• Welcome to all New Sikh Philosophy Network Forums!
    Explore Sikh Sikhi Sikhism...
    Sign up Log in

Christianity Is Sikhism A Pantheistic/Panentheistic Religion?

Tejwant Singh

Mentor
Writer
SPNer
Jun 30, 2004
5,028
7,188
Henderson, NV.
Also Tejwant ji

Would you share something of what you discovered about the origins of the group and how they have spread/proliferated. Thanks.

Antonia ji,

Guru Fateh.

I met them at my business place. They knew my religion. In fact the Dad greeted me Sat Siri Akaal. He said he met some Sikhs at his University and when I asked him if he were a Christian, he told me he belonged to the universal religion called Cosmotheism and asked me to look it up and left.

Tejwant Singh
 

spnadmin

1947-2014 (Archived)
SPNer
Jun 17, 2004
14,500
19,219
Tejwant ji

Have you found anything on the Internet, or elsewhere, about how they spread "the faith" for want of a better expression?

So, sounds as if he is an academic or university administrator....hmmm..that is something of a clue to this puzzle if you ask me. Something to consider.
 

msv

SPNer
May 19, 2006
6
3
Pantheism is a metaphysical and religious position. Broadly defined it is the view that (1) "God is everything and everything is God … the world is either identical with God or in some way a self-expression of his nature" (Owen 1971: 74). Similarly, it is the view that (2) everything that exists constitutes a "unity" and this all-inclusive unity is in some sense divine (MacIntyre 1967: 34).

sikhism is "Pantheism" try to understand the Mool Mantar, HE is the creater HE is the only ONE The Creater is the creation you can not separate them. It is like not like a painter and his picture. Picture and the painter are two separate identities you can take the picture home leaving the painter behind or the painter can go away leaving the picture behind, a writer and his book are seprable but in the same way you can not seprate a dancer and her dance you can not say that i'll take the dance home but leave the dancer behind or vice versa "bilharee kudrat vasaya" The Creater is within His Creation. Therefore Sikhism is a Pantheism religion.
 

msingh92

SPNer
Oct 26, 2011
3
6
31
Hello All, I am new here. I might not have read everything, but I just wanted to share my view.
From the very first notion in gurbani, Ik Oankar, I can see that the guru's philosophy was very much panENtheist. The notion is saying that God is one (not there is one god, it is a bit of a different proposition to say this) and that god is beyond all that we can know (shown by the extended oankar in how we write Ik Oankar). I'm not quite sure about all this cosmotheist thing, but form what I understand, the guru talking about the cosmos are merely trying to point to everything else out there in the universe: that whatever we know of what's beyond this world, god is that and beyond that. This is to say that everything (this world) is IN god, pantheism would hold that everything IS god, and there is nothing more than this world as we know it. I am led to believe through gurbani that the guru is saying this world is a physical manifestation of god, which makes it an illusion of reality (maya), and god is beyond this maya.

edit: There is a very subtle difference between pantheism and panentheism, but it is a very important difference. Pantheist would say that god IS Maya. This is true, but maya is only the physical manifestation of god (this world) and god is beyond maya as well. this is what leads me more towards panENtheism.

I'm not sure if I answered any questions, but please let me know what you think of this explanation.

Gur Fateh,
Maneshwar Singh
 
Last edited:

Scarlet Pimpernel

We seek him here,we sikh
Writer
SPNer
May 31, 2011
1,001
1,095
In the Self
Narayanjot Kaur said:
Is Sikhism A Pantheistic/Panentheistic Religion?

Great question Ji, but it should be which is it ,as those two belief systems are distinct in themselves?

Msingh92 ji is right,although I see it simply as Sikhism has to be Panentheistic, as Pantheism equates God to the expanse of the physical Cosmos but to create the expanse you have to be an Eternal Distinct Entity.

E.D.E. described as ਅਵਿਗਤੁ translated as Absolute, in that contains the Universe but 'he is much more than the Universe'.
 
Last edited:

msingh92

SPNer
Oct 26, 2011
3
6
31
Great question but it should be which is it ,as those two belief systems are distinct in themselves?

MSingh is right,although I see it simply as Sikhism has to be Panentheistic, as Pantheism equates God to the expanse of the physical Cosmos but to create the expanse you have to be an Eternal Distinct Entity.

E.D.E. described as ਅਵਿਗਤੁ translated as Absolute, in that contains the Universe but 'he is much more than the Universe'.

thank you, that was the point I was trying to make clear, the distinction between the two and why Sikhism is PanENtheist, rather than Pantheist.

There are some classical philosophers who had similar thinking, if anyone is interested in them. Spinoza was one, although he was more Pantheist. I've heard Hegel and Schelling are somewhere along the same lines.
 

❤️ CLICK HERE TO JOIN SPN MOBILE PLATFORM

❤️ CLICK HERE TO JOIN SPN MOBILE PLATFORM

📌 For all latest updates, follow the Official Sikh Philosophy Network Whatsapp Channel:
Top