My Old Blog

I figure the Golden Temple is the World’s Most Practical Holy Place. I think that is a great distinction and says a lot about Sikhs, who are some of the most successful folks in India.

Sikkhism was a warrior club that eventually turned into a religion. To be orthodox, you must 1) wear a turban, 2) never cut your hair/beard, 3) wear long underwear (I haven’t the slightest idea about this one), 4) wear metal bracelet/s, and 5) wear a sword (however small) at all times. The Sikhs were incredibly nice people, rather tall for Indians, and very interested in foreigners.

So I’ve been to the Dome of the Rock in Jeruselum. It is a very pretty building; inside there is a rock surrounded by an altar. You can walk around and pray. That is pretty much it. At Mecca, you can walk around a big square and pray too. At most churches, no matter how holy, you can really only sit and pray. Walk and pray or sit and pray. Those are your only two options. Religion has never been known for its practicality.

The Golden Temple though is made for using. You can sleep for free at the Golden Temple in dorm-like rooms in a surrounding marble building which is itself part of the temple complex, so its not like they put you up on the other side of town in a crappy hotel. You can also sleep on the floor of the temple surrounding the lake. It is made of inlaid marble, so is quite hard, but they’ll let you sleep there all the same. Imagine if the Cathedral of Notre Dame allowed people to sleep in the aisles?.?.

You can eat for free at the temple too. They feed an estimated 30,000 people a day from steel bowls. The food is dispensed from a large machine brought from Italy that they are very proud of. There is also a dishwashing facility in the temple where pilgrims volunteer to wash the dishes they just ate from with rock powder. Of course, water is free too and available to everyone.

You can bathe at the temple. There are shower facilities. There is also a beautiful lake that you can take a dip in which is said to wash away all of your sins……and yes, you can still walk around and pray.

Another curious fact about the Sikhs is that they still have their original holy scripture, which is kept in the golden building on the lake. So the Sikhs are a very conscientious people too.

I mean, think about the Jews. They lost the Ark of the Covenant. In essence, they lost the vessel that housed God…..how do you lose God? What day do you wake up and say, “Oops, hey guys, we forgot God and that big gold box that shoots lightning bolts that we’ve been carrying around for centuries and is the single most important item to our people.”

And the Christians…..its hard to lose what we never had in the first place. We don’t have the cross, never did. The Holy Grail is a legend. The Shroud of Turin is a fake. It is debated whether the tomb of Jesus at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the real site or not. The Bible was compiled centuries after the fact.

So, all in all, I am very impressed with Sikhism. I haven’t the slighest idea what the tenents of the religion are, but I can say they are a practical, friendly bunch with a very beautiful Holiest of Holy sites. And yes, the walls of the temple are said to be made of real gold.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2005 at 8:35 am and is filed under India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.