Golden Temple of Amritsar

When planning a trip to India it is frequent that you are told to make sure you go to the Taj Mahal in Agra, but rarely do you hear about the Golden Temple of Amritsar.

The temple is a magnificent marble structure coated in gold and precious stones. The temple is surrounded by water on 4 sides with a marble bridge leading to its only entrance.

The prime time to view this magnificent structure is at 3 am. I know, why couldn't it be a reasonable hour, right? The reason behind this obscene hour to be awake is it is the time where Seva occurs.

Seva is an event that occurs every morning at 4 am. The idea of Seva is "selfless service" and at this temple it means that hundreds of local town residents filter in and begin to distribute 5-7 gallon steel buckets. The population then divides up into bucket fillers, bucket carriers, and sweepers.

Arriving during this process is an amazing sight. It isn't uncommon to see a 90 year old grandmother in a full squat sweeping and scrubbing the marble with a broom made out of bundled sticks. The sheer dedication and spirit of service is a miraculous site to behold, and can be just as healing as the legendary waters surrounding the temple are said to be.