to be sung, set to classical ragas and written in Gurmukhi. It contains the hymns of six of the Gurus and of Hindu and Muslim saints. Sikhs treat it not as a book about the Guru but as the Guru itself: in a gurdwara it sits on a raised throne under a canopy, an attendant waves a whisk over it during services, and at night it is carried to a room of its own. Sikhs bow before it, though their reverence is for its words, not the paper. There are no idols or images in a gurdwara, because God has no form (BBC Religions).

What are the Khalsa and the Five Ks?

At the spring festival of Vaisakhi in 1699, at Anandpur, Guru Gobind Singh asked the gathered crowd who would give their head for their faith. Five men came forward, one by one, from different castes and regions. They became the Panj Pyare, the "five beloved ones", and the first members of the Khalsa, the community of initiated Sikhs, through a rite with sweetened water stirred with a double-edged sword, amrit. Men took the name Singh, "lion", and women Kaur, "princess", names that also erased the caste signals carried by family names. The Khalsa ideal is the saint-soldier: devout, disciplined and ready to defend the weak.

Initiated Sikhs wear five articles of faith, the Five Ks, named for their Punjabi initial (BBC Religions):

The K	What it is	What it stands for
Kesh	Uncut hair	Acceptance of the body as God made it
Kangha	A wooden comb	Cleanliness and order
Kara	A steel bracelet	Restraint, and God without beginning or end
Kachera	Cotton undershorts	Self-control and chastity
Kirpan	A short sword	The duty to protect the weak and stand against injustice

The turban, dastar, is not one of the Ks, but it covers the uncut hair and is the best-known sign of a Sikh. Not all Sikhs are initiated, and many who are not still keep their hair uncut and wear a turban.

What happens in a langar?

The langar shows Sikh teaching in practice more plainly than any statement of belief. Here is what a visitor to any gurdwara, from Amritsar to Toronto, finds:

1. On entering, everyone covers their head and removes their shoes, whatever their religion. No one is asked who they are.
2. The food is cooked in the gurdwara's kitchen by volunteers, as seva, selfless service, from donated ingredients. It is always vegetarian, so that no one's dietary rules are broken: usually lentils, a vegetable dish, flatbread and rice pudding.
3. The meal is eaten sitting together in rows on the floor, the pangat, so that rich and poor, high caste and low, sit at the same level.
4. The cost is nothing. Anyone may eat, and anyone may help cook, serve or wash up.

Tradition tells that Guru Amar Das required everyone who came to see him, even the Mughal emperor Akbar, to eat in the langar first. The kitchen at the Golden Temple in Amritsar feeds tens of thousands of people a day.

How many Sikhs are there?

Most of the world's Sikhs live in India. India's 2011 census counted 20,833,116 Sikhs, 1.72% of the country's population, about three quarters of them in the state of Punjab (Wikipedia). Large communities live in Britain, Canada, the United States and Australia, many of them from families that emigrated in the 20th century. Where Sikhism sits among the world's faiths, and why it is often counted as one of the youngest major religions, is part of the question of what religion is.

Check yourself

• What are the three duties that sum up Guru Nanak's teaching, and how do they differ from a life of withdrawal?
• Why is the Guru Granth Sahib called a living Guru, and when did it become one?
• Without looking back, explain how the langar puts the equality of all people into practice.

Sources

• Origins of Sikhism — BBC Religions, 2009
• Sikh beliefs — BBC Religions, 2009
• The Five Ks — BBC Religions, 2009
• The Gurdwara — BBC Religions, 2009
• Sikhism in India — Wikipedia
• Sikhism — Wikipedia