Source: Twitter
Guwahati, Nov 8: The Sikh belief in service to others is an important element of the religion. Be it celebrations, pandemic, protests or natural disasters the Sikhs are always at the forefront and are known to serve people relentlessly and selflessly. The idea of 'Sewa' which means selfless service or volunteerism is the very core of the Sikh tradition.
"Guru Nanak Dev jee the founder of Sikhism while preaching universal brotherhood and equality gave the biggest concept of service to the needy irrespective of the person's social, religious or ethnic background through Sewa which is performed with Tan Man aur Dhan (Body, Mind and Wealth)," says Captain PP Singh, Chairman, Khalsa Centre North East.
Across the world the Sikh community continue to serve at the forefront of humanitarian crisis, whether it is the Rohingya refugees escaping violent protests, farmer protests in New Delhi, the pandemic or the annual Assam floods. The essence of Sewa in Sikh teachings is visible through the service they render without any thought for a reward.
PP Singh says, "Guru Nanak's concept of Langar also feeds millions of people all over the world and his followers reach out with Guru Ka Langar for the needy be it in war zone or disaster affected areas not caring about their own safety too and serving humanity."
The Khalsa Centre of Northeast, is one such organisation which has been doing exemplary work in Assam and Northeast. The concept of langar was widely implemented in the State by the organisation. From serving langar at B Barooah Cancer hospital, providing food to 5000 people daily during lockdown, organising blood donation camps at regular intervals to construction of school in Lahorighat, the concept of Sikhism lies in the service of people irrespective of caste, religion, language, gender, social or economic status or political consideration for the organisation.
"Our aim is to do Sewa, the teachings of Sewa are the biggest helping hand to the Assamese community and when I say Assamese it includes everybody from Assam. We don't see or segregate people on the basis of Hindu, Muslim, Christian, etc.," asserted PP Singh.
"As we celebrate Guru Nanak Jayanti today we are more focused on our endeavours. During Guru Nanak Jayanti our aim is that nobody shall sleep hungry and our mission is Guru Nanak's langar for zero hunger. We are eager to set up a community kitchen to serve the people and even requested the government for some land its been more than a year and a half we have not received any response so far from the government," said PP Singh.
Sikhism and Assam
The history of the Sikh connection with Assam goes back to the time of the Sikh gurus. Although the evolution of the Sikh community in Assam has had various trajectories, as per many stories surrounding the Sikhs, they adopted Assam as their home during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak Dev, visited Assam in the year 1505 when he travelled from Dhaka to Assam. Later, the 9th Sikh Saint Guru Teg Bahadur came to this place and established Gurdwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib in the 17th century which is located in the picturesque state of Assam and on the banks of the beautiful Brahmaputra River in Dhubri town. Every year more than 50,000 Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and all devotees from all over the country and the world assemble in this historic shrine to mark the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur. The martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur is remembered as the Shaheedi Divas. The festival starts with great solemnity and ceremony. Sikhs call this festival Sahidee-Guru-Parav.
If we trace back to history, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur visited Assam in 1670 and played a huge role to bring peace to the region when the war was waged between the Mughals and the Ahoms. The Gurdwara has been built on the spot when the saint had stayed and negotiated peace during his time here. The peace settlement was brought about by the efforts of Guru Tegh Bahadur and celebrated by a joint homage to the shrine of Guru Nanak by the Mughal and Ahom armies. The mound of peace in Dhubri was erected with the red earth carried by the soldiers of the armies on their shields. This permanent monument of successful peace efforts stands at Dhubri till date. There are two shrines in the region – Gurudwara Damdama Sahib and Gurudwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib.
According to studies though records are not clear to show when and where exactly Guru Nanak met Sankardeva, yet the similarities between the writing and actions of the two great saint-scholar visionaries show that they met in Assam, in Dhubri or in Nagaon area during Guru Nanak's travels to Assam.
PP Singh highlighted that Sikhism's ideologies are somewhat similar to Sankardeva's. Keeping up with the values, a majority of Sikhs are voluntarily coming up to promote educational institutions, provide medical facilities, to remove social inequalities prevailing in the society and also ensuring food for all.
