What's it like to be Sikh in America? with Harbhajan Singh Virdee

Sikhism is the 5th largest religion in America with 1/2 a million Sikhs among us. Yet, it is mostly met with confusion. Let's hear from Harbhajan Singh Virdee about what this beautiful faith is all about.

Listen here, read the transcript below, or click here for the full video version.

George Mason:
Welcome to Good God, conversations that matter about faith and public life. I'm George Mason, your host, and I'm pleased to introduce, for our American Faith series of Good God, my friend and colleague in the religious community here in Dallas, Harbhajan Singh Virdee. We're so grateful to have you with us to talk about the Sikh religion, and Harbhajan, thank you for joining us today.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
I'm glad to be here and I hope to increase the understanding of people regarding my faith and generally about other faiths that are part of our community here in Dallas. And especially, George, I want to thank you for including me in this series. This is really a wonderful thing to bring people closer.

George Mason:
Thank you very much. Well, and we've gotten closer because of our work in Faith Forward Dallas at Thanks-Giving Square, and you've been involved with the Interfaith Council there at Thanks-Giving Square. And so you've been very committed to this inter-religious dialogue and also in fighting for justice in our community too. So I think people would be interested in some brief information about the Sikh religion, because it is something that I think most Americans still have a great learning curve to achieve here.

George Mason:
And so the religion originated in Punjab in India in the 15th century about the time that we say Columbus discovered America. Guru Nanak had these spiritual insights and created the Sikh religion. And say some of the things that people should want to know. Tell us what characterizes the beliefs and practices of Sikhs.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
Okay. Sikh originated in the 15th century, like you mentioned, and at that time it was a movement for equality, because during that time there were a lot of divisions casteism and oppression in the world. And Guru Nanak, the founder, he created a movement that was based on equality of everyone. Oneness of God. There is one God and everybody is equal, including women that were not treated equally, especially during those periods.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
The religion itself is based on three fundamental pillars. One is spiritual, which is to praise the Lord, praise the God that created us all, that is one father of us all. And the other is social responsibility, to earn your living, not to depend on handouts, not to be a burden on others. India is a big country and you go there, you see a lot of beggars, but you will be hard-pressed to find a Sikh as a beggar because that is ingrained through religious thought that you work for yourself, provide for your family.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
And the third pillar is to share what you have. Now some people out of no fault of their own, I guess, are not able to fend for themselves. And so the religion has a big service part, that you provide for others that are not able to fend for themselves. In Harmandir Sahib, our holy place like the Vatican is for Christians, or Mecca is for the Islamic people, there is a kitchen and it feeds about a hundred thousand people every day.

George Mason:
Every day?

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
Every day. Every day. It's a message. And that is to incorporate that third pillar that people should not go hungry. And every Gurudwara, every Sikh temple has that institution of community kitchen. Anybody can walk in without regard to their faith or their background or whatever, and get a good meal at the Sikh temple. So that is the third.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
And it's not limited to just meals or food. You share in people's sorrows, in pains, like the time we are going through right now, coronavirus. A lot of people are dying, a lot of suffering. And the Sikh community is to share their pain, to perhaps see what do they need, what their family needs, and to lighten that burden of pain. So those are the three pillars that the faith is based on basically.

George Mason:
You know, you mentioned the Gurudwara's kitchen, the Sikh temples are really like community centers, aren't they? I mean, there is a sense of welcome and provision that happens, a sense of sympathy and companionship that builds a feeling of community. Sometimes when people go to their religious places of worship, they simply go and then they leave, having conducted some exercises in prayer and worship, but that's all it is. It's more or less an experience between that person and God at that place of worship. But this is not the nature of Sikh community and the Sikh religion, is it?

