Jamshedpur, Jan. 15: The Sikh community in and around the steel city plans to spread the message of peace to mark the ‘Prakash Utsav’ (birth anniversary) of their tenth guru Guru Gobind Singh on Friday.
A religious procession will be taken out from Jugsalai Station Road Gurudwara under the aegis of Central Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (CGPC), the apex body of Sikh community in the city. The procession would culminate at the Sakchi Gurudwara in the evening.
Men, women and children of several Punjabi schools and members of religious organizations would participate in the procession. Officials of CGPC said that apart from spreading message of their guru, they would also educate people against terror and would give the message of harmony and universal peace and brotherhood.
The school children would be carrying placards with messages against terrorism and war written on it. The performance of all the participating teams would be judged and felicitated at a religious congregation.
Almost all the 36 Gurudwaras in the district are being decked up for the occasion. They will be hosting religious functions and langars (mass kitchen) as a part of the celebrations.
At a meeting chaired by the chief of CGPC Sardar Inderjit Singh held on Thursday, it was unanimously decided that procession will leave at 11 a.m. from Jugsalai, while the closing ceremony will be held at 4.00 p.m. at the Sakchi Gurdwara.
At the meeting it was also decided to put a ban on the devotees on the way to use fireworks.
Guru Gobind Singh was the last of the ten Gurus, the one who transformed the Sikh faith. In 1699 he created the Khalsa (Pure), a community of the faithful who wore visible symbols of their faith and trained as warriors. Today the Khalsa comprises all practicing Sikhs.
He spent his childhood years studying Persian and Sanskrit, and was skilled in the art of war. His mission was to uphold right in every place and destroy sin and evil. In 1699 he chose the festival day of Vaisakhi as the occasion to transform the Sikhs into the Khalsa, a family of soldier saints.
He declared the Sikh holy book as his successor instead of a human being. The Guru Granth Sahib would thus be the Sikhs’ guide forever. Sikhs give it the same status and respect as a human Guru.
