The Golden Temple

The Golden Temple in Amritsar is actually a complex of buildings, rather than a single temple. At the heart of the complex is the Sarovar, or a lake. It’s believed to be filled with holy water. The Harmandir Sahib is the Golden Temple, and it sits in the middle of the Sarovar. The Akal Takht faces the Harmandir Sahib. As you walk along the marble walkway, you go past trees under which different Sikh saints meditated and achieved enlightenment. People in Amritsar say that one of the miracles of the Golden Temple is that the marble never too hot or too cold. When it’s winter, the marble is warm. When it’s summer, the marble is cold. I visited Amritsar in January; the marble around the Sarovar wasn’t cold. The water from the Sarovar, on the other hand, was FREEZING. As I sat and walked around the Golden Temple, I took hundreds of photos, literally. It’s difficult to explain how beautiful the Golden Temple is, but you can spend hours watching the light catch the and glint off the buildings, all the while listening to the songs sung by the Ragis in Harmandir Sahib.

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