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Essence of World Religions
and copresent with God. In Sikhism, Moksha means release into God's love. Man is not God but fulfilled in unitary, mystical consciousness with Him. God is the personal Lord and Creator.
Path of Attainment To lead humans to the goal of Moksha, Sikhism follows a path of Jäpa and hymns. Through the chanting of the holy names or Sat Näm, the soul is cleansed of its impurity, the five vices – lust, anger, greed, attachment, and ego are conquered, and the wandering mind is stilled. This leads to a super conscious stillness. From here the soul enters the divine light and thus attains a state of divine bliss. Once this highest goal is attained, the devotee must devote his awareness to the good of others. The highest goal can be realized only by God's grace, and this is attained exclusively by following the true teacher (Sat Guru), and by repeating the holy names of the Lord guided by the Adi Granth, the scripture and sole repository of spiritual authority. For Sikhs there is no deity worship and no symbol of divinity. Synopsis The word Sikhism is derived from Sikka meaning disciple in Punjabi language. The movement was founded in the state of Punjab, India by Guru Nanak (1469 -1539), who sought reconciliation of the Hindu and Muslim faiths in a middle path that embraced both. It united Hindu devotion (Bhakti) and Sufi (Islam) mysticism most successfully. He taught the unity of God, brotherhood of man, rejection of caste, and the futility of idol worship. He was followed by nine masters, the last of whom was Guru Gobind Singh (1666 - 1708; Guru 1675 - 1708). The holiest place for Sikhs is the Golden Temple at Amritsar, Punjab, India. The fourth Guru, Rämdäs (Guru 1574 - 1581), founded it. The fifth guru Arjundev (Guru 1581 - 1606) gave Sikhism its holy book, the Granth Sahib or Adi Granth, which contains hymns and writings of the first five Sikh gurus as well as those of Hindu and Muslim saints such as Kabir, Ravidas, Surdäs, Farid, and Rämänand. Like Islam, Sikhs object to the worship of images. The sacred image is replaced by a large copy of the scripture - Guru Granth Sahib or Adi Granth. Sikhism began as a peaceful religion and patiently bore much
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