Harmandir Sahib (The Golden Temple)

That first night that I glimpsed the Golden Temple gleaming and reflecting in the dark, it took my breath away. I went to the Golden Temple five times in my four days in Amritsar— the first three times in the night and the last two in the day time. Even when I planned to see or do other things, I ended up at the Golden Temple. My feet seemed to guide me there without any conscious thought, always drawn magnetically to the spiritual ambience and meditative atmosphere. I would sit and walk for hours at a time.

The Golden Temple in Amritsar is hands down the most beautiful thing I’ve seen so far in India. Like all gurudwaras (Sikh temples) it has a community kitchen (langar).

The one at the Golden Temple is the largest community kitchen in the world, serving 50,000 to 100,000 free meals a day to anyone regardless of religion or ethnicity. In keeping with the tenets of Sikh religion, diners share a meal as equals, sitting on the floor in a line. Sikhism also emphasizes the importance of seva, or service.

On my last day in Amritsar, I ate lunch there, and after lunch, I spent some time doing seva (service), dishing out rotis to hungry diners. I think some diners asked for an extra roti even though they didn’t need one just so they could get a closer look at the strange foreign woman serving food that day.