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
You're absolutely right. A Sikh Gurudwara or is a community center. Originally, and even to this day, the Gurudwaras are places of worship. They are places of training. They are places where people can walk in and get protection, food. So it's kind of a complete center where you could provide for all your social needs as well, [inaudible 00:06:43] I suppose. In olden days there was a lot of persecution and there was maybe violence at home and a woman would feel comfortable going to a Gurudwara and getting the protection. A Sikh would regard anybody. Like you mentioned, Sikhs warriors, and they had a very high ethics. They were not only soldiers, but they were saints. They were spiritually rooted and very high ethics. They would not fire on an enemy that was retreating. And if the enemy did fall, they would render that enemy the same service as they would render their own soldiers. And if somebody was getting oppressed, and he saw a Sikh somewhere he would run to that Sikh because he was sure to get protection.

George Mason:
Let's stop there and say, this is a very interesting thing I think many Americans would like to understand, because you are wearing a turban that conceals your hair that is left uncut. And I think that this part of Sikh identity is both an act of devotion toward God, in terms of letting your hair grow, but also the turban is a sign to others. And I'd love for you to communicate to people what should people see when they look at Harbhajan or another Sikh with a turban? What should they immediately think in their minds that would help them to identify and relate to you better?

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
You know that is a very good question. The Sikhs maintain their hair as one of the five Ks. When a Sikh got baptized for the first time in 1699, he was given those five Ks. And one of them was the hair K. It is a sign of devotion. It's a sign of the oath that we take, the vow that we take. And it is a sign that perhaps that's how God intended us to be. So it's acceptance. It's acceptance of whatever. In Christianity, people say that God made a man in his own image. And so we feel this is how it was intended. And the Sikhs are very simple people. They believe in simplicity, simple dressing, simple living, simply eating, and not to be too fashionable. It's not that we necessarily all have long hair. I am kind of almost getting bald. It's a good thing it hides my baldness.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
Our ninth guru was beheaded by the Mongol rulers that ruled India at that time. And all the Sikhs that were there at time, they ran away in fear. They would not to reclaim his body because they would also be the targets of the rulers at those times. And eventually one brave person took his body to the 10th guru, Gobind Singh. And then he said, well, he wants the Sikhs to have an identity that they would not be able to hide. They would be visible. They would have the courage to stand. Then he actually baptized the five Sikhs. He gave them an identity. And Sikhs are devoted to that, and they stand. You know, there are stand your ground laws in one state. So he said, well, you stand your ground. You don't run. If you are being persecuted, you defend yourself. And somebody else is being persecuted, you defend that person too. It doesn't matter what faith that person is.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
But you see this thing, the warrior feeling, goes in the saintly. It does not come out of enmity or hatred or anything. The Sikhs are still supposed to love people of all different traditions, different faith, just like love your neighbor as yourself. That kind of feeling is ingrained into the Sikh's psyche.

George Mason:
I think it's interesting. You mentioned earlier the basic tenants of Sikh religion. The oneness of God, the equality of all people, a reference for life generally, a willingness to defend the weak and the vulnerable, and a duty to do so as well, and to serve. These are things that I think if you were to ask most Americans, what are characteristics of the American religious ethos? They might mention those very thing.

George Mason:
And then we come to the Sikh religion, and there they are. So here we have a general American idea of certain religious values that are mirrored in the Sikh religion. And yet when we look at the world's fifth largest religion, Sikhism, and a half a million Sikh Americans who live among us, there is a kind of feeling of strangeness that people have toward Sikhs in America, even though you are half a million Americans among us.

George Mason:
And so I think it's important for us probably to listen to what is the actual lived experience of a Sikh person in America when you go about your daily life, not just going to the Gurudwaras and living among your Sikh family and community, but in the larger population in an everyday way, do you feel a sense of freedom? Do you feel a sense of fear? What is the common elements that you would like other Americans to know and understand about being Sikh in America?

