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Other observations of Sikhism include:
- 1. Not Son of God: 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.
- 2. All Welcome: Members of all religions can visit Sikh temples (Gurdwaras) but must observe certain rules – cover your head, remove shoes, no meat in the Gurdwara (Depends on the Gurdwara), no smoking or drinking intoxicants.
- 3. Multi-Level Approach: Sikhism recognizes the concept of a multi-level approach to achieving your target as a disciple of the faith. For example, “Sahajdhari” (slow adopters) are Sikhs who have not donned the full 5Ks (become Khalsa) but are still Sikhs nevertheless.
- 4. Visits to holy shrines and pilgrimages not encouraged The Sikh Gurus encouraged visits to holy shrines, for the love of God, but discouraged the devotees from going on visits to holy sites just for pilgrimages as this does not always result in any improvement in the person. The Sri Guru Granth Sahib informs the follower: "Pilgrimages, fasts, purification and self-discipline are of no use, nor are rituals, religious ceremonies or empty worship. O Nanak, emancipation comes only by loving devotional worship; through duality, people are engrossed in duality. ||2||" (Guru Granth Sahib page 75) [1]
- Note: The Punjabi language does not have a gender for God. Unfortunately, when translating, the proper meaning cannot be correctly conveyed without using Him/His/He/Brotherhood, S/He etc., but this distorts the meaning by giving the impression that God is masculine, which is not the message in the original script. The reader must correct for this every time these words are used.
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