The sacred text and last Guru of Sikhism, Guru Granth Sahib, teaches humans how to unite with the all cosmic soul; with God, the creator: "Only those who selflessly love everyone, they alone shall find God."
Jaap Sahib — a morning prayer consisting of an introductory sloka, 38 stanzas (pauris), and a concluding sloka attributed by some to Guru Angad.
Tav-Prasad Savaiye (or Amrit Savaiye) — short composition of 10 stanzas, as part of nitnem
Sarbloh Granth — a voluminous scripture consisting of more than 6,500 poetic stanzas, considered as amalgamation of the writings of poets including Guru Gobind Singh.
Varan Bhai Gurdas — the name given to the 40 vaars (a form of Punjabi poetry) wrriten attributed by Bhai Gurdas, providing early concepts of Sikhism and Sikh living.[6]
Sloka — 'stanza'; the Sanskrit epic metre formed of 32 syllables: verses of 2 lines (distich) of 16 syllables each or in 4 half-lines (hemistich) of 8 syllables each.
Amrit — elixir of immortality; the sanctified nectar or sugar water substitute used in ceremonies. It is prepared by stirring it in an iron bowl with the double-edged sword and continuous recitation of five banis by the five selected members of the Khalsa.
Dasvand — a kind of Sikh tithe; the act of donating 10% of one's harvest, both financially and in the form of time and service (i.e., seva) to the Gurdwara and community.
Five Ks — five articles of faith worn by baptised, or khalsa, Sikhs:
Cutting, trimming, shaving or removing hairs from one's body — Sikhs practice kesh, allowing their hair to grow out naturally in respect to God's creation
Anand Karaj ('blissful union, joyful union') — the Sikh marriage ceremony, first introduced by Guru Amar Das.
Akhand Path — continuous reading of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, either in honour of a particular occasion or simply to increase one's feeling of connection to God. Akhand Paths can be held, for example, in honour of a birth/birthday, wedding/anniversary, recovery from a medical operation, death, or a historic occasion; to celebrate the achievement of a goal such as a graduation or passing the driving test; or in chasing away evil spirits and curses, etc.
The Harmandir Sahib (or Golden Temple) is the holy shrine of Sikhs; the spiritual and cultural center of the Sikh religion, found in Amritsar. The Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is the organization responsible for the management of gurdwaras in the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh, and the union territory of Chandigarh
1746 — Chhota Ghallughara ('small massacre') — a massacre of a significant proportion of the Sikh population by the Mughal Empire, in which Jaspat Rai's brother Lakhpat Rai with the Mughal army killed an estimated 7,000 Sikhs died.
1762 — Vadda Ghalughara ('large massacre') — a mass-murder of unarmed Sikhs by the Afghan forces of the Durrani Empire, during the years of Afghan influence in the Punjab region.
Gurmukh — a person who is spiritually centered. A person who lives within the will of God and accepts all good and bad that happens to one's self without question or annoyance. A gurmukh stands in contrast to a manmukh.
Sardar — a word contemporarily used to address or denote a turban-wearing Sikh male. The term initially used by Sikh leaders and generals who held important positions in various Sikh Misls of the Sikh Empire.
Kaur ('princess') — the middle name or surname given to Sikh females
Singh ('lion') — the middle name or surname given to Sikh males
Udasi — a religious sect of ascetic sadhus who were key interpreters of the Sikh philosophy and the custodians of important Sikh shrines until the Akali movement. Modern-day udasis consider themselves more to be Hindu rather than Sikhs.
Guru Nanak Dev — According to the traditional historical Sikh sources Guru Nanak Dev appeared on earth in the month of Katak Oct/November 1469 which is celebrated every year in the month of October/November. The SGPC which was founded in 1925, states the avtar date as 15 April 1469. The Sikhs believe that all subsequent Gurus possessed Guru Nanak's divinity and the one spirit of Akaal Purakh Waheguru.[16]
Guru Angad Dev (1504–52) — disciple of Guru Nanak Dev and second of the ten Sikh Gurus.
Guru Amar Das (1479–1574) — third of the ten Sikh Gurus.
Guru Ram Das ( 1534–81) — fourth of the ten Sikh Gurus.
Guru Arjan Dev (1563–1605) — fifth of the ten Sikh Gurus. He was arrested and executed by Jahangir in 1605.[17]
Guru Har Gobind (1596–1638) — son of Guru Arjan Dev and the sixth of the ten Sikh Gurus.
