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Finding faith
These guests did not grow up Sikh. One calls his younger self a stubborn atheist. Others were raised Catholic or Muslim, or had decided there was no God at all. Each tells what first drew them in, what it cost and who helped.
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Can anyone become a Sikh, or do you have to be born into it?
No, going by the guests on Finding Sikhi, some of whom were raised outside Sikh families. Bishan Singh grew up in a white, middle class family in Nottingham with agnostic parents. Offering it as his own opinion, he goes further: “I don’t think you can be born a Sikh”. As he tells it, each person has to join with the Guru of their own accord.
Japjeet Kaur, who is from Belgium, says it never felt as though she had chosen Sikhi, or even found it. She was not looking for anything, she says, and it unfolded anyway.
What happens on a first visit to a Gurdwara? Can anyone go in?
Ram Kaur had read that everyone is welcome in a Gurdwara (Sikh place of worship), and says that is what she found. She looked up what to do: shoes off, hands washed, head covered. She went on a quiet late morning, sat at the back and could not follow what was said, yet did not want to leave. “It’s like you found home now”, she says.
Haneet Kaur, who was Muslim at the time, was nervous about causing offence. She says everyone was welcoming, though on later visits she noticed some odd looks. Bishan Singh went on a quiet weekday with a friend, bowed, and was shown round.
What is taking Amrit like?
Bishan Singh calls the day he took Amrit (Sikh initiation) the “craziest day of my life”, and Ram Kaur says hers was very emotional. He says he was asked questions beforehand and was ready to be told to come back later. During the ceremony he felt, in his words, transported back to 1699. He was very tired by the end, and glad the Rehat (code of conduct) was given in English.
Ram Kaur says her earlier life passed quickly before her: the council estate, the missed schooling, the jobs. She says she learned that if you take one step towards the Guru, the Guru takes many towards you.
I grew up Sikh but never really understood it. Where do I start?
Dharmveer Singh describes being in that position, and says a small weekday class changed things for him. Taken to the Gurdwara (Sikh place of worship) as a child, he says he sat through Sundays understanding nothing. In his early twenties a cousin invited him to a class of six or seven who recited a prayer, Rehras Sahib, along with the teacher. Later he read a little at home, adding bit by bit. “Don’t put pressure on yourself”, he says.
Bishan Singh’s suggestion to people raised in Sikh households is to treat each Gurdwara visit, however rare, as a chance to build a personal relationship with the Guru.
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