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Raj Khalsa Gurdwara
6 Export Dr., Sterling, VA

by Amanda Kendrick

My second spiritual encounter took place at the Raj Khalsa Gurdwara, which is the name of the Sikh worship center in Sterling, VA. I had never been to an eastern religious service before, so I decided to go along with a classmate, Marylyn. I had no idea what to expect since I have not been exposed to an eastern culture. Going with a classmate helped set me at ease. The only thoughts that I had were that most of the attendees would be Indians and that I wouldn't understand anything that was going on. This was quiet an experience.

When I first arrived I waited outside of the door for Marylyn. After a few minutes a gentleman from the service came out and asked if I was waiting for someone from a religion class at NOVA. He caught me by surprise because he was not what I was expecting to see. He was white, and was wearing white clothing that looked like something from India. He was quite friendly and so I followed him up the stairs where I found my classmate there waiting for me.

We proceeded to take off our shoes and cover our heads before entering the worship service. We were greeted by many people there and sat in the back to observe. Everyone was seated on the floor and sat crisscross applesauce. There was music being sung in a different language that I later found out was called Punjabi, and it was the same phrase over and over. This lasted about an hour. I watched as people came in and went to the "alter" and bowed before their holy book and gave an offering. People sat and listened to the music and looked like they were meditating. This meditation lasted for almost the whole service. I concluded that meditation was the main focus of the service because of what I observed and also what was written in their holy book. One of the verses reads. "Gaining the support of the True Name I have conquered the passions within. Standing within my mind the Lord has made me meditate on His Feet." I also know that Yoga is a great part of their religion and they even use their worship space to teach it during the week. 

I found it interesting that the leaders of the service were all American Sikhs including the musicians. The congregation was half white and half Indian. After service I found out that in the 60's a guru came and brought Sikhism to the United States. It is not common that Indian and American Sikhs have their services together so this experience was encouraging. I guess I expected that the leaders of the service would be Indians since this religion came from India. 

There was no separation of the American Sikhs from the Indian Sikhs except that the Americans wear all white clothing to symbolize purity. I interpreted this to mean that maybe they felt the need to identify with the Indian culture more than the Indian Sikhs because Sikhism is not the dominant religion here in the States. The male Indian Sikhs were dressed more casual then the male American Sikhs. The women of both cultures were dressed formally but the Americans wore all white.

I noticed the simplicity of the room that we were sitting in. The floor was covered with white sheets so that it would not get dirty and there were only a few pictures of India and a picture of a guru on the wall. Even the alter that had their holy book on it was not fancy and the book was actually covered up. They are not about being big and elaborate and I found that calming. 

They had a special music group from India on the day that we went who sang their songs of their holy book. They are sung so that the worshipers can meditate during the singing. I asked one of the Indian women if the special music group from India were originally from America and she told me that they were. They have a school in India that American Sikhs send their children to learn the language and to be submerged into the Indian culture. She said many of the children stay in India to live. The congregation gives money to support the school and they even sponsor children to attend.

The whole service was in their native language of Punjabi so it was a bit hard to understand. The people there were very kind and handed out English translations to some of the scripture to us so that we could participate. One of the songs was sung in English at the end of the service. It sounded like a 60's song and that would be the right time for when the guru from India came to the United States.

One of the traditions that I learned about is if you are a Sikh you leave your given last name and take either Kaur (female) or Singh (male) to show that the Sikhs do not have a cast system and have equality among genders. One of the vehicles outside had the word "Singh" on it and I wondered what it meant earlier that day. The most noticeable tradition, and the one that was the most obvious, was that the men sit on one side of the room and women on the other. It is because of tradition stemmed from India that they do this. Another tradition that takes place at the end of the service is when they are putting the holy book away, the congregation is given a mixture that is the consistency of Malt-o-meal and is sweet to taste. It is tradition that after prayer to have something sweet in your mouth to remember the goodness of god. 

My favorite part of this spiritual experience was the meal that they served after the service was done. Everyone still stays seated on the floor but men can now sit with the women and they form lines so that the servers of the meal can walk down it to dip you out your portion. The food was delicious and it was a great time to fellowship with those around us. They had plenty of food and came around to see if you wanted seconds and thirds. No one went hungry in this group. Everyone was very kind to us and made us feel welcome. I was very impressed to see how they treated us since we were much different than anyone else in the group. 

I don't know if I will ever go back to that service again but I would highly recommend it to any westerner to get out there and see what else is in this world. It helped me understand some of the people that I see at the store and I think my favorite checkout guy at Wal-Mart is a Sikh. I think on my own time I will visit some other eastern religious services to see what they do and believe. You can read all about them but until you experience it yourself all you have is your assumptions and most of the time they are fallible. I enjoyed taking the time to step into a culture and a religion for a day that I would not have had the courage to do without the need for it in this class.

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