We had an echanting experience at a Gurdwara today in Delhi, which is a place of worship for the Sikh religion. As we toured and learned about Sikhism, I felt such a sense of purpose from the people worshiping there, particularly our guide, who kept emphasizing the role of equity and fairness in the religion -- it was an intense and lovely time.
Here's a picture of some women who came over to pinch the kids' cheeks and chat.
I'll try to give my amatueurish description of what we learned, with some photos, but I encourage you to google and learn more about this interesting religion.
Our Tour At the Gurdwara
First, we visited the welcome room for foreigners, where we all took off our shoes and received scarves to cover our heads. Everyone there had their heads covered -- for women, usually a scarf or sari, and for men, a turban.
We met our guide, and he began to explain the tenets of Sikhism. We learned that the religion began about 500 years ago in India, when the first guru of the Sikh's created the religion. He believed that the caste system of Hinduism was wrong and that men and women were equal, and he did not like the rituals or systems of organized religion.
There is not a particular time or day for worship, and there are no "services" except certain times when hymns will be sung from their holy book. This book is the center of their religion --- in fact, when the first Guru died, there were 9 more recognized, but when the 10th died, he said that there would not be any more Guru's, and from now on, the book was their Guru. Many of the teachings center around the importance of sincerity, and not just going through the motions of being a good person. Central to the belief is that God is in everyone -- no one is of lesser value than anyone else.
The main part of the gudwara is a large chamber with the book under a canopy in the center. People sit in silence around the book, and then walk in a circle around the canopy. At the end of each day, there is a small room to the side where the book is taken for the night. We did not take any pictures of this area, but it was shaped much like a church inside, except that the book was in the center of the room, instead of having an altar at one end of the room.
After leaving the chamber, each person is given a small portion of food from the same pot. There is a large and beautiful pool where people can take a ritual bath. It has many large koi swimming in it, which our guide explained are used to clean the pool as it is only emptied once every 20 years.
Finally, we visited the communal eating hall. It was enormous, and many people were preparing chappatis (a kind of flat bread) for the noon meal. The cooks were all volunteers, and they come from all walks of life, some rich and some poor, to help prepare food at the Gurdwara. Sharing a meal together, being served and offering service are all important parts of the worship experience.
For men, there are a few rules that Sikh men are asked to follow, called the five K's, since each word begins with the letter K. The five rules are:
Don't cut your hair. There are few reasons behind this -- accepting the will of god, respecting your body are among them. Also, the hair must be covered with a turban because just as women cover their heads with a shawl to show respect for God, then men should cover their heads too, since they men and women are equal. Your head should be covered everywhere you go, since God is everywhere. Also, the turban provides a way for Sikh's to identify each other, which builds social cohesion.
Carry a comb. There are rules about combing the hair twice a day to keep it clean, also a sign of respect for God and your body. Combing the hair is linked to cleaning the soul, ridding it of impurities.
Wear a bracelet. This is a symbol of the vows that a person takes to become a Sikh, and to remind them not to do anything evil.
Wear shorts. Essentially a change from the dress which most men wore at the time (a sarong called a dhoti or a loincloth, which has to be constantly readjusted) the shorts symbolize both freedom of movement and restraint of desire.
Wear a sword (or dagger). Carried as a religious symbol, not a weapon. Symbolizes the need for courage and the need to fight injustice.
I hope you found this interesting!
So, we might never have found our way to the Gurdwara if it weren't for our daily driver, Pridpal, who is such a genuinely nice person that we all became curious about his way of life. I knew I liked him on the first day when we were driving in the car and Kobi was driving me crazy by opening and closing the car window. Over and over. So I got very mom-ish and tried to get him to behave, which had no effect on Kobi, but did have the effect of making Pridpal laugh every time that Kobi opened the window on the long ride to the hotel.
Here's a picture of Pridpal:
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