We are staying in the Pilgrim House in Amritsar, right next to the Golden Temple. This temple is a very holy site in the Sikh religion and thousands of pilgrims come each day to worship and give offerings of money and food. The history behind this building is complex and full of the kinds of war and bloodshed that happen when religious beliefs spill into the political and the passions those tensions seem to envoke, including in recent times when Indira Ghandi's government rousted out Sikh separatists in a botched and utimately for Indira, fatal, attempt to supress their effort for an independent Sikh state.
The temple itself is glorious. Set in the middle of a pool that reflects the gold leaf on the building with four entrances to mark the openness of the Sikh faith to all religion. Ragas are being sung 24 hours a day = a tabla player and two harmoniums all singing the words of their faith over and over, live inside the temple and broadcast over the pool. The music is actually quite glorious, the 16 beat phrases circling and rising in the morning air, supported by the murmer of the worshippers singing along quitely. Here, as in all the other temples we have visited, Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, the transmission of the practices of devotion are passed on to the children through the every day practices of worship. 
Here a grandfather is helping his young grandson take part in the ritual bathing that the men do before worship. (Women also bathe, but they have to do it in a little marble house where no one can see.)
Here a grandfather is helping his young grandson take part in the ritual bathing that the men do before worship. (Women also bathe, but they have to do it in a little marble house where no one can see.)Most striking, however, is the temple's communal kitchen. They feed thousands and thousands of pilgrims and the poor each
day. No charge required, although a donation is accepted. In lines, people line up and are given a large metal plate and file to an upstairs room adjacent to the temple. Sitting in lines on the floor they wait for servers to come around and spoon dal and a vegetable curry onto their plates, or lay a warm chapati in their outstreched hands. All begin to eat and then when finished, take th
eir plates to the large washing area. The sound of the metal plates hitting the collection barrel is a sustained sound through the Pilgrim house window 24 hours a day.
day. No charge required, although a donation is accepted. In lines, people line up and are given a large metal plate and file to an upstairs room adjacent to the temple. Sitting in lines on the floor they wait for servers to come around and spoon dal and a vegetable curry onto their plates, or lay a warm chapati in their outstreched hands. All begin to eat and then when finished, take their plates to the large washing area. The sound of the metal plates hitting the collection barrel is a sustained sound through the Pilgrim house window 24 hours a day. I sat next to a woman who had brought with her a small plastic bag, and after her plate was filled, she spooned it into the bag, obviously taking it home with her, either for another meal or to feed another body. Many volunteers come to peel onions, carrots, a whole raft of gree
n beans, - men, women and children - and the effort to cook this much food and keep the lines moving and people fed is staggering. This really is 'feed the people' in action.
n beans, - men, women and children - and the effort to cook this much food and keep the lines moving and people fed is staggering. This really is 'feed the people' in action.M
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