Guru Har Rai (1630–61) — grandson of Guru Har Gobind and seventh of the ten Sikh Gurus.
Guru Har Krishan (1656–64) — son of Guru Har Rai and eighth of the ten Sikh Gurus.
Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–75) — grand uncle of Guru Har Krishan and ninth of the ten Sikh Gurus. He was executed on the orders of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi.[18]
Guru Gobind Singh(1666–1708) — son of Guru Tegh Bahadur and tenth of the ten Sikh Gurus. He named the holy scripture, as his successor
Guru Granth Sahib — the spiritual religious text of Sikhism, said to be the sole and final successor of the line of gurus. It is the eternal living Guru.[19] the final and eternal guru of the Sikhs.[20]
Panj Pyare (or Panj Piare; literally 'five beloved ones') — the title given to five Sikhs by Guru Gobind Singh at the historic divan at Anandpur Sahib on 30 March 1699, forming the nucleus of the Khalsa as the first batch to receive at his hands Khanda di Pahul (i.e. rites of the two-edged sword). These five Sikhs were:
^Takhar, Opinderjit Kaur (2016). Sikh Identity: An Exploration of Groups Among Sikhs. Routledge. ISBN9781351900102. Since the Sikh concept of the divine is panentheistic, the divine is always greater than the created universe, its systems such as karma and samsara, and all phenomena within it. In Sikhism, due to the sovereignty of God, the doctrines of Nadar and Hukam override all systems, both concepts reinforcing panentheism. Hence one becomes a jivanmukt only in accordance with the Hukam.
^Reynolds, William M.; Webber, Julie A. (2004). Expanding Curriculum Theory: Dis/positions and Lines of Flight. Routledge. p. 90. ISBN9781135621278. Like the God-of-process theologians in the West (Whitehead, Cobb, Griffin, Hartshorne), the God of Sikhism is a dynamic God, a process moving within humankind, pervasive within the hearts of people, yet transcendent and eternal. The Sikh God is one with whom devotees become wholly absorbed: "As the fish, I find the life of absorption in the water that is God" (Sri Guru Granth. 1988, p. 166). As the fish is absorbed in the water that is God, the soul is absorbed in the lightness that is God. The fish, even though absorbed in the water that is God, does not lose its fishness, its fish identity-formation, even though absorbed in the light that is God. A panentheistic system, such as Sikhsim, allows the soul to retain its soulness while merging with God. The soul, in other words, is not identical with God, even after merging with God, but one might say God is part of the soul. A strict identity soul = God is incarnationism and this is considered anathema in Sikhism. The Granth uses the beloved/lover metaphor for the relation of the self to God. God is the beloved and the devo tee is the lover. The lover retains her identity yet merges with her beloved.
^Singh, Pashaura; Mandair, Arvind-Pal Singh (2023). The Sikh world. London New York: Routledge. ISBN9780429848384. In looking at the teachings of the Gurus as a whole, it seems that Lourdunathan overstates the degree to which Sikh scripture is anti-monistic. Guru Nanak famously referred to the world as a "palace of smoke" (GGS: 138) and made countless references to the idea of maya (Illusion). While the Gurus did not teach a radical nondualism, it is perhaps more accurate to suggest that some aspects of Sikh thought constitute a qualified nondualism (in which Creator and Creation are part of the same whole) (GGS: 125) or panentheism (in which the Creator pervades the natural world) (GGS: 24), while many others are monotheistic, including passages in Japji Sahib, where God is described as the King of Kings (GGS: 6). These different interpretations lend themselves to varying understandings of the relationship between the natural world and divinity.
^Adherents.com. "Religions by adherents". Archived from the original on April 21, 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-09.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^The foreign policy of Pakistan: ethnic impacts on diplomacy, 1971–1994. ISBN1-86064-169-5. Mehtab Ali Shah: "Such is the political, psychological and religious attachment of the Sikhs to that city that a Khalistan without Lahore would be like a Germany without Berlin."
^Amritsar to Lahore: a journey across the India-Pakistan border. Stephen Alter. ISBN0-8122-1743-8 "Ever since the separatist movement gathered force in the 1980s, Pakistan has sided with the Sikhs, even though the territorial ambitions of Khalistan include Lahore and sections of the Punjab on both sides of the border."
