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10 May 2011

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Hinduism Part Two

 

Among the branches of the Hindu

religion are Jainism and Sikhism

 

Jainism

 

WHEN

Jainism is a religious faith of India that is usually said to have originated with Mahavira, a contemporary of the Buddha (6th century BCE). Jains, however, count Mahavira as the last of 24 founders, or Tirthamkaras (“prophets or founders of the path”).

 

The founders are considered saints whose liberated souls were once in bondage but became free, perfect, and blissful through their own efforts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOLLOWERS

There are about four million Jains worldwide, almost all of whom live in India. Jainism has had considerable influence there; Jains are mainly traders, and their wealth and authority have made their comparatively small sect one of the most important Indian religions.

 

BELIEFS

The most notable feature of Jain ethics is its insistence on non-injury to all forms of life. According to Jain philosophy everything has a soul, including insects. That’s why Jain monks, for example, frequently wear cloths over their mouths to avoid unwittingly killing anything by breathing it in, and Jain floors are kept meticulously clean to avert the danger of stepping on a living creature.

 

The Universe is neither created nor sustained by a supernatural being; there is no beginning and no end.

 

Jains believe the path to salvation is through non-violence and regard the intentional taking of life, or even violent thoughts, as very serious.

 

Jain philosophy says there is a gradation of beings, from those with five senses down to those with only one sense.

 

Ordinary householders strive not to harm those below them on this scale - they don’t eat meat, for example.

 

In addition, Jains are expected to practice other virtues, similar to those in Hinduism.

 

The vows taken by the Jain monks involve such practices as fasting, begging (they rely on local people to feed them), meditation, and learning to endure bodily discomfort.

 

Violence, lack of compassion, anger, pride, infatuation, greed, hatred, and craving are the main causes of suffering and injustice in the world.

 

Attachment to material objects is the primary cause of bondage and leads to greed and jealousy, which further leads to suffering and injustice. Renouncing the attachment to material objects is a necessary condition for attaining peace and joy in the world and thereafter.

 

Sikhism

 

WHEN

Sikhism is a religion that originated in the Punjab in northwestern India, where the Hindu and Muslim religions meet.

 

A mystic, Guru Nanak, who live from 1469 to 1539 (right), believed that God is above religious distinctions, so he borrowed from both Muslim and Hindu teachings to create Gurmat, which is what Sikhs call their religion. Guru Nanak wandered over India seeking converts.

 

FOLLOWERS

There are about 23 million Sikhs worldwide; about 80 percent of them in India, mostly in the northwest.

 

Small communities of Sikhs also exist in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Malaysia, and East Africa.

 

The 1991 Census found 147,440 Canadians who identified themselves as Sikhs. By 2001, this number had grown to 278,410; the increase coming mostly from immigration.

 

BELIEFS

Sikhism is monotheistic (believes in only one God) and stresses the unity, truth, and creativity of a personal God.

Followers believe that meditation and surrendering to God’s will leads to union with Him. This God has many names.

 

Sikhs do not deny the existence of the countless Hindu deities. They believe that God made many lesser gods but that this creator is superior to all of them.

 

Sikhism also advocates active service rather than the Hindu ideal of withdrawal from worldly affairs. Loyalty and justice are admired, smoking and intoxicants forbidden.

 

Sikhism also rejects the Hindu caste system, priesthood, image worship, and pilgrimage. However, Sikhs believe in samsara (the repetitive cycle of birth, life, and death), karma (the accumulated sum of one’s good and bad deeds), and reincarnation (the belief of a rebirth following death).

 

Daily prayer is important in Sikhism, and the gurdwara (temple) functions as a social as well as religious centre; it contains a kitchen, the langar, where all, male and female, Sikh and non-Sikh, may eat together as equals. Sikh women take the same role as men in religious observances.

 

Guru Nanak said the way to salvation was through devotion to God and living a moral, responsible, and selfless everyday life. He was succeeded by nine gurus whose office became hereditary. The fourth, Ram Das, founded the Golden Temple (below), the Sikh religious centre in Amritsar.

 

Arantxa Hernandez

 

Sikh males are expected to join the Khalsa (Punjabi, “pure”), a religious and military brotherhood. Members are “baptized” by drinking sweetened water stirred with a dagger and take the surname Singh (“lion”).

