Post 6

Sikhism began in the early 1600’s by a guru currently known as Nanak. Nanak was the first of 10 acknowledged gurus. Nanak is responsible for the creation of the Sikhism religion itself. Sikhism was needed during this time period; it has been said that Muslims and Buddhists needed to find a common ground. The only loophole that accompanies this idea is that Nanak says that there are no Muslim and Buddhist religions. Therefore Sikhism may be a combination of the two religions and many more, but Sikhism was not created as a bridge between the two primary religions at that time. Sikhism is currently considered a world religion. Although Sikhism began as a small gathering of people at Kartarpur and followed the Sant traditions, it has transformed itself into a religion that claims twenty million followers. The religion Sikhism reached its status as a world religion because of its religious writings, unique style and claims to a homeland; although these are not the only reasons.
Sikhism has survived many changes in leadership along with basic principles over the years. Sikhism may be one of the newest world religions but many people follow it. Although there have been changes to ideals the 5k’s have managed to stay consistent, with the option of obeying them in certain sects or branches of Sikhism. The 5k’s are kesh- long hair wrapped in a turban, kanga- a comb placed in the kesh, kara- a silver or bronze bracelet (silver representing strength), kaach- short briefs and finally kirpan- a sword for protection and to demonstrate that Sikhs are not afraid to fight for their religion (this last k has become optional depending on what sect a person follows, the non-violent sects do not wear swords). Even though there have been changes within the religion it has changed in order to survive the elements that surround the religion and its people. After Nanak passed away and designated his successor guru, Angad, no changes were noted during Angad’s time. From this point forward each leader had a new difficulty or continued issue that needed to be attended to. The changes mostly resulted from the Sikhs trying to adapt to the surrounding societal pressures. Some of the leaders built satsangs for Sikhs to hold services at, some of the gurus needed to protect the Sikhs from other religions and regions from destroying the religion so they adapted a more militant way of life. The Sikhs had to relocate multiple times and continued to stay strong even after the death of the tenth guru Gobind Singh. Gobind Singh had four children all of whom died in battle protecting the Sikhs. The only option left for Gobind Singh was to make the Holy Scriptures themselves the eleventh guru which still holds true today. Although some sects of Sikhism believe that an actual physical live guru needs to exist besides the text.
Sikhism is a perfect demonstration of how religions will adapt and change their ways and beliefs depending on the demands placed upon it by society. Maybe not all religions have such drastic changes (or maybe they have not occurred yet, for example scientific discoveries) but every religion has been altered in some way shape or form in order to meet the demands of the society and to withstand the changes in time and societies beliefs.