SIKHISM

Sikh religion is the youngest of all the world's major religions. Founded in India, it traces its roots in the fifteenth century, when the conflict raged in northwest India between Hindus and Muslims. Sikhism arose as an attempt to find a peaceful solution to the Hindu and Muslim conflict, with a synthesis based on the teaching of both. Today there are about 12 million Sikhs in the world, around ninety percent of who live in Punjab and the rest are scattered around in other parts of India and the world. There are large Sikh populations in England, USA, Canada, East Africa, the Arab Emirates, Iran, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The word Sikh basically can be translated as "disciple". It is easy to distinguish between a traditional Sikh because of the five Skis’. In 1699 on Baisakhi launched Guru Go binds Singh Jig the five Skis’. Batsakis marks the start of the harvest in Punjab. At this festival, arrived Guru Go bind Singh Jig dressed in combat gear and with a sword. Holding out his sword, said Guru Go binds Singh Jig, "Our swords want a leader, let any of our true Sikhs come forward." This startled everyone present, and silence filled environment, then guru repeated his words again. After a short time a Hindu man named Day Ram came forward and Guru took him into a tent where the Guru returned his sword was bloody and a leader was in his hands. By seeing this, some people started to leave, and others protested, but once again Guru repeated the same words. This time, Dharma Dash offered his head to the Guru, he was also taken in the tent and the Guru came out again with his sword covered in blood and with a head in his hands. This action was repeated three more times. The three other men when Markham Chan, Him mat, and Sahib Chan.

Fifth time, Guru returned and beat heads to the audience present, and went into the tent. Soon, to everyone's surprise, the men came out dressed like the Guru and wearing swords. It was because of their valiant conduct that Guru introduced them as Pan Par - literally translating to the five beloved. In order to make them clean Sikhs or Kuala’s the Guru had to baptize them. This baptism was done by pouring water into a steel bowl and stirring it with Guru Sword. This movement was made in reciting verses from the Guru Grant Sahib (the Sikh holy book), and with help from his wife who fell some sugar in water, "sweetness mixed with steel to create Amrita". This nectar remains in the rituals of baptized Sikhs today. The five Kuala’s drank the Amrita from the bowl, pledge to equality and fairness. It was with this promise that the five Skis’ were created. The five Skis’s composed of:

Kasha, uncut hair and the beard

Kanga, a comb for hair care

Kara, a steel bracelet that represents the strength and continuity

Kasha, a loose short worn by soldiers, and

the Koran, a sword, symbolizing the struggle against oppression.

In addition, the five Skis’s The Guru also made a bold move in terms of the caste system on this day. Each of the individual men, who came forward, came from different casts in India. A person's caste system is easy to distinguish from the last name, and therefore, to prevent caste system is associated with Sikhs the Guru started a general last name Singh. It was Guru's vision of that other Sikhs would also adopt Singh means "lion" or "Lion Heart" in compensation for their original surnames for men and Kauri, which means "Princess" for women. In reality, although this concept is not just adopted it, but instead has many Sikhs use Singh and Kauri as their middle names. Another social problem that has been reviewed by the Sikh religion is that equality between the sexes. In Sikhism, traditionally women have an important place. Guru Nanak Dev Jig, the first of the ten Gurus of Sikhism, got a strong voice in support of women's role in society so famous passage:

Man is planted in the womb, and born of a woman.

He is betrothed and married to a woman.

Friendship is contacted with a woman and civilization comes from a woman.

When a woman dies, another woman applied for, because the family affairs depend on a woman.

Why call her bad? From whom are born kings?

From a woman another woman is born, no one is born without a woman.

This simple passage illustrates the vision of women in Sikhism. The Guru Grant Sahib - the holy book of Sikh - is crucial for Sikh religion. The holy book is intended to serve as the final guru and as a bridge between the physical and metaphysical world. The tenth Guru told his disciples that they should not worship idols, but worships the holy book for guidance to live and get salvation from the cycle of life. The Guru Grant Sahib starts off with a passage which provides the fundamental beliefs of the Sikh religion:

Eke On Kari There is a Being

Sat name truth is its name

Karat porch Creator of all

Nor boo without fear

Nor varies Without enmity

Anal moor it Timeless in form

Joni Unborn

Said-bhang Self-existent

Guru Prasad By Sat guru’s Grace

In recent years there has been a push by many religious separatist primarily because of political ambitions have tried to divide the Sikh and Hindu communities. However, the truth will always be that these two groups are more similar then different. Many Sikh beliefs derived from the Hindu faith. For example, the name Singh comes from the Hindi Sanskrit means "lion". The Five Ski’s which are so proudly used to distinguish Sikhs were borrowed from Rapt - the famous Hindu warriors. Many of the Sikh guru’s names were also taken from the Hindu gods. For example (Ram's Guru Armadas employees), Guru Hurricane (Hair and Krishna is the Hindu names of Vishnu), Guru Harboring (Hair Go bind and also two names for Vishnu). Most people in Punjab know that the city of Lahore was built by the eldest son of Ram, Luvs, while the city of Kaiser was built by Lush, the youngest son. A strong point is that Guru Go binds Singh states Guru Nanak as a descendant of Lush, but even a descendant of Luvs. Also, worshiped Guru Go bind Singh Jig is the Hindu goddess Durra in her manifesto form. Moreover, the famous "Golden Temple" is actually called the Armanda Sahib. Hair is another name for Vishnu and means Mender temple; literal translation of the temple of Vishnu. Hinduism and Sikhism, it is very closely related, and even when it comes to festivals, although there are some differences, there are many widely celebrated days as Dial. For Hindus this festival represents the Festival of Lights at the beginning of next year for Sikhs it is the anniversary of the release from prison of Guru Harboring, the sixth guru. Perhaps the main difference between the two religions is the fact that Sikhism is a monotheistic religion, while Hinduism is a polytheistic.