Where is Roberg?

Part 1: A Holy Place

Amritsar has been amazing. After a 16 hour train ride from Lucknow, during which I shared a cabin and fascinating conversation with Indian man, I arrived in Amritsar refreshed and energized.

Having learned my lesson from Lucknow, I decided to make my train reservation out of Amritsar immediately. Next, I set out to find my hotel, and settled in. Luckily, I had half a day left to explore the old city.

The city is home to the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion, which is a blend between Hinduism and Islam (for more information, search the web or click this link). The shrine is called the Golden Temple, and here I am at the temple:

Everyone has to wear something on their head out as custom and out of respect to the holy place… that’s the reason for the stylish orange handkerchief. 

If you type “Golden Temple Amritsar” into any image search engine (like Google), hundreds of beautiful pictures will come up that surpass any that I’ve taken. As usual, it’s difficult to put into words the experience of being at a holy place and seeing one of the architectural wonders of the world. Many people say that this temple rivals the Taj Mahal, though I can’t say yet (I’ll be at the Taj Mahal in less than 4 days though).

As part of my explorations, I went to see the cafeteria, where up to 40,000 pilgrims eat for free every day. People of all faiths, including Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or any other religion are welcome to have a meal. It is an amazing production. People are preparing food, eating food, and washing dishes in this 24 hour free cafeteria. As people enter, they take a tray, a bowl (out of which they drinking water), and a spoon. The food that is served is simple: Chipati (flat bread), a green soupy substance, and an orange-colored substance like a grainy and firm mashed potato. The person eating is offered refills until they are satisfied from what I can tell. After the person is done eating, they file out and hand their trays, bowls, and spoons to the appropriate people who prepare them to be washed. Anyone who would like to help, is welcome to help was the dishes for as long or as little as they like.

I decided to join the pilgrims for a meal on my last night here in Amritsar. However, the doors where closed when I approached because they were in between “seatings”, washing the floors where people ate. Seeing this, I decided to wash some dishes while I waited, which I proceeded to do for about 15 minutes. By the time I joined the rest of the people eating, I was one of the last people to be seated in the hall. As I sat cross-legged, quite uncomfortably because of how inflexible I am, I tried not to spill the food all over me. Naturally, the people surrounding me watched with a mixture of amusement and disbelief as I fumbled through the meal. A young boy on my right and an old man on my left, both spoke to me, asking my name and country. Each tried to have a polite conversation with me using as much English as they knew.

After the meal, I left and handed in my dishes. I was so grateful, I decided to help clean some more. (I hope my wife doesn’t read this part – she may expect me to do dishes at home from now on!) People are welcome to give donations, help prepare, help clean, or all three. The exercise was truly communal, open, and religious/spiritual.

As you can see from the pictures on the internet, the Temple is worth seeing at different times of the day or night, depending on the lighting. Consequently, I went back to see it later at night:

  Yeah, it’s a goofy face, but that’s what happens when you hold out the camera and take a picture of yourself because no one is around! (Flat Kat was checking out something out at the time – check out his page for some more cool pictures).
Each day, an original copy of the Sikh holy book is transported from it’s nightly resting place to the central shrine around 4:30 am, and it returns to that spot at 9:30 pm. Since the line was much shorter to get into the central shrine (said to be layered in over 750 kilograms of gold), I decided to go in at 9:15. My timing couldn’t have been better as the ceremonial transport of the holy book started right as I entered the shrine. After observing the prayers, I positioned myself next to a few Sikhs on the bridge who knew what they were doing. I figured they knew a good spot to watch the ceremony as the holy book made its journey across the bridge to its nightly resting spot.

Just before the process began, a man with a golden horn and the traditional Sikh turban walked up next to me. As the procession started, I waited to watch the holy book pass within arms length. Suddenly, the man holding a golden horn ushered me forward in the line and told the man behind me to take care of me (I’m assuming – I obviously couldn’t understand the language). Before I knew it, I was being pushed toward the holy book and pushed under the handles of the “tray” used to transport it. After resting it on my shoulders, I was pushed forward and expected to get out of the way.

Without knowing it, I had just participated in one of the holiest opportunities in Sikhism. I had helped to carry the holy book, if only for a moment, from the Golden Temple to it’s nightly resting place in Akal Takhat (the building at the end of the bridge). Here’s some video of the process as it passed me once again a few minutes later:

Overall, my experiences in and around the Golden Temple were amazing, and definitely a highlight of Amritsar.

Filed under: India, Travel