[Katie Kerns] Amritsar - August 22

[Katie]

We woke up at 6 AM this morning to catch an 8 AM flight to Amritsar.
We grabbed some breakfast at the airport and by 9 AM we had landed. The first place we went was the Golden Temple- a Sikh temple.
It was Sunday, Sikh’s day of worship, so the Golden Temple was extremely crowded. We got there, took off our shoes, put scarves on our heads and walked toward the entrance.
The temple was surrounded by water- and people left and right were bathing in the water.
On the outskirts people were resting – Sunday is after all a day of rest.
Once we reached the entrance we waited in an hour long bumper to bumper traffic jam. At first I was a little frustrated with occasional shoves, the hot sun and complete silence- but after a couple of minutes I began to pray and these petty annoyances were washed away. While I was waiting to go in I prayed for the people I pray for every night and people I need to pray for more often. But for the majority of the time I focused on how amazing God is. Despite the fact that I was in a place with people of different religious beliefs I still felt a closeness of God. In fact maybe even moreso than when I pray alone. It was very deep and very fulfilling.
When we finally reached the front I saw gentlemen handing out sweets. Hindus always receive sweets at temple because it’s believed they are blessings from God. We finally got inside and people were on their knees praying before a Hindu worship band. The time at the temple was brief, but it didn’t matter because the praying while standing in line was wonderful.
After the Golden temple we did some shopping, ate some traditional Punajbi food, then headed back to Dehli.

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Posted By Katie to Katie Kerns at 8/25/2010 12:35:00 PM