A Religion That "Puts Its Money Where Its Mouth Is" (Really!)

Bare feet, incense, sitting on the floor with a large group of other people....

No this is not a flashback from the 60s, it's just a memory that popped up for me last Wednesday when I was attending a Conversations on Diversity forum at Chico State University. The forum was entitled: “The Sikh Experience” and was a panel discussion about being a Sikh in America today. As I sat in the jam-packed room on the 2^nd floor of the BMU, my mind drifted back to the Religion class I took at Yuba Community College and our field trip to the Sikh Temple in Yuba City. The Temple was a large solitary building set back from the road, and surrounded by tall trees and an array of flowers and bushes. Upon entering, we removed our shoes and covered our heads with little scarves. As we entered the sanctuary room, I could smell the sweetness of incense on the air, and we all sat down on the carpeted floor together. The ambiance was one of peace and spirituality. I remember thinking: “This is the kind of place where I could actually feel comfortable and maybe find a piece of God.”

The facilitators of the panel discussion on The Sikh Experience were Professor of Eastern Religious Studies Dan Veidlinger, and a young man named Rajbir. Professor Veidlinger began by explaining the history of the Sikh religion. Sikhism has been in existence for 1500 years and was founded by the Guru Nanak. (This is not the type of guru we associate with the Hindu religion and the Beatles, but the guru as “student” of the Sikh religious writings called the Guru Granth Sahib.) It began in the Northwest corner of India and has since spread to areas of Pakistan. The most well-known area of India where Sikhs reside is called Punjab and their most holy city is called Amritsar (“city of nectar”). This is where the Golden Temple was built and where the sacred scriptures are located. The Guru Nanak founded the Sikh religion on the concept that neither Hinduism nor the Muslim religion was the correct one. He combined precepts from both that he thought were true and created the Moolmantra, or core statement of Sikhism:

In the Sikh religion, God's name is “Ik Omkar” or “The being that makes the sound OM”.

Sikhs believe that there is a spark of the divine in all of us and that one of our most important jobs is to be our brother's keeper, to take care of each other and treat each other with respect. Sikhs do not try to proselytize, nor do they insist that everyone believe what they believe is the truth or else. They do believe that words can lead you astray, and that ritualism can become a source of pride, so they do not allow rituals in their temples. A special group within the Sikh religion is called the Khalsa (the “pure”). This group was created by the 10^th guru, Guru Gobind Singh, as a military wing of the Sikh religion during a time when the Sikhs had to fight for their existence against the Mughals. The Khalsa were baptized by Guru Singh and charged to carry or exibit 5 items of faith on their persons at all times. These are called the 5 Ks, and consist of Kesh (unshorn hair), Kanga (wooden comb), Kara (iron bracelet), Kirpan (strapped sword) and Kaccha (specially-designed undergarment). All of these items symbolized things like purity, cleanliness, strength and readiness. Sikhs today can become part of this group when they are baptized, and baptism is considered an act of free will. The choice to wear unshorn hair and beards and carry the other symbols is voluntary also, and some modern Sikh men follow these precepts closely, while others do not feel that the scriptures demand this.

The Khalsa became known worldwide when India was under the rule of the English Empire. They earned the reputation of being fierce and loyal fighters and fought in both world wars for England.

One of the most interesting things about the Sikh religion for me is the fact that all Sikh men take the last name of Singh (which means “lion” or “fighter”) and all Sikh women take the last name Kaur (which means “princess”). This began originally when the Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa and changed the names of his soldier to Singh. This not only denoted the fact that they all belonged to their Guru, but also made them all equal by dropping their family names, which indicated what caste they belonged to. For thousands of years and even to this day, India has been a country where all people were born into a certain caste, or level of society. Whatever caste you are born into, you have no chance of ever rising to a higher level. The Sikh religion prides itself on equality, and the tradition of taking the names of Singh and Kaur has been one that has survived until this day. America is a country that has always been known for believing in equality, but we have never “put our money where our mouth is” like the followers of Sikhism. I admire that. Another interesting fact about the Sikh religion is that their temples are always open to anyone who wished to come and pray. They do not insist that you are Sikh; they welcome anyone. They again “put their money where their mouth is” when it comes to believing that they should take care of their fellow man. Anyone who has no place to stay can come to the temple and they will be offered shelter and food. Their temple kitchen, or Langar, is open 24 hours and anyone who is hungry will be fed. The Sikh in our area are famous for their “Sikh Festival” where they have been known in the past to feed tens of thousands of people in one day...all free of charge.

It seems that perhaps we have a lot to learn from the people of the Sikh religion.

I know I would like to visit that temple again, and smell the incense and feel the peace.

Wanna come?