After Buddhist, Hindu and
Muslim tales of India we decided to discover a younger religion born in
India - Sikhism. Sikhism is
distributed mostly in Punjab and we headed straight to Amritsar and the Golden
Temple - the most sacred place for Sikhs. Amritsar
city is very grim, dirty and noisy like any big city in India, but as soon as
you enter the Golden Temple complex, time seems to stop, the noise turns into
beautiful prayer songs and the dirty streets - into a shiny clean white marble. Here shoes are prohibited (and socks
too), and covering the hair is obligatory for both women and men. The complex is huge. Besides the Golden Temple, covered
with 100 kg of pure gold, emerging from a lake full with large gold fish, there
were several large temples, dormitories, dining hall and museum. The water in the lake of course is
sacred and everyone bathes in it and even drinks from it.
 |
| in the Golden Temple at night |
 |
| at night the long carpets
are rolled and people sleep on the marble |
 |
| massive meal |
 |
| flying dishes, the noise
outside the kitchen is indescribable |
 |
| guard |
What attracted us to Sikhs
is their idea of equality and sharing. They
opposed the caste system in India and believe that all people are equal
regardless of social status, gender or religion - beggars and kings eat at the
same table and live together in a mutually helping society. Sikhs believe in one God, tolerance
and love for all and service to humanity. Everything in the temople is free and
money is useless here. (except for donations when you leave) There is a giant free kitchen which works
around the clock and feeds thousands of pilgrims who come every day. Volunteers constantly help with
cooking and washing. Everywhere
there is filtered water and there is a separate dorm for foreigners where you
can stay up to 3 days for free. But
the best thing about this place is the absence of any shops, souvenir shops,
guides, beggars and crooks, typical for most famous temples. For three days you can completely free
your mind, without thinking about money, food and shelter and be fully immersed
in the sacred atmosphere. Of
course everybody gives some donation and volunteer work - as much as you want. We joined this community with full
force and it seemed to work perfectly. There
is food and water all the time, the toilets (I don’t know how) were
always clean and free, despite the thousands of pilgrims who use them every
day. Perhaps the cleanest public
toilets until now - you can safely walk barefoot inside. Cleanliness is obviously important for
Sikhs. All day people are polishing
the marble floors and walls and any gap between the tiles. The Golden Temple itself is constantly
being cleaned inside and out. There
are special wooden ladders for cleaning walls, ceilings and chandeliers. Even within the religious ceremonies
which we saw they brought out the sacred books and other objects from large
boxes, cleaned them and put them back. Cleanliness
was almost unreal. For most
foreigners, however it was not clean enough. They put their shoes on in the
dorm (even in the bed!) and refused to eat the food from the kitchen. It seemed
to them too risky to eat in the same dishes from which thousands of Indians ate
before them. Most did not even
trust the filtered water, and went to buy bottles! Sometimes prejudices of the Western
world surprise me. How can the
purest place in India become "dirty" in people's heads. And those "clean" people go
to bed with shoes and throw away plastic bottles every day. We, however, with the greatest
pleasure took part in the most massive meal we have ever seen. The organization was perfect and the
food - just wonderful. Besides
the standard rice, lentils, subdji (vegetables) and chapatti, they served khil
- something like rice pudding with dried fruits and nuts. So hateful in kindergarten, here I
thought it was the most delicious thing. There is free kitchen in all Sikh
temples, but here is just gigantic. We
took part in the most huge and fun washing dishes ever - millions, endless piles
of metal plates and bowls are poured continuously and never ever end. But volunteers are so much that it is
sometimes difficult to get to the sinks. Of
course, we were the only foreigners washing dishes and all people looked at us
with joy. All are smiling and kind
and looked like coming straight out of a fairy tale. Sikhs are distinguished by their
peculiar uniform, consisting of five symbols (the 5 K) - Kesha - long hair,
Kanga - comb, Kacha - shorts, Kara - metal bracket and Kirpan - sword. As a rule they should never cut their
hair and beards. The hair is
coiled in a bun on top of the head, and sometimes beards are brushed behind the
ears. Women are believed to have
the same soul as men and therefore equal rights in everything. All gurdwaras (Sikh temples) are open for
all people of all religions.
 |
| ceremonial cleaning in the
Golden Temple |
 |
| even water in the lake is
cleaned daily with long bamboo sticks |
 |
| опъване на "знамето" |
 |
| holy bath and the typical
Sikh knife |
 |
| works on the temple run
continuously |
 |
| long-term volunteers in the
temple |
 |
| Golden Temple in Amritsar
at night |
 |
| Indian border guard |
Indian Border Guard
Amritsar is located near the Pakistani border and I don’t know why we decided
to go there to witness the daily ceremony of closing of the India-Pakistan
border. It was quite unusual
ceremony - something between a military theater and a football match with
nationalist notes. In two words -
total circus. Thousands of
Indians flocked every to the border but not to go into Pakistan - just to shout
and dance and return home with patriotic feeling. The crowd was huge and had benches
like a stadium with separate sections for men, women and foreigners. It started with people running with
Indian flags, dancing at super strong Indian (Bollywood) music, shouting "India is great"
before the uniformed armed guards. This
lasts for hours before the actual ceremony began - marching and removing the flags
from both sides. On the Pakistani side there were fewer people and all women were
covered. Indian women on the
other hand, were singing and dancing to demonstrate their freedom. To me this whole performance seemed
quite ridiculous and we went back with the dream to cross this border to
Pakistan next time.
 |
| Indian patriots |
 |
| male audience |
 |
| female audience |
 |
| border-women |
 |
| golden sunrise in the
Golden Temple |
After 3 days of
purification in the Golden Temple we headed to Delhi. Again we got a free general class
train, the station was very close to the temple. In Delhi, we had several important
missions - to repair the lens of my camera, to buy shoes for Evgeni and to send
a parcel to Bulgaria with pictures. We
didn’t want to stay long in this city – big cities are not our favorite places,
but we had work to do. We also
walked through the sights and markets of Delhi. We went to the largest mosque in India
- Jama Mashid that surprised us with fees for camera, fees to climb the minaret
... nothing was free as in Amritsar and everything was much more dirty and
inhospitable. Generally such
"tourist" temples in which you have to pay tickets and fees for me
are far from the idea of God. I
promised myself to avoid such places next time.
