By far the highlight of the trip so far has been the visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar. In fact it ranks highly amongst the best of any trip I have been on.
I went there without a lot of knowledge about the place. It had been recommended to me by a friend in Australia whose parents are Sikhs so I had looked it up on the Internet, read the small section in the guide book and seen a few images. These didn't prepare me for the spiritual and sensual experience of actually being there. You run the gauntlet of people trying to sell you things as you approach the walls, but once you are in there it is clear that this is a temple not a tourist attraction.
With the help of an attendant I found the place to leave my shoes and check my bag in. As I took one of the compulsory head scarfs and walked through the bath of water to wash my feet I could already hear the beautiful harmonious chanting which is amplified and echoes throughout the complex. At the entrance door people were bending over with great reverence to kiss or touch the threshold then touching their forehead. I did likewise. Along a hall, down some stairs, through the archway and there it is. In the middle of a deep pool, at the end of a causway is the Golden Temple itself, in the nighttime the air is lit in dim orange and has a magnificent soft mystical glow about it. There are smells at various places of the sacrificial bread being offered and the cool smell of the water. All the time the beautiful chanting continues.
There is an obvious reverence in the air, everyone is walking slowing, talking quietly. The occaisional camera flash but this is not the main reason people are visiting. All around people are sitting on the edge of the pool or underneath the cloisters praying meditating. Some people are bathing in the pool which apparently has healing powers. Everyone has their head covered, only a few have the orange tourist scarft, the people are mostly Sikhs, the men in their turbans and long combed beards the women with head scarfs.
I lined up for some time to enter the temple itself. Again more interesting than the architecture was the group of musicians playing traditional instruments (tabla and some small keyboard) while chanting the original chants of the first guru of the Sikhs. Simple and beautiful. Inside there is a flower arrangement on the floor with a group of people sitting meditating - they seem completely oblivious to the crowds around them. People shuffle through, some sit some move on. It is peaceful, spiritual, fulfilling somehow. Some throw a donation on the floor - nothing is solicited there are few signs or directions. I am walking with my hands in prayer - not because I'm praying but because I am feeling reverent and respectful and to show that I take the peoples faith seriously.
Looking at the scene, I am reminded of the only thing I have seen like which was on TV - when the Beatles performed "all you need is love" for the first world live satellite hook up their set was arranged this this. I assume this is a common indian practice as the Beatles indian spiritual influences at that time were from Rishikesh - and the Maharashi was not a sikh to my knowledge.
Upstairs is the original scripture of the Sikhs, the tenth Guru. Which is brought in and remove ritually each day. A number of priests sit around it, one is reading it out loud. You can go in, but I don't - I feel out of place, an intruder in this powerful scene. I sit down outside and close my eyes and listen to the chants feeling happy and peaceful.
I didn't want to leave, so wandered around the complex for quite some time before going back to my guest house, determined to return the next day to see the place in daylight, which I do and read up a little more on the history and the details of the complex.
In the morning I also visited the museum which is primarily a set of paintings of various historical scenes and some artifacs, mainly weapons.
There are also some tributes to the martyrs who were killed trying to protect the holy scriptures during a protest.
Apparently the prime minister Indira Ghandi ordered the military to attack the temple during a siege as part of a protest by the Sikhs for a separate homeland. Her brutal response was successful in ending the protest but she was later assasinated by one of her Sikh bodyguards in reprisal.
