Guru

A guru (गुरू Sanskrit) is a teacher in Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Based on a long line of philosophical understandings of the importance of knowledge, guru is seen in these religions as a sacred conduit, or a way to self-realization. In India and among people of Hindu, Buddhist, or Sikh belief, the title retains a hallowed meaning.

Guru in Sikhism

The title Guru is extremely fundamental to the religion of the Sikhs. Indeed, the Sikhs carried the meaning of the word to an even greater level of abstraction, while retaining the original usage, to apply to understanding of imparted knowledge through any medium.

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Sikhism comes from the word Sikh, which means a strong and able Guru disciple. The core beliefs of Sikhism are: belief in one God and the teachings of the Ten Gurus, enshrined in Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book.

Related Topics:
Sikhism - Ten Gurus - Guru Granth Sahib

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Guru Nanak, the first guru of Sikhism, was opposed to the caste system prevalent at his time in India and accepted Hindus, Muslims and people from other religions as disciples. His followers referred to him as the Guru (teacher). Before his death he designated a new Guru to be his successor and to lead the Sikh community. This procedure was continued, and the tenth and last Guru, Guru Gobind (AD 1666–1708) initiated the Sikh ceremony in AD 1699.

Related Topics:
Guru Nanak - Guru Gobind

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For Sikhs, the Gurus were not in the Christian sense “Sons of God”. Sikhism says we are all the children of God and by deduction, God is our mother/father.

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Guru Nanak in speaking about God, says:

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:There is but One God, His name is Truth, He is the Creator, He fears none, he is without hate, He never dies, He is beyond the cycle of births and death, He is self illuminated, He is realized by the kindness of the True Guru. He was True in the beginning, He was True when the ages commenced and has ever been True, He is also True now.

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On the importance of guru, Nanak says: Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore.

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The Gurus of Sikhism

In addition to the Ten Gurus of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib was made the eleventh perpetual guru of Sikhs. Together they make up the Eleven Gurus of Sikhism

Related Topics:
The Ten Gurus of Sikhism - Guru Granth Sahib - Sikh

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