INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

For those who have been graced with wealth and health it is a moral obligation
to seek the welfare of the society through the provision of a wide range of voluntary
services to community members, social institutions, and people in need. Every year
as the cold season arrived a Sikh businesswoman in Varanasi used to distribute a
large number of blankets to homeless people sleeping on the ghats to “repay” the
success of her own business and family. Seva conducted for the disprivileged in society
– the poor, sick, handicapped and homeless – irrespective of religious, ethnic, and
social belonging is given the highest religious value since these are acts of kindness to
humanity which implement the Guru’s teaching. “The stomachs of poor people are
the saving pot of the Guru. It should be an honour to serve poor people and you will
gain the merit of 68 pilgrimages if you do this kindness,” a local granthi said. To distribute
food free of charge and offer medical services, education, and lodging at a low
cost are religious actions that have become institutionalized in the gurdwaras. Although
the daily philanthopic work in a gurdwara is taken care of by sevadars and
other employees, the seva is frequently singled out as the main attraction of a religious
program that all people can participate in and benefit from. On festivals commemorating
the Sikh martyrs the local communities may set up temporary blood
donor camps in which volunteers can symbolically offer their blood, just as the martyrs
sacrificed theirs in the greatest service. To celebrate anniversaries of the Sikhs
Gurus the community may sponsor or organize mass vaccinations of children and
surgeries for the handicapped. 584 For religious Sikhs the various expressions of seva
are ways to serve God through the service to other people and work for a social uplifting
of society in accordance with the Guru’s teaching inscribed in the Guru Granth
Sahib.
584
The backwash of the tsunami in 2004 displayed the capacity of global Sikh charities to quickly
mobilize relief workers and monetary aid in the name of seva (Myrvold 2005b).
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008