Diversity and Sikhism: Cultural Event

Diversity and Sikhism

On Tuesday of last week Professor Daniel Veidlinger from the Department of Religious studies came to the BMU to speak to Chico State about diversity and Sikhism. Sikhism is a religion that comes from the Punjab region of India. Sikhism has a meaning of being a student or decitful. This is the student or decitful to what is known as a teacher and is called a Guru. There are approximately 25,000,000 Sikhs in the world. Approximately 90 percent of Sikhs live in India.

Sikhs are closely related to Northwest India, particularly the Punjab region. “Pun” means five, and there are actually five main rivers in Punjab. The climate is very similar to the climate here in Northern California. Punjab shares a very similar climate and agriculture to Sacramento. We have about 40,000 to 50,000 Sikhs in Yuba city. Yuba city is about forty five minutes South of Chico and about forty miles North of Sacramento.

The founder of Sikhism is Guru Nanak. He was born in 1469 and died in 1539. Sikhism was founded in 1499. Their beliefs are based on Mui Mantra which means that “There is one supreme being, the eternal reality. He is the creator without fear and devoid of hatred. He is immortal, never incarnated, self-existent, known by grace through the Guru. The external one, from the beginning, through all time present now the everlasting reality.” Sikhs are very peaceful people who believe very strongly in equality.

Sikhs believe in one supreme being or Ech-omm-car (I am not sure of the spelling). This broken down is ech (again not sure of the spelling) = one, omm = the sound made when meditating, and car = to make. So this means echommcar = the one to make the sound “omm”. The hymn of the Nanak is that “man is led astray by the reading of words; ritaulists are very proud.”

There are ten main Gurus. There is a beautiful temple in the Punjab region called ''the Golden Temple”. The temple appears to be floating on water at night.

There is a group within Sikhism called the Khalsa. Khalsa means pure. The Khalsa wear five K's: A kara - which is a steal bracelet, a kangha - which is a comb, a kes - which means uncut hair (usually recognized by a turban covering the hair), a kirpan – which is a small dagar (not intended to be used), and a Kaccha – which are small pants worn under their clothing.

Guru Granth Sahib was an important Guru because he wrote the Adi Granth. Granth = book. This became an important feature in Sikhism because people could now read and follow the writings of Guru Granth Sahib. Another important feature of Sikhism is what is called “Langar”. Sikhs have a religious duty to eat at a meal with others from the community. This may mean that they will be eating the bread of a stranger or someone of lower class, but it is the point that they all eat together and are willing to eat with all members of the community. Like I said before, Sikhs believe very strongly in all people being equal. Sikhs main focus is on the community and making society better.

I learned a great deal from attending this speech at the BMU. Before listening to this presentation I had never even heard of Sikhism. Not only had I not heard of this religion but I definitely had not known anything about the religion, where it comes from, and what they believe. I also did not know that Sikhs are mistaken for being Muslim and are discriminated against on a regular basis for being associated with Bin Ladin or the Al Qeada. It is very sad to me that many Muslims and many Sikhs are discriminated against everyday. It is so common that Sikhs have decided to make an effort to make it known that they are peaceful people who believe in equality. During the presentation a Sikh came up to the front and brought a little flyer that Sikhs handout to clarify the misconceptions about their religion which cause some Americans to discriminate against them. It is really heartbreaking that people are discriminated against when they did nothing wrong, they are not even the same religion as those who attacked America on September 11, 2001. That is a huge misconception, that just because some may wear a turban, that Sikhs are Muslim.

I think what I learned the most is that I do need to educate myself on diversity so that I am not ignorant when it comes to different religions around the world. And while I would never discriminate against any person, no matter what their religion, I still feel its important to be informed of the differences amongst different religions and to stand up for minorities who are being discriminated against in America.