Posted on September 1, 2017
There is place in India where a Golden Temple of the Sikh religion shines in the sun.
Even when there isn't much sun.
And there the Sikh scriptures, called the Guru Granth Sahib, are continuously recited - told and retold, read and reread, all day and all night - in a variety of shrines and on the rooftop of the main building.
I always think of "guru" as a person - a wise teacher in the Hindu or Buddhist religion. That's also what it means in the Sikh religion, but the gurus in the latter religion wrote down their wise thoughts, the words of the religion's founders, and also writings of important people in the religions of Hinduism and Islam, and it is the collection of all those writings that is given the title "guru." The scriptures themselves - all 1,430 pages - are considered a wise teacher.
"Sahib" also refers to a person; it is a polite title for a man, like "sir," "mister," or "doctor" in English. So, once again, a collection of writings is considered a person.
Actually, Sikhs consider their scriptures the last living Guru, the one that will live forever. And today is the commemoration of the first installation of this holy book in the Golden Temple.
I have written about Sikhism in an earlier post.
Sikhism isn't really monotheistic.
Monotheism is the idea that there is just one god - and some of the world's most common religions, as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam state.
Bahá'í is another example of a monotheistic faith.
Sikhism isn't really polytheistic, either.
Polytheism is the idea that there are many gods, and a good example of this is Hinduism. In ancient times, many civilizations were polytheistic.
Sikhism is definitely not atheistic.
Atheism is the idea that there are no gods. Many Buddhists are atheists (and Buddhism is non-theistic - the religion is about practice and the search for enlightenment, and these things do not require the existence of or belief in a god). Also, many non-religious people are atheists.
Sikhism is close to pantheistic.
Pantheism is the idea that all of reality is identical to divinity - in other words, all is god, and god is in all. Examples of pantheism are nature worship, modern pagans, and the sort of spirituality that some scientists talk about.
But pantheism isn't quite right for Sikhism. Instead, Sikhism is panentheistic. This is the idea that god dwells everywhere and inside everything - and that god extends, even, beyond the universe and beyond time. In other words, god/divinity is greater than the universe.
Here are two illustrations to help you understand this idea:
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