Sikhism

• Sikh means “seekers of truth”

• Fifth largest world religion

• Ten gurus beginning with Guru Nanak in 1469 AD

• Only one God…His name is Truth

OneWorldInsight.com

Early History

• Founded 500 years ago in India• Fifth largest religion at 5 million people• Follows the teachings of ten gurus• Guru Nanak was first guru - 1469

There is only one God. He is the same God for all people and all religions.

OneWorldInsight.com

Normal Family life is encouraged, celibacy or renunciation of the world is not necessary to achieve salvation. The devotee must live in the world yet keep his mind pure. He must be a soldier, a scholar, a saint.

OneWorldInsight.com

The goal of human life is to break the cycle of births and deaths and merge with God.

This can be accomplished by following the teachings of the Guru, meditation on the Holy Name and performance of acts of service and charity.

OneWorldInsight.com

SIKHISM

A Celebration of one of my teachers

Yogi Bhajan

OneWorldInsight.com

"It's not the life that matters…it's the courage that you bring to it."

OneWorldInsight.com

Yogi Bhajan• Attended Catholic high school• College degree in economics• Known as “The China Wall” as hockey and

soccer player in college• Only living master of white tantric yoga• Meetings with Gorbachev, Pope John Paul II,

and Dalai Lama for world peace• Championed women’s rights

OneWorldInsight.com

Guru Nanak

• 1499 – river event• “God is neither

Hindu or Muslim”• There is One God

formless pervading everything

OneWorldInsight.com

Three Central Teachings

• 1 – work and earn an honest living in society

• 2 – share earnings with the needy

• 3 – remember God is always the only Doer and the only Giver

OneWorldInsight.com

The Golden Temple

OneWorldInsight.com

5th Guru - Arjun Dev

From this point, Sikhism took measures to protect itself and to defend all religions from tyranny.

OneWorldInsight.com

10th & last Guru Gobind Singh

He turns Sikhs into saint-warriors for Truth.

OneWorldInsight.com

Spiritual Warriors• Long hair & turbin

• Comb

• Steel bracelet

• Underbreeches

• Sword

The Sikhs defend all religions against tyranny.

OneWorldInsight.com

Kyber Pass• Sikhs fought for own identity and

formed Sikh Empire

• Freedom of religion

• Resistance to oppression was a hallmark of Sikhism

• No mandate to convert others

OneWorldInsight.com

Central Beliefs

There is One God,

Whose Name is Truth.

OneWorldInsight.com

What pleases you, is your true worship.

OneWorldInsight.com

God is not separate from this world. God pervades the cosmos and thus can be found within everything.

Sikh soldier-saints are pledged to protect the freedom of all religions.

OneWorldInsight.com

The purpose in life is to realize God within the world, through the everyday practices of work, worship, and charity, of sacrificing love. All people are to be treated equally, for God’s light dwells in all…

OneWorldInsight.com

A Righteous War…

• War is a last resort

• No feelings of revenge allowed

• To land or property is kept

• Troops should be committed, not bought

• Minimal force should be used

OneWorldInsight.com

Sikhism in the Punjab

• Sikh separatists want to create separate Sikh state

• Indira Gandhi of India killed by her Sikh bodyguards after she ordered the attack on the Golden Temple

OneWorldInsight.com

"It's not the life that matters…it's the courage that you bring to it."

OneWorldInsight.com

• Born Harbhajan Singh Puri, August 26, 1929, in the part of India that became Pakistan.

• Died October 6, 2004 in New Mexico