Parable Investigates Sikh Devotion | Full Episode

This group of religious elders is busy battling the wind and cold trying to raise this, perhaps the tallest flagpole you will ever see. These are Sikhs and behind them is their Gurdwara, their holy place of worship, known as the gateway to the Guru. And for these Sikhs, this flag represents the culmination of what I've been told is the most important 48-hour celebration in their religion. So how can I find out more about the fifth largest religion on the planet? I'm about to meet a teenager who's going to explain to me why today is the most important day on the Sikh calendar. Let's go. Hi, I'm Tevya. Hey, I'm Gurjeevan. Nice to meet you. Why is today such an important day? Today is the birthday of Guru Nanak. Who's that? So he was the founder of the Sikh religion. So he taught us that it doesn't matter who you are. You could be black or white, rich or poor, a man or a woman. All that matters is the content of your character and your actions. Is there anything I need to do before we head inside? Well, I came prepared. All you got to do is cover your head before we go inside. All right. Turn around. Okay. Is that good? Yeah, that's good. Into the Gurdwara we would go. We're going to go wash our hands now. Okay. So how come we have to wash our hands? Just a small sign of respect before we go see the Guru Granth Sahib. I was about to discover an 11th and eternal guru is found in this place. And these two devout Sikhs were about to give me an introduction. Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Tevya. This is Tevya. Balpreet Singh. So what are we doing now? What am I going to see? Well, what we'll be showing you today is our Guru, which are our holy scriptures. And we take them as our teacher. You heard that correctly. The eternal guru I was about to meet is a symbolic representation of Guru Granth Sahib and resides here in this beautiful room full of beds. But here's the catch. Sikhism's eternal guru isn't human at all. This guru is a 1430 page book of scriptures. Three volumes here and they're kept wrapped up individually. And each bed has several volumes of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. It each squares one book. That's right. It feels like I'm in a bridal suite at a luxury hotel. I don't understand. Okay. The Guru Granth Sahib is considered the voice of God. It's considered a part of God. But it's not considered like an idol or an incarnation of God. It's treated with the same respect as we would give the voice of God. And we give it all the treatment royalty would get. So this is the room that houses the Siri Guru Granth Sahib when it's not in use. It's the restroom, as it were, for the Guru Granth Sahib. And when the Guru Granth Sahib is not resting, copies of it can be found under canopies just like this one all over the planet. 25 million Sikhs worldwide will pay their respects. And I was about to get my chance too. Now I have a question for you. Why does everybody put the money out in the front? Well, that's because the Gurdwara is run on a voluntary basis. So if we want the place to function, right, if we want the lights to keep running, we have to donate as a community. There is a tradition in Sikhism where we are supposed to give one-tenth of our earnings. We give that one-tenth of our earnings for the betterment of humanity. So it could be anything. We could give it to a hospital, give it to a charity, a food bank, anything. Prayers, dinner is served. But first, this symbolic ritual of giving and receiving is shared between God and these believers using parshad, this sweet but sacred pudding. So what the parshad is made out of is flour, sugar, water and butter. What do I do with it? Well, you're going to eat it. Really? Yeah, what parshad is, it's grace. So it's kind of symbolic. How come mine is all oily and yours isn't? Mine is. I'm just holding it, not moving it too much. Oh, is that the trick? Yeah. This is like the 10th time I've washed my hands today. It's very important to keep the hygiene going. Next stop, to lend a hand in the dinner itself. And trust me, it's not as easy as it looks. It's all sticky. Have you ever seen a ball of dough this size before? How's that? Okay, all right. And with a touch of baking success on my hands, it was now time to join the crowd and dig in. So I'm going to have a lot of that and a lot of that. Thank you. Here's another catch. Everything here is pure vegetarian. Thank you. So how come you guys don't eat any meat? Well, actually, a Sikh is supposed to be compassionate, right? So by not killing any other living being, you can, it's an action of compassion. And also, we believe that God is in everyone and in everything. So we should be compassionate to everyone and everything around us. I love that. While being compassionate is held as a key Sikh value, it also made me wonder why wherever I looked, I kept seeing knives, swords and blades. Well, I was about to find out. Why is there a dagger hanging out of your jacket? They say there are 25 million Sikh worshippers on Earth. Well, up to now, it felt like I had met most of these 25 million right here at this Gurdwara. All these people are here for Guru Nanak's birthday, the founder of Sikhism. This was the culmination of 48 hours of prayers to their eternal guru, Grand Sahib. But what I had not yet learned was why there were so many swords, knives and blades everywhere. That is what Gurdjievan was about to explain to me. Why is there a dagger hanging out of your jacket? Well, this is not really a dagger. Okay. And it's not a weapon. So