I had never been to a Gurudwara before. So I had inquired if there are any protocols to follow except to cover your head before entering. There are none, I was assured.
At the entrance steps, people were wading through a shallow trough that was filled with water. I guess the concept is that no one should be able to enter without washing his or her feet clean. But the water appeared muddy and I wasn’t sure about stepping into it. Yet, it would have appeared rude to circumvent it. We stood there looking uncertain until a few people who went ahead of us deftly stepped around the trough to go in. Needless to say, we followed suit.
There wasn’t much crowd inside so we could do the Darshan in peace. A man was standing near the exit door and I saw him handing over what looked like a packed Prasad to a devotee. But we weren’t sure whether we were supposed to pay for it so we just exited. Outside we saw a couple of people paying at a small window but there was no board indicating the amount to be paid. Finally I asked a gentleman who was reading some notices tacked on a notice board as to how much needs to be paid for the Prasad. ‘Whatever you feel like paying. There is no fixed amount’ he told me. This stumped me. How are you supposed to figure out what’s to be paid? 10? 50? 100? We walked away confused.
As we strolled back to return our driver asked us if we had received the Prasad. Sheepishly, we said we didn’t. He marched us to yet another window where we each received a dollop of sweet rava halwa – it tasted truly divine. He also asked us if we wanted to go into the Langar. I would have had liked to say Yes but the truth was that we were getting late for Dehradun. Sadly, we had to leave. Eating at a Langar remains on my list of ‘100 things to do before I die’. :-(
As we left, I turned back to look at the shrine. It exuded an aura that filled one with hope, peace and an inner sense of balance that is becoming rare in this day and age. God willing, I will come again for a Darshan and to eat the Prasad at the Langar. Amen to that!
At the entrance steps, people were wading through a shallow trough that was filled with water. I guess the concept is that no one should be able to enter without washing his or her feet clean. But the water appeared muddy and I wasn’t sure about stepping into it. Yet, it would have appeared rude to circumvent it. We stood there looking uncertain until a few people who went ahead of us deftly stepped around the trough to go in. Needless to say, we followed suit.
There wasn’t much crowd inside so we could do the Darshan in peace. A man was standing near the exit door and I saw him handing over what looked like a packed Prasad to a devotee. But we weren’t sure whether we were supposed to pay for it so we just exited. Outside we saw a couple of people paying at a small window but there was no board indicating the amount to be paid. Finally I asked a gentleman who was reading some notices tacked on a notice board as to how much needs to be paid for the Prasad. ‘Whatever you feel like paying. There is no fixed amount’ he told me. This stumped me. How are you supposed to figure out what’s to be paid? 10? 50? 100? We walked away confused.
As we strolled back to return our driver asked us if we had received the Prasad. Sheepishly, we said we didn’t. He marched us to yet another window where we each received a dollop of sweet rava halwa – it tasted truly divine. He also asked us if we wanted to go into the Langar. I would have had liked to say Yes but the truth was that we were getting late for Dehradun. Sadly, we had to leave. Eating at a Langar remains on my list of ‘100 things to do before I die’. :-(
As we left, I turned back to look at the shrine. It exuded an aura that filled one with hope, peace and an inner sense of balance that is becoming rare in this day and age. God willing, I will come again for a Darshan and to eat the Prasad at the Langar. Amen to that!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment