Sikhism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sikhism - Essay Example Sikhism originated from the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev who opposed the caste system of Hinduism. The followers essentially believe in a formless God who is universal and both the creator as well as destructive force. The religious essentially is inclined towards protection of human rights and grants freedom to follow any religion as well as reject control by the political governance. Shinto (the way of many gods) is a Japanese religion which beliefs that every object whether living or non-living bears a life and therefore has a soul. The religion preaches regard towards the spiritual forms, which surround the world. The followers of Shinto believe in possession of the spirit, faith healing and shamanism. The paper here shall focus on one of the distinct religion of the east, originating in the state of Punjab, India, popularized as Sikhism (7 Major Eastern Religions, n.d.). Sikhism was initiated in 1469 in India after Guru Nanak Dev Ji was born. He was the first prophet of the Sikhs and the 10th or last was Guru Gobind Singh Ji. While Guru Nanak Dev Ji preached against the caste system, animal sacrifice and fasting, the later advocated all Sikhs to be baptized. The Rehatnamas was written by following the teachings of Guru Sahib, which directed the code of conduct of the followers. Guru Angad Dev Ji wrote the Gurmukhi script of the Sikhs. The third Guru created the hymns for funeral ceremony, the fourth Guru wrote hymns to be recited at marriages. The first four Gurus’ hymns were compiled by the fifth Guru to form the Adi Granth. Guru Gobind Singh Ji who compiled the ninth Guru’s hymns into the Adi Granth completed the Granth Sahib. After their tenth Guru died the Sikhs had their language, holy places and code of conduct and above all, a religion independent of all others. The Sikhs began to rule Punjab from the 1760s. It is the youngest of the four renowned religions of the world centering on worship of one God. The term ‘Sikh’ indic ates ‘disciple’, that is disciple of Sikh Gurus. (Guru’s Period, n.d.; Sikh Kingdom Era, n.d.) The Sikhs mainly pursue the preaching of the 10 Gurus scripted in their holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib. The religion is based upon noble conduct in life entailing truthfulness, equality and rejection of all kinds of superstitions and rituals without any scientific base. The Sikh should ensure a stable and persistent relation with God. According to the beliefs of Sikhism, the followers were supposed to worship one God who is ever existent. The religion preaches against the caste system, untouchability, any kind of occultism or horoscopes, â€Å"Shradh, Ancestor worship, Pind, Patal, Fasting, Tilak, Janju, Tulsi, Malla, Gor, Math, Marhi† and idol worship (SGPC, n.d). Yet the religion permits an individual to gain knowledge of other practices by reading. The Khalsa or the community of Sikhs should pray to God before taking on to any task and should not affect the sentiments of others. A Sikh child needs to be educated in the doctrines of Sikhism right after birth along with other lessons. The hair of the body should not be tampered with and a Sikh should not take any kind of intoxicant. A Sikh woman or man is not supposed to pierce his body (even ears and nose). One is not permitted to steal or get associated with gambling. A woman from the Sikh community is

E-mail Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

E-mail - Essay Example But, the US marine's death in the blast of a roadside bomb on November 13, 2004 during a routine foot patrol in the Al Anbar province of Iraq has spared off a debate on his e-mail account with his family staking claim to access its details. The parents' claim that his son's email account should be made accessible to them was bluntly rejected by the Internet giant Yahoo on the ground that it violated the privacy rules (Chambers, Yahoo denies family access to slain soldier's e-mail). The question is whether or not his parents should be allowed access to his email account. The killed marine's father, John Ellsworth, argues that his son's email account, with its complete details, works as a journal for future generations as it provides an opportunity for people to go through the actual words from someone direct on the warfront in Iraq (who owns your e-mails Para 5). Many experts feel that the Yahoo management had acted correctly (Leach 12). But, the father seems to be right going by the utilitarian principles as the act of providing access by the Yahoo to the son's email account brigs about certain utility to the family in shape of happiness. Here, the parents of the killed soldier are guided by the family emotions and sentiments ant that particular act of accessing the son's email account would result in moments of happiness for the 2 family. Utilitarianism, as per the theory advocated by John Stuart Mill, aims at the ultimate utility and happiness of people. It sustains greatly even if one person derives pleasure from the act of others and on the act of his own (Mill, 10). Mill further says that this great act of providing happiness to others stems gradually through cultivation of a noble character. There is no need to make a special mention that noble character builds from the fundamentals of the ethics. Utilitarianism therefore draws its strength directly from ethics and morals. The killed soldier's parents, aghast at their son's untimely death, might have wanted to keep the messages in the e-mail account as memoirs throughout their lives. In an ethical point of view, the parents of the young American soldier should be provided full access of the mail box of their son to make them happy. Further, by making the mail box messages available to the family, Yahoo would lose nothing except being accused by its users of violating the privacy policy. Sure, it can support its case on ethical grounds if it provides access. But, certainly it is not violating the privacy of others. Knowing this full well, the Yahoo management has refused permission fearing that it may lose popular support. One may support the Yahoo's argument under the principles of negative utilitarianism which prescribes promotion of least amount of harm / evil or prevention of the greatest amount of harm / evil for the greatest number (Negative utilitarianism, Para 1). Here, providing accessibility of the e-mail only results in happiness to the parents. Moreover, the question of promoting evil does not arise. The company may argue that by denying the access of the mail box to the parents, it is preventing a possible greatest harm to its greatest number of users. But, the possible greatest harm indicates a hypothetical tendency and the principles of negative utilitarianism can never be applied in this context as it is not a certain ty that providing access of the e-mail would harm