Sikh practices

Sikh practices are simple, precise and practical guidelines laid out by the Gurus for the practice of the "Sikh way of life". The Gurus emphasise that a Sikh should lead a disciplined life engaged in Naam Simran, meditation on God's name, Kirat Karni, living an honest life of a house-holder, and Wand kay Shako, sharing what one has with the community. This translates into hard work, honest living, love of fellow humans and through them service of the God, the primal power. This way of life is said to have been stripped of complications, myths, jargon, rituals and exploitation of man by man in the name of religion. No benefits are gained by where and to which family the person is born to – All have to undertake the rigours of Simran (meditation) and Sewa (selfless service) to progress spiritually. The Sri Guru Granth Sahib asks the Sikh to "Practice truth, contentment and kindness; this is the most excellent way of life. One who is so blessed by the Formless Lord God renounces selfishness, and becomes the dust of all. (3) ( [SGGS] page 51 (1))

Guru Nanak

Guru Nanak  pronunciation  (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; Hindi: गुरु नानक, Urdu: گرونانک, [ˈɡʊɾu ˈnɑnək] Gurū Nānak) (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539) was the founder Prophet of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated world-wide as Guru Nanak Gurpurab on Kartik Pooranmashi, the full-moon day in the month of Katak, October–November.

Guru Nanak has been called "one of the greatest religious innovators of all time", who was "an original spiritual thinker who expressed his thoughts and experiences via extraordinary poetry", that now forms the basis of Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib. Devoting himself immensely to spiritual matters, Nanak is said to have been inspired by a "powerful spiritual experience that gave him a vision of the true nature of God". Stating that he had been taken to the "God's court" and bestowed with the gift of "Naam" (the Name or Word of God), Guru Nanak preached that human spiritual growth was achievable through contemplation and meditation and through a way of living that reflected the presence of the divine within all human beings, and insisted that external efforts such as fastings, pilgrimages and penances carried little spiritual importance.

Guru

Guru (Sanskrit: गुरु. IAST: guru) is a Sanskrit term that connotes someone who is a "teacher, guide or master" of certain knowledge. In pan-Indian traditions, guru is someone more than a teacher, traditionally a reverential figure to the student, with the guru serving as a "counselor, who helps mold values, shares experiential knowledge as much as literal knowledge, an exemplar in life, an inspirational source and who helps in the spiritual evolution of a student." The term also refers to someone who primarily is one's spiritual guide, who helps one to discover the same potentialities that the guru has already realized.

The oldest references to the concept of guru are found in the earliest Vedic texts of Hinduism. The guru, and gurukul – a school run by guru, were an established tradition in India by the 1st millennium BCE, and these helped compose and transmit the various Vedas, the Upanishads, texts of various schools of Hindu philosophy, and post-Vedic Shastras ranging from spiritual knowledge to various arts. By about mid 1st millennium CE, archaeological and epigraphical evidence suggest numerous larger institutions of gurus existed in India, some near Hindu temples, where guru-shishya tradition helped preserve, create and transmit various fields of knowledge. These gurus led broad ranges of studies including Hindu scriptures, Buddhist texts, grammar, philosophy, martial arts, music and painting.

Guru Granth Sahib

Sri Guru Granth Sahib (Punjabi (Gurmukhi): ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, pronounced [ɡʊɾu ɡɾəntʰ sɑhɪb]) is the central religious text of Sikhism, considered by Sikhs to be the final, sovereign and everlasting Guru following the lineage of the 10 Gurus (Prophet-Masters) of the religion. A text of 1430 Angs (pages), composed poetically to various classical Ragas, it consists of Baani (spiritual revelations) describing the qualities of God and the necessity for meditation on God's nām (holy name) as a means to harness God-like qualities, leading to a reunion with the creator. Described as a "universal revelation", a text that speaks to the "hearts and searching minds of persons belonging to any religion or of none", and a text that affirms the "essential unity of science and religion", the Guru Granth Sahib is universally regarded by Sikhs as having have been revealed directly from the divine, an aspect that has been attested to by the Sikh Gurus themselves in many of their verses.

Unique amongst the world's major religious scriptures, while compiling the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Gurus incorporated not only their own writings, but also included the writings of other contemporary Saints from Hinduism and Islam (including Saints who belonged to the lowest strata of untouchables in the Hindu Caste System) who believed in the unity of God and denounced superstition and caste. The Guru Granth Sahib was also composed and compiled by the Sikh Gurus themselves, rather than being compiled by their adherents and followers, an aspect that has been highlighted by historian-scholars while discussing the authenticity of the preachings of the different Prophets of the world, as known to mankind today.

Guru Gobind Singh

Guru Gobind Singh (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ  pronunciation  (22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), revered as The Tenth Nanak, Sarbans Dani ("The merciful donor, who sacrificed his all"), Mard Agamra ("A Man without any parallels") and Shah-e-Shahenshah ("The Emperor of Emperors") was the Tenth Guru (Prophet-Master) of Sikhism.

Guru Gobind Singh was born in the year 1666 as Gobind Rai, to the ninth Guru of Sikhism, Guru Teg Bahadur, and Mata Gujri, at Patna Sahib. He ascended to become the Tenth Sikh Guru at the young age of nine, following the martyrdom of his father and Ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, who been approached by Hindu Brahmins from Kashmir to seek his intercession against the religious fanaticism of the Mughal empire's General Iftikar Khan. At the innocent behest of the nine year old Gobind Rai (who had remarked that "None could be worthier than you, father, to make a supreme sacrifice"), Guru Tegh Bahadur had courted death and was publicly executed at the imperial capital Delhi in the year 1675.