Thanks for joining me here on another episode of FTD facts, my name is Leroy Kenton and I'm sharing ten surprising facts about
Sikhism Sikhism is a very distinct religion
So let's get right into the facts starting with number 10 all the way down to number one Sikhism is the world's fifth largest
religion the religion was founded by a Guru Nanak and it's based on his teachings and the teachings of nine other Sikh gurus who followed
Him guru nanak was born in 1469 in what is now Pakistan at the age of thirty?
He disappeared for three days and when he reappeared he began to preach the sikh faith and he spent the rest of his life
Teaching writing and traveling around the world to discuss religion with muslims and hindus guru
Nanak has been called one of the greatest religious innovators of all time
So the next fact about Sikhism that I want to look at is there are ten gurus in the Sikh faith
Of course including Guru Nanak the founder of Sikhism. The other gurus are grew on God guru amardas
guru ramdas guru
Arjun dev guru har Gobind
Guru har AI guru har Krishna guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh
Who was the last human guru, another non-human Guru exists, but I'll get to that in a bit
so keep on watching the universal symbol of Sikhism is the
Conda and it's the double-edged sword flanked by two daggers and this represents worldly and spiritual powers
Bound by the oneness of God. Also the Sikh scripture is a book called Guru Granth Sahib
The book is a collection of teachings and general guidelines for how Sikhs should live their lives
The book is by guru nanak as well as other gurus the scriptures are written in the Punjabi language
And are greatly respected by Sikhs all over the world
You'll find that when you visit a goood whare which is a place of worship for the Sikhs
the holy book is kept on a raised platform and it's
Covered the Sikhs take their shoes off in the presence of the holy book as well as at every major Sikh festival
They read the book all the way through which takes him around 48 hours
Another fact about the holy book is so the 10th guru gobind singh has the last guru of the sikhs in human form
He appointed the sacred adi granth meaning the first book to be his successor
So that after him there would be no more human gurus
The ADI Granth is usually called the Guru Granth Sahib as I just mentioned in
Recognition that it's the embodiment of the Guru. He also created the Khalsa which is a spiritual brotherhood and sisterhood
Devoted to purity of thought and action
he gave the Khalsa a distinctive external form to remind them of their commitment and to help them maintain an
elevated state of consciousness
Half way in as I mentioned the community of men and women who have been initiated
into the Sikh faith is known as the Khalsa which means
Community of the pure in order to become a Sikh and join the kalsa people need to follow the five
K's and let me spell them out for you
There's catch meaning you must have uncut here as a mark of holiness and submission to God's well
Then there's a kanga and that's the name of a small wooden comb in the hair as a sign of cleanliness
There's also khara which is a steel bracelet
Which is a reminder that a Sikh is connected to God
Then the cachoeira is the short cotton underwear and the kirpan you got to keep the sword for your protection
Another important fact is that anywhere the Guru Granth Sahib is kept is a Sikh place of worship
Now this could be a separate building altogether or just a room
It's called a good whare meaning the Gateway to the Guru
Seek services are generally held on Sundays and they are based on the writings of the Guru Granth Sahib
Together with chanting and prayers from the Guru's known as kirtan
there are also four doors into a good whare and they're known as
The door of peace the door of livelihood the door of learning and the door of grace
These doors are a symbol that people from all four points of the compass
All around the world are welcome. And that members of all castes are equally welcome
there's always a light on in Gurdwara to show that the gurus light is always visible and accessible to everyone at
anytime the purpose of the doors is to symbolize the openness of the Sikhs towards all people from all different backgrounds all races all
cultures and all religions now the second last fact, I wanna share is the concept of God, so it's completely different in Sikhism than other
Mainstream religions God is known as econ car or one constant. It's found in the Gurmukhi
Scripture that God has no gender in Sikhism. Although translations may depict a male God
It's also referred to as a CALPIRG which means beyond time and space and referred to as neuron car
which means without form it's kind of tribute to hear God being referred to as it though because
Normally, we hear God being described using he or him and the final fact on a share in this episode about Sikhism
Is that the central Sikh shrine is the Harmandir Sahib?
Located in Amritsar, India
Which is also known as the Golden Temple the fifth guru Arjun designed the golden temple
And he was a person responsible for collecting the teachings of the Guru's into a sacred book
Which is a Guru Granth Sahib?
The Sikhs also have five seats of authority known as talks which literally means a throne or seat of authority
there are five gurdwaras that have special significance for the Sikh community as well the first and the most important one is the
Alcohol talk which literally?
Translates into the throne of a timeless God and it's situated directly across from the Golden Temple
What a very interesting religion now if you made it this far in this episode
Then I also have a video that I recommend for you just for you. They'll be on your screen right here
And also I'll have a link to it down below in the video description box as well
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