For compensation went to a gurdwara
(Sikh Temple) in Delhi, where we were welcomed with a smile and immediately
offered food and water. We
listened to beautiful live music and chanting, ate in a relatively small
kitchen, they blessed us and gave us a lucky flower.
Luckily the lens got
repaired for 4 days (and 80 euros) and we could get out of Delhi soon. The shoes for Evgeni proved to be the
most difficult mission. Even in
the capital it was hard to find more than 44-45 size and Gena wore 47,5. Finally
we decided on some sandals size 45th and with fingers slightly
protruding in front they fit. We
sent 13 kilos to Sofia with things accumulated so far and the hard drive with all
the pictures and we were ready to go. Still
with sick stomachs, we headed to Rajasthan.
Happy atmosphere on the Indian border.
After Buddhist, Hindu and
Muslim tales of India we decided to discover a younger religion born in
India - Sikhism. Sikhism is
distributed mostly in Punjab and we headed straight to Amritsar and the Golden
Temple - the most sacred place for Sikhs. Amritsar
city is very grim, dirty and noisy like any big city in India, but as soon as
you enter the Golden Temple complex, time seems to stop, the noise turns into
beautiful prayer songs and the dirty streets - into a shiny clean white marble. Here shoes are prohibited (and socks
too), and covering the hair is obligatory for both women and men. The complex is huge. Besides the Golden Temple, covered
with 100 kg of pure gold, emerging from a lake full with large gold fish, there
were several large temples, dormitories, dining hall and museum. The water in the lake of course is
sacred and everyone bathes in it and even drinks from it.
What attracted us to Sikhs
is their idea of equality and sharing. They
opposed the caste system in India and believe that all people are equal
regardless of social status, gender or religion - beggars and kings eat at the
same table and live together in a mutually helping society. Sikhs believe in one God, tolerance
and love for all and service to humanity. Everything in the temople is free and
money is useless here. (except for donations when you leave) There is a giant free kitchen which works
around the clock and feeds thousands of pilgrims who come every day. Volunteers constantly help with
cooking and washing. Everywhere
there is filtered water and there is a separate dorm for foreigners where you
can stay up to 3 days for free. But
the best thing about this place is the absence of any shops, souvenir shops,
guides, beggars and crooks, typical for most famous temples. For three days you can completely free
your mind, without thinking about money, food and shelter and be fully immersed
in the sacred atmosphere. Of
course everybody gives some donation and volunteer work - as much as you want. We joined this community with full
force and it seemed to work perfectly. There
is food and water all the time, the toilets (I don’t know how) were
always clean and free, despite the thousands of pilgrims who use them every
day. Perhaps the cleanest public
toilets until now - you can safely walk barefoot inside. Cleanliness is obviously important for
Sikhs. All day people are polishing
the marble floors and walls and any gap between the tiles. The Golden Temple itself is constantly
being cleaned inside and out. There
are special wooden ladders for cleaning walls, ceilings and chandeliers. Even within the religious ceremonies
which we saw they brought out the sacred books and other objects from large
boxes, cleaned them and put them back. Cleanliness
was almost unreal. For most
foreigners, however it was not clean enough. They put their shoes on in the
dorm (even in the bed!) and refused to eat the food from the kitchen. It seemed
to them too risky to eat in the same dishes from which thousands of Indians ate
before them. Most did not even
trust the filtered water, and went to buy bottles! Sometimes prejudices of the Western
world surprise me. How can the
purest place in India become "dirty" in people's heads. And those "clean" people go
to bed with shoes and throw away plastic bottles every day. We, however, with the greatest
pleasure took part in the most massive meal we have ever seen. The organization was perfect and the
food - just wonderful. Besides
the standard rice, lentils, subdji (vegetables) and chapatti, they served khil
- something like rice pudding with dried fruits and nuts. So hateful in kindergarten, here I
thought it was the most delicious thing. There is free kitchen in all Sikh
temples, but here is just gigantic. We
took part in the most huge and fun washing dishes ever - millions, endless piles
of metal plates and bowls are poured continuously and never ever end. But volunteers are so much that it is
sometimes difficult to get to the sinks. Of
course, we were the only foreigners washing dishes and all people looked at us
with joy. All are smiling and kind
and looked like coming straight out of a fairy tale. Sikhs are distinguished by their
peculiar uniform, consisting of five symbols (the 5 K) - Kesha - long hair,
Kanga - comb, Kacha - shorts, Kara - metal bracket and Kirpan - sword. As a rule they should never cut their
hair and beards. The hair is
coiled in a bun on top of the head, and sometimes beards are brushed behind the
ears. Women are believed to have
the same soul as men and therefore equal rights in everything. All gurdwaras (Sikh temples) are open for
all people of all religions.
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