 

They must observe the five K’s: to wear long hair (kesh), a comb in the hair (kangha), a steel bracelet on the right wrist (kara) against evil, soldier’s shorts (kachha), and a ceremonial dagger (kirpan).

 

The tradition continues to the present day, but the wearing of the kirpan has been a source of problems. In Canada, some school boards have banned Sikhs from entering schools while wearing the kirpan. There have been lawsuits as a result.

 

SACRED TEXTS

In 1604, the fifth Sikh Guru, Arjun compiled Sikh scriptures into a single volume. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh compiled the “Guru Granth Sahib.” It consists of hymns and writings of the first 10 Gurus, along with religious texts from different Muslim and Hindu traditions.

 

The “Shri Guru Granth” is considered the 11th and final Guru and the Sikh’s holiest religious text.

 

FESTIVALS

Festivals in honour of the ten human gurus include a complete reading of the “Guru Granth Sahib;” Sikhs also celebrate at the time of some of the major Hindu festivals, but their emphasis is on aspects of Sikh belief and the example of the gurus.

 

Sources used in this series

Religions in Canada, Directorate of Human Rights and Diversity, Government of Canada.

The Encyclopedia of World Religions, Robert S. Ellwood (ed.) Facts on File, 1998.

Religion for Dummies, Rabbi Marc Gellman and Monsignor Thomas Hartman, For Dummies Publishing, 2002.

Religious Tolerance, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance

Religion, CBC Montreal

 

Return to Christianity Part Three

Go to Christianity Part Five

 

© Canada and the World, May 2011

All rights reserved

 

The Swastika is a sacred symbol of Jainism and is a design of good luck. The device was borrowed by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party in Germany and, in Western culture, is now associated with great evil. The swastika remains in wide use in Indian religions.

Only through the practice of the three “jewels” of right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct can one attain salvation under Jainism.

 

 

THE FIGHT

FOR KHALISTAN

 

As the Sikhs developed into a separate religious community, they fought against persecution by Hindus and by Muslim rulers of the Mughal Empire.

 

But, by about 1800, the Sikhs had grown into a powerful state in India’s Punjab region; this was annexed by the British in 1849.

 

Under the British, the Sikhs gained wealth and a great reputation as soldiers and police officers. But when India became independent from Britain in 1947, they lost their privileges and found their state divided between India and Pakistan.

 

After a bitter war against the Muslims in 1965, Pakistani Sikhs migrated to India. The following year, the Indian government created Punjab as a single Punjabi-speaking state; it’s where most of India’s more than 18 million Sikhs live.

 

Terrorism by Sikh separatists wanting more freedom led the Indian government, in June 1984, to send in troops to seize the Golden Temple from Sikh extremists.

 

Many Sikhs were killed in the attack and the survivors vowed to avenge the violence. It is believed to have led to Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by Sikh members of her personal bodyguard in October 1984.

 

In 1985, an accord was finally reached with the Indian government on expanding Punjab. Sikh terrorists then stepped up their activities, demanding the establishment of a Sikh state, Khalistan.

 

In 1992, the government sent in police and army reinforcements and reestablished its authority in Punjab.

 

 

 

SIKHISM

IN CANADA

 

The first Sikhs came to Canada in 1902 as part of a Hong Kong military contingent travelling to the coronation of Edward VII.

 

Some returned to Canada and established themselves in British Columbia, where thousands more settled before their immigration was banned in 1908. That was the same year Sikhs built their first permanent temple in Vancouver.

 

By 1920, temples were established in several other towns in the province. During the 1920s, the wives and children of legal Sikh residents were allowed to enter the country.

 

The main religious change between 1920 and 1960 was a tendency among second-generation men to cut their hair and beards to conform to Canadian dress.

 

By the 1950s, as immigration resumed, many Sikh immigrants were more educated, westernized, and religiously untraditional than those who had come earlier. That has led to Sikh division leaving those with more Western views set against more orthodox followers.

 

In the 1960s and 1970s, tens of thousands of Sikhs settled across Canada, particularly in the urban area from Toronto to Windsor, Ontario. Most cities now have several temples reflecting the various levels of religious, social, or political belief.

 

Sikhs work hard to teach their children their culture and religion, and keep close religious ties with India.