I had a life-changing experience travelling to India and Pakistan for a yatra of historical Gurdwaras including the 5 Takhts. I’ll be sharing pictures and history from our travels in parts over the next few weeks as I am still working on processing my trip and sorting through the photos. My family had been planning this trip for over twenty years, trying to sort out an appropriate time amongst time commitments and other considerations. God blessed us with this opportunity to go on a yatra to both India and Pakistan.
I think this trip is actually a lot more significant to me at this stage in my life than it would have been earlier on. In particular, the last few years have given me a deeper understanding of my spiritual journey and purpose in Sikhi. This path of self-exploration gave me a lot of valuable life skills and personal skills that impact my life on a daily basis, including self-confidence and a new understanding of my life as a Sikh woman living in western society. So it wasn’t at all about sight-seeing but rather about furthering my connection to God. It was such a relief to take myself out of my work life, away from social media and all emails and just to focus solely on my mind and soul. Having come back from this trip, I understand who I am on a whole new level. I am even more passionate to spread the love and inspiration I received to others, so I hope to share that journey with you over the next few weeks.
Day 1 and 2: Travel
After Ardas at our local Gurdwara Sahib, we set off on our journey from Prince George, BC to Delhi. We took a flight from Prince George to Vancouver, then direct Vancouver to Delhi. It was the morning of day 3 when we landed in Delhi.
Day 3: Delhi
It was a shock to get out of the airport as there was severe pollution. Many people put their chunni or other cloth over their face to breathe. There were a few immediate observations such as the security officers having large machine guns (compared to Canada where we don’t), pay bathrooms, non-existence of toilet paper, and lack of seatbelts. Driving along there was a lot of barbed wire around buildings and even parks. Traffic was even more chaotic than I had anticipated based off of watching movies, but finally we got to the first Gurdwara Sahib in our Yatra.
Delhi is very important for our Sikh history, as it is the location of the martyrdom of Guru Teg Bahadur Ji, Jyoti Jot of Guru Harkrishan Ji, martyrdom of Bandha Singh Bahadur, and the events of November 1984. The historic Gurdwaras were originally constructed by Bhaghel Singh in 1783. At a lot of the Gurdwara Sahibs across India, photography is restricted in some way: no selfies or no photos inside the main hall, etc. The rules varied by Gurdwara and are understandable given that people nowadays may focus on taking selfies instead of focusing on Guru Ji and learning from Gurbani. Originally I had not planned on taking a lot of photos because I wanted to focus on my connection and time in meditation, however when I got there I realized that perhaps I wouldn’t get the chance to see these Gurdwara Sahibs again, so for inspiration and to share my experience with others, I did take a lot of pictures- where it was allowed. I tried to follow all the rules for respectful picture taking and to focus the majority of my time in enjoying the experience.
GURDWARA SIS GANJ SAHIB
This Gurdwara Sahib is where Guru Teg Bahadur Ji was martyred at Chandni Chowk. For more information on Guru Ji’s shaheedi, see the post “Shaheedi of Guru Teg Bahadur Ji”. Guru Ji was martyred November 24, 1675 and saved the Hindus from having to convert to Islam. There was a storm after the shaheedi, during which Lakhi Shah Vanjara recovered Guru Ji’s body and cremated it by setting his whole house on fire (site of Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib). Bhai Jaita Ji took Guru Ji’s body to Anandpur Sahib to be cremated by Gobind Rai. Once he took Amrit, he was renamed Bhai Jivan Singh and became shaheed at Chamkaur.
Walking up to the Gurdwara Sahib it’s a relief to be able to wash your feet in some cool water and head up the stairs. Going inside the Gurdwara brought tears to my eyes. It was an emotional experience to finally be in India, where our Guru Ji made such an impactful sacrifice. After years of reading our history on the internet, it was a transformative experience to finally walk on that same dharti (earth) that our Guru Jis walked. Interestingly with all the busyness of city life in Delhi, as soon as you enter the Gurdwara Sahib you get so much peace from the kirtan that you would never want to leave.
GURDWARA BANGLA SAHIB
We watch the program on Bangla Sahib on our TV everyday so it was very special to get to visit. Originally it was the Bungalow of Mirza Raja Jai Singh, which is why it is now named Bangla Sahib. Guru Harkrishan Ji’s brother, Ramrai, who had mis-translated Gurbani on purpose for Aurangzeb, got Aurganzeb to call Guru Ji to Delhi. While in Delhi, Guru Ji stayed with Mirza Raja Jai Singh, who was a devotee. Guru Ji served those that were ill from smallpox and cured them, also taking any offerings from Sangat and giving them back to the poor in the form of food and clothing. Finally, Guru Ji took on the disease of smallpox to cure the city and became jyoti jyot October 6, 1661. Due to this, Guru Ji never did meet with Aurganzeb.
Going to Bangla Sahib was spectacular. We went to the sarovar, and also drank some Amrit Jal (water with healing properties). We also saw a museum at Bangla Sahib, here are some pictures.
Museum:
GURDWARA RAKAB GANJ SAHIB
As mentioned above, this is the cremation site for Guru Teg Bahadur Ji’s body.
Prince Muazzam (son of Aurangzeb, aka Bahadur Shah) was well known to the Sikhs. He had written to Aurganzeb saying that the Shivalik Hill Rajas were falsely spreading rumors about Guru Ji and they were the real troublemakers, but as a result of speaking up the Prince was imprisoned for some time. Later, he refused to take part in the attack on Anandpur Sahib (during which the older sahibzaade were Shaheed). Once Aurganzeb died, Bhai Nand Lal Ji asked Guru Ji to help the Prince in his battle for succession, so Guru Ji came to the location of Moti Bagh in 1707. Upon his arrival, Guru Ji shot two arrows which hit the throne of the Prince, who was in the red fort (8 miles away). The first announced his arrival in Delhi- the Prince took this as a miracle! The second carried a paper saying "It is not magic but skill of archery". The spot from which Guru Ji shot the arrows is next to the Gurdwara Sahib and we were able to visit it.
After this, we stayed in the Holiday Inn in Delhi which was a really posh experience compared to the Holiday Inns I have been in Canada. Since the companies are international, there is security for hotels like this so we had to get a vehicle check and scanner before going in. It was a relief to get to spend the night in a hotel bed after all the travelling we did.
Some pictures of greenery in Delhi- there was a surprising amount of greenspace even with it being so crowded.
References for history:
Do you know when is next Sarab Rog ka Aukhad naam camp in surrey??
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I dont know. I looked into it too but didnt find out anything yet. Usually SRKAN starts in Toronto in June and moves out to BC by August. Dukh Bhanjan Tera Naam Ji is a little later like starts July, up to September. But no firm dates yet, I can post when I get them.
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