Indian Religion
India is the cradle of two major world religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, of significant but lesser-known religious communities such as the Jains and the Sikhs, and countless smaller sects. This fecundity has probably been due to the unformed and highly decentralized nature of the Hindu tradition, which we shall consider shortly. Hindus are still found mainly in India, where they comprise about 85% of the population, but also in places to which Indians have migrated (Fiji, England, the Caribbean, etc.) In contrast, Buddhism has largely disappeared from India, but has spread through much of the rest of Asia. The Sikhs have historically been centered in India's Punjab region, where about half the world's Sikhs still live, with the rest spread through India and the world. Hindus are the third largest global religious community (1 billion), Buddhists are the fourth (250 million), and Sikhs are the fifth (about 30 million).
The universal assumption in Indian religion has been the belief in reincarnation, which is determined by one's karma (which literally means "action," but also includes one's words and thoughts). Good karma (action/speech/thought) will bring a good results and bad karma bad results; as one sows, so shall one reap. Karma is seen as a purely mechanical process, operating without any need for a divine overseer (just as one might see no need for God to uphold the law of gravity). The actions one performs, for good or ill, sow the seeds for future consequences--some coming to fruition in this life (which is less problematic, since most of us believe that our actions have consequences), and some in future lives (more difficult to prove conclusively). Since the general tone of one's life is seen as more important than a few isolated acts, we might compare the idea of karma with our notion of a person's "character" (which also recognizes the psychological dimension, the way that we are shaped by our habitual ways of thinking and acting). People can act "out of character," but they more commonly act according to it.
In Indian cosmology, one can be reborn in any number of states of being--good karma can lead to birth in heaven (as a god, since gods live in heaven), bad karma can lead to birth in hell, as an animal, or as a wandering spirit. Yet the most important point to understand is that all of these states of being, both good and bad, are ultimately impermanent; the gods are enjoying the rewards from their past actions, but will be born elsewhere when their accumulated merit has been exhausted; those enduring punishment for their sins will be reborn in happier circumstances when their sentence is done. In the spectrum of possible incarnations, any human birth is considered a great opportunity. Unlike animals, which are governed by instinct, human beings can make conscious decisions, and thus accumulate good karma through righteous acts. At the same time, the vicissitudes of earthly life (unlike life in the heavens, which is always pleasant) serve as a warning to pay attention to spiritual life. These differing states of being can be seen in the Buddhist Wheel of Life.
Although New Age proponents usually describe reincarnation as an opportunity, in the Indian context (Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh) it has always been seen as a tremendous burden, and the ultimate goal of religious life has been to bring it to an end. This is the fundamental assumption in all Indian Religious Thought. The different groups disagree on what happens after the "wheel of birth" has ended, but they are unanimous that halting it is the central religious problem; for a traditional rendition of this, see Snakes and Ladders: A Traditional Indian game. With these assumptions in mind, we can begin to the Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs in greater depth.
Hindus
The nature of "Hinduism" is difficult to define, for it lacks many of the features we tend to associate with religion--it has no founder, no definitive scripture, no centralized authority, no single supreme god, and no creed of essential beliefs (and thus no heresy). The word "Hinduism" is itself a term made up by foreigners (in this case, the British) which until quite recently had no precise analogue in Indian languages. In its original meaning, the word "Hindu" refers to the people living in "Hind," which is what Greek and Muslim travelers called the Indian subcontinent. For most of its history the word "Hinduism" has been an umbrella term referring to ANY and ALL forms of religious belief and practice in the land of India, from the least sophisticated nature worship to the most highly developed ritual and philosophical systems. They are all called by the same name, but they share few (if any) common features.
What the different parts of the tradition do have is a history of evolution, a continuous process in which new religious forms arise from the older ones, but the older ones continue (usually) to exist. An appropriate metaphor for Indian religion is the banyan tree, which aside from normal upward spreading branches, also has branches which grow down, take root, and become trunks in their own right. An old banyan tree might be hundreds of feet in diameter, and in such a large tree can be difficult to discern which is the original trunk. In the same way, what European observers have called "Hinduism" is the result of continuing expansion, diffusion, and change.
