Every Gurpurab is a joyous occasion for us, the Sikhs. It is the time that we take the spirit of celebration on such occasions to deeper corners across the communities we are living among in different parts of the world. Many of us must already be doing so collectively and individually! Still, we as a global community can do a lot more to create more awareness about us.
Here, I dwell upon this idea from an individual’s perspective.
This birthday (Gurpurab) of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, our tenth Guru, who created a distinct identity for us of a religious community by establishing the Khalsa Panth in 1699, is one such occasion of making us more acutely aware of sharing the spirit of His universal message of love, sacrifice, justice and brotherhood among all.
For this, a befitting gesture on His birthday could be to invite our non-Sikh friends, for celebration to our gurdwaras and even homes, from whichever larger multi-faith community we live in anywhere and share the Guru’s message.
Here, I must share a moving gesture of a non-Sikh friend who sent me the greetings today January 6, 2025 on the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Even as I reciprocated his gesture but this made me think as to what difference it would have made had I taken the initiative of extending the greetings along an invite for celebration.
Why should we do so? Examples galore that our Gurus, during their worldly sojourns, went far and wide spreading their teachings. In present times, we should follow this path to spread the Gurus’ message this way.
Guru Gobind Singh Ji has taught us to preach what we practice. He proved this by leading His own worldly life sticking to this principle. His life practically epitomized the spirit of sacrifice for the well-being of others. The basis of this spirit is love without which the idea of sacrifice cannot germinate.
Sharing this spirit of selfless love with our friends in other communities is what I believe would be a befitting way of celebrating His birthday. Doing so, we would reach out to those who still might not know about our faith, traditions and glorious history as much as we desire.
Let’s get going…!
