Are Sikhs Hindus?

[ShivaFan]

Namaste

I consider Sikhs as Hindus, though many Sikhs do not consider themselves as Hindus.

What is correct?

[JayaRadhe]

Namaste!
I don't think they're Hindu. They're definitely a Dharmic religion (like Jains and Buddhists), but I don't think they follow Sanatan Dharma. I remember talking about Diwali with a Sikh girl and she told me Hindus worship money because Lakshmi Devi is just the symbol of money and nothing more. They also totally reject the avatars and even the existence of any type of form, like Mahadeva or MahaVishnu. I can't remember where it is, but somewhere in the Adi Granth is a passage that says something along the lines of "chanting the name of Ram is useless because he was just a man. Chanting the name of a dead man will not give you salvation." Based on that, I don't think they're Hindu.
Just my two cents!

[Sahasranama]

Sikhism has devolved from Hinduism. In the beginning Sikhism was a lot closer to Hinduism. The first gurus were pukka Hindus who worshipped the idols of Hindu gods in a place they called the Hari Mandira. But later more influence of Islam started to creep into Sikhism and consequently Sikhs have tried to separate themselves from their mother religion. Hindu idols from the Hari Mandira were removed and the name of the place was changed to "Golden Temple." Most modern Sikhs are not entirely Hindu and a lot of them often don't have very nice things to say about Hinduism. But there is a group of Sanatani Sikhs who have a lot of affinity with Hinduism. You may also look at the post history of Harjas Kaur who made a lot of good posts on this forum.

[IcyCosmic]

I concur with Sahasranama's thoughts. Sikh mentality among the masses is changing by the day, and for the worse too. Many sikhs are becoming arrogant and have much foul slander for India and hinduism. To me Sikhs will always be brothers though. My dad was raised in Punjab and so was my mother, I have alot of history with sikhs.

Most of my parents friends are sikh. It's a shame to see the mentality shift. A real shame. Many of them get ANGRY if you try and say that sikhism originated from hinduism.

Why so much arrogance? It's pathetic if you ask me, and sikhism is moving towards becoming a secularist religion that breeds hatred like the abrahamic faiths. Never as bad because many sikhs are nice people, and they are from within the indian culture and also the fundamental teachings reflect hinduism well but they are certainly stemming as far away as they can from dharmic connections. It's a shame.

[Viraja]

A Tamil book on many holy saints (Bhakta Vijayam) states Shri Gurunanak Maharaj was born to Hindu parents and that Guru Grantha Saheb includes verses written in deep spiritual ecstacy by many Hindu sants such as sant Trilochana Dasa and many others.

[Believer]

Namaste,

Please look up the following thread to get more information on the divergence of Sikhs from Hinduism:

http://hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=6283

Before Sikhism came into being, the Punjabi race was Sanatani Hindus. Consequently, Guru Nanak and most of the other sikh gurus came from that ethnic/religious group. The Brits wanted their loyalty and made them think that they were different from Hindus and started the path of divergence.

Pranam.

[Equinox]

Vannakkam everyone,

In Malaysia, the Sikhs don't even consider themselves Indian, and come under the racial category 'others'. They like seeing themselves as a separate race. This is funny because Punjabi Hindus consider themselves Indian. So, the difference lies only in the religion here, not their race.

I've many Sikh friends, and most respect Hinduism. Some worship Hindu Gods too. And of course there's the minority who are fanatics of their religion.


Aum Namah Shivaya