"For the sake of it, you journey to sacred shrines and holy rivers; but this priceless jewel is within your own heart." – Sri Guru Granth Sahib 

Yesterday at our Staff In-Service my Director reminded us of just how amazing it is that India’s 80% Hindu population have a Sikh Prime Minister and Sikhs make up only 2% of the country’s population! Moreover, India’s Sikh Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, was appointed by an Italian Catholic, Sonia Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress Party and wife of the late Rajiv Gandhi is a naturalized Indian.

In celebration of India’s diversity I endured a 13-hour train journey to the city of Amritsar to take in the glory of the Golden Temple—the holiest site for Sikhs. My train was late so I only had a few hours to spend in the city but in addition to visiting this spectacular site of worship I was also able to eat kulchas! 

After college I spent a year living in Brazil where I was first introduced to the Sikhism. To be honest I think I was in a Sikh inspired cult but my Portuguese wasn’t good enough for me to realize it at the time and I really loved the meditation we would practice and keeping “Simran” or the five holy names as a mantra. While this path ultimately wasn’t for me I reaped huge benefits from the practice.

The Golden Temple itself is pristine and for me the highlight was the community meal where delicious free food is given to everyone that visits the temple 24 hours a day! I find Sikhism’s practice of feeding and welcoming everyone regardless of caste incredibly beautiful. I mindfully ate my meal in gratitude, cherishing each bite and literally feeling the love in each morsel of food.

A few years ago I attended the International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh where I took classes with Gurmukh, a famous Sikh inspired Kundalini Yoga teacher and met students from the Miri Piri Academy, a school she helped found in Amritsar. While I wasn’t able to visit the school during my short visit today I am very grateful to have met students from there at the Yoga Festival as they introduced me to a fun CD with Sikh mantras some of them collaborated on with the music artist Seal! At the Yoga Festival I was also introduced to Snatam Kaur’s Sikh inspired music and her album, Grace.

My favorite songs from these albums below….now whenever I drink my Yogi Tea I have this experience of the Golden Temple to add to the joy those cups always bring me :)