Interviewer: Ever wondered what other people of faith believe, what their faith means to them, how they live it? That’s what this podcast is all about.  It’s called “All Faith Counts” because, well, all faith does count. The more each of us know about other people’s faith, the more we understand, accept, and respect them for their belief.  Hopefully this is a reminder of all the good faith brings to our world. We’ll hear from two remarkable people, how they live their faith as a Sikh in our society. The first is Satnam Singh, a husband and father of a three‑year‑old. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Satnam Singh: My name is Satnam Singh and I’m a Sikh who loves being alive and learning from others and serving others.

Interviewer: Next is Yashmeet Kaur a millennial college student from Philadelphia.

Yashmeet Kaur: You know, Sikhism for me, it’s a lot about love, right? So loving unconditionally, loving every single person around you. A part of that, it’s that connection that you have with each living being around you, each creature.

Interviewer: Satnam and Yashmeet talked about the meaning of the word “Sikh”, what it means, and how it influences their lives.

Satnam Singh: So the word “Sikh” means “learner” or “a disciple” when you translate it into English. And so the core principles of Sikhism is “to learn.”

Yashmeet Kaur: That is the definition of being a Sikh is constantly learning and constantly gaining more understanding of everything around you, and trying to be more self‑aware of your actions.

Satnam Singh: Every day, I want to learn something new, not just about faith, but about other people.

Yashmeet Kaur: That desire to learn about everything around you, and about yourself, that is a really big part of being a Sikh for me.

Satnam Singh: My faith teaches me that education is what truly liberates the human soul.

Interviewer: As you might imagine, belonging to a faith that originated in India, sometimes brings misconception and misunderstanding. Both Yashmeet and Satnam have been the targets of this misplaced prejudice.

Yashmeet Kaur: I have been called, you know, a terrorist while walking on the street, someone might make a snide comment.

Satnam Singh: Two days after September 11th I was a young college student and near my college, I had gone to a grocery store. And as I was getting out of the grocery store, walking towards my car, someone yelled at me, “You terrorist, go back to your country.”

Interviewer: So, how would you react if you were singled out for your beliefs?  I think you’ll be impressed with how Yashmeet and Satnam responded in these moments.

Satnam Singh: And I, at that moment, I could’ve responded by hate or aggression or something like that. But I told him, I said to him, “God bless you.” He was shocked what I said to him and he drove away.

Yashmeet Kaur: If somebody else is being picked on at school or anything like that growing up, I always felt that it was my responsibility to stand up for them. And what ended up happening is then I’d end up getting picked on because I was standing up to someone else.  And I felt that I was able to handle it. I had that strength inside of me that, you know, that can say whatever they want. And yeah, it will hurt for a bit, but at the end of the day, I go home and I have this love for the divine that is so strongly engrained inside of me.

Interviewer: Like many religions, Sikhism is filled with symbolism that has deep meaning to its followers.

Satnam Singh: The symbols are there to constantly remind me of who I am, and what I am here to do, which is to serve others, and to learn from others. Because you know, daily life, you might get busy and you might, you know, have a short temper or something. You know, we’re human beings, we all have bad days. But the symbols are really important and a constant reminder to me, who I am.

Interviewer: Satnam went on to explain the meaning of five major symbols that Sikh’s embrace to guide their actions.

Satnam Singh: The dagger; it is a symbol of defending the defendless and helping the poor. The bracelet; which is a constant reminder to me that I should not commit an evil act. The hair; which is a reminder God would not want to give you something he wants you to destroy. The comb; just to keep everything neat and clean. The fifth and the final one is the turban, which is a symbol of, in eyes of God, we’re all equal.

Interviewer: Not all women in the Sikh faith wear turbans, but Yashmeet chooses to as an expression of her devotion to her heritage.

Yashmeet Kaur: Going back a little bit into history, at the time, rulers wore turbans. Only somebody of a very high caste, or of a leadership position could tie a turban because it represented a leader. So when our gurus gave us this identity, they told each and every one of us that you are all equals, and you are all your own sovereigns, you are all your own rulers. So after today, you will no longer be oppressed by anyone, and you will also stand up for anyone else that is being oppressed because you’re no longer a sheep, you’re no longer part of a flock. You stand out.  With it, I know that I have to carry on that legacy that they carried before me. It’s not just a cloth on my head. Each layer that I’m tying is a memory, it’s a remembrance of what has happened before me, of my history, basically. It’s a very glorifying feeling. And talking about it, you know, you can see my face light up because I’m so passionate about it. And even when I have a bad day or if somebody says something negative to me, because of the way that I look, you know, going back to that history, that passion that I have for it, it really ‑‑ it doesn’t really shake me that much.

Interviewer: Satnam and Yashmeet both shared some thoughts about the role faith plays in their daily life.

Yashmeet Kaur: At the end of the day, we’re all human beings, right? So we all want the same thing, we want our children to get good education, we want, you know, security for our families, and we want to pass on our value system to our children.

Satnam Singh: When you understand that light inside of you, you’re able to then see the light within everyone and be able to look at everyone as one, right? As a part of the divine. And that’s a really hard state of mind to get to because there’s so much conflict, there’s so many disagreements that you have on a day to day basis with people around you. So to obtain that state of mind is a very difficult task. And it takes a lot of humility.  And I’m certainly not there yet, (chuckles) but just trying to be on that path and trying to understand that is a very unique experience in itself.

Interviewer: Which Satnam was challenged just after 9‑11, it put his faith to the test.  Just like any test, what we learn makes all the difference.

Satnam Singh: It made me really value my faith, it made me really realize what the goodness my faith teaches me to genuinely respect others and respect those people who even despise you. It’s hard to do, but in a moment of crisis, that’s when your faith gets put to the test, you know? So it really made me a better person. And I often… although I’ve never shared that story with anybody else before today, but I often think about this story whenever I’m going through some sort of problem in my personal life.  So it has really taught me a lot.

Interviewer: We’d like to thank Satnam and Yashmeet for sharing how their faith counts. We invite you to visit Faithcounts.com to be inspired by remarkable people living their faith, because our world is a better place when all faith counts.