An Overview of Sikhism

On Wednesday April 30^th I decided to attend the lecture about the religion of Sikhism.  Although I had to miss a class to attend this lecture, I was very pleased with my decision, especially when I saw that Dr. Daniel Veidlinger was giving the speech.  I had Dr. Veidlinger as a professor when I studied Buddhism here CSU Chico, and I have to say that he presented the religion of Buddhism to me that it made me want to learn about the other religions around the world.  I have to admit, that before this presentation I knew very little about the Sikh religion.  Every time I read about the Sikh religion in “Jasmine,” I would highlight it and tell myself that I was going to do a little research on it because I enjoy religious studies, but sadly I never got around to it.  However, after this short talk by Dr. Veidlinger, I would consider myself much more knowledgeable regarding the subject. 

Dr. Veidlinger prepared a presentation about the origins, history, culture, and beliefs of the Sikh.  I was very surprised to learn that there were only about 25 million Sikhs worldwide.  Because I have met quite a few Sikhs in my lifetime, a good amount of them here at Chico State, I assumed there would be more then just 25 million around the world.  25 million is by no means a small number, but Sikhism was originated in India, which boasts a population of well over one billion people.  We learned that the Sacramento Valley area is very similar in climate to the area of India that Sikh originated in, therefore a lot of Sikh immigrants chose this area to be their new home in the United States.

The Sikh religion was founded in the year 1499 by Guru Nanak.  Guru Nanak wanted  to find similarities between Hinduism and Muslim.  I found the religion of Sikhism to be very interesting because it seemed to borrow a lot of the other good ideals from other religions.  For example it promoted equality, which is something that Christianity teaches.  I think this was important in a religion based in India because of how much of Indian culture is based on the caste system because of Hinduism.  I also noticed a lot of similarities between Sikh and Buddhism.  Sikhs believe in a system of reincarnation based on the idea of Karma, which is a core belief in the religion of Buddhism.  Buddhists and Sikhs also share the idea of enlightenment.

Although this was a very short presentation, I felt that Dr. Veidlinger did a good job of outlining the basics of this interesting religion.  It was also nice to have a question and answer period afterwards where we could ask some Sikhs about their views of their religion in the modern world.  I think its very important that we study the world’s religions because of how influential they can be in so many peoples everyday lives.