For much of its history, the real binding force in Indian culture has been not religious belief but rather social structure, which has been as sharply defined as religious practice has been loose and flexible. Traditional Indian society was sharply hierarchical, and to some extent this remains true today. In theory, society was divided into four groups (given here in descending order): the brahmins were scholars and religious technicians, the kshatriyas were warriors and rulers, the vaishyas were artisans and farmers, and the shudras served the others. Membership in a particular group came by being born into it, and nothing one did could change this. Society was seen as an organic whole, in which some parts had higher status than others, but where every part was necessary for the whole to function smoothly. It should be noted, of course, that the texts expounding this social structure were written by brahmins, which helps to explain their privileged status.
In actual practice, each of these four groups was split into hundreds of sub-groups, usually based on the group's hereditary occupation, and a group's relative status in a particular place was subject to all kinds of local variables (for example, did that group control land locally? Were members of that group a majority or a minority in a place?) What this did mean was that each person, as a member of a particular family and group, had a well-defined social role, and there was great stress on the individual's obligation to fulfill these social duties. Hindu society is thus better characterized as orthoprax (stressing correct behavior) rather than orthodox (stressing correct belief).
This stress on orthopraxy has allowed people to believe pretty much whatever they wanted, and this has given rise to an incredible number of sects and subsects, often spawned by charismatic teachers and saints, which continues to this day. Despite this variety, Hindus recognize multiple different spiritual paths (yogas): Insight (jnana), Action (karma), Devotion to God (bhakti), and Union (Raja Yoga). Individual talents and inclinations may render one of these paths more suitable for a person than the others--but all of them are accepted as valid and proven ways to attain moksha, the liberation of the soul that is the ultimate goal. Each of these paths is described in the Bhagavad-Gita, one of the most widely known religious texts, and contemporary teachers often draw elements from all of them to create a teaching with something for everyone.
The Path of Insight (jnana-yoga) is rooted in the teachings of the Upanishads (ca. 800-300 BCE), which are the latest stratum of text in the Vedas, the most authoritative Hindu scriptures. The earliest Vedic texts, the Samhitas, were hymns of praise chanted to the Vedic deities Agni, Indra, and Varuna--who remain present in the Indian mythic imagination, but are no longer primary deities. The next layer of Vedic texts, The Brahmanas, focused primarily on the power of sacrificial rituals, and thus by implication the need to perform them exactly correctly to get the required benefits. In both of these cases the sacred texts were learned and utilized by the Brahmins as a priestly class, and their knowledge of the sacred texts is the source of their traditional prestige. The tone shifts dramatically with the part of the Vedas, the Upanishads. Whereas the earlier Vedic texts had focused on the power of the sacrifice, the Upanishads speculated on the power that lay behind the sacrifice and made it efficacious. The Upanishads are about the search for first principles, fueled by the conviction that some single unifying power lies behind the world's apparent diversity. They also attempt to discern the essential nature of both the universe and the human being. The heart of the Upanishads lies in these speculative questions, but they are not systematic--the answer one finds in one place may be contradicted later in the same text, or in another Upanisad.
In the end, the Upanishads describe the essence of the cosmos as an impersonal power called brahman, for which the best translations might be "Being" or "Reality." The core of the human being is called atman ("Self"), which is eternal and unchanging, even though it takes on various bodies in varying births (as a person changes clothes). The essential insight of the Upanisads is the identity of brahman and atman, macrocosm and microcosm. As described most concisely in the Mandukya Upanishad, realization of this identity (usually described as a flash of mystical insight) breaks the cycle of reincarnation; the individual soul is liberated and merges with brahman, just as rivers flow into the ocean, and become one with it.
The Path of Action (karma yoga) is centers on fulfilling one's social role--as an individual, family member, and member of society--as mandated in the Dharmashastras ("Texts on dharma"), which were first composed around the time that the final Upanisads were being written. Dharma is a fundamental Hindu concept, which in different contexts can mean "religion," "duty," "law," or "social order," as well as many others. The word dharma is derived from a verb meaning "to support" or "to uphold." This is the function that dharma plays in society, which shows why all those translations could make sense in context.
