Last week I had the opportunity to visit a temple of the Sikh's in The Hague. I have to confess to my shame that I really didn't know anything about the Sikh faith and so I went to the temple completely blank. I did know from the internet that I had to dress in such a way that my arms and legs were covered. There I would get a cloth to cover my head (hair). The men do this with a turban or simply a cloth. A very nice and helpful gentleman there showed me the way where I could take off my shoes, where I could wash my hands and then he knotted, I had to kneel before him because I am tall and he was small, an orange cloth around my head. Later I noticed that the men there either have a real Sikh turban on their head, and they happened to have a long and unshaven beard. Or there were men who went through life without a head covering in everyday life and who then wore such a headscarf tied up on the spot and these man usually did not have a beard or a short shaved beard, often young people.
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion. This means that one believes in one God. Sikhism originated in northern India in the early 16th century, started by the first teacher Guru Nanak Dev. It is an independent faith inspired by Hinduism and Islam but it has its own religious identity. The doctrines are laid down in the Guru Granth Sahib. This is the Holy Book for the Sikhs (Wiki).
All the men sat on one side and all the women, in the most beautiful robes and headscarves, in all the colours of the rainbow, sat on the other side. And fortunately we had a large screen in front of us where the text, sung by the Granthi (“pastor”), appeared in Punjabi (I understood later) and English. In the front of the large room was a kind of altar, under a skylight of daylight, covered with cloths and on the altar a big book with The Holy Word of God. That's all.
I found everything equally pleasant, friendly, open, hospitable and I experienced the atmosphere in the temple as incredibly serene. There seemed to be a great simplicity, with few rituals, and everything was focused on the word of God. What was that word of God then? I got a random text from the internet, which matches the many lyrics that were sung and mentioned in the temple that morning. I liked them very much, for sure actually always referring to: God is in us and we can communicate with God and try to live according to God's example.
Well all the way to the atmosphere of
the blogspot. An example:
Those who have the Lord as their Friend and Companion
tell me, what else do they need?
Those who are in love with the Lord of the Universe
pain, suffering and doubt run away from them.
jaa kaa meeth saajan hai sameeaa
this jan ko kahu kaa kee kameeaa|
jaa kee
preeth gobi(n)dh sio laagee
dhookh
dharadh bhram thaa kaa bhaagee.
(this Shabad is by Guru Arjan Dev Ji, in Raag Gauree, at Pannaa 186)
While I am in
the service, I wonder if this religion is not one of the pure forms of religion
on earth and is partly a forerunner of a time when churches and pastors have been
abolished and religion is becoming a most individual communication between God
(in man) and man? I definitely hope to
come back again.
Would You like to comment on this?
My son, let us not judge whether one religion is purer and better than another, people are only going to get away with that.
The Sikh faith is a reaction to the great richness of the Hindu faith and has adopted elements of Islam. So far.
I would like to mention four
important elements in this blog. Everyone can thinks his own.
ü The most individual relationship between man and God in man.
Guru Nanak
has laid the foundation for a pure tradition of seeking God, namely the living
and approachable God in man.
ü The search for the simplicity of life.
The Sikh faith has nurtured the direct impact of religion on ordinary life and how that life should be lived all these centuries. Many cultural rituals and prejudices have been tried to be eliminated. Everything for man's individual relationship with God. Everything else is secondary.
ü The great respect for women and the equality of men and women.
Guru Nanak's assertion that the soul of the man and the soul of the
woman are equal has meant that in everyday practice the Sikhs always went back
to this core truth, when the sexes seemed to clash culturally.
ü Room for devotion in
everyday life.
Of course, every religion has the desire to inspire
and influence ordinary life. That aspiration is everywhere. The Sikhs have
succeeded in translating this into ordinary life in the purest way. How one
deals with one's own life, with one's fellow man, with the responsibilities in
society, with nature. This was and is always done with a lot of respect, a lot
of attention and a lot of wisdom.
You have enjoyed yourself in this meeting. Go back again.
And the aforementioned Shabad, the text of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, isn't that
exactly what We have together, My son?
The Sikhs are blessed.
My blessings to you all