this is a Sikh article of faith. Okay. It represents our commitment to social justice. Cool. And also a sign of love, right? So we carry this on our guru's orders. After my kirpan lesson from Gurdjievan, I was then invited to the Sikh martial arts centre called Ghatka. But I learned before the swords come out, I needed to get my head attire done up just right. Now, does everybody wear a head covering? Well, yes. If you're at a Gurdwara or if you're going to do martial arts, it's very important for every single person that's going to participate to cover their head. Okay. And so head coverings are for boys and girls. It's for everybody. And take it from me, these turbans can sure put the squeeze on your melons. I feel like a snake is eating me. If I was a Sikh, I would not cut my hair and I would have like tons of hair under this, right? Wow. And so would I just never ever cut my hair or do I... Is there like a Sikh trim? No. No hair on any part of your body? Now, in North American society, women are encouraged to almost shave everything. How do you feel about bucking that trend? Well, actually, if you notice everything about a Sikh is made to stand out. Yeah. So if I go anywhere, you'll know I'm there since I have my turban. Yeah. I look completely different. So I'm made to stand out. I'm not trying to fit in. Got it. So for you, standing out and looking different is the point. You want everyone to know that you're a Sikh the minute you walk into the room because you're proud of it. Exactly. Cool. How do I look? I think you look great. Next step, learning the art of the Sikh warrior from this martial arts master. Doug, this is Tevye. Nice to meet you. Look at all this stuff. Plastic knife. Hard to cut steak. Wait a minute, you don't eat meat. No problem there. Now, what's all this over here? These are the weapons that we all use to practice the Sikh warrior arts. You see there's a variety of them. There's big ones, small ones, round ones, heavy ones, light ones. You look very excited right now. I am. Am I allowed to touch this stuff? Sure, go ahead. Okay. Now, what is this? It's a shield. And they had different types, big ones, small ones, you know, different types of shields that they would use in battle. And the reason these defensive weapons of war play such a large role in Sikhism is that the religion was founded on the idea of the saintly soldier, those willing to fight for the underprivileged, oppressed, and persecuted in society. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, when Sikhs were persecuted, did they use this stuff to defend themselves? Yes, these were the weapons of the warriors that were used. One of the main reasons they started to use the weapons was in protection of the ones who could not protect themselves. One of our main things is to use this as a last resort. You have the inner and the outer battle. There is the outwards warrior side. We have to actually protect somebody and use self-defense, etc. to save somebody. And then there's the inward battle, pride and anger and lust and greed and attachment. So that battle is always there, always trying to make the decision to do the right thing and refraining from wrong. So you would use these weapons in an existential way to cut away your addictions and bad habits. Yes, that represents our inner fight. This here is the khanda. Okay, the khanda. And the khanda was used by many warriors like Baba Deep Singh Ji. And he was our main saint warrior. Using that on a battlefield all day long. I can't imagine. Can your bicep handle it? Yeah. Now, can you teach me how to use these daggers and swords? Sure we can. But what we first do is you start with a stick first. Okay. And I'll bring in some students and we'll go from there. Sounds good. All right, let's go. Let's go. It's not hard to see that many of these young students have spent years, even decades, mastering the art of Sikh martial arts. But the first lesson for me was safety first. We just start with the sticks. Okay. We build up and we teach you the basic forms so that you get used to it. Safety, so nobody gets cut. Okay. Now, if I could prove to you that I can handle a stick, will you upgrade me to a sword? Is that a deal? I'm gonna think about it. Okay. Just bow down to the weapons before we pick up. Okay. This one. Okay. And then we just go from there. How are you? Not bad, how are you? Actually, what we do is that's what goes in next. The energy that flows through us. Yeah. And the energy that flows around us. Okay. We work on connecting that in a spiritual way. Okay. I saw that, I actually like that. All right, let's go. So what we do, so you stand forward with your right leg forward, okay? Are you ready? Dude, I was born ready. Okay, so you strike the stick here, okay? And then I'm gonna go strike that side. And you're gonna do, it's like an uppercut punch. Then you're gonna strike this side. Now we have a four count pattern. One, two, outside, outside, outside. Three, four, okay? Again, ready? One, two, outside, that's the one. Three, four, block. One, two, that's better. Three, four. Despite the fact that I was picking this up pretty quick, let's just say the odds of me getting a real sword were pretty low. Next, it was time to work on my agility. Nice to see you again. How are you? Now, what's this over here? This is called marathi. You learn how to move with it. So when you're actually using a real weapon, you don't accidentally end up cutting yourself or hitting yourself, right? So this is just, you know, learn the basics. Can you just give me a little demonstration? That's very