A brief history on Sikhism

On April 30^th I attended my second Session of Conversations on diversity in BMU 210.  This session was over the Sikh religion.  About 25 million sikh make up 1.5% of the population in India.  Punjab is the major region in which Sikhs reside.  Punj means 5 and ab means river, so Punjab basically describes how the region is broken up by the 5 rivers.  In Punjab the two major Sikh cities are Amritsar and Lajor.

Starting in 1903 the Sikhs began to immigrate to California.  Why California you may ask?  It turns out that the climate is quite similar in the Sacramento Valley as it is in the Punjab region, so the crops that were harvested in their home country, the Sikhs were able to easily farm in the new region.  This made for a very smooth transition and reduced the amount of culture shock the immigrants may have faced.

Guru Nanak founded Sikhism in 1499, he lived from 1469 to 1539.  He founded the religion on this Mul Mantra, which was the core statement to the faith.  The Mul Mantra states:

There is one Supreme Being the eternal reality.  He is the creator without fear and devoid of hatred.  He is immortal, never incarnated, self existent, known by grace through the guru.  The eternal one from the beginning through all time present now the everlasting reality.

In the Sikh religion the Guru is a very important figure.  Guru, meaning leader, is seen as the leader of the village, similar to a village prophet as they are the sole source that has this link to the Supreme Being.  In Sikhism there are 10 major gurus.  The last Guru passed the torch in the form of what is now called the sacred text.  So rather then going to a person to seek advice, people would look to the book.  The sacred text is kept in the Golden temple.

Having a friend who very avidly practices Sikhism, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the religion and its background.  This Discussion provided me with some great insight into the history of Sikhism, as well as a juicy conversation topic for the next time I see my friend.  It is always interesting to learn about other cultures and religions, and I am glad I was presented with the opportunity to learn more about one in which I was completely clueless about.