A few months ago the homeschool group began a sort of study of different religions and are trying to find houses of worship for as many as we can. So far the group has been to the Mosque (we missed this trip-- it was a couple of weeks before we started homeschooling), a Catholic Church, and today we had the opportunity to visit a Sikh Gurdwara.
Before today the only thing I could tell you about Sikhism was that the men wore turbans. Literally, thats it. So this was a wonderful education for me as well!
Our journey began down a tight and crowded side road filled with auto repair shops and cars everywhere. We were directed to park in a garage and headed out to find our friends and get our tour started. Men, women, and children all have to cover their heads when visiting the Gurdwara, so Stella and I donned our scarves and headed in. We removed our shoes outside the building and tucked them away in little cubbies and headed up some stairs into a nondescript building. We came into a room and were directed to wash our hands and then have a seat in another small, side room where we gathered all together in a circle and were served tea and snacks by the Sikh devotees.
After finishing our tea and snacks we were ushered into their main worship space. It was decorated with beautiful, bright colors and flowers and there were a few Sikh's seated to the side playing music on two small hand drums and a harmonium. We all took turns bowing our heads to the floor in front of the altar before taking our seats on the floor.
Once everyone was settled and the music stopped, one of the Sikh's came in front of us and began talking. They had prepared a power point presentation filled with information about their religion and beliefs and he talked about everything in great detail. He was passionate and articulate and enthusiastic-- everyone was so happy to have us there it seemed! He did have quite a thick accent so it was difficult for Stella to understand some of it, but he did a wonderful job of holding everyones attention!
Some basics about Sikhism...(and I cant promise this is everything or even close to everything... nor am I promising this is exact. We learned for almost two hours today and it was a lot of information so this is the best of what my memory, hurried typed out notes on my phone, and the internet can provide!)
-It is not a terribly old religion. It was founded in the 15th Century and is one of the youngest of the major world religions. There are some 25 million followers of Sikhism worldwide and it is a monotheistic belief system.
-They believe in the One True God and though there have been ten guru's that have brought the knowledge of their faith forward and cultivated and created their religion, each building on the previous guru's teachings to create Sikhism. The first guru, Nanak became a guru in 1469 and he appointed his successor and so on until the last human guru, Gobind Singh decreed in 1708 that he would be the final human guru and from that time on the only guru, or teacher, would be the book that held all their teachings and information, the Guru Granth Sāhib. The Sikh's believe that each of the guru's were important mouthpieces of God and they were to be respected and revered but never worshipped. Only God is worthy of worship- they were only servants of God and entirely human, not divine.
-The Guru Granth Sāhib is treated with the utmost respect and reverence. During their worship, someone is with it at all times and the book is treated like royalty. They wave a special fan over it (the way royalty used to be fanned long ago) and most families do not have copies in their homes because of the difficulty in showing the proper respect, though they do have prayer books or parts of the book, very rarely do they have the whole. In the evenings once the last prayers have been said, someone is responsible for taking the Guru Granth Sāhib and putting it in a special holy room and then, in the morning, its placed on the platform in their prayer hall. It is never placed on the ground and no one ever turns their back on it. They see the Guru Granth Sāhib as the final and perpetual Guru and treat it with a reverence and respect I've never seen before.
The Guru Granth Sāhib is under the orange and gold cloth and you can see the Sikh waving the special fan, or chauri.
The holy room the book "sleeps" in at night
-Community and service to others is one of the most important things to the Sikh's. If you are ever in need of a room or help, find a Sikh temple and they'll help you- no matter your religion or race- they believe everyone is equal and will help anyone in need. All the Gurdwara's have special rooms in them for travelers in need of shelter for a night or two and they feed the community on a daily basis. Family is extremely important and everyone is encouraged to marry and have a family and be involved in their community. The Gurdwara's are of vital importance to a Sikh and if they move, its the first thing they seek out. And its easy to see why, the sense of community in the building was astounding. Typically the Sikh flag flies on the uppermost part of their temple, but they cant fly it here in Bahrain so it's not seen outside, but the flag is a symbol to let people in need know where to go for help.
The orange, dyed with saffron, is a sign of purity. The symbol, called the Khanda, is broken up into three parts--the circle in the middle is a symbol of God being eternal and not having a beginning or end, the two swords represent combining political power and spirituality and the double edged sword in the middle.
-They believe that the soul never dies-- the human body is made up of the five elements (earth, air, water, fire, and soul) and that the other elements can die but the soul lives on. Their belief is not really one of Heaven, per se, but of a unification with God. So they believe in reincarnation, though it happens with great time in between-- so one man was saying how being human was rare and precious and they all have to understand the importance of that.
