Key Stage 1’s Trip to the Gurdwara!

This week, we were really lucky to be able to visit the Khalsa Jatha, known as the Central Gurdwara.

We started our day by travelling to Bond St to take the tube to Shepherd’s Bush. This was lots of fun (for us, not so much the adults) as there were 60 of us to get on and off the tube! Once we arrived the the Gurdwara, we had to go into a room to take off our shoes and then had a head covering placed on our heads. Once we were dressed appropriately, we were taken into the main prayer hall. In here we saw a throne and a huge chandelier in the middle of the room. Mandip explained to us that this was where Sikhs pray, and in the room, there was the Guru Granth Sahib. This is their holy book. We learned that ‘Guru’ means teacher and ‘Sikh’ means student. Mandip explained to us that he bows before the Guru Granth Sahib, and showed us how to do so. We took turns to bow towards the throne and the book, as a sign of respect. Alongside the Guru Granth Sahib, we noticed some instruments too. We later found out what these were used for!

After this, we went upstairs and saw the place where the Guru Granth Sahib is placed overnight. It has another throne-like area, once again showing how important it is. Mandip then explained more about Sikhism, as well as the temple itself. We learned that the Khalsa Jatha has been a functioning Gurdwara in that building for over 50 years but it’s undergone some renovation in that time!

We learned more about the symbols and words that you see in the Guru Granth Sahib such as ‘Ik Onkaar’ which means “there is one God”. We also learned more about the fact that Sikhs believe that God is the creator of everything and therefore lives inside of everything that he has created. Because of this, everyone is considered to be equal despite any differences. They believe that one God looks after every one, so for that reason we should always be kind and respectful towards others.

We learned about Guru Nanak who was the first person to talk about the ideas of the Sikh religion. He started teaching people about the importance of treating others with respect. We then learned about three ways in which Sikhs aim to live a truthful life:

1. ‘Naam Japna’ – remembering God
2. ‘Kirat Karni’ – earning an honest living
3. ‘Vand Chakna’ – sharing your wealth

We then learned about Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th and final human guru, who declared that the Guru Granth Sahib was to be the eternal Guru.

Mandeep spoke to us about the Five Ks. These symbolise that the Sikh who wears them has dedicated themselves to a life of devotion and submission to the Guru. These Ks include:

• Kesh (uncut hair)
• Kara (a steel bracelet)
• Kangha (a wooden comb)
• Kachera (cotton shorts)
• Kirpan (steel sword)

We learned more about Kesh, which is important to Sikhs as they believe that they should remain in the image that God gave them. A turban is a more traditional way for people to wear their long hair, so that it is neat and tidy (the turban is not one of the Five Ks).

A really important part of our visit was learning about Lagnar. This is a free meal for anyone, Sikh or non-Sikh. This demonstrates the importance of family and that we are all family, sharing together to show that we are all equal. Mandip said that this is one way that Sikhs can share with the community and any food that is not eaten is then taken to local food banks. We were really lucky to take part in this and we tried some lentil dahl, which most of us thought was delicious. We even had rice and some carrots and cucumber too! We felt very appreciative of the food and we know how special it is that the Sikh community look after others in this way. This is because they believe that God is present inside everything and everyone.

Once we got back to school, we had a little picnic on the roof to finish off some of our snacks. We were very lucky with such lovely weather.

We had such a fantastic time at the gurdwara and would like to say a huge thank you to Mandip for spending time with us, and sharing so much information too. We would also like to say a big thank you to Mr Kersys and Miss Walsh for helping to organise our brilliant visit. We had a great time and have thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Sikhism this week.