LITTLE ROCK — White sheets covered the floor and gold and red tinsel adorned the walls as members of the Northwest Arkansas Sikh community gathered for worship services in Gravette on a cold October morning.
Framed pictures of spiritual teachers known as gurus sat on a side table and incense filled the air of the upstairs room at the home of Ajaib Singh Thandi. All who entered covered their hair and removed their shoes as a sign of respect for the holy book — the Sri Guru Granth Sahib — which was covered with a blue and gold cloth.
Dressed in white, with a vibrant yellow turban and orange scarf, Satnam Singh Heyer, president of the Northwest Arkansas Sikh Temple Organization, sat on the floor behind the holy book and prepared to lead the service. As worshippers settled in, downstairs a vegetarian lunch was being prepared.
It was a typical Sunday morning for the 30 Sikh families in Northwest Arkansas who take turns hosting weekly services because there are no Sikh temples in the state. This will change, as there are plans to open temples, or gurdwaras, in Northwest and central Arkansas soon. Heyer hopes the temples will unite the state’s Sikh community.
The Northwest Arkansas Sikh organization recently bought a building in Rogers that, after renovations, will become their temple. Heyer said it took about four years to raise money for the project.
In Little Rock, Sikh families have been raising money for a temple for several years, said Inderjeet Uppal, a member of the congregation. He said the group is still looking for a good location to open a temple, hopefully within the next six months.
The 20 or so families that make up the central Arkansas Sikh community also hold weekly services at various homes, Uppal said. He said the host family leads the service, but everyone brings something for lunch.
A RELIGION OF EQUALITY
Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak Dev Ji in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of northwestern India. It is the world’s fifth largest religion, with 25 million followers worldwide and about 700,000 in the United States, according to the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund. There are no estimates available for the number of Sikhs in Arkansas.
Sikhs believe in one God for all creation. They also stress the importance of living honestly, working hard, being generous to the less fortunate and serving others. Sikhism also denounces superstitions and certain rituals, such as idol worship and fasting.
Historically, Sikhs rejected India’s caste system and equality was a founding tenet of the religion. Heyer said Sikhism recognizes equality in race, religion, class and sex.
Sikhs believe that five vices — greed, lust, worldly attachment, anger and ego — make all the bad things in the world happen. Sikhs also believe in reincarnation and work to rid these vices from their lives, Heyer said.
“We get a chance to improve ourselves and appear before god and obtain salvation,” he said.
Sikhs follow the teachings of 10 gurus, which Kanwar Dhami, who grew up in Rogers, said “stretched and pulled to make the religion.” The last one, Guru Gobind Singh, died in the early 1700s, and there has never been another human Sikh guru, Dhami said.
However, Guru Gobind Singh declared that after he died, Sikhs should follow the teachings in the holy book, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, which contains the gurus’ writings and teachings of other religions that were consistent with the Sikh gurus’ beliefs. The holy book is considered a spiritual guide and eternal guru.
The Sri Guru Granth Sahib contains 1,430 pages of poetic verse written in the Punjabi language, as well as musical forms, Heyer says.
During weekly services, worshippers recite a section of the holy book, called Sukhmani Sahib, or Psalm of Peace, which contains 24 sections with eight lines each. Heyer said that he and the group alternate reading lines aloud.
In mid-November, the Northwest Arkansas community celebrated the birthday of Sikhism’s founder by holding a continuous recitation of the holy book for 48 hours, Heyer said.
AN OPEN FAITH
“The Sikh community is a mixed community,” Uppal said, explaining that Sikhs do not believe in conversion because the religion is open to anyone. Uppal said in India, Muslims, Christians and Hindus commonly attend Sikh temples. Even in Arkansas, Hindus sometimes attend Sikh services, he said.
“Anyone can come and join,” Heyer said. “Services bring inner peace. It’s a chance to meditate if you don’t understand the language.”
Baptism is not required in Sikhism but it is an option that comes with certain responsibilities, such as daily prayer, including reading five different verses of the holy book. Guru Gobind Singh began baptizing Sikhs in the late 1600s. He gave men the name Singh, which means “lion,” and women the name Kuar, which means “queen,” Heyer said. Over the years Singh has become a common last name for Sikhs.
Baptized Sikhs are not allowed to cut their hair, which is covered by a turban. Uppal said wearing a turban is an honor and tradition that teaches the individual discipline and “to do good for society.”
Following the baptismal requirements can be difficult for Sikhs in Arkansas, Heyer said. Because the state’s Sikh population is so small and many prefer to blend in, wearing a full beard and turban can also be challenging, he said.
For Sikhs who are not baptized, daily prayer is not mandatory. Uppal said he doesn’t have time to pray daily but his wife does.
“I try to live simply and do good every day,” Uppal said. “That’s prayer for me.”
Jaswinder Singh Sandhu said he attends weekly services in Northwest Arkansas but his father, Ajaib Singh Thandi, who he said is more religious, prays several times a day.
One of the biggest challenges facing Arkansas Sikhs is the public’s lack of knowledge about their religion. Sikhs are also often assumed to be Muslims.
“We’re totally different [from] Muslims,” said Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, who is originally from India but moved to Arkansas with his family six years ago after living in New Jersey. He said he experienced “culture shock” after moving to an area where most people haven’t heard of Sikhism.
Dhami, who moved with his family to Northwest Arkansas from Chicago when he was in seventh grade, said Arkansans often have a lot of misconceptions about Sikhism, but are also curious. When asked about his religion, he answers with a question that he said puts everything in context and shows its similarity to other monotheistic religions: “Do you believe in one God?”
“It’s so different here,” he said. “We’re one of the smallest minorities in the state, but we still have a community of some sort.”
MISTAKEN IDENTITY
Jay McDaniel, religion professor and director of the Marshall T. Steel Center for the Study of Religion and Philosophy at Hendrix College in Conway, said since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, many Sikhs have experienced intolerance and even persecution because people confuse their physical appearance with that of Muslims. An extreme example, he said, is last summer’s shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
“Arkansans are gradually waking up, in a good way, to the fact that people of other religions are our next-door neighbors,” he said. “They are realizing there is no harmony in the world without religious harmony.”
Originally from India, Heyer moved with his family from Chicago to Rogers in 2004 and bought a gas station. At work, he said, he wears a baseball cap instead of his usual turban because he feels it makes people more comfortable.
Uppal, an engineer at Welspun Tubular moved to Little Rock from India in 2008 with his wife and two children. He said he wears his turban to work with no problems.
“People are friendly, but they don’t know about Sikhs,” Uppal said.
Phillip Spivey, a lecturer in the religion and philosophy department at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, said widespread technology has made people more willing to explore the world around them, including other religions.
“It’s important for Arkansans to understand other world religious traditions and customs,” he said. “You can study global religions without having to agree with or accept their beliefs.”
McDaniel and Spivey said they talk about Sikhism in the world religion classes they teach. Spivey said he has participated in several interfaith panel discussions, but none with Sikh representatives.
Heyer said he would like to participate in interfaith dialogue because it would be a “good chance to explain who we are and what we preach.”
“If I don’t respect your religion, how can I expect you to respect mine,” he said.
Religion, Pages 14 on 11/24/2012