The Dharmashastras, often referred to as the "Law Books," are most concerned with laying down guidelines for an organized, orderly society, in which each person has a well-defined status and role, based on social status, age, and gender. The best-known of these texts is attributed to the sage Manu. The dharmashastra writers presupposed an unequal society, in which birth into high or low status groups was determined by the quality of one's karma (good, bad, or mixed). Although various groups had unequal status, they were all necessary for society to function harmoniously. Since these texts were written by brahmins, it's not surprising that the society they envision highlights and reinforces brahmin prestige. Yet it is vital to recognize that these texts did not carry the force of law, and that the texts did not necessarily describe society as it was, but as their writers thought that it should be. It's important to recognize that although brahmins had religious authority and prestige, in most cases they did not have actual power, which was in the hands of kings. So these texts were persuasive and prescriptive, but did not have the force of law.
The Path of Action (karma-yoga) was followed by meticulously fulfilling one's prescribed social roles, performing one's particular role not for personal gain, but as duty (dharma) whose performance upheld society. This commitment to virtue and righteousness not only gave the personal satisfaction of having fulfilled one's duty, but was also the means for an individual to gain a better rebirth (through the good karma this would generate), and ultimately liberation. It is certainly true that this can become an ideology of oppression (keeping the poor and lowly in their place by telling them it is their religious duty, and assuring them of eventual rewards). At the same time, it transforms everyday life--as a parent, child, husband, or wife--into the theater for religious practice, and thus carrying out these everyday duties is not just a means to personally fulfillment, but a venue for spiritual life and practice. Everybody has a place, and thus everybody has a duty.
With their stress on personal realization, the Upanishads are profoundly elitist--it is never assumed that anyone but the most spiritually advanced can fruitfully tread the path of Knowledge, and attain final liberation. The Path of Action stresses performing one's duty AS duty, without thought of personal, individual reward. This is open to everyone, but means buying into a highly stratified, profoundly hierarchical social system. The final Path, Devotion to God (bhakti-yoga), has been the strongest influence on Indian religious life for the past thousand years. By basing personal worth not on conventional social status, but solely the depth of one's devotion, it not only provided a spiritual path that was open to everyone, but subverted the established social order.
The bhakti movement began in South India around the 5th century CE, and in the next thousand years spread northward throughout the subcontinent, taking on individual and distinctive forms as it moved from one area to another. Despite these regional differences, and enormous variety in the deities worshipped, three characteristics remain constant: equality, accessibility, and community.
The bhakti movement promoted equality by insisting that what really mattered about a person was not birth, but the depth of devotion to God. Devotees did not deny conventional social distinctions, but transcended them by focusing on religious equality before God. Unlike earlier movements, the bhakti poets come from all strata of society--from the highest to the lowest--and include women as well as men. The strongest factor promoting accessibility was that bhakti poetry was generally written not in Sanskrit (priestly, elitist language) but in the vernacular language of the region, which everyone could understand. The major vehicle was not the written text (property of the literate, socially elevated brahmins) but songs and poetry which ordinary people could hear, remember, and transmit to one another. Finally, bhakti poets tend to come in "families," groups of people freely associating with each other. These "families" contain people from all sorts of social backgrounds, and usually include at least one woman. Here we see the formation of a parallel community to earthly society, but based on different values. One early example are poems written attributed to the Tamil Shaiva poet-saints Campantar and Appar (6th-7th c. C.E.), which celebrate the god Shiva's mythic exploits. A more recent example is the Hanuman Chalisa, a set of forty verses praising the deeds of Hanuman, recounting his devotion to Rama, and asking for his blessings.
If jnana-yoga stresses insight (intellectual) , karma-yoga action (activity), and bhakti-yoga love and devotion (emotion), raja-yoga centers on kinesthetic search for the ultimate centered in one's own body, with the experience of liberation also in the body. The Yoga Sutras attributed to Patanjali describe an eight part (ashtanga) religious path, which begins with moral precepts, moves on to physical discipline in order to train the body--the part that most Western readers would identify as "yoga"--and finishes with mental training to enable one to quiet the fluctuations of the mind and perceive one's true Inner nature. In later formulations this yogic practice is often connected with ideas that of the Subtle Body, a collection of energy centers within the gross body. Just as the Upanishads stress the homology of macrosm and microcosm (brahman = atman), in the same way the divine energy behind the formation of the universe can be awakened in one's own body, and provide a pathway to liberation. These practices are often called by the name Tantra, and the strong structural similarities between Hindu and Buddhist tantric practices strongly suggests that both are drawing from the same underlying tradition.
