This article looks at Sikh worship and prayer.
Worship
Last updated 2009-10-27
Sikh worship
Sikhs worship God and only God. Unlike members of many other religions they worship God in his true abstract form, and don't use images or statues to help them.
Sikh worship can be public or private.
Private worship
Sikhs can pray at any time and any place.
Sikh aims to get up early, bathe, and then start the day by meditating on God.
The Sikh code of conduct lays down a stern discipline for the start of the day:
A Sikh should wake up in the ambrosial hours (three hours before the dawn), take a bath and, concentrating his/her thoughts on One Immortal Being, repeat the name Waheguru (Wondrous Destroyer of darkness).
Reht Maryada (Sikh code of conduct), chapter 3
There are set prayers that a Sikh should recite in the morning and evening, and before going to sleep.
Prayer - spending time with God
Although the Sikh God is beyond description Sikhs feel able to pray to God as a person and a friend who cares for them.
Sikhs regard prayer as a way of spending time in company with God.
For prayer to be really effective a person tries to empty themselves of everything of this world so that they can perceive God.
Guru Arjan wrote of the importance of prayer.
The praising of His Name is the highest of all practices. It has uplifted many a human soul. It slakes the desire of restless mind. It imparts an all-seeing vision.
Guru Arjan
Public worship
Although Sikhs can worship on their own, they see congregational worship as having its own special merits.
Sikhs believe that God is visible in the Sikh congregation or Sangat, and that God is pleased by the act of serving the Sangat.
Congregational Sikh worship takes place in a Gurdwara.
Sikh public worship can be led by any Sikh, male or female, who is competent to do so.
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