Amritsar

We arrived in Amritsar and head for the Golden Temple which is the Mecca for Seiks (the Guru who created this religion was born there)  The Golden Temple is a place that feeds over 40,000 people a day for free.  It is mostly dhal and chapatti but everyone is welcome and everyone is equal.  Unlike Hindus, Seiks do not believe in the cast system, they believe all human beings are equal (men and women alike), they are a warrior group that have 5 symbols to indicate their faith.  1. The turban head wrap for both sexes, 2. special undergarments that allow them to jump on horseback and ride into battle if necessary (a good pair of jocky shorts will do this too, but apparently this isn’t good enough), 3. they believe that hair is a gift and thus should never be cut thus they grow long beards (men and women alike) and to this end they have a comb in their hair at all times,  4. They wear an iron bracelet to protect their wrist from swords and 5. They wear some type of sword at all times. 

This particular weekend was preparation and celebration for Monday’s birthday party for the first Guru.  So, there was a parade and they took the holy book around which brought out the beggars and people wanting to be blessed.  The parade’s lasted about 6 hours and then it was into the temple for all sorts of other prayers and lighting of the temple.  The main temple that houses the book during the day (because they put the book to bed each night from 11-4am is gold plated (hence the name) and they wash this part of the temple down with holy cows milk.  In the temple there are 4 men who are constantly singing and playing the drums or other musical instruments.  I am not sure if or when they rotate? But this occurs from 4am to 11pm all day every day and they are filmed so you can tune in your TV if you would like to watch and listen from afar.  The temple has a constant stream of people going through it at every minute of the day.  Everyone who “works” there is a volunteer.  Pilgrims come and help make chapatti, cut onion, peal garlic, wash dishes, hand out plates, serve food all in duty to their faith and helping each other.   They are very proud of their system, especially the 3 chapatti machines which when all three are running, make 6,000 chapatti an hour.  In taking a tour of the kitchen (which I did not have my camera and am super sad) they had literally VATS of food boiling over flames as thick as my calves.  It reminded me of movies like Oliver Twist or dingy slaves churning boiling vats that I could literally stand in and be covered chest high.

 

The temple which housed the book is surrounded by water – which is considered holy to bathe in.  There are 2 set aside chambers for the women to bathe in and the men then get the rest of the 1km loop to take a dip should they desire.  It is inappropriate to see women wet and since everyone strips to their undies or nude, it is nice that they have the set aside room.