There's lots more to Hindu life and practice than this brief description provides. Contemporary Hindu religious life--in terms of how people actually practice--centers around encounters with God through worship and service. These encounters can take place in a temple or a domestic household shrine (both of which are conceived of as places of residence for the deity), in pilgrimage sites/holy places where the divine energy is considered to be more powerful and/or accessible, and during annual festivals celebrating the deities' deeds. It also centers around the normal rites of passage (birth, coming-of-age, marriage, death) that move people through their lives.
Buddhists
Buddhism originated in the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha ("Enlightened One"). One of the great Asian religions, it is divided into two main schools: the Theravada predominates in Sri Lanka and SE Asia, while the Mahayana spread to Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. As mentioned in the introduction, Buddhism has largely disappeared from India, except for Tibetan refugee communities who have fled the Communist Chinese regime in Tibet.
During the Buddha's lifetime (5th c. BCE) India was in a state of religious and cultural ferment. Sects, teachers, and wandering ascetics abounded, espousing widely varying philosophical views and religious practices. According to Buddhist tradition Siddhartha Gautama was born a prince and raised in luxury, but had a spiritual awakening upon seeing the "Four Signs"--an old man, a sick man, and a corpse (all indicating the ephemeral nature of the world), and a religious renunciant (which hinted at its transcendence). These visions prompted the prince to renounce the world at the age of 29 to seek a ultimate solution to the problem of the suffering inherent in the human condition. His six-year spiritual search led him first to study with several teachers, then to practice extreme fasting, and finally (after beginning to eat again, having realized that a weakened body could never promote a clear mind) to the intensive practice of meditation. Through the last he achieved supreme enlightenment, and spent the remaining 45 years of his life teaching and establishing a community of monks (sangha) to continue his work.
The Buddha spoke of himself as a physician trying to cure the afflictions of the world, and his teachings aimed at giving people useful advice for identifying and ultimately transcending life's problems. One clear example of this is the Dhammapada, a collection of brief aphorisms on ethical and personal cultivation. Another core doctrine, which remains common to all Buddhism, is the "Four Noble Truths": (1) Existence is difficult, frustrating, and often dissatisfying (duhkha); (2) this frustration has a cause, namely craving and attachment (trishna); (3) there is a cessation of suffering, which is nirvana; and (4) there is a path to the cessation of suffering, the "eightfold path" (right views, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration).
From the very beginning, Buddhists have asserted that all phenomena are impermanent--that they arise in dependence on causes and conditions, and must inevitably decay (attachment to such ephemeral things is one source of life's frustrations). This doctrine of impermanence applies not only to the world, but also to human beings--one of the uniquely Buddhist ideas, "no-self" (anatman), affirms that there is no independently existent, immutable self. Human personality is analyzed as the sum of five aggregates (skandhas). The first of these, form, refers to the material body; the following four--sensations, perceptions, dispositions, and consciousness--refer to mental and psychological processes. Each of these aggregates is constantly changing, based on and formed by the results of one's previous actions (karma). Past actions influence the present, present actions shape the future, and thus, even though there is no eternal self, karmic momentum brings on constant rebirth through a mutually dependant process. The release from this cycle of rebirth and suffering is the total transcendence called nirvana.
From the beginning, moral behavior has been the basis of religious life, and both monks and laity are bound by the five precepts--to abstain from taking life, stealing, lying, sexual impropriety, and drinking intoxicants. Householders were called to observe this basic morality, to give to the Order as they were able, and to perform certain ritual acts, such as the veneration of relics, in the expectation that the religious merit generated by these actions would bring better rebirths in their next lives.
