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The World Comes To
The Guru
Nanded hosts a million plus Sikhs; Devotion takes over all emotions,
Takht Sahib gets ishnan, Sikhs bathe in Guru's Word
WSN Bureau
 NANDED (MAHARASHTRA):
THREE HUNDRED YEARS ago, the Master knew the world will have little
choice but to beat the door to this little, sleepy town. Such is the
power of the True Word. Three hundred years ago, the tenth Sikh
Master, Sahib Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, bestowed Guruship upon the
Granth. Faith is now moving mountains. A million have converged
already upon this town, all decked up in honour of the spirit of
religion. And the reigning slogan is Guru Maneyo Granth.
The
Ganga
flowed calmly near Patna where Guru Gobind Singh Ji had taken birth.
This week many are finding their way to where the great wave found
confluence with the swirling waters of Godavari.
And hundreds of thousands on Monday lined along the banks of the
river, ferrying gallons of water, adding it to the sacred waters of
the ancient 'bauli' inside the Takht Abchal Nagar Huzur Sahib
Complex complex. In such a way is the Takht Sahib being readied for
the greatest of the occasions, the tercentenary of the Guruship of
Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
'Takht
Ishnaan', an annual feature performed once a year on the Diwali eve,
attracts impressive crowds, but on Monday, the number of pilgrims
crossed all old records. They did not leave an inch of space along
the 1.5 km walk from the banks of
Godavari near the historic Gurdwara Nagina Ghat to the main gurdwara
complex of Sachkhand sahib. Conservative estimates put the number of
devout this morning at around 60,000 plus, including thousands
coming from abroad to especially take part in this ceremony.
Shastars of the Guru were also bathed in the water brought so
lovingly by the devout.
Jo
Bole So Nihal shouts reverberated through the atmosphere, jathas of
sangat kept rolling in every minute, and no one dare call the town
sleepy anymore. Langars are on round the clock, and a strange
convivialness is in the air. No Sikh is passing by the other without
hailing out the Gur Fateh and the world is watching with wide eyes
the spirit that the Guru imbued the followers with three centuries
ago.
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Gurbani is the
Divine Light in this world. Through God’s grace does it come to
abide in mortal’s mind.
Sri Rag 3, pp 67
The Gurbani of
the Satguru is the embodiment of truth. Through Gurbani, the
mortal becomes perfect.
Gauri 4, pp 304
O the disciples
of the Guru, know that the Satguru’s hymns are perfectly true.
God, the Creator Himself causes the Guru to utter them from his
lips.
Gauri 4, pp 308
With the
sublime Gurbani, one becomes sublime. Very few Gurmukh interpret
it.
Asa 3, pp 361
Gurbani is the
treasure of jewels of Lord’s meditation. By singing, hearing and
acting upon it one is satisfied.
Asa 5, pp 376
By Guru’s
grace, a person recognises his own elf, obtains God. Through the
true bani, the person gets into the Lord’s palace.
Asa 3, pp 423
The great ocean
is full of the wealth of jewels upon jewels. They who are
attached with the Divine word and the Guru’s word, obtain it.
They who are attached with the guru’s hymns, obtain the
invaluable, unrivalled jewel.
Asa 4, pp 442
Says Nanak,
without the True Guru, all other gospel is false
pp 920
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One does wish that there were more stalls with books, that some one
taken upon the sewa of distributing some literature and the SGPC had
really showed itself to be the central body of the Sikhs instead of
remaining at the periphery of most celebrations. But what was
admirable was the absence of unnecessary and avoidable controversy
over supremacy of the Granth.
The inviting gold-gilded domes were being given a bath and karsewa
volunteers precariously hung from the ropes in their efforts to
carry out the task with diligence and total reverence and respect.
The silver doors of the structure were brought down and cleaned with
milk while the golden doors of the sanctum sanctorum were washed
from the outside. The area behind the golden doors was accessible
only to the Jathedar of the Takht Hazoor sahib, Giani Kulwant Singh,
who dressed in bright saffron and yellow robes, scrubbed the place
clean.
Outside, there was a unique opportunity for the devouts to have a
close look at the 3,000 odd 'shastar' (weapons), including the bows
and arrows and wooden, hand crafted guns, belonging to Guru Gobind
Singh, and which were brought out on Monday morning before the
cleaning ceremony of the Takht. All the while, a huge 'nagara'
(Drum) beat inside the gurdwara, in tune with the enthusiasm of
those taking part in the seva.
One’s heart goes out to the shradhha displayed by the devout. Old
men and women were carefully carrying along the water trickling down
the doors, walls and windows after washing and safely carried it
away. And there were those who were rushing to seal the bottles
because they planned to send it abroad to their relatives, a wish
that underlines the immigrant’s pain that he carries despite all
success in foreign lands.
The tradition of Takhat Snan and deepmala was started about 200
years back by the locals. They carried water from the
Godavari in pitchers to bathe the holy place and the arms.
 Baba Hardayal Singh, known as Ghaghariya Singh, starts the process
by drawing the first pitcher from the river. Another tradition of
performing the Aarti besides the Ardas on the river banks after the
first pitcher is drawn was instituted four years back by Clean
Godavari activists led by Ravinder Singh Modi, a local journalist.
Tuesday night saw the gurdwara precincts all decorated with lights
as the rest of the
India celebrated Diwali. It was here that the Guru gave the source
of permanent light to the community, and every single diya being lit
up was a gesture of thanks to the Master.
India’s PM Manmohan Singh will be paying obeisance at the bhog on
October 30.
As
a city, Nanded residents can hardly recognize it any more.
Overflowing with devouts, it has seen so much development that the
residents are grateful to the Sikh community.
It
was an interesting sight to see the milk was sprayed from a
fire-tender on the gurdwara as part of the activity.
A
large number of saints who have come from the US, the UK, Germany,
Canada and various parts of the country also converged on the banks
of the Godavri. The Maharashtra government and the management of
Takht Hazur Sahib had made special security arrangements and divers
of the Army were also deployed.
29
October 2008
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