1

Cicilia Charles
Suzanna Jacobs
Humanity 2300
08/6/2014
Comparison and Contraction Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity.
On the onset, there seemed to be a very big difference now a days that we see all people
in the world are focusing on their own beliefs about God. There is a lot of religions and faith in
the world today that you can find everywhere you go. Sometimes you find yourself surrounded
with different groups of people from different religions, who will come around and convince you
to join them and become part of their member in their church. As for me, I was born and raise as
Christian, but sometime I find myself being asked with other groups of religious people about
my belief; convening me to leave my own religion and join them. However, I think there are
some people that are obsessed with their religion, which has made them dislike people from
other religion. Sometimes, you will find people that live their lives according to what they
believe in as part of their lives.
But when I first started this course I was very excited to learn about different religions in
the world, and to know why people of different religions behave the way they do as I mentioned
it above. Now that I have learned about several religions, I am going to compare and find the
difference between the three different religions I have chosen above; and these are Hinduism,
Sikhism and Christianity, which I will be discussing about throughout the paper. First, I am
going to discuss about the scared space, emotional atmosphere or their rituals for each religion.
So, now let me start with Hinduism Temple and the way they worship their gods. First of
all Hinduism is the dominant religion

of the Indian subcontinent which consists of many diverse
2

traditions. As Subhamoy Das the professional based in India said, The Hinduism have a
multitude of gods and goddesses that symbolize the one abstract Supreme Being or Brahman.
The most fundamental of Hindu deities are the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. But many
other gods such as Ganesha, Krishna, Rama, Hanuman, and goddesses like Lakshmi, Durga, Kali
and Saraswati top the popularity chart with Hindus across the world.
According to my visiting to the Hindus temple, Hinduism are very unique in the way
they worship their gods. I mean that I knew through the class lecture that, Hindus has three gods.
Brahman who is the creator god; and there is no other gods above him, and they worship him
three time a week. The second god is called Vishnu who is the sustainer god who gives good
spirit to people and maintains good spirit of sharing love with others. The third god is called
Shiva, who is the destroyer, he destroy the bad and the evil spirit which come to deceive the
good thoughts from the individual feelings.
But during my visit, I found out that they are only worshiping one of their three gods
which is Vishnu. When we got there Vishnu was still sleeping while standing, and so they have
to sing for him in order to wake him up as they explained to us. After Vishnu was awake they
have to give him a shower with different kind of liquid including, clear water, milk, yogurt and
honey among others. For me as a student, I think that Hinduism can be called as the oldest
religion in the world. From my belief I think Hinduism cannot be described as an organized
religion. Because one individual did not found Hinduism. Hinduism is God centered with three
different gods and therefore one can call Hinduism as founded by God because there is no
history which describe according to the book. According to the above paragraph, in
understanding Hinduism as a religion does not make any sense to me as a person who is learning
about it for the first time, until I actually witness it at the temple.
3

For what I saw, I think that every individual from the temple was very connected to the
gods; and according to Balajis explanation, the action of the priest at temple, makes me
understand how deeply their beliefs means to them. Balajis also explain that, Hinduism beliefs
is based on worship at the temple and at home, sharing food after the service. He also explain
about what the symbol mark on the face mean and the dressing code.
As Balaji said, the symbol on the face mean that, many deities can be recognized by the
symbols associated with them. Shiva is often symbolized by the linga or tripundra the three
horizontal lines on his forehead. In the same way Krishna can be identified by the peacock
feather he wears in his head and also by the prong-like mark on his forehead. He mentioned
about how Hinduism adore cows, I like the way how they adore Cow as the mother to the nation.
According to Balaji, he also explained that they worship cow because she feeds the whole nation
with her milk more than the human being mother who can only feed her own baby and if the
milk is not enough, then the cows milk can be used for the baby.
Meanwhile Hinduism is a religion of its own as mentioned above, Sikhism is also one of
the religion that I was very interested to go and visit their temple because of what I have learned
in class; and I was very excited to see what is like compare to Hinduism and the rest. According
to Sikhism, their religion is a combination of Hindus and Islamic religion as per their dressing
code which is found in India. It is based on the truth that only one God exist and they believe that
through him all things were made. They also believed in the Holy Scripture text (adi Granth)
which was written by the ten Gurus including Nanak the founder. In that text, all the questions
have an answers from it. So in Sikhs, Karma affects the lives of all humans and only God can
forgive the sins despite how effective it can be.
4