Whereas householders aimed for the proximate goal of a better rebirth, monks (and nuns) strove for the ultimate goal, nirvana. In early Buddhism the monks were seen as the spiritual elite, and even today the community of monks (sangha) is one of Buddhism's "three jewels," along with the Buddha and his teaching (dharma). With this elite status came greater demands and the expectation of a far more disciplined life. Monks were subject to five additional moral precepts, as well as 226 rules of monastic discipline. Monastic practice also put great stress on meditation, as a tool for developing insight; the classic practice is on observing one's breathing.. The religious ideal for these early Buddhist monks was the perfected saint (arhant), who had attained nirvana by removing all defilements and desires. It is notable that the earliest group of arhants included women as well as men; one of the most extraordinary sections of the Pali Canon is the Therigathas ("Songs of the Elder Nuns"), which recount religious autobiographies of some of the Buddha's earliest female followers.
After the Buddha's death his teachings were transmitted orally until the 1st century BCE, when they were first committed to writing by the Theravada school in Sri Lanka. The Buddha himself probably spoke Ardhamagadhi (a north Indian regional language), but the teachings were transmitted in Pali, a lingua franca of the day, and the Pali Canon is the oldest collection of Buddhist texts. This long oral transmission period limits our awareness of early differences, but different sects arose very quickly, and there were reportedly 18 early Buddhist schools. The initial disagreements related to monastic practice, whereas later splits tended to be on doctrinal and philosophical issues. The Theravada ("doctrine of the elders") is the only school to have survived to modern times, but it generally accepted that their beliefs accurately represent early Buddhist doctrine. This is certainly true for the clear division between the roles and practice of monks and lay people in modern Theravada societies, a division that echoes that from the Buddha's own time.
Some of these early Buddhist schools developed the lines of thought that led to Mahayana ("great vehicle") Buddhism; which gave itself this name to distinguish itself from groups it polemically called Hinayana ("lesser vehicle"), that is, the Theravada and related schools. The Mahayana emerges as a definable movement in the 1st century BCE, with the appearance of a new class of literature called the Mahayana sutras.
The Mahayana differed from earlier Buddhism on at least three major issues: the nature of reality, the nature of the Buddha, and the dominant religious ideal. Whereas early Buddhists had affirmed that the world was real, albeit impermanent, the Mahayana insisted on the emptiness (shunyata) of all things, as a way to remove all attachment to the world. Whereas early Buddhists affirmed the Buddha was merely a human being, although an extraordinary one, the Mahayana developed the doctrine of the Buddha's "three bodies," in which the Buddha's earthly appearance was a temporary manifestation of the eternal and absolute "Buddha-nature" pervading the universe.
The most significant difference, however, is their religious ideal. The Mahayana characterized the arhant ideal as individualistic and self-centered, since it encouraged people to seek nirvana for themselves, without concern for the suffering of others. The Mahayana religious ideal was the bodhisattva, who voluntarily postponed entry into nirvana until all beings could be enlightened and saved. T he motive for this was altruistic compassion for the suffering beings in the world, and the desire to work for their welfare. The bodhisattva was both an actual religious goal for both lay and monastic Buddhists, and was also the name for a class of celestial beings who were worshiped along with the Buddha. Both of these trends are present in the Lotus Sutra, one of the most influential Mahayana Buddhist texts. Another iteration of the Savior Buddha motif can be found in the Pure Land Sutra, which describes how after amassing immense religious merit, the Buddha Amitabha used that merit to create Sukhavati--a "Pure Land" with no sorrow, pain, or suffering, and into which faithful devotees could be reborn. The original text stressed the need to generate religious merit and then dedicate that merit to rebirth in the Pure Land, but as Buddhism moved China and Japan the emphasis shifted solidly to the centrality of faith in the Buddha's saving power. The strongest example of this can be seen in works of Shinran (d. 1263), who described human nature as so frail and corrupt that the only hope for salvation was to rely on the "Other Power" of the Buddha. A further development of the Mahayana ideal can be seen in Tantric Buddhism, which became the dominant Buddhist tradition in Tibet. This continues to stress retains the bodhisattva ideal that seeks to bring all beings to liberation, but does so through the acquisition of religious power gained through elaborate ritual practices.
