Hinduism and Sikhism: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Temple Golden.jpg|thumb|Sikhism did not evolve a distinct theology of its own like [[Jainism]] or [[Buddhism]]. It accepted a form of Vaishnavite Hinduism, giving it a new emphasis. Basically the gurus' teachings were Vedantic. Therefore there was not the same kind of breach from Hinduism as in the cases of Jainism and Buddhism. Sikhism accepted the Hindu code of conduct, its theory of the origin of the world, the purpose of life, the purpose of religion, samsara, the theory of birth-death-rebirth-these were taken in their entirety from Hinduism. ~ Khushwant Singh]]
Fresco of Guru NanakGuru Nanak regarded Hindu and Islamic beliefs as ‘fundamentally wrong', and that the religion of Guru Nanak is not a synthesis of Hindu and Islamic beliefs. We know indeed that Guru Nanak looks upon contemporary religion in terms of the Brahmanical, the ascetical and the Islamic tradition; all the three stand bracketed, and none of them is authoritative for Guru Nanak. ~W.H. McLeod]]▼
[[File:Maharaja ranjit singh1.jpg|thumb|He worshipped as much in Hindu temples as he did in gurudwaras. When he was sick and about to die, he gave away cows for charity. What did he do with the diamond Kohi-noor? He did not want to give it to the Darbar Sahib at Amritsar which he built in marble and gold, but to Jagannath Puri as his farewell gift. When he had the Afghans at his mercy and wrested Kashmir from them, he wanted the gates of the [[temple of Somnath]] back from them. Why should he be making all these Hindu demands? Whatever the breakaway that had been achieved from Hinduism, this greatest of our monarchs bridged in 40 years. ~ Khushwant Singh]]
|It has been usual to regard the Sikhs as essentially Hindu... yet in religious faith and worldly aspiration, they are wholly different from other Indians, and they are bound together by an objective unknown elsewhere. ~ Joseph D. Cunningham]]▼
[[File:Boa constrictor coiled.jpg|thumb|Max Arthur Macauliffe... told the Sikhs that Hinduism was like a "boa constrictor of the Indian forests," which "winds its opponent and finally causes it to disappear in its capacious interior." The Sikhs "may go that way," he warned. He was pained to see that the Sikhs regarded themselves as Hindus which was, "in direct opposition to the teachings of the Gurus." He put words into the mouth of the Gurus and invented prophecies by them which anticipated the advent of the white race to whom the Sikhs would be loyal. ~ Ram Swarup]]
▲[[File:GuruNanakFresco-Goindwal.jpg||thumb|alt=Fresco of Guru NanakGuru Nanak regarded Hindu and Islamic beliefs as ‘fundamentally wrong', and that the religion of Guru Nanak is not a synthesis of Hindu and Islamic beliefs. We know indeed that Guru Nanak looks upon contemporary religion in terms of the Brahmanical, the ascetical and the Islamic tradition; all the three stand bracketed, and none of them is authoritative for Guru Nanak. ~W.H. McLeod]]
▲[[File:Temple Golden.jpg|thumb|It has been usual to regard the Sikhs as essentially Hindu... yet in religious faith and worldly aspiration, they are wholly different from other Indians, and they are bound together by an objective unknown elsewhere. ~ Joseph D. Cunningham]]
[[Image:The_Rig_Veda.jpg|right|thumb|The Guru sahib had rejected the Vedas calling them creators of discord, preachers of sin and a treasure of worldly greed that takes one away from God. And he had called the followers of the Vedas as selfish liars who shall be punished by angels of death. ~ Pandit Kartar Singh Dakha]]
[[File:Guru.Nanak.with.Hindu.holymen-a.jpg|right|thumb|]]
[[File:19th century Janam Sakhi, Guru Nanak meets the Vishnu devotee Praladh.jpg|right|thumb|]]
Sikhism|Hinduism and Sikhism]]''' have numerous differences but also share some philosophical concepts such as Karma, Dharma, Mukti, Maya and Saṃsāra. Guru Nanak criticized bad rituals and practices and told to see God from within themselves instead of belief in idols and other imaginery images.▼
▲'''[[w:Hinduism and Sikhism|Hinduism and Sikhism]]''' (religions of the Indian subcontinent) have numerous differences but also share some philosophical concepts such as Karma, Dharma, Mukti, Maya and Saṃsāra. Guru Nanak criticized bad rituals and practices and told to see God from within themselves instead of belief in idols and other imaginery images.
==Quotes==▼
▲==Quotes==
*Guru Nanak regarded Hindu and Islamic beliefs as ‘fundamentally wrong', and that the religion of Guru Nanak is not a synthesis of Hindu and Islamic beliefs. We know indeed that Guru Nanak looks upon contemporary religion in terms of the Brahmanical, the ascetical and the Islamic tradition; all the three stand bracketed, and none of them is authoritative for Guru Nanak.
**McLeod, W.H., Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1968.
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* Cliches of this kind, stereotypes of this kind, divide us....In other cases—much of the writing of British scholars on Sikhism around the turn of the century is a case ii point— thegeneralisation is set forth as part of a design. The title of the then Lt Governor, M..Macauliffe's work tells its tale, ''A Lecture om the Sikh Religion and its Advantages to the State''. He is candid about the impetus of the new approach:<br>At former [census] enumerations village Sikhs in their ignorance generally recorded themselves as Hindus, as indeed they virtually were. With the experience gained by time, a sharp line of demarcation has now been drawn between Sikhs and Hindus...<br> The cliches, the stereotypes were part of a conscious policy by which to further imperialist interests.
**Macauliffe quoted in Arun Shourie, Religion in Politics, page 321
* To early European writers, it did not occur to regard Sikhism as different from Hinduism, an observation which agreed with the Sikhs’ own self-perception. The fashion to regard them as distinct belonged to the future of a more defined imperialist purpose.
**Ram Swarup, Hinduism and monotheistic religions (2009)
*Indeed, we are face to face with a strange kind of Sikhism. The Sikh Gurus had worked and fought for the resurgence of Hinduism but now we are told that this resurgence is precisely the cause of Sikh uneasiness. Guru Govind Singh started sending Sikh Gyanis to Varanasi to learn Sanskrit and to study the Epics, the Puranas and other classics to understand the Adi Granth itself, but the neo-Akali ideologues find Sanskrit and these classics objectionable. Maharaja Ranjit Singh banned cow-killing in his kingdom and a hundred Sikhs were blown to smithereens by the British because they stood for cow-protection, but now it is an anathema to secularist Akali scholars. The fact is that it is not the old Sikhism of the Gurus but a new version of it which has been taking shape under the impact of very different ideological and political forces that we are meeting. This neo-Akalism is a child of self-alienation and spiritual illiteracy and it, is at odd not only with Hinduism but for that very reason with Sikhism itself.
** Quoted from the preface by Ram Swarup in Gurbachan, S. T. S., & Swarup, R. (1991). Muslim League attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947.
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