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
Well, one thing is that there is confusion. A general American person is not aware of what Sikh faith is and what Sikhs look like so they are confused. There has been a lot of issues with the people from Middle East, like for instance 9/11 happened. And people have tended to put the Sikhs in the same category as that. Not that everybody has a dignity and self-respect, and is a good person. In every faith and every religion, there are a few that are extremists, you could call terrorists, that do damage. But even though we've been part of the American society for over a century, and we have contributed just like over faiths would say, Hey, in the country you live and the citizens of the country you are. You be part of it. And you defend that position. I sometimes ask my children, suppose there was a war and it was America. What side would it? They would be on the American side. You know, they would identify more to defend the American values.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
But there is confusion, and we have felt that. Sometimes during those times, even when I went out and people would shout. I would say, Hey, [inaudible 00:00:16:14], something like that. Some words which would say, Hey, I have nothing to do with those kinds of things. And in fact, I will fight, and our faith has fought those ideologies. But there is a confusion. So there is not that much understanding.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
Generally in my life, and my children's life, I have found that I have been okay. You know, I was born in Africa and I felt African. So there is total non-discrimination. They respect unity. Africa is a culture I think we could take an example from. Then I went to England, and the English people are also great people. I went to there as a refugee from Uganda because Idi Amin came there and there was a revolution. There was a coup. And so I went, and what I almost feel every day that I owe to the British people is they provided scholarship, and I got educated through there.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
So that was nice, but there is still a lot of discrimination in England. America, I find is much, much better. You know, we overlook the goodness of America. American people are very generous, very open. They reward hard work. So I myself have been the beneficiary of this American life. They accept you as you are.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
There are a few, however who are not understanding our culture, our faith, our religion. My children have faced, because we moved here in '87, and my children grew up here in North Texas and there were not that many Sikhs at that time. There still aren't that many right now, but they were the only people who were having their hair uncut. And they had a smaller turban on their head. And so people are curious. They would touch their hair. They would make jokes about it, and sometime they felt dejected. "Hey dad, why are we being treated like that?"

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
So that was my first experience of interfaith. And I went to the schools. I explained to the little children, Hey, this is our faith, and it became more acceptable. And this is exactly what you're doing, that we talk about it. We understand. And the teachers and the little children were invited to our homes, and they became friends. This is what needs to be done at the grassroots level. Like you said, there is understanding that is missing in general American about the Sikh way, but the Sikh faith.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
I'm always trying to find ways of how to increase that so we become like we know each other. We know deep down, "Hey, these people may look different, but their values are just same as us under the skin. We believe in the same values." They say America was founded on Christian Judaism values. And I find those values are the same in other faiths. There is freedom of expression, there is a freedom of religion in the American Constitution. In some countries it's not there. At least we have our Constitution is on our side, yeah?

George Mason:
Right. And then the goal is for us to live up to it. I was reading an article by a Sikh man who said, you have to go out of your way to prove you are not a threat in America if you are Sikh. And we know that this is part of the challenge that we have. I'll just mention, I think our listeners should be aware of at least these three very tragic episodes in the past 20 years that Sikhs have had to grieve. The first was right after 9/11, when in Mesa, Arizona, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a convenience store operator/owner of the store there, a man named Frank Roque said to his friends that he was going to go out and shoot some towel heads that day. And he found this man and killed him. He didn't know what to do with his rage. And he was too ignorant to know the difference. And he just took a man's life.

George Mason:
In 2012, Wade Michael Page went to Sikh temple in Oak Creek, in Wisconsin, and opened fire with his nine millimeter, and went through the Gurudwara and took four lives and later more died. But again, mistaking in this case, Sikhs for Muslim terrorist threats. And then in 2019 here in Texas, Sandeep Dhaliwal, a Houston police officer who stopped a man for a traffic stop was shot and murdered. Again, we believe as a hate crime as a result of this.

George Mason:
These are episodes that are deeply grievous because we're talking about ignorance that leads to this kind of violence, but it also points to how far we have to go, right, in learning who our neighbors are, in understanding that the differences we see in appearance, say for instance, are differences that rather than being seen as a threat, if they are understood, they could become a welcome celebration of the gifts and diversity of our neighbors that enrich us.

