550th Parkash Purab
(birthday) of Guru Nanak Dev ji is falling this year. To celebrate it, nearly a
year-long celebration has already started by the Sikhs. One important aspect of
these celebrations is the making of the corridor to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib,
now in Pakistan, near the border of India-Pakistan.
The videos pouring in from the
celebration showed the Sikhs crossing the border with the saroop of Guru
Granth Sahib ji, and the Sikh soldiers capturing the moments in their cameras
and paying the obeisance to the guru. This’s the first time when I got to see
something so mesmerising. Albeit, after the partition in 1947, there’re many
years when the Sikhs went to Pakistan to celebrate the Parkash Purab of the
first guru in Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev ji. But this year
was completely different than what I’d seen before.
On the quincentennial Parkash Purab
of Guru Nanak Dev ji, so many authors and universities and other organizations
published the work on the life of the first guru. I doubt if there could be a
greater number of works available at any other celebrations than on quincenternary
back in 1969. It opened up the doors to the readers to know more about the
first guru, especially those who are non-Punjabi, because mainly the books were
written in the English language then.
As we’re few weeks away from the
Parkash Purab, I doubt if there’ll be publications this time about the first
guru. Last time, the work of Dr Tirlochan Singh showed a great deal of painstaking
to clear the daunting controversies brought in the Sikh Religion in the early
20th century by some authors. I hope the focus of the scholars on
the sexcentennial Parkash Purab would be to bring new works which’ve not been
published so far. There might be some sources in Persian or other languages,
the lands that the guru travelled to during his journey, which would have a
quintessential affect in the history of the Sikh Religion.
Bhai Pinderpal Singh ji, a great
Sikh preacher, said the place where the people of different religions torn
apart the cloth after the Joti Jot of Guru Nanak Dev ji is now trying to combine
the two countries.
The guru, whose message is universal,
beyond the castes, religions, and nationalism, is bringing the people together
again. The much-awaited corridor to Kartarpur Sahib will be heart touching, to
see the Sikhs travelling to the place beyond India. Some people are also out
there who didn’t like the idea of the corridor because of the alleged attentions
of Pakistan to use it for infiltration. The political consequences
of this, if there’re any, planned or unplanned, will affect the Sikhs living in
Punjab. I will leave that part and ponder on it in future, but I will not
ignore it.
Apart from the celebrations, we
Sikhs should be focusing on to spread the message of guru to the whole world.
These celebrations will only be possible if the Sikhs are there in the world.
Not by just appearances but the inner and outer nature both that make you a
Sikh. I remember the Sikh preachers emphasising on the reading of Gurbani or
Gurmantra or Mool Mantra on the special days like this as a token of respect. And
this’s become very important thing to do in the 21st century. It is
also the real way in which the celebrations should be held.
In the Gurudwaras, the Akhand Panth
will be opened and will be completed on the day of Parkash Purab. We should
also participate in that. It should not be just the Pathi reading the bani
and we’re doing nothing. If not much, we should at least listen to Gurbani for
hours. And ask the guru to guide us in this Age of Darkness, make us read
Gurbani and live the life according to the Way of Sikhi, according to the way
you taught us, so that we can achieve Oneness with the One and get emancipated.