Ravi Speaks:
“CONGRATULATIONS” to all the farmers-especially from Punjab since the PM has apologized and repealed all the three articles against which they had been fighting for almost one year. This happened on the special”Prakash Day” or the main Gurupurab-the birthday of their first Guru-Shree Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The details regarding the same special day of Kartik Purnima is being described here.
“Yesterday It Was Guru Nanak’s Birthday”.
Right from the beginning of my life journey, I have greatly been influenced by the Sikh community as a whole. I have seen usually Sikhs to be a hard-working and prosperous community. When I was a student and going to college, I had a very special affinity with Sikhs simply for the reason that they were very warm and at the same time very hard working. If I had to think of any Hotel and at a small scale-any Dhabha- I would co-relate that with a Sikh. Any transporter or any mechanical factory-again I would co-relate that also with a Sikh. Because in my life span, I had seen very strong Sikhs handling these special businesses. In the whole world also if you check out -you would find the chain of hotels owned by Sikhs. The bigger transport chains are again mainly owned by Sikhs. Luckily, I started my career also in Punjab and had dealings with Sikhs right from there. I too have taken birth on ‘Kartik Poornima’-so maybe that is another attraction for me to be having a special affinity towards this community. Today I shall in a very simple way mention Sikhism and mainly in brief about Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji
Today it is the most important Gurpurab for Sikhs all around the world- ‘The birthday of Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism’. It is a Gazetted holiday in India. Gurpurabs are festivals that are associated with the lives of the Gurus. They are happy occasions that are celebrated most enthusiastically by Sikhs.
The Golden Temple-Amritsar.
Nanak, (born April 15, 1469, ‘Rai Bhoi di Talwandi’ [now Nankana Sahib, Pakistan], near Lahore, India—died 1539, Kartarpur, Punjab), Indian spiritual teacher who was the first Guru of the Sikhs, a monotheistic religious group that combines Hindu and Muslim influences. Guru Nanak was born on the Full Moon (Pooranmashi) of the Indian Lunar Month Katik. The Sikhs have been celebrating Guru Nanak’s Gurpurab around November for this reason. Guru Nanak was one of the greatest religious innovators of all time and the founder of the Sikh religion. His family was Hindus, but Nanak soon showed an advanced interest in religion and studied Islam and Hinduism extensively. As a child, he demonstrated great ability as a poet and philosopher. Hinduism and Sikhism are Indian religions. Hinduism has pre-historic origins, while Sikhism was founded in the 15th century by Guru Nanak. In the days of the Mughal Empire, the Sikh community came to the defense of the persecuted who were being forcibly converted to Islam.
Sikhs Fighting for Protecting Hindus From Mughals.
So, if we say that for the protection of Hindus here in India against the atrocities of the Mughals, -a special Sikh-Protection force was created-it would be befitting to the situation prevailing at that time in India. All these were mainly constituted by the Sikh Community.
Construction Of Harmandir Sahib In 1588.
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion, which means Sikhs believe there is only one god. Sikhs may also be called panentheistic, meaning that they believe God is present in creation. God is not the universe but is the life within it, its driving force. Sikhs believe the Guru Granth Sahib is the word of God. Therefore, it is the most important source of authority. However, they also learn from the Rahit Maryada and the examples of the Ten Gurus: Guru Nanak–taught Sikhs about the oneness of God and the oneness of humanity.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji preached brotherhood and the universal brotherhood of man. He said that all the people of the world are brothers. He also said that people should live together with love. He began his teachings with “No Hindu, No Musalman” which means the Hindus and the Muslims are the same.
The Golden Temple-Amritsar.
The biggest center of attraction of Sikhs is their central-pious-worshipping Gurdwara-known worldwide with the name ’Sri-Harmandir Sahib also known as the Golden Temple situated in Amritsar. The Golden Temple was built in 1604 by Guru Arjun. It was destroyed several times by Afghan invaders and rebuilt in the early 19th century in marble and copper overlaid with gold foil. The temple occupies a small island in the center of a pool.
Langar Being Offered In Golden Temple.
One of the biggest attractions of this religion has been the ‘selfless-Sewa-Bhav’ being rendered by them for Humanity at all the possible occasions and spots-where the need for the same arises. The concept of ‘Langar’ too has been the creation of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Langar started in the late 1400s when a young Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj, the first Guru of the Sikhs, was asked to seek a profit by his father to teach him entrepreneurial skills. As such, young Nanak was given 20 rupees to go and buy something to trade with. In Sikhism, langar (‘kitchen’) is the community kitchen of a gurdwara, which serves meals free of charge to all visitors—without making a distinction of religion, caste, gender, economic status, or ethnicity.
Whenever I have gone to Golden Temple or for that matter in any of their Gurudwaras-I have seen even the rich Sikhs offering their services at the Gurudwaras-like collecting the shoes of all the devotees and placing them on the shelves at the Gurdwara. They do not have any hitch or problem in rendering this sort of service for their community. There have been occasions where the bigger celebrities too have been seen doing such sewa at the gurudwaras. The main theme behind this could be the need for every human being to be equal and not have any sort of ego in his mind. The purpose which is clear from such acts is simply to ensure all humans to be full of humility.
Even when I have gone to Golden Temple’s Langar-section-I have seen all the people whether rich or poor sitting together and eating food in the same queue depicting equality amongst all. If we analyze their preaching too-the main crux is ‘Oneness with equality amongst all. This religious community surely has been very successfully proving to be an example for all other religions including Hinduism as well.