When I was 1st under the spell of all this I knew an old soldier who'd been a young man in the army in India in the 1920's & had seen people doing all sorts of strange things.... like sticking knives into themselves without apparent harm...fairground tricks basically.  He very kindly tried to talk me out it, but I wasn't having any.  He had a big down on Gurus, due to having had to disperse on occasion rioting mobs of rival supporters, usually fighting over who got what after the main man had died.  Sometimes the violence was so bad that the order was given to fix bayonets.

Of course I didn't think that sort of thing could ever apply to the Satguru & his family.

My late father was very friendly with a Sikh who inherited some land back home, but never went to claim it. He was afraid for his life.

I blame the Beatles for spreading this myth about how peaceful  the Indians are.