George Mason:
And here we have an example, I think, of how. First of all, the name Singh, meaning lion, meaning courage, meaning defender, a person who will be a warrior for you to defend you when you need to be defended, and a turban being a signifier that you can count on this person to be there for you when you need them. This is the kind of learning that we need more broadly in America to become better neighbors.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
That is true. That's true. The name Singh was given, again by our 10th guru, who said you're all one. You don't look at anybody's background, because the society at that time was divided into different segments. There was a low and a high. And he says, no, everybody is the same. And our Langar, our community kitchen, is an institution that was to enforce that equality. It says everybody must sit at the same level and eat together before they can pray together.

George Mason:
Ah, lovely.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
You must come together, and food is something that brings people closer. You eat in the same place, you will get to know each other. You realize that people are the same. There is no... And even in India these days, that discrimination of people still exists. Women still aren't treated equal, but the Sikh faith was something that tried to break those things. It says everybody's equal. So I think the word Singh was given as courage to not only defend, but for equality. And same thing with the women, that all women should be treated like princesses.

George Mason:
Wonderful. Well, before we conclude, I think people would like to know even a little bit more. So in practice of your religion, you keep mentioning gurus, but the gurus ended after was it nine, nine gurus? And now your scriptures effectively remain as a kind of guru to you, the Adi Granth, the collection of hymns and poems by the gurus that you sing as a form of worship, and learning, and wisdom. I think it would be fascinating for people to realize that the very heart of your faith is singing, and is poetry, is music. That this is the nature of the joy of your religion.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
Indeed, indeed, George. Our Scripture is composed entirely of musical tones and poems in praise of the Lord. It is not historical or political, or anything. It could be sung by people from any corner. We consider it almost like a [inaudible 00:26:53] scripture. Not only the gurus, but people, saintly people, from other faiths have also their points in it. So it's a scripture of understanding, and it's very musical. All our ceremonies, whether they be the birth ceremony, the death, or wedding, they revolve around that scripture. And our 10th Guru Gobind Singh, he said, "Well, from now on, you treat this as the guru, as your guide to life." So we don't have any living gurus any more.

George Mason:
Okay. Is there a passage of scripture, of the Adi Granth, that you would grace us with, that you could say to us that would help us to understand some beautiful piece of your religious tradition?

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
Okay. Okay. Shall I sing it in my language first? And then I'll explain it.

George Mason:
Yes, please.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
If that is okay.

George Mason:
Yes, please.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
Okay. So the scripture has 1,430 pages, and this is from page 1299. It's one of the hymns that is written by our founder Guru Nanak. It goes like this: [foreign language 00:28:20]. Okay. So the translation goes like this: I have totally forgotten the jealousy of others since I found the company of people of faith. No one is my enemy and no one is a stranger. I get along with everyone. Whatever God does, I accept that as good. This is the sublime wisdom I have obtained from the holy. There is one God pervading in all. Gazing upon him, beholding him, [inaudible 00:00:29:55] blossoms forth in happiness.

George Mason:
Lovely. And I hear in that particular passage, the key phrase, see no stranger, which is the title of the Sikh woman, Valarie Kaur, her book that has come out this this past year, and I have recently read. It is a beautiful book that I would recommend to people. Valarie Kaur, See No Stranger, a Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love. Harbhajan, this is what we've experienced from you, my friend. Thank you for all that you do for our community, representing your own Sikh religious faith, and also building up the faith and community of others as well in America and in Dallas, Texas. Thank you so much for being with me on Good God today.

Harbhajan Singh Virdee:
Thank you. Thank you for having me. And I hope this understanding, this kind of dialogue, continues with people of all faiths, and it will bring us closer and lead to perhaps a more perfect union that we all dream about.

George Mason:
Thank you so much.

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