Sikhism - Gurus

1. Guru means teacher, honoured person, religious person or saint.

2. There were ten Sikh gurus starting with Guru Nanak in 1469 and ending with Guru Gobind Singh in 1708.

3. After that time, the title guru refers to the Sikh holy scriptures, the Guru Granth Sahib.

4. Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh religion, was born in 1469 near Lahore.

5. Many things happened to Nanak in his early life that showed God had marked him out for something special.

6. One day he had an experience that changed his life - he was bathing in the river and did not come back up to the surface.

7. His family and friends looked everywhere, but could not find him and thought he had died.

8. Three days later, Nanak turned up at the same spot, saying he had seen a vision of God.

9. As a result, he decide to devote himself to spiritual matters.

10. He travelled widely teaching people that there is only one God who sees everyone as equal and loves everyone.

11. He became known as Guru Nanak because of his great wisdom and had many followers.

12. Guru Nanak died in 1539.

13. Guru Gobind Singh was the last of the ten Sikh gurus.

14. In 1699 he created the Khalsa, a group of faithful followers who wore symbols of their faith and trained as warriors.

15. Today all Sikhs are members of the Khalsa.

16. Guru Gobind Singh wanted to destroy sin and evil and introduced many of the customs Sikhs practise today.

17. Guru Gobind Singh declared the Sikh holy book as his successor instead of a human being.

18. The Guru Granth Sahib became the Sikhs’ guide forever.

19. It is made up of the writing of six of the gurus and is written in Gurmukhi.

20. Gurmukhi means ‘from the mouth of gurus’.

21. Sikhs give the book the same name, status and respect as a human guru.

22. Reading the whole of the Guru Granth Sahib, which takes forty-eight hours, often forms part of Sikh ceremonies.

23. The Mool Mantra, which is a statement of Sikh belief, forms the opening of the Guru Granth Sahib.