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| | Sikhism. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05 |
 | | By the late 1990s Sikhism was the worlds fifth largest faith and had some 175,000 U.S. adherents and 225,000 in Canada. |
 | | Sikhism is heterodox, combining the teachings of Bhakti Hinduism and Islamic Sufism. |
 | | The founder and first Sikh guru, the mystic Nanak (c.1469c.1539), proclaimed monotheism, the provisional nature of organized religion, and direct realization of God through religious exercises and meditation; he opposed idolatry, ritual, an organized priesthood, and the caste system. |
| www.bartleby.com /65/si/Sikhism.html (579 words) |
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