By the 13th century Buddhism had largely disappeared from India, brought on by the revival of Hinduism and a series of Islamic territorial incursions. Both of these restricted the royal patronage that was the lifeblood for Indian Buddhist institutions--large monasteries and universities--and these large centralized institutions were easily disrupted by unrest. In the meantime, however, its beliefs had spread widely: to Sri Lanka (3rd c. BCE), where it remains the national religion even today; in the 7th century to Tibet, where it flourished until the Chinese occupation in the 1950s; to SE Asia in the first five centuries CE, and along the Silk Road to China in the 1st century CE. Although Buddhism in China adapted to Chinese society, it was never fully accepted. From China Buddhism went to Korea and to Japan, where it has been more fully integrated into the national fabric and made into something uniquely Japanese.
Sikhs
The Sikh community’s historical roots lie in South Asia’s Punjab (“Five Rivers”) region, which was split by India and Pakistan during the 1947 Partition of India. The Punjab’s rivers provide abundant water, and the alluvial soil deposited by their annual flooding made it exceptionally fertile. Punjab is also the natural entry corridor into the Gangetic Plain for groups coming from the north and the west, which has meant that the region has historically has been tinged with many different cultural influences, from Greeks to Central Asians to Middle Easterners.
The Sikh worldview shares certain primary features with both the Children of Abraham and the other Indian religions. This does not mean that it somehow” combines” these two religious currents (like a chef mixing up a cake), but rather that Sikh religious ideas reflect the surrounding religious ideas (both Hindu and Muslim). Sikhs are monotheists, similar to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and worship a single Supreme Being who is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. An early name for this being was Akal Purakh (“Timeless Being”), but the most common name now is Waheguru (“Marvelous Sovereign”). From the very start this Being has been conceived of as genderless, although male social dominance has led to descriptions using masculine imagery. At the same time, as with the other Indian religious traditions, Sikhs accept the notions of karma and reincarnation, and continually remind people that a human birth is a precious opportunity to pursue religious life and seek ultimate truth. Sikh worship and religious practice are both individual and congregational.
The community’s pivotal figure is Guru Nanak (1469-1539), who was born and raised in the Punjab. According to tradition he had always been religiously minded, but in his early 30s he had an experience that changed his life and “commissioned” him as a divine messenger. Traditional accounts relate that he spent the next 20-odd years after this experience traveling throughout India and beyond. As he traveled he would sing hymns he had composed--accompanied by a musician companion named Mardana—and would meet and debate local saints and religious adepts (for one account of Guru Nanak’s ministry, see the Var of Bhai Gurdas). When his wanderings were over he settled with some followers at Kartarpur (now in Pakistan), where he lived out the rest of his life as the community’s religious and temporal leader. Before his death he formally designated one of his followers as his successor, and named him Guru Angad (Angad means “part of my body”). Guru Angad was succeeded by eight more human gurus, until the human guru lineage ended with Guru Gobind Singh’s death in 1708.
Written texts have always been an important part of the community’s religious heritage. Guru Nanak sang hymns about the Divine nature and activity—and the appropriate human response to the Divine Call—but in addition to performing these he also wrote them down, and according to tradition Guru Nanak gave Guru Angad a handwritten book of his (Nanak’s) compositions as a symbol of transmitting his authority. Angad and his successors enlarged this collection with hymns of their own. The Fifth Guru, Guru Arjan (d. 1606), compiled these hymns into one single volume, as well as compositions from Hindu and Muslim saints whose message was deemed compatible to that of the Sikh gurus. This volume, the Kartarpur Granth (“Kartarpur book”) is the basis for the current Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. A prolific writer and an accomplished musician, Guru Arjan himself composed half of the hymns in the scripture. .
