The Bussio Life

Sikh and Hindu study:

An experience that changed my thoughts on religion forever. 

At first I was sure that making the trek to these temples were going to be the biggest waste of my life and I had no desire whatsoever to go.  We were told to bring scarves to cover our hair when we enter the temples. 

Sikh-

When you first walk into the temple there are places where you leave your shoes.  (good to wear socks when going to their temple) We went upstairs to the main meeting room, bending down and touching the threshold to the room we all made sure our heads were completely covered. We had to walk down a long aisle with people on the left and right of us sitting in a very orderly manner. The aisle was probably around 500 feet and at the end was an altar.  A man standing behind the altar was waving feathers over their bible to "keep the air clean around it", figuratively speaking. (related to the maharaja's being fanned in the early days because the air was dirty and the fanning was thought to help cleanse the air around him)  At the foot of the altar we knelt down and touched our hands to the floor to show respect.  We then (never turning our backs to the altar) walked away and took a seat (girls on the left, guys on the right side of the aisle).  We sat there for around 30-45 minutes and watched everything that took place. (the people, the way things work, what was being said etc) 

leaving (not putting our back to the altar) we left the main room and got a gift when we received a gift.  There was a lady holding a giant bowl, inside of the bowl consisted of what looked like really thick oat meal.  Turns out it was water, sugar, butter, and flour.  That lady handed us all a hand full of this and we were told to eat it.  (Some of the girls got sick but overall it wasn't that bad tasting) They hand out that gift as a "gift for spending time honoring God".  When you honor God and are obedient, he blesses you, this gift is symbolic of one for many to come. We then went downstairs and enjoyed a free meal. (In any Sikh temple you can get a meal for free, no matter who or why you are there) I didn't have anything, so I can't give my input for this area but my colleagues did, they liked the food. Then we helped the Sikh kitchen crew clean up a few dishes before we headed to the library.  In the Library we had a real Sikh teach us about his religion. They were the 5 K's like Mormon's wear garments.  (Knife, Comb, a certain kind of underwear, a turban, and a bracelet....all symbolic) They wrap their hair every morning and night, they are require to shower daily and use their comb that they store in their turban to keep their hair neat and brushed. They wear the special underwear to make sure that they are modest at all times. They wear the knife to remind them that they are "like policemen", if there is someone in need or if there is a crisis, they are to be willing to give their life to save a life. The bracelet and the turban are mainly just for show so they can tell that there is a sikh in a crowd of people. Kind of cool listening to what this Sikh had to say, I learned a lot about their religion and I have a completely different outlook on their way of life/religion. 

Hindu: 

We had to take our shoes off here too, unlike the Sikh religion, Hindus' worship more than one God. When we first walked into the main meeting room there was a stage with several Gods posed in different settings (selected differently for each God according to their power). 

We sat in there for around 30-40 minutes again and on our way out some of us gave thanks to the people running that particular temple and received a piece of fruit on the way out. (same concept of a "gift" as the Sikh religion) 

Sitting in all of these temples and watching such devoted people made me question my devotion to my religion. If all of these hundreds of people believe their religion to be the most true and sacrifice so much of their time for it, why is Mormonism true? These people sacrifice so much everyday, go to their temple twice a day, wear 5 items on their persons everyday (some even in the shower), and don't even have copies of their scriptures outside of the temple because they are so sacred. How can Mormonism be true if these hundreds of such devoted people don't seem to believe it?  

This really made me question why I believe what I do. I know the church is true. I know that every time I say a prayer it is heard. I know that Heavenly Father knows me personally and I know he wants to see me return to him one day. I want to hear him say, "well done thy good and faithful servant".  I know there is good in all religions but I believe the LDS church to have the entirety of the truth. I am so blessed to have the gospel in my life. I know this has changed my life for the better and if anything, these religious people have showed me the devotion that I should show towards my religion. Heavenly Father doesn't ask to much of his people, he created the world, we are all in debt to him. We should all try a little harder to be a little better about living closer to the gospel teachings.