The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Gobind Singh S 175

tament”—was still valid; they also began to form their own “New Testament.” On a more positive note, Gnosticism influ enced important elements of European culture dur ing the 19th and 20th centuries. The Gnostic view of the world appears, for example, in the poetry of the greatest German writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). The movement known as THE OSOPHY sees itself as continuing the ancient Gnostic teachings. Gnosticism also fascinated Carl Gustav J UNG , one of the founders of modern psychology. Further reading: Stephan Hoeller, Gnosticism (Wheaton, Ill.: Quest Books, 2002); Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion, 2nd ed. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1963); Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (New York: Random House, 1979); James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1977). Gobind Singh (1666–1708) the tenth and last of the Sikh gurus (religious teachers) In 1675 the Mughal ruler of India, Aurangzeb, a staunch Muslim, executed the ninth guru of the Sikhs, Tegh Bahadur ( see S IKHISM ). That guru’s son, Gobind Singh, became the tenth guru. Gobind Singh was particularly adept as a war rior. On April 13, 1699, he institutionalized the war rior ideal by founding the Sikh community known as the Khalsa. He called all Sikhs to assemble, then asked for five men to volunteer to be sacrificed. One at a time he took them behind his tent. Each time he came back with a bloody sword. Then he revealed that the blood was from sacrificed goats. Gobind Singh initiated the men by having them drink a sweet liquid stirred with a double-edged sword. Then he gave them the surname Singh and enjoined them to observe several regulations. These included the “five k’s,” five objects that all Khalsa Sikhs are to wear: uncut hair ( kes ), a comb kept under a turban ( kangha ), a sword or dagger ( kirpan ), a steel bangle on the right wrist ( kara ), and shorts ( kacch ). Two of Gobind Singh’s sons were killed in bat tle; the other two were executed. Before Gobind

unlike Christians Gnostics did not meet in coun cil to determine which teachings were acceptable and which were not. As a result, Gnostic teachings vary considerably. Two general topics, however, recur: the origins of the world and human beings, and the progress of SALVATION . Most Gnostic teachings on the origins of the world and human beings were dualistic. Such teachings say that the world and its inhabitants arose from the mixing of two opposed principles: light-goodness and darkness- EVIL . The Apocry phon of John, found in the Nag Hammadi Codi ces, provides a good example. According to it, the unknown God and his spouse gave rise to the spiritual world. One of his creations, Sophia (“wisdom”), produced a monstrous demiurge who created the material world. Identified with the god of the Jews, this demiurge claimed that he alone was god. Human beings result from a mingling of the spirit of the unknown God with material reality. Gnostics tend to conceive of human beings, then, as composite beings who combine elements of light and goodness with elements of darkness and evil. They generally conceive of salvation as the separation of the elements of light and good ness and their return to their original home, the realm of the unknown God. Some Gnostic writ ings detail the ascent of the soul through the vari ous planetary spheres back to its original home. Indeed, some writings provide elaborate spells that the adepts should use as they make their way from one sphere to the next. SIGNIFICANCE Gnosticism is responsible for many features of Christianity. These features developed as the ances tors of the Orthodox and Catholic churches tried to refute Gnosticism. For example, many Gnostics favored a view of Jesus as a divine messenger who only appeared to be human. Orthodox and Catholic Christians insisted that Jesus was in fact human. The Gnostic Marcion rejected the Hebrew B IBLE and accepted a new scripture made up of Luke’s gospel and Paul’s letters. In response other Chris tians insisted that the Hebrew Bible—the “Old Tes