To my expectation, I was thinking Sikhism is related to Christianity because they believe
in one God as that of Christianity, instead I found them dressing as Muslim, even though they
did not mentioned anything about Allah during their prayer; but they bow their heads down like
Muslims. This did not surprise me much since I heard from the lecture that Sikhism is the
combination of the Hindus and the Muslims. But the only thing differentiating them from Hindu
is the music and the hymns and also the fact that they believe in one God. That is why they have
to cover their heads because they believe God is above everybody and they bow to the Holy Text
(Adi Granth). Even we the visitors are told to dress up more appropriately and to cover our
heads, and also to leave the shoes by the doors side before entering the temple.
As mentioned above that Sikhism is a combination of Hindu, I found out that they both
leave their shoes by the door before entering the temple and also they both sit on the ground. But
for Sikhism they believe that no one is above one another, they dont practice master and the
slave according to my interpretation, they believe everybody is equal. They also dont view
God in any image, and they dont have any images hanging around their church. They believe
God is in everybodys heart. According to the lady who took us aside to answer some of our
questions at the temple, she said, In their religion, they do not discriminate nor segregate. I was
so much embraced by that part because that is what is expected out of religions, I mean to most
of the God fearing people. She also mention that in India they would feed hungry people from
Monday through Sunday despite their religions and where they come from. Vegetarians could
find something as well as non-vegetarians.
In this religion of the Sikhs, I would not even compare it to the other two which is listed
above, because I was bored during the service, and to be honest I did enjoy the food at the Sikhs
temple. The way of service was very much different I was confused in the middle of the services
5

no program to follow or no explanation on what is coming next. But I remain sited and silent.
Any way I just like the way they are so much committed to their religion by being obedient to
the rules of the 5 Ks. Meaning no haircuts, steel bracelet, Sward, among others.
In comparing Christianity with Sikhism they both believe in one God, and they practice
kindness to one another. They both practice feeding the hungry, covering the nakedness, and
they all committed to their God and follow their Holy Text. But in form of being organized,
Christianity as they have many different places of worship, I would like to talk about Catholic.
According to our fieldtrip to Catholic Church, (the cathedral), I was not only surprise but also
felt something in me concerning the inside church.
I have been to different religions and the temples but for the Catholic Church, it is more
unique, very organized and peaceful. It was exactly what we learned in class is what we found
and to make it more easily, everything was in English, the reading and the preaching. I spent
much time only looking at the images on the wall with a lot of questions in my mind but likely
enough same of my questions were answered there by the priest about Mary Magdalene and how
she become the saint, and same questions were answered by my Instructor.
In comparison to that of Hinduism, they also decorated their wall with images which is
connected to their gods, planet and their leaders. Although, Hinduism and the Christianity does
not have the same believe but they do share the similarities of having Statius which is part of
their beliefs. They both light candles during their celebrations and both have Holy Communion.
However, Hindus does not believe in blood of Christ nor body of Christ. Since they have more
than one God, they only give Holly water as communion according to their beliefs.
Actually the Catholics believe in the teaching of Jesus Christ, his life and the last super.
They practice in every mass in day to days life and the true catholic believe in the miracles of the
6

bread and wine turning into the real body and blood of Jesus Christ. During the celebration of
mass through the anointed priest. Only priests can turn the bread into body of Christ and wine
into blood of Christ but not the Deacon or any other members below the priest. That is why when
entering the church they use the holy water to make the sign of cross and also bow to front and to
the holy Alter where miracles takes place of the Eucharist and where holy gospels is kept.
They also believe in the seven (7) sacraments in which there is Baptism and the
reconciliation through confession (forgiveness of sins). They have a special room for confession
in both sides right after entering the church. However, we did not encounter with the Catholic
Bishop that day but we did see where he sits during his presence and I wonder what part of
celebration he takes. Also the choirs were not there but the space did show where they belong
during their presence and I would love to hear the music and the songs they make one day in
future.
All in all, Christianity, especially the Catholics believes in Jesus Christ of Nazareth his
ministry and the seven sacraments more so the Baptism, Eucharist, and confession, through
which they believe sins are forgiven and the reunion with Christ. They also welcome everybody
to join them and to repent just like Mary Magdalene who washes the feet of Jesus with her tears
and try them with her hair. They use the images to teach the life story of Jesus on earth and his
followers, according to the preaching of the Gospels.
In conclusion, Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity are the most interesting religions I
have visited among others. I chose to compare and contrast those three religions in my paper
because during my visit to their Temples I learn a lot about how other denomination worship
their gods according to their traditions. For example, Hindus reach to the extent of giving shower
to their gods and feed them. Sikhism honors their Gurdwara (temple), to the point of covering
7

their heads before entering and also they leave their shoes by the doors side in respect to God
and their Holy Text (Adi Granth). Meanwhile, for Catholic who believe in the teaching of Jesus,
they use images to remember the teaching of Jesus and the conversion of sinners to saints.
As mentioned above throughout the paper, Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity have very little
similarity compare to their differences. By visiting these three religions, which I have mentioned,
learned that there are so many different rituals that every religion has its rules, worship, and
believes toward their gods. Even though all these three religions I have chosen are different from
my own believe, I still respect them from their beliefs.















8

Works Cited
"Shiva." Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Found online: August, 6.
2014.
"Siva." Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Religions (Oxford UP, 2000), p. 546. Found
Online: August 6, 2014.
Subhamoy Das. Found Online: July, 30. 2014. < www.about.comhinduism>.