To call it a sabbatical would be incorrect. A muted retirement would probably be more appropriate a phrase, a flaccid exit even more apt. But after returning from India i have ceased to write anything on my blog. I guess writing about India from the comforts of my Sydney home doesn’t mimic the feel i was attempting to replicate, but there was one post left in me which i had been avoiding, rationalising my laziness to write under the very human trait of vanity. I firmly believe writing from a place inspired by ego can only lead to trouble and can very easily infect the quality of what one is attempting to communicate. I say this because believe it or not this blog is rather popular and the little ticks of my blog odometer can very easily be interpreted as small massages to my rather large ego. So i will try and avoid the pitfalls, briskly side stepping any opportunities to exercise my more narcissistic tendencies (of which i am constantly reminded i have many) and will write what will probably be my last post on the subcontinent. But for that i will have to travel back in time and bait my memory to get off the couch and jump on the treadmill, something only Brotha Gin Seng can do, so excuse me as i rendezvous with my kettle, the paragraph under this will be written approximately 20 minutes from now.
Wait…..give me another 20.
My journalistic ability extends about as far as 2 hours of news and current affairs per week. Not an awful lot admittedly, but when i went to meet young Gurunaam i was primed with an objective, a single minded focus and the unhindered will of Thor to find answers to something i thought was particularly interesting. A rather simple question that i thought i would be able to extract with relative ease….. candy from a baby. But as our conversation progressed i could see my ego changing shade to an unhealthy purple, and my bruising became more and more apparent to myself- I have the journalistic prowess of a cactus, and i assure you it will show.
So let’s set the scene shall we? It’s the morning of my last day in Amritsar. Already profoundly smitten by all that i have witnessed at Harmandir Sahib, i have managed to score a bit of a meeting with Gurunaam, a Sikh from New Mexico in the USA. It was a meeting arranged haphazardly the night before, after dinner at the local dhaba, intoxicated by lassi, ghee and a parantha or three i asked young Gurunaam if it was ok to have a chat the next morning, just a nice way to end my time here in Amritsar i rationalised. My real reason for the chat was more covert, i wanted to know what would make an average American Joe a non-birth Sikh convert to Sikhism and follow a religion that some would say seems so extremist in appearance. How does one decide that from this day forth they will never cut their hair again, that they would always wear a turban whenever in public and that they would henceforth profess their allegiance to a religion stemming from a culture so separate from their own? These questions riddled my mind as i tried to place myself in the same situation. Is my dedication to an ideal so intense that i would change my life so drastically? Even with my cultural upbringing, that of a Hindu Pakistani who’s grown up exclusively in the west, a jump to Sikhism would not be considered a vast chasm to cross due to the cultural similarities we share, this coupled with my own rather unique genealogy would some say make me an ideal candidate for the jump. But even then it seems like something i could not do, so i must profess admiration for one who does, and does so with a very genuine commitment to his cause.
Gurunaam was there early, the local dhaba we had chosen to meet at had not opened as yet, so very briskly he directed us towards another dhaba further away that he had assured us made the best Kulcha’s in all Amritsar. As we sat ourselves down and ordered, i readied my mental quill to probe the young Sikh as to how and when his decision was made. It was obvious Gurunaam had been asked this question several times before and he answered very politely, stating that after years of being a disciple of Yogi Bhajan (a prominent spiritual scholar in the United States) he found himself employing many of the practices of a Sikh spiritual aspirant, the only natural step was to make it more official with the adoption of the more prominent Sikh ordinances. The depth of my journalistic skill started and stopped at that very instance, Gurunaam began to speak to us about all things spiritual and the conversation became far more intriguing than any hidden agenda i may have had up my kurta sleeve. It was an enlightening hour or so, and what impressed me most was how dedicated this young man was, who in his early thirties (and after more than 10 years of being Sikh) had decided to make his first pilgrimage to Amritsar where he would spend a year learning from the local scholars not only the intricacies of his religion but also learning how to speak Punjabi, the language of Sikhism and the region. Gurunaam spoke of the community of Sikhs that lived in New Mexico where most of the Sikhs there were of non Indian ancestry, he spoke of his father’s reaction to his wanting to move into the ashram (funnily enough his father warned him to “not become like one of those Sikhs down there”), his work in a company that produces spiritual texts, and his budding career as a writer and performer of spiritual music.
As our conversation clopped along my curiosity was piqued by the more aesthetic components of Sikhism and how readily Gurunaam was able to adopt them from his previous life as a non-Sikh. This brought on an even more interesting conversation as to the science of the infamous “five K’s” or “panj kakaar” as they are known. Namely Kesh (uncut hair and beard), Kanga (wooden comb for hygiene), Kara (iron bracelet), Kachera (specially designed under garments) and Kirpan (a strapped sword). Apart from the symbolic meanings of all 5 which can be found anywhere, Gurunaam spoke of the science of these practices, stating that the purpose behind Kesh and Kara amongst others was to galvanise the aspirant along the path they had chosen. It was an interesting topic of discussion that brought up such conclusions as the power of iron to electro magnetise ones aura, and the ability of hair to almost act as psychic antennae (following the principle of hairs standing on end when one is frightened). Again something that one doesn’t usually hear! Gurunaam also spoke of the more human things he has had to encounter, dealing with the advances of Sikh girls that find the novelty of a ginger bearded Sikh too hard to resist, dealing with beggars that target him due to his Caucasian features and how he struggles everyday to dip in the icy cold waters surrounding the temple (he’s currently committed to more than 20 dips every morning). But the clincher for me really was the manner in which he was able to see beyond even the paradigms of the religion he had chosen, stating the conflicts people highlight in his practising of yoga alongside his traditional Sikh practices as unfair. The reason for this being that yoga can be seen as the behaviour of more extremist elements of Hindu asceticism something frowned upon by the Sikh movement as it encourages the “middle path” or a more moderate means of spirituality. Even more open minded than this was Gurunaams desire to visit ashrams of other Gurus and to absorb as much as he could in his time in India. This dedication to learning and practising was one i had seldom seen, and for someone like myself who has been lucky enough to be raised in a rather spiritual environment it was refreshing to see someone practising all the theory i had rote learnt as a child, and making with it a living monument to wisdom. Gurunaam was and is a testament to the wide eyed curiosity and purity that should go hand in hand with spiritual practise, at no stage did his enthusiasm for the topic of spirituality wane. This was his life and he had committed to it with the purity required.
And it is here where i fused with an atom of revelation, my questions, my agenda with Gurunaam was pointless, as he didn’t see himself the way i had seen him. By politely not answering my rather ignorant questions i was able to see Gurunaam for more than he really was, not just a ginger bearded Sikh from America who had converted, but as a man walking the path very few do, the path inwards that will lead to a knowledge of self that not many have the privilege of knowing or understanding, and that is bigger and more worthwhile discussing than race, caste, creed or cultural transition. I know now i was in the presence of a wise man indeed, and it is with that gratitude that i must thank Gurunaam whose friendship opened up windows of understanding in my rather small mind, and allowed me to leave Amritsar with an understanding of the importance of a higher ideal. Good luck on your journey my friend, and if the Guru wills it hopefully we may meet again one day.
-n-
