In and On - What are the most important qualities God should have? List as many as you can think of in the back of your book. What do Sikhs believe about God? Objectives • Identify the main Sikh beliefs about God. • Explain what similarities and differences there are between Sikhism and other faiths (Hinduism/Christianity) • Evaluate the question of whether or not we can ever know the nature of God. What do Sikhs believe? Sikhs are monotheistic, this means…. God is a spiritual presence so he does not have a body. He sees and knows everything and is all powerful and eternal. He was never born and will never die. Sikhs believe that you should worship and love God because God is good and he cares about all things in creation. We cannot fully understand God because he is so much greater than us. Sikhs do not use “he” or “she” because without a body God cannot be male or female. There are two names that Sikhs use for God; Satnam which means eternal and Raheguru meaning “Wonderful Lord” What is the Mool Mantra Key term = The Mool Mantra is a basic prayer which sums up the Sikh beliefs about God. • What is a mantra? – Something that is chanted or sung. • The Mool Mantra was originally written in Punjabi. • We are going to listen to the Mool Mantra being chanted. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKnOqJaUc5Y (you only need to listen to a few minutes of the 28 minute video!) What is the Mool Mantra? • The Mool Mantra is a Sikh prayer that explains what God is like. • The text has difficult words in it such as: Enlightener All-pervading Immortal • You are going to find out what words mean in the Mool Mantra first. Then you can re-write the phrase in simple terms. Mool Mantra Words Meaning Ik Onkar There is only one God ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਿਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਤਨਰਭਉ ਤਨਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ Sat Nam Eternal truth is His name Karta Purakh He is the creator ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪਰਸਾਤਿ ॥ Nir Bhau He is without fear Nir Vair He is without hate The Mool Mantra – written in Gurmukhi Akal Murat Immortal, without form Ajuni Beyond birth and death Saibhang He is the enlightener Gur Prasaad He can be reached through the mercy and grace of the true Guru Explain: Beliefs about the Nature of God Sikh Christian Hindu Using the information sheet as well as your own knowledge, bullet point at least 5 things into each column… Then complete the boxes at the bottom of the sheet. Evaluate Sikhs believe that God is so much greater than us and therefore we cannot truly understand his nature (what he is like). Do you agree? Give reasons with evidence for two different opinions. *Try to include opinions from the two other religions to help back your point.* Literacy Support • I do/don’t believe we can understand the nature of God because….. • Other people might disagree with me because….. • Evidence of this is….