-As far as that unification with God is concerned, they believe that the ego and our worldly attachments hold us back from truly connecting with God and in their time as human they are striving to truly love God and let go of those attachments to truly realize that the only thing eternal is God, then they can go to God and stop the birth and death cycle.
-There are 5 symbols or, K's, that are worn by men and women as part of their faith:
Kesh- unshorn hair- they believe that to leave the hair uncut is to respect the perfection of God's creation. So men and women don't cut their hair or shave their beards. They cover their hair as a sign of respect and hygiene and both men and women cover-- another example of their belief that everyone is equal in the eyes of God.
Kangha- a small wooden comb- they use this twice a day and when its not being used, its worn in their hair. It is a symbol of cleanliness. It is also a symbol of finding grace in what God gives-- so God gives the hair but they find grace in keeping it clean and maintained.
Kara- an iron bracelet- worn on the dominant hand, it is a reminder of their faith and that everything they do should be done with their beliefs in mind.
Kachera- a special undergarment- they didn't really speak much about this today but some research showed me that this is an important part of a baptized Sikh's readiness to be ready at a moments notice for battle and some Sikh's even bathe in theirs and change it out only one leg at a time as a testament to their steadfastness in their beliefs.
Kirpan- dagger- they wear this at all times for self defense but more importantly, as a symbol of their duty to come to the aid of anyone in peril. (One of the questions at the end that was asked was if the Kirpan had ever been used for something bad that they knew of since it was carried all the time--even allowed on airplanes in India and Canada-- and they said that it was never used for nefarious purposes... that that just wasn't in keeping with the Sikh way of life and they were there to help and protect, not harm).
3 of the 5 K's (photo courtesy of Wikipedia!)
One thing I really thought was interesting is that they said that discussions and questions were absolutely encouraged in their faith. That Sikhism was founded on questioning and no question is "bad" or "wrong" and discussions are common and their ultimate goal was consensus within the community. He spoke about the scriptures being written out of context and that, sometimes, things change and happen and questions are invoked and they all discuss and come to agreements within the community. I took that to mean that they realize that their scriptures were written 500 years ago and the context in which they were written is not the same as life is now and that sometimes things have to be modified to fit within the context of current life-- but still within keeping with their beliefs. Which, if my understanding is correct, I absolutely agree with. Life is so very different than it was twenty years ago, let alone 500 or 2,000 years ago and religion can be so rigid and cut and dry when it would better serve its devotees if it were a bit more...fluid. But, alas, I'm off on a tangent now...
After the closing prayer and hymns were sung (music is very important to the Sikh's-singing is also seen as a form of prayer) one of the men stood in front of the Guru Granth Sāhib and said a special prayer for the kids. He asked for the kids to succeed in their studies and have bright futures-- none of the prayers were in English, but one of the other moms told us all later what they had prayed for and, no joke, I teared up. Its just so kind and sweet and really added to an already wonderful experience.
During our Q&A session, one of the boys was particularly interested in how to tie a turban. They asked about how it was done and how long it took and he wanted to know if they'd tie one on him. One of the Sikh's very graciously began to untie his turban to show us (which is a HUGE deal), and then one of the moms asked if they'd mind tying it on one of the boys and they happily obliged! So there were a few boys in our group who had turbans tied on!
After that they gave special blessings to the moms who'd arranged the visit and then brought around halwa (whole wheat, sugar, and ghee) as our prasada, or blessing. (a wikipedia search said that this was typically a gift first offered to a deity, saint, perfect master, or avatar and then distributed in His or Her name to their followers as a good sign).
Once we finished our Halwa they ushered us into a hall outside the main worship space and we were seated in a circle where they passed out cups and trays before serving us a delicious meal that they had prepared for all of us. We had a spicy lentil dish, a pea and tofu dish, rice, a sweet rice and carrot dessert, and whole wheat flatbread. They made sure we had enough food and brought plenty of water, each one of the devotees happy to serve. I never felt like we were putting them out or that they didn't want to be there. They seemed to be truly happy to have us. The food was wonderful-- it was flavorful and delicious and Stella and I both were happy to have it!
We left after saying many a thank you, found our way back to our shoes and cars and we left with full tummies and full hearts. It was a truly wonderful experience and I am so very glad we went!
Being in the Middle East has really given us some incredible opportunities to see how other people live and believe and I am running out of descriptive words to convey how much this all means. Living in the states, and especially being from the south, we see very, very few religions represented on a regular basis. And don't even get me started on what our media feeds us about anything other than basic Christianity. So to be here and be immersed in a land where the main religion isn't mine, its been an eye opening, but fantastic experience! Even though she's young, I hope that Stella will take with her everything we're learning and experiencing and carry it with her on her journey... the four months we've been here have been life changing in the best of ways!
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