Interaction at The House of Blues
by Kathy Brown on March 9th, 2010 | 0 comments
When was the last time you spoke with a follower of the Sikh religion? My opportunity came one evening at The House of Blues. It took me a few seconds to realize this person was not a Sheik, but a Sikh; they are two entirely different things!
It all began with my asking what the man’s heritage was. He responded he was from India. His daughter was in Israel, so I wondered if her being there had anything to do with their religious beliefs. That’s when he identified himself as Sikh, which was surprising. I was under the impression that his hair should be long, under a turban. It was short, so my curiosity got the best of me, and I asked him: what does a Sikh believe?
Sikhism, he explained, is theistic. Its roots are in Hinduism, but the polytheism is gone. No explanation how this came to be, whether the gods battled it out or not is unclear. One guru, in a line of several, proclaimed it so. Apparently there is a book that sets out the precepts for a follower, but this man had never read it. He said they have temples for worship, but he rarely attends. Why is it that believers would not cut their hair, I inquired? The idea originated in a tradition of setting themselves apart, although why this and not wearing a clown nose was selected, he did not know.
He summed up his doctrine as: do no harm to anyone or anything. Ah, my hopes were up that I had met a pro-life advocate. Well, not so much. He admitted that he approved of family planning, which included extracting life from the womb. Upon stating this, he put his hand to his chin and looked puzzled. He noted out loud that he would have to consider the contradiction in that more carefully later.
The obvious follow–up was had he ever done anything harmful? Yes, being human, he had. Once he had inadvertently eaten meat in a chip dip; he couldn’t think of much else. What does one do in that case, I wanted to know—how does one get rid of guilt for doing wrong? Guilt, he replied, is a Catholic idea. There is no such thing; instead there is work that must compensate for wrong-doing. What work? Perhaps shining shoes or cleaning toilets he enumerated. How is one assured it is enough penalty? He didn’t know.
This led him to proclaim, in a musing tone, that everyone wants to go to heaven. So pressing in on that observation, I asked him what gets people to heaven. He told me that there is no one Truth. Anyone who sincerely lives out whatever religion they adhere to is approved by God. How did he feel about Hitler . . . someone who truly believed in purifying the human race by eugenics, and who undertook achieving this goal? Immediately my friend retorted that Hitler had done harm! And this is when the shock set in. He realized that judging by his own Sikh definition, Hitler would be in heaven. He sighed out loud that he would have to re-think this matter.
What came next was very surprising. I asked if he believed in reincarnation. He was exuberantly affirmative. Yes, the cycle of life is a journey through every animal’s existence. Wow, so the ant crawling on a log could be his ancestor or deceased pal? That is why, he explained, there must be no swatting of mosquitoes, no eating meat and respect for all living things. There is, I inquired, no essential spiritual difference between a reptile and a human? He made his point by asking me a question I had never considered: don’t you know that animals worship humans? What an odd comment. It took no interlude for me to ask if that was what the orca at Disney World was doing when it attacked its trainer? My Sikh assured me that that was a bad orca, just like a bad person. So, I went further. The reason that tigers hunt for meat, and we must not-- is what? And logically then, you must think polygamy is ok? He seemed insulted by my last assumption. Absolutely not, was his reply. The follow-up: but that is the way of the non-human sort. From what basis do you believe in monogamy?
It was at this point that I thought the guy had thought about things enough. It was time to call it a night. I had learned so much, and told him so. It had been another reminder that understanding worldview is important. I was so very thankful, as I went out into the cool Cleveland night past a man walking his dog, that I am a Seeker and not a Sikher.
What to do with Jesus? “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
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