By TOVE I.S. GERHARDSEN
It is great walking around on campus, sticking out like a sore thumb, said Channpal Singh, a Sikh sophomore, double majoring in philosophy and psychology.
Singh, one of the two Sikhs at BYU, is originally from New Delhi, India, but has lived in California for the last nine years.
'It is a big claim among Latter-day Saints that they hold the completeness of truth, yet there are truths out there. I think I am a representation of that truth that is out there,' he said.
Singh also recognizes that he may be the only Sikh some Latter-day Saints will ever meet.
'Maybe 20 years down the line some student will see a Sikh down at a gas station and they will say: `Oh, I remember a Sikh I met a BYU, this is what he told me,'' Singh said.
Singh has encountered some people with staunch disciplines and views, which he expected at BYU. However, the majority of people he has encountered are people who have a feeling of openness, he said.
A lot of Latter-day Saints recognize what it feels like to be a religious minority because they grew up as a minority themselves, and that is why they are willing to ask questions, he said.
The two most common questions Singh is asked by LDS students are where he is from and what he is doing at BYU.
'I think they are valid questions. The only person who is able to give you a good perspective about Sikhism, is a Sikh,' Singh said.
Singh thinks the moral standards at BYU are very similar to those in Sikhism, and therefore encourages other Sikhs to come to BYU. His cousin got him to BYU, and before he leaves, he wants to get another Sikh to attend BYU.
'I have to keep that tradition going,' he said.
Singh does not feel like he is at BYU to teach.
'Within any interreligious dialog, the two disciples will embrace each other in their similarities and their differences. Both disciples are teachers and learners,' he said.
'If you are only willing to recognize the similarities and say that we are basically the same, why then am I wearing the turban and you are not? You have to be willing to accept the differences and the similarities and from those two you have a trueness of a close discipleship.'
Singh has participated in world religion classes, religious panels and family home evenings.
The Sikhs do not have a chapel in Provo, but every two weeks there is a conference for all of North America.
Singh also does meditation as he walks from class to class. Meditation in his religion means to recite the Lord's name because you have to remember God at all times.
Singh would love to have somebody come up to him and ask why he is wearing the turban and what it is about. He likes inquisitiveness, and loves to tell others about his religion.
'Every time you explain your religion to somebody else, you learn more than probably that other person does, and your faith grows more. That is why I can say now, after being at BYU a year and a half, that I am a stronger Sikh now than I was when I came,' Singh said.