cool. Let's watch me one time first, and then we'll do it. So it's like this, right? And you wanna move it. Think of it as you're holding a real sword. When you're moving with a real sword, you don't wanna cut your elbow, cut your knees. Yeah. All right? Cut my face. Or anything like that. Now, what do you get out of this spiritually? This is a training device, right? Remember? Okay. So this is just before we move on to the weapons. Got it. I can't seem to do this. Yeah, okay, so... Okay. If you just razzle dazzle people, they won't notice. It is harder than it looks. That's 10 push-ups. Really? You dropped it, 10 push-ups. All right. Could you imagine doing that with a real sword without practicing this? Well... Hey, wait. See? That's another 10 push-ups. I'll stand here, I'll practice. And the next time I see you, you are gonna be blown away. Okay, don't hurt yourself. I won't. See you, man. See you. That's 10 push-ups. So far in my journey deep into the heart of Sikhism, I learned their prayer rituals, why they were turbans, and just how important Sikh soldiers are to the defense of those considered weak, persecuted, and oppressed. But where did that idea come from? Spiritual leader Balpreet Singh had those answers for me in this Sikh museum. The Sikhs are fighting to break through a caste system. What is a caste system? Caste system is a belief that you're born into a certain place, into a certain part of society, and you can't move up or down. It was very, very rigid. If you were born into a low caste, even if you heard, for example, the scriptures, that was a sin, that was considered bad, and you had to be punished for it. There are so many violent images of people getting chopped up. The pictures that you're looking at here are of some of the martyrs of the Sikh faith. In the 18th century, in the 17th century, the Sikhs were actually outlawed. They were persecuted. And the Sikhs that you see in these paintings had a choice to abandon the faith or die. We remember them as an inspiration to us. So Sikhism is really about fairness. So if I had to really break down the Sikh faith, you know, into a small, compact, three-rule description, it would be, one, meditate on God. Remember God with every breath if you can. And that gives you inner peace. It gives you inner strength. Second, earn an honest living. Make a difference in the world. And the third is, whatever you have, share it with others. Now, is being a TV host considered an honest living? I think so. If I wanted to be a Sikh, could I convert? Yeah, people can convert to the Sikh faith. Someone chooses to become a Sikh, no matter if they're born in a Sikh family or not. When someone is initiated, they go in front of the Guru Granth Sahib, and they are asked, are you here of your own volition? And, you know, there's an initiation ceremony that takes place. These are the articles of faith. So you wear these as a uniform, as an outside marker of the inner convictions that you have, of the inner commitment you've made. The first is a turban that covers the uncut hair. Can I see that? Sure. Wow, cool. Well, it's not a shawl. Okay, sorry. It's a turban. All right. The second is the Ganga, which is a small comb. Okay, Ganga. Ganga, with a K. It fits right into the hair. It's used to comb the hair, and it represents discipline. Okay. The next is the Kara, and this is made out of iron. Okay. And it's a circle, which represents the oneness of God. Just like the circle has no beginning or end. Okay. We wear it on our wrist, and it represents whatever we do with our hands. Okay. It should be something that the Guru would want us to do. It should be acts of righteousness. Should I try putting it on? Am I allowed? If you'd like. Sure. Do I just get my hand in? It might be tight. What happens if I can't get it off? That would be a problem. Can I take it with me? No, I'm not. It's not gonna... Ow. Okay. Fourth is the Kirpan. Now, this is a representation of a sword. Two words, actually. Kirpan, which means grace. Okay. And an means honor. So the final article of faith is the Kshetra. Kshetra. Yeah. Okay. And this is an undergarment. And this represents a Sikh's morality. A Sikh's duty to remain chaste, to remain under a state of self-control. Do you sleep in this stuff? I do. Do you sleep with your sword? I do. Do you take a shower with your sword? I do. Do you really? I do. I mean, when you shower, when you're washing your hair, and I wash my hair every day, I usually have it around my waist. What a Sikh does every day, it's not just enough to wear these things. It's not enough to get salvation or to meet God. You have to actually use these as tools to create space in your life to meditate, to create a spirituality within yourself. So every day, three hours before dawn, a Sikh wakes up, bathes, and meditates. You get up three hours before dawn every day? Yeah. Now, dawn is what, 5, 30? Yeah. You know, ideally, a Sikh should take out at least two and a half hours, 10% of their day for meditation and prayer. Now, how come you say sick and not seek? Well, the actual pronunciation is sick. Okay. But some people, you know, mishear that as sick, you know, sick. Yeah. So seek is kind of what others use, but the actual pronunciation is sick. Okay. Like when I think of the word sick, I think of cool. Yeah. I've come to the end of my Sikh adventure. I got a chance to attend the founder's birthday party. I learned how to put on a turban. I learned combat. And most importantly, I learned that this religion is all about looking out for and taking care of those who cannot defend themselves.