Religion Field Project - Essay Example

Religion: Field Project It is a difficult task to enumerate the religions and cultures in the world. Even more surprising is the fact that each of them looks totally different from the rest due to a large number of specific features. One such religion which is known for unique features is Sikhism. In order to understand this religion deeply, I conducted an interview with Mr. Jagjeet Singh, a practitioner of this religion. Mr. Jagjeet Singh is a student of Masters in Microbiology at New York University. As I approached him, he was happy to share his knowledge with me. Firstly, he said about his family. He came to the U.S a year ago for studies. He belonged to an agricultural family in Jalandhar district of Punjab, a Northern state of India. His whole family follows Sikh religion. There were certainly interesting features in the appearance of my interviewee. Firstly, he had a turban covering his head and a bangle. From his communication, I also realized that he is a pure vegetarian. From the communication with him, I realized that Sikhism is one of the youngest religions in the world, with an age of fewer than seven hundred years. Also, I learned that this religion is a minority in India as the religion is mainly confined to the states of Punjab and Haryana and certain parts of the present-day Pakistan. My first attempt was to learn the history of this religion. Jagjeet Singh pointed out that Sikhism had its birth in the state of Punjab in the 15th century. In order to do the further study about the religion, I visited the website Sikhs.org. I learned from the website that Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak Dev who was born in 1469 at Talwandi. This place is presently in Pakistan. Guru Nanak Dev exhibited very deep inspiration in the case of religion and he started questioning the various social establishments of that time. (Sikhism, Sikhs.org). The main intention of the interview was to identify the fundamental principles in which Sikh people believe. I asked Jagjeet to briefly describe the basic principles of Sikhism. He pointed out that Sikhism does not claim the presence of a different God. Instead, it claims that God is one and that all humans are equal. To check the feasibility of this claim, I searched various sources. I learned that Guru Nanak Dev, along with his companion Mardana-a Muslim minstrel, wandered the area urging for improvement in the existing social situations. They spread three basic principles; ‘Naam Japna’, ‘Vand Chakko’, and ‘Kirat Karo’. ‘Naam Japna’ means to remember God through meditation and ‘Vand Chakko’ means promoting selfless service and being ready to share one’s income with others. Similarly, ‘Kirat Karo’ indicates working hard and honestly to earn a good living. After Guru Nanak, there were a number of Gurus. The first one among them was Guru Angad Dev. He was followed by Guru Amardas, Guru Ramdas, Guru Arjun Dev, Guru Hargobind, Guru Har Rai, Guru Harkrishan, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and Guru Gobind Singh. The basic principles of Sikh faith are contained in the book ‘Guru Granth Sahib’ compiled by the 5th Guru Guru Arjun Dev. The highest religious place of Sikhs is located at Amritsar in Punjab. The temple is called ‘Harmandar Sahib’ or ‘Golden Temple’. The temple was constructed in the first half of seventeenth century by Guru Arjun Dev. More information regarding the origin and culture of the Sikhs can be found in the BBC Religions website (Origins of Sikhism). Jagjeet Singh revealed the fact that due to misconceptions, people who belong to this religion often come under attack for their unique dress codes. In fact, the special codes of conduct for Sikhs are set by their 5th Guru. There are five essential attributes a true Sikh should wear. The first one is Kesh (hair), followed by a hairbrush known as Kangha, Kada (iron bangle), Kirpan (sword), and Katch (cotton loincloth). As a result of this special dress code as suggested by the 5th Guru, the people who belong to Sikh religion never cut their hair. While males of this religion cover their hair using a turban, females cover their head using ‘chunni', a kind of long scarf. It was revealed by Jagjeet Singh that people who belong to Sikh religion consider it as an insult to remove these five essential things from their body in public. Thus, they often have frictions with security forces as they travel outside India. The same information is provided by famous Sikh historian Khushwant Singh (2005); he also points out that it is satisfying to note that presently, more and more Sikh security personnel in various police departments are allowed to wear their turbans while on duty (p. 122). The mystery to be solved at this juncture was how it is possible that this religion is often linked to violence and terrorism. My interviewee revealed that a true Sikh could never become a terrorist as Sikhism is basically against violence in the name of religion. The first point provided by him to support his claim is that the religion only promotes three basic principles; they are selfless service to all, remembering God, and working hard to earn an honest living. As I probed further, it became evident that the religion urges its people to share everything; not just within the community but with all people irrespective of their caste and creed. Also, the religion does not claim that the love of God is limited to Sikhs. In order to further strengthen his point of view, Jagjeet Singh pointed out that Guru Nanak had never urged people to convert to Sikhism nor had he said Sikhism was a separate religion. On the other hand, the fundamental principle he taught was to become good human beings. In the case of Hindus, the direction was to spin the thread of satisfaction from the cotton of enthusiasm. Also, Gurus taught them to practice self-control and goodness. Thus, Jagjeet Singh proved beyond doubt that the leaders never wanted to establish it as a separate religion or to convert people from other religion to Sikhism. Instead, it was a way of reform and Sikhism is a way of life, which promotes equality and unity. In other words, Sikhism was founded as a way to free people from the clutches of various unwanted social and religious practices, enabling them to think freely and live independently. Thus, Sikhism stands tall in the fact that it does not insist that Sikhs get the special position in front of God. Instead, it claims that all people are equal. Jagjeet Singh further elaborated how the concept of equality and sharing are promoted through various Sikh practices, and the one which caught my special attention was that of ‘langar’ or community meal. From research, I found that all the Gurus of Sikhism ensured that service of distribution is promoted to the maximum extent. In order to teach that all people on earth belong to one big family, the people who came to listen to their discourses were made to sit together in rows and eat irrespective of their caste, rank, creed or color. Even these days, all the Gurudwaras have a ‘langar hall’ attached to them and all people are served free food in these free kitchens. Also, he pointed out that the expenses for such free food are met through voluntary contributions (Sikhs.org.) Admittedly, it was a surprising fact for me that this young religion with very few members has such great principles at its foundation. Instead of promoting sectarianism, this religion tells people to forget the differences and respect others. Furthermore, it teaches the value of hard work and honest living. More importantly, it teaches people to share and respect other religions. Thus, it became crystal clear that it is irrational to link Sikhism to terrorism on the basis of the unique code of conduct. Thus, I gained the insight that most of the prejudices people possess about other cultures and religions are the result of lack of interaction and communication. References Sikhism. (n.d.). Sikhs.org. retrieved from http://www.sikhs.org/ Origins of Sikhism. (n.d.). BBC Religions. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/history/history_1.shtml Singh, K. (2005). A History of the Sikhs: 1839-2004. Oxford University Press. Read More