One intriguing historical curiosity that I often saw as a child is worth noting. Since Sikhs were always fighting for survival, many Punjabi Hindu families would dedicate one son to Sikhism. By making one child a Sikh, they acknowledged their debt to and respect for the Sikh way of life, while at the same time they confessed the inability of the entire family to walk that perilous path. Sikhism like Christianity recognized the ability of music to move people to a spiritual high minus, of course, the dancing girls. Sikhism recognizes the worth of both.
Private meditation is important for it allows man to discover the truth within.
Congregational worship is necessary for it defines man in terms of the universe outside of him. Nobody would deny the worth of the first two commandments, many such as the prominent writer Khushwant fail to acknowledge that if man were more cognizant of the Infinite within, he would be more aware of his place within the creation and more in tune with the fundamental unity of all of God's creation. All creation, human and otherwise, would then be less subject to man's puffed up sense of self. That third leg of the stool, an essential element of Sikh teaching, allows Man to look beyond the self at human life as a rare opportunity to enrich his environment including his fellow creatures. There are other ways in which Sikhism departs from both the Judaic and Hindu traditions and which stem from the enhanced place of the lay follower in Sikhism.