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| Bahadur Singh, president of Dasmesh Darbar Sikh Temple in Salem, stands in the sanctuary. (Photo: KOBBI R. BLAIR / Statesman Journal) |
April 26, 2014: He was born in northern India in the state of Punjab and raised on a farm in the nearby state of Uttar Pradesh, just west of Nepal. His turban, which only takes a skilled user like himself five minutes to put on each morning, is a long, rectangular shape that, when unrolled, measures a whopping 23 feet long by 42 inches wide. And he grows his hair, including his beard, long because the tenants of his Sikh faith require hair to be left uncut.
There, that answers the usual questions Bahadur Singh receives.
But if you have more, Bahadur, the president of the local Sikh temple — the largest in Oregon — is more than happy to answer them. In fact, he encourages inquiries. He sees his unusual appearance as a way to open a dialogue and share his faith. He even has made up a brochure to hand out to the uninitiated.
Importance of business
Dressed in a button-up, well-pressed, plaid dress shirt and dark slacks, he looks like your usual American business man. Only his purple turban and long, graying beard, which hints to his age of 52, set him apart at first glance.
In English with an Indian accent, Bahadur tells of moving in 1991 from India to California’s Bay Area, where there is a large Sikh population. He worked odd jobs at convenience stores, fast-food chains and a skin-care company. But it’s part of the Sikh teaching, he said, to be self-supporting. He estimates 95 percent of local Sikhs are business owners.
“In 1699, the Khalsa (the collective body of initiated Sikhs) taught you have to be self-dependent, do not beg from somebody, work hard and share your wealth with others. It’s kind of in our blood,” Bahadur said about the tendency of Sikhs to own businesses.
So in 1999, Bahadur found a business opportunity in Salem and moved here. He bought a building on Center Street and created the convenience store Center Market. Of the 25 Center Markets now in the state, he owns 13 of them.
He’s also helped other Sikhs get into business. Navneet Kaur and her husband, Jagmohan Singh, both found work with Bahadur and eventually went into partnership with him. They and Bahadur co-own the Center Market on Fairview.
“He is an entrepreneur and has the courage to invest,” Navneet said about Bahadur. “We are not the only ones he’s helped. Most people who have worked for him are business owners now. He helps them, puts money in, so they can have a stable life of their own.”
Navneet, who teaches English writing at Chemeketa, said she also has worked with Bahadur in the local Sikh temple and praises his commitment there, too.
“I’ve seen him working, doing plumbing, gardening, what not. I’ve seen his pants rolled up, dirty; he’s very devoted to his community, to helping everyone,” she said.
Resistance and growth
When Bahadur first moved to Salem in 1999, there was only one or two other Sikh families in the area. People were wary of his look, especially after the terrorist act of Sept. 11, 2001. Even years later, he faced misconceptions and hatred. He and his dad were leaving the parking lot at Home Depot several years ago when somebody started honking at him.
“I said, ‘What’s going on,’ ” he recalls. “I thought maybe he wanted to tell me something, like something was on my car, but there was nothing. I rolled down my window, and he said, ‘Go back to Pakistan. What are you guys doing here?’ I tried to explain, but he didn’t wait.”
What would have Bahadur said given the chance?
“I’m not Pakistani, first of all,” he answered. “I’m not Muslim. I’m a Sikh. Tell me what you want to know about me.”
Despite the occasional stare, rude comment or hate crime — his temple’s Sikh flag was burned in 2006 — other Sikhs, including many friends and family, followed Bahadur to Salem. In October 2005, he and others got a loan and bought a former Lutheran church on Oakhill Avenue off Commercial Street South and turned it into Salem’s first Sikh temple, Dasmesh Darbar Sikh Temple, the biggest one in Oregon, he said. Before, area Sikhs had to go to Vancouver, Wash.
After Salem’s temple opened, Bahadur said the real growth in the Salem Sikh community happened. The area now has 40 of the estimated 200 Sikh families in Oregon, Bahadur said. Besides Salem, there also is a small house temple in Eugene and a temple in Portland.
Temple time
Bahadur humbly declines to say how much he financially has invested in the Salem temple or which items he has paid for. But talking to others, it’s clear he has been a benefactor, including purchasing extras that make the temple special, all of which recall his earlier point on the importance for Sikhs to share their wealth.
However it is paid for, entering the Salem temple is a blast of culture and color. A large foyer, with banners in Punjabi and room for visitors to remove their shoes, leads to two open rooms. The first is what Priest Jasvinder “Sunny” Singh called a “free kitchen.” He said fresh vegetarian food is made twice a day for anyone who comes to the temple.
“There is always food out,” Sunny said. He explains that people of all faiths stop at the temple as they journey through the area or come from other communities to visit the temple.
On a Friday, the beginning of the weekend’s complete reading of the Sikh scripture, a group of women are talking about what to make for dinner at the temple that night while the men chat on a separate side of the room, not out of a religious rule but out of social tendency. No chairs or tables fill the large room; instead people sit on the floor. Navneet explains that this puts everyone on the same level, similar to the head coverings and same last names that the Sikhs take on after baptism.
“It makes everyone equal in the house of the Lord,” Navneet said. “There is no racism, no cast system, nothing.”
About the food, Navneet said, “First eat, and then come to the presence.”
