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Raj Khalsa Gurdwara
22821 Silverbrook Center Drive, Sterling, VA

by Emily Eells

I did my encounter and dialogue at the Raj Khalsa Gurdwara in Sterling, VA. I wasn’t planning on visiting this Gurdwara but things turned out differently than expected when I called the National Gurdwara in Washington, D.C. and found out they had been closed down. I spoke with a very nice gentleman named Mr. Bhakshish Singh from the National Gurdwara and he referred me to the Raj Khalsa Gurdwara. Not only was is closer but Mr. Bhakshish told me that the people there were very friendly and they get students calling in all the time to come visit. I called over to the Raj Khalsa and spoke with Gurusangat Singh, again a very nice man who welcomed me to come to their service that Friday night. 

When I arrived I was very nervous. I have never been to another place of worship other than my church in over four years. I’ve also never visited a community other than Christianity so this was a very foreign experience. As soon as I went inside I sat down on a bench that was next to where everyone places their shoes and called Gurusangat. When I had spoke to him earlier I asked him what was appropriate or inappropriate for me to wear that night, he suggested that I bring a head covering (but they supply them if you don’t have one) and that I will also need to take off my shoes when I come in. As soon as I called Gurusangat he came to the front and said I could take off my shoes and go ahead and cover my head with my shawl.

At this point he gave me a very brief tour. The Gurdwara is located in an office building, the Raj Khalsa owns 3-4 suites within the building. The first portion was built out to have two separate floors, they have an entrance area with artwork of Guru’s and pictures of the Golden Temple, an area to place ones shoes, a sitting area, and a classroom. The second floor is a yoga studio that I didn’t get to see, Gurusangat keeps it locked during services so the children don’t go up and ‘ destroy’ it, as he said. If you walk through the hallway on the first floor it turns off to the left and you run into the sanctuary and the langar

  The sanctuary is very large and open, which seemed to be the case for the entire temple. The floor was lined with white sheets and there was no seating. Up at the front to the left there was an area for the Guru to recite prayers and for the musicians to play and in the middle there was an alter for the Granth Sahib. This was elevated a little and covered with a large sheet with a lot of golden embroidery, to me it almost looked like a very fancy comforter or curtain because the material was so thick. Above the alter on the ceiling, a sheet hung that almost looked like a canopy. Lights were strung along its borders and it was also embroidered. 

The langar was right outside the sanctuary, which was very simple looking just like the sanctuary. There was a large area to sit on the floor and the kitchen itself was separated off with a large stock of food, several stove areas, dish racks and deep sinks. It sort of looks like a cafeteria kitchen. When talking with a congregant they said that langar was served only during service times (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) but at the Golden Temple they are always serving meals!

As soon as Gurusangat left me to wander I immediately made friends. The community of people there is small, about 40-50 people on this particular night. I don’t know how many usually attend on Saturday or Sunday, but it might be more than that. In general, I was told that this was a smaller congregation. The crowd had a good mix of ages in it, there were about as many men as there was women, as well as a good mix of younger children (4-14). What I didn’t see a lot of were young adults, 20-26 age group. It mainly consisted of the elderly, married adults and children and there was no sign of anyone Caucasian except for myself, to me everyone looked of middle-eastern decent. 

All the people were extremely friendly, I even had one woman who wanted to be in all my pictures, she was a riot. One person in particular that I met and spoke with at length was Hari Mander Jot Singh Khlasa. Hari works at the Miri Piri Academy in Amritsar India as the Director of Development. He lives in India but was visiting this Gurdwara to play the drums. All the gentlemen surrounding him were extremely proud of him coming to their Gurdwara to play, they were very eager to tell me that Hari had played the drums at the Golden Temple before. I told them I felt honored to be there that night to meet a celebrity, they all thought that was funny.

I got to sit down and talk to Hari, he asked me what I was studying in school and I told him some of my background and I then asked him about his. Hari’s parents converted to Sikhism about 40 years ago so he was born into Sikhism but didn’t embrace it to be his own until he was 12 years old. He started playing the drums just before that at age 10 and has been playing ever since. 

He asked me where I went to church and I got to share a little bit of my testimony with him. I started to share about when I got put into public school for the first time in middle school. I was embarrassed of being a Christian because kids that age only liked doing and talking about things that were considered cool and the peer pressure got to me to try to fit in and not be different. I asked Hari if he ever encountered that while he was a child being that he was a follower at such a young age. He told me that’s when he moved to India and went to a school specifically for that reason. He wanted to be around other children who believed the same things and had the same goals so he would never have to encounter the pressure to renounce his beliefs. 

I really liked Hari, he had a good set of convictions. One of the reasons why I knew that was because he chose to be Sikh and believe in their doctrine, it wasn’t a choice of culture or pressure from family, but solely his decision. Hari even considers himself ‘white.’ His mom was born in Mexico and he and his dad were both born in the states, but they are of Lebanese decent. I honestly couldn’t tell what his background was, he was dressed in traditional white robes with a turban, he looked like he fit in with everyone else! 

After speaking with Hari the evening prayer service began. He reminded me just before I went in to not point my feet directly toward the alter up front. It was considered disrespectful. I went into the sanctuary and all the women sat on the floor on the right and all the men sat on the left. The Guru was up front to the left sitting cross legged reciting the evening prayer into a microphone. The prayer was about 30 minutes long and I was impressed that almost all the people knew the prayer by heart! They recited it right along with the guru in a different language, some with their eyes closed in meditation and some with their eyes open. 

  There seemed to be no real schedule or structure to this service, people came and went as they pleased and some would come in and bow before the Granth Sahib and sometimes give offerings as well. The dress was also varying, some women wore full robes and others just had their head covered with street clothes, this was the same for the men. I even noticed that some men looked like they had never shaved or cut their hair and others were clean-shaven with freshly faded hairstyles. That was something Hari mentioned, this was suppose to feel like home, everyone should feel comfortable here-hence why I think some people dressed and groomed differently.