Anyone here familiar with Sikhism?

I was reading a few articles about Sikhs. They have an interesting theology and history.

They originated in Northern India about the same time the Protestant Reformation was happening in Europe. Their teachings incorporate some ideas that are found in Islam. . . one God, who is one in nature, and formless, with others found in Hinduism, such as karma and reincarnation.

Like the Hindus, they were teaching about concepts like the infinity of the universe or there being millions of living species, centuries before Western science was picking up on these ideas.

A lot more to them than turbans and daggers.

When the worlds of insect life and plant species are included in the understanding of Life, with the vast range of geographical variations, might 'millions' be quite accurate?
Sikhs seemed to be warrior focussed and a numerically smaller group, the peaceful Singhs are also part of the picture.

hiorta wrote:When the worlds of insect life and plant species are included in the understanding of Life, with the vast range of geographical variations, might 'millions' be quite accurate?
Sikhs seemed to be warrior focussed and a numerically smaller group, the peaceful Singhs are also part of the picture.

I see what might have been meant - I'd been thinking about human-equivalent species.

I'm not sufficiently familiar with their teachings, but yes, they do seem to be referring to animal and insect species: and they claim that the soul reincarnates through all these species before it reaches the level of spiritual development to merit incarnating in a human body.

Then again: if we combine their ideas with those of Kardecian Spiritism, which teaches that the universe has an infinite number of planets, inhabited by incarnate souls in varying levels of development, according to the planet in question: it is conceivable that there could be millions of planets inhabited by "humans", in the sense of highly spiritually developed, creatures who are incarnated in physical bodies.

"8.4 million species" is the number that I've seen crop up again and again, among Sikhs.

hiorta wrote:
Sikhs seemed to be warrior focussed and a numerically smaller group, the peaceful Singhs are also part of the picture.

Well, we might be doing them a dis-service, and not be being accurate, if we speak of the warrior Sikhs and the peaceful Sikhs. Their religion teaches that everyone is equal in the eyes of God. They are opposed to any sort of oppression or coercion.

But they are also not pacifists. They believe that evil must be resisted and that when all else fails, physical force is permissible.

Their ideal is to combine the traits of Saint and Soldier.

Also, as with any other large group of people -- there are an estimated 25 to 30 million Sikhs in the world -- I'm sure that you're going to find ones in the group who are just-plain-violent people. But the same could be said about members of any other religion.

Looks like this totally new to me. I even didn't heard about this one.

Rishov44 wrote:Looks like this totally new to me. I even didn't heard about this one.

Those rascals just snuck in on you.

Actually they're nothing new. Sikhism was founded in India about the time the Protestant Reformation was occurring in Europe. Their religion combines elements found in Hinduism and Islam with elements unique to itself. They are a religion unto themselves: not a branch or sect of something else, nor did they originate as an attempt to combine Hinduism and Islam, as many in the West mistakenly assume. (I understand they find it offensive when someone suggests that this is the case).

There are many of them in England, and you occasionally find them in American cities. They tend to reject the ideas of asceticism. They believe that people should live full lives in the world, but still keeping their minds on the spiritual plane. Many / most of them become members of the Khalsa -- rather like being Confirmed, in many Christian denominations -- from which point on they are supposed to adhere to the 5 K's: not cutting or removing hair or beards, wearing a turban (reguired for men, optional for women), a steel bracelet, a type of undergarment, and a dagger.

The turban and dagger requirements often lead to clashes with legal authorities (concealed weapons laws, helmet requirements for motorcycle riders).

They're the 5th largest religious denomination in the world, after (not necessarily in correct order) Christians, Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists. More numerous than Jews. Or Spiritualists.

This week in the UK we're looking at the reasons India was partitioned after WW2 - the forgotten story.

There are the Singhs also.

Singh is a name, not a religion. But all male Sikhs use it (it means 'lion') as part of their name.