Simple Guide to Attending Sikh Ceremonies

PHRASES

WHAT SIKHS BELIEVE

The Sikh religion is strictly monotheistic, believing in one Supreme Being who created the universe, who is present everywhere. Everyone is equal before God, the ultimate, eternal Guru, whose grace is available to all who set their hearts on finding the truth. Because Creation is good and life is a gift from God, Sikhs do not renounce the world. They aim to work honestly, share with others and lead a truthful life within their community. They believe in reincarnation and the law of karma, and that by finding God in this life – through meditation, work, charity and service to others – it is possible to break the cycle of birth and death and attain spiritual liberation. They reject empty religious ceremony and avoid pilgrimages and statues.

The phrase Ik Onkar, ‘One God’, written in Punjabi Gurmukhi script.

Sikhism was founded in the fifteenth century in the Punjab, which now straddles the border of Pakistan and north-west India. This was a time of increasing tension between Hindus and their Mughal rulers, who were seeking to convert them to Islam. Its founder, Guru Nanak, was born in 1469 to a high-caste Hindu family. From an early age he displayed a radical streak by questioning and arguing with both Hindu and Muslim religious sages, with whom he studied. It is said that at the age of thirty-one he disappeared while bathing in the river near Sultanpur. Reappearing three days later, after a mystical experience, he declared that he would follow neither Hindu nor Muslim, but only