Today i visited a gurdwara nearby. Five of us went there and strangely none of us have been to a gurdwara before (in the last 10 years), even in India. While although one of the primary reasons to go was to enjoy the sunday langar, but it was a good experience.
Firstly, one of us was smart enough to take handkerchiefs to cover our heads and some rice as an offering. I had no idea that we should take it , i was more or less taking it as an outing.
We reached just on time, snacks included mathri, pakode and bread pakode together with coke.
Then we went inside the pooja hall and once inside, the whole trip changed for me. There were close to 150 people there, all praying, some 5-6 pandits( i dont know what you call the person who proctors the puja in gurdwara). The sweet sound of gurbani, even though one cannot understand a single word, just the melody is enough to bring peace to hearts, smile to face. One of the facets that interested me the most was that there were close to 20 children helping adults in giving prashad, serving food and most importantly chanting prayers. Their prayer was not that sophisticated one, just one line repeated but they were singing it quite well. Then one of my friends remarked that "whereever there are sardars, there is a gurdwara". And i thought that it is true for arya samajis too, infact for temples too. This offhand comment hit me and i asked why, why would people give free lunches every week, have this beautiful building constructed and carry on the proceedings. All of us have a small temple at home, we can do it at home here and especially in US, you are not even in India, why would you take pains to establish a community here.
The reason that i think that is the most important, although not normally spoken, is because of the children. The idea is to give as much as possible to them, to make them aware of their roots, to make them aware of the scriptures, to give them a similar environment that the adults had went through when they were children, to atleast give them an option, to teach them right from wrong.
I distinctly remember my childhood days, when i was able to recite all the sanskrit mantras in havan. I attended DAV (Dayanand Anglo Vidyalaya) till class 7, and apart from the morning prayer, we had a subject - Dharam Shiksha(Moral teaching). I used to top the subject, and even though i did not understood most of the shlokas, but my parents made it a point to make me learn. It makes a difference, even the mere chanting of them used to give me a lot of peace and more importantly confidence. The small token of tying moli ka dhaga on my wrists, or wearing kada on wrist had a deep impact on me. The tap of agni during havan gave me enrgy, it made me feel good, i dont know why or how but it did. And even today, chanting those bhajans, simple lyrics, little melody gives so much peace to me. Even though i think differently now and dont believe in most of the rituals but whenever i attend them, the small 45 mins to myself helps me recollect a lot of thoughts. My point is that i had the luxury of having an option, i had gone through these small prayers everyday, i had an option of whether i want to follow them or not and i am aware of what i have done. Most importantly, these things have given me an attitude to look at things rationally and i do realize the importance of these gurbanis, these havans etc.
So the primary reason that the sikh commukknity builds such spaces is to give the children the same atmosphere. The simple task of serving a langar food teaches you self-less service, respecting others, respecting food and so many other things. Its not all about the prayers, its not all about the chanting, every small small activity makes a difference.
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