The presence, she said, is found in the room on the other side of the foyer.
A plush, red carpet covers the floor of the empty room that leads up to an ornate representation of where the guru would sit called Darbar Sahib. Golds, blues and purples, which pop from fabrics and colored glass, and a large sparkling chandelier offer visual treats instead of furniture. To the right is a stage where musicians perform, and to the left, a Sikh reads from the the Guru Granth Sahib, a 1,430-page book containing teachings on how to practice life from the gurus and other saints. The chanted reading in the Gurmukhi language fills much of the temple, vibrating off the walls.
Sunny, one of three priests who live at the temple, describes the room used for meditation and services as a king’s court, with the Guru Granth Sahib, which is recognized as the final, everlasting, 11th guru, being the king.
Upstairs, the royal treatment for the Sikh scripture continues. A four-poster queen bed with sheer curtains all the way around fills much of a small room, surrounded by 24-caret-gold-plated ceilings and walls. The bed is the evening resting place for the holy book.
“We treat the scripture like a king,” Sunny said about the Guru Granth Sahib. “If you have scripture at home, you need to give proper respect, so not all (have it at home).”
Family, faith and overcoming fear
Bahadur lives in West Salem with his parents, wife, two daughters, who attend Concordia University in Portland, and son. His son, who goes to Straub Middle School, wears a smaller version of his dad’s turban, more like a tight stocking cap with a bunlike ball in the middle.
“He loves it,” Bahadur said when asked if his son minds being different from his classmates. “He’s famous to everyone there. He likes being different, standing out.”
There actually are four versions of the turban that reflect the age of the wearer. Bahadur has a photo of his family on his brochure that shows the different turbans as seen on his father, him, his nephew and his son, who represent different ages of Sikh men. He uses that to teach people about the differences. Women can choose to wear a turban or other head covering.
He and his parents and wife are baptized in the Sikh faith, though his children are not yet. With baptism comes rules, such as no meat, alcohol, tobacco or haircuts, which not all young people are ready to abstain from yet, Bahadur said.
As for what he says when people ask why haircuts, including beard trims, are on the don’ts list? “I tell them this is part of my religion,” Bahadur said. “My guru said you are born as natural so stay as natural. This is how the creator made us.”
“This country is so afraid,” he said. “In my language, we call it living in a small well. We’re not looking at the wide picture.”
Bahadur said being available to people and willing to talk is a way to “take their fears away.”
“India has almost 5,000-year-old history,” he continued. “Time to time, we have fight with people. You learn how to live life, you get stronger. This country is so new. ... This is our learning process.”
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Below is some of the basic concepts that people like Bahadur Singh practice and believe in the Sikh lifestyle:
Sikhism
Sikh means disciple or student. Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji founded the religion in the 1400s during a time of turmoil in India when Muslim conversions were commonly forced. The traditions and philosophy of Sikhism were established by 10 specific gurus from 1469 to 1708, when the 10th guru said there would be no more gurus after him. Instead, an 11th living guru would be followed, the Guru Granth Sahib, a 1,430-page book of teaching on how to practice life from the gurus plus saints from faiths including Islam and Hinduism. Sikh beliefs, according to Bahadur Singh, Jasvinder “Sunny” Singh, Navneet Kaur and a Sikh brochure made by Bahadur include:
God is one: There is only one God who is the Creator of the Universe. Guru, which means teacher, is a way to connect with God.
Equality: All human beings are equal.
Birth and death: After a person dies, his soul is born again in another body, human or animal. Sikhs believe in Karma, that by living a righteous life, one can achieve liberation from the cycle of life and death. Meditation, honest work and charity — sharing a 10th of their earnings with the poor and needy — are principles for living a good life.
Nonviolence: Sikhs are peace-loving people but will take a stand for truth and justice. Bahadur was part of a group of Sikhs that were instrumental in getting legislation signed in 2010 to allow state workers, including teachers, to wear head coverings at work. This was important to not only Sikhs but also the Russian community and other faiths.
What’s up with the last names? Baptized Sikhs take on the last name Singh for males and Kaur for women. Singh means lion, and Kaur means princess.
Sikh temple: The Salem temple is at 860 Oakhill Ave. SE, off South Commercial. It is open daily for meditation and open to the public for food and tea. The complete reading of the Guru Granth Sahib in the Gurmukhi language begins at 11 a.m. every Friday and concludes around noon on Sunday. A service with hymns and music follows at 2 p.m. Sundays. The temple also is open monthly on a Sunday for a $5 health clinic for the community, takes Indian meals to a shelter on Center Street on a monthly basis and holds a community parade every year. This year’s Sikh Day Parade will be June 15.
Interfaith worship service
The Oneness Coalition and Temple Beth Sholom will present a family-oriented interfaith and intercultural worship service titled “Teach, Learn, Practice Peace” on May 4 that will include Sikh, Bahai’ and Jewish speakers.
“We will learn some of the ways people of different faiths impart concepts of peace to their children and new members in their faith communities,” said Paul Wilson of the Oneness Coalition.
An audience participation activity will have attendees write and post comments for all to see during the hospitality time after the service, which will start at 6:30 p.m. at Temple Beth Sholom, 1274 Cunningham Lane S, Salem.
Music will be presented by Rich McCloud and Jan Shibley Pedersen.