Sikhs are intensely aware of their history, and of how that history has shaped their community. For much of the 17th and 18th centuries the Sikh community endured persecution by secular authorities, who wanted to limit (or destroy) this new community’s power. This official opposition helped to shape community ideas about sacrifice and martyrdom. The Fifth Guru (Arjan) and the Ninth Guru (Tegh Bahadur) were executed by the Mughals, the dominant power in North India at the time; these same Mughals also supported schismatic groups whose leaders claimed to be the genuine Sikh gurus, to try to weaken the community from the inside. In response to these threats, in 1699 Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa to promote a new and more deeply committed Sikh identity. Khalsa members—who were at first primarily male, though membership is open to all—take a formal initiation (see Sikh Rahit Maryada, Article 24) in which they pledge to uphold and protect the Sikh community. Members are always supposed to display five religious symbols: uncut hair (tied in a turban for men), a comb to keep the hair neat, a bangle on the right wrist, short breeches, and a sword/dagger (to fight injustice and defend the helpless). Men also adopt the name Singh (“lion”) whereas women take the name Kaur (“Queen”).
Guru Gobind Singh may have originally formed the Khalsa to create a more elite and dedicated fighting force. The Mughals and their Hindu vassal kings were a constant threat to the Sikh community at Anandpur Sahib, and only a few years later (1704-05) Anandpur was besieged and the Sikhs had to abandon the town. The early sources seem to indicate that joining the Khalsa was commendable but not required, but the Khalsa became far more important after Gobind Singh’s untimely death in 1708. Before his death Gobind Singh decreed that he was the last human guru, and that henceforth religious authority would reside in the Scripture (Granth) and the community (Panth). Sikhs have taken both of these commands to heart. As the community’s most committed members, Khalsa members were naturally identified as the core of the Panth. Sikhs take the injunction to treat the scripture as Guru quite literally—the text is treated like a living being, and is given the reverence accorded to a living teacher. The Sikh name for their scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, attests to its identity as their Guru.
Sikh religious messages and practices have been relatively stable since the time of Guru Nanak—which further attests his importance to the community. One recurring religious message is the need to harmonize one’s life and one’s actions with the Divine will and purpose, and to act in ways that support this divine purpose. This is easy in theory, but a persistent obstacle to this is human self-centeredness, which causes people to act for their own selfish benefit. Human beings can discern this divine will and purpose by remembering and meditating upon the divine; one of the primary methods for doing this is to hear and sing the hymns in the Sikh scripture. Sometimes this is done in private and individually, as in the case of required daily prayers, which begin in the morning with Guru Nanak’s Japji. In other cases they may be done in congregation in the company of other Sikhs at a gurudwara. Gurudwara literally means “Door to the Guru,” and the sacred center or every gurudwara is an enshrined copy of the in every one is a copy of the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib—thus in entering the building, Sikhs are coming into the Guru’s presence. The primary Sikh ligurgical practice is for musicians to sing and play hymns from the sacred text for the congregation to listen to, or sing along if they are able. In addition to being a meeting-hall where Sikhs can experience the sacred text in congregation, every gurudwara also has a community kitchen (langar) where volunteers cook and serve food to anyone who comes, thus fulfilling people’s material needs as well as their spiritual ones.
Sikh religious and community behavior is laid out in the Sikh Rahit Maryada, an idealized communiry “code of conduct.” Though clearly laid out, in practice this code functions less like a “law” (for which transgressions can be punished) than a set of strongly suggested guidelines. In terms of personal ethos and behavior many Sikhs espouse three general principles that can be traced all the way back to Guru Nanak: to remember God, to earn one’s living through honest labor, and to do service to others as a sign of gratitude. One of the concrete venues for such service is the langar, which is staffed and run by volunteers..
For most of their history Sikhs have been geographically centered in the Punjab region, since this was associated with the lives and activity of their Gurus. This perspective has been recently shifted by two 20th century traumas. During the Partition of British India in 1947 Punjab was divided between Indian and Pakistan, which prompted most Sikhs—given their history of conflict with Muslim rulers—to migrate to India. An even more traumatic event was Operation Blue Star, the Indian army’s assault on the Golden Temple complex in June 1984, which was followed by years of domestic unrest. After Operation Blue Star (and the targeted massacres of Delhi Sikhs after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination later that year), some Sikhs began to doubt whether India was a suitable country for them. These factors have helped to “unlink” Sikhs from the Punjab, and to shift their image of themselves from a regional Indian community to an increasingly global world religion.