National 30 Years Of Shaheedi Smagam

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Vaheguru Jee Ka Khalsa Vaheguru jee kee Fateh

30 Years of Shaheedi

The bloody Vaisakhi of 1978 was a landmark in recent Sikh History, 13 Sikhs were martyred whilst peacefully protesting against the heretical Nirankari Gurbachna’s heinous cult’s display of disrespect to Sikhi and great Gursikhs. To commemorate the sacrifice of these great 13 Shaheeds and the Shaheedi’s of Sikhs over the last 30 years, a special national commemorative programme has been organised.

Program Details

The programme will start with a 24 hour Akhand Jaap of Sri Sukhmani Sahib in the beloved memory of the Shaheeds of the last 30 years:

• Aramb Friday 11th April at 6pm
  
• Bhog will be on Saturday 12th April 6pm
  

After the bhog there will be a Mahaan Smagam, including international kirtanees

Bhai Satvinder Singh/Harvinder Singh Delhi Vale

Kirtanees From Damdami Taksal

Akhand Kirtanee Jatha

Veechar

Live speech by Former Jathedar of Sri Akaal Takhat Sahib, Singh Sahib Bhai Ranjit Singh

Talk in English

Speakers from panthic jathebandis

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This programme has been organised by the youth, for the youth, with this in mind there will also be a speech in English about the last 30 years and challenges to Sikhs today. There will be a special commemorative exhibition, free literature and plenty of seva and simran to participate in.

Transport has been arranged across the country, please attend and pay your respects to those who laid down their lives so we could have a better tomorrow. Lets not forgot the sacrifices of the Shaheeds.

We acknowledge and accept the programme is near Vaisakhi and there will be numerous programmes across the country, but we urge the Sangat to attend at anytime from Friday through to Saturday night to pay their homage to the Shaheeds.

There Will be Live Coverage of the Smagam Via Amrit Bani radio and via various newspapers and organisations

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More information and details to follow. . .watch this Space

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This prog is going to be wiked!

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BUMP

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Vaheguru ji ka Khalsa, vaheguru jikefateh

Pyare jio, this year we commemorate 30 years since the Saka of Amritsar 1978. It was a pivotal moment in modern Sikh History. Much has occurred in the last 30 years, and today the Sikh Nation still witnesses Punjab with problems of drugs, dera-ism, corruption, injustice, abuse of Sikh institutions and lack of Sikhi spirit. These problems are worse today than 30 years ago. However at this time we remember those who gave their lives to bring positive change. They lived their lives as Sahib Siri Guru Gobind Singh ji beloved Khalsas, and never refrained from the Khalsa Path.

The events and personalities of Saka Amritsar 1978 are recorded in the book “Kurbani”. For those who wish to read the book, it can be accessed on

http://www.akj.org/literature/adobe/Books/Kurbani.pdf

Over the next few weeks, I will put sending out extracts from the book, in commemoration to the Shaheeds of 1978. In this first part below, Gursikhs who met Bhai Fauja Singh ji remember him.

Friendly Stranger

Towards the end of my stay in Amritsar, while walking around the Parkarma one morning, I noticed a Singh ahead of me. I admired the strength of his projection and noticed the chakar around his head and thought to myself how great it looked on him! No sooner than the thought came into my head, he turned around quickly, folded his hands and bowed saying, “Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ke Fateh” and then placed his chakra over my turban as I also bowed. What a surprise indeed!

I felt a little bad for thinking such a thing and tried to give it back to him, but he insisted I keep it saying; “It is yours my sister”. All I could say in return was “Waheguru”. There is a true bond of friendship we established that would always remain unbroken. Happy am I that I was able to enjoy this beautiful chance to be with him.

Bibi Krishna Kaur, America

Guardian Angel

I had travelled to Amritsar alone and spent most of the first parts of my stay there very much alone except for the growing friendship with my only true friend.

When things were down and darkest and my body and soul were crying out for help, a man in a black turban appeared and in his company my spirits soared. He was a shy and very humble person. He later told me when the Guru sees one of his Sikhs in trouble he always sends another to help. This is a Truth!

This Singh inspired me to become a Sikh of the True Guru - it was Bhai Fauja Singh. He showed me by his love and devotion how to truly live as one.

A Gursikh

Natural Leader

Throughout my time I have seen many Jathedars, Leaders, Parcharaks etc. However, I have never met anyone as Chardi Kalaa as Bhai Fauja Singh - he was a living example of Gurmat. Let me give you just one example of his true greatness, reflected through his humilty.

The Jatha would hold well-attended Smagams throughout India. These were usually held in the big parathan (old/ ancient) Gurdwaras. I regularly booked leave from my airbase and attended these Smagams.

Bhai Fauja Singh was highly respected by all of us naujawans; he was a natural leader and we were all in awe of him. He was a great general. Day and night he would spend in Naam Abyass, while doing sewa for the thousands of Sangatan.

Back in the 1970`s, very few of these Gurdwara Sahibs had modern facilities. The Sangat would go into the nearby fields to relieve themselves. After the Smagam, Bhai Fauja Singh gathered all the naujawans and told us how pavitaar (special/ pure) these places were. The Guru-ghar should always be immaculate he would tell us and we should not only clean the Gurdwara premises, but the fields around it as well. He gave us all buckets and told us to follow him into the fields. I saw him with his bare hands pick up feaces and put them in the bucket. Here was one of the great generals of our Panth, a renowned leader, and yet here he was displaying immense nimarata (deep humility).

How many of our contemporary leaders, parchaaraks and so-called sants would have the humility to do sewa like that? He was a Nawab Kapur Singh of the modern era.

Bhai Amolak Singh, Austrailia

Kurbani Part 1

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Vaheguru ji ka Khalsa vaheguru ji kefateh

Pyare jio, in the second extract, we consider the Jeevan of Shaheed jathedar Amrik Singh ji. Pictures of Bhai sahib when he was honoured at Siri Akal Thakht Sahib are on the pdf of kurbani.

Shaheed Jathedar Amrik Singh Ji

Shaheed Jathedar Amrik Singh Ji was born 1957 to Harbhajan Kaur and Kundan Singh Ji in the village of Kajala in Amritsar. He has one elder and four younger brothers.

Though only a young man, he was honoured with the position of Jathedar at Sri Akal Takht Sahib because he persuaded many people to come here and take Amrit. He himself took Amrit from here six years earlier.

After completing his primary education he was not interested in studying any more. He had a great love for Gurbani and Sikh History.

He was a very compassionate soul and felt distressed at the sight of needy people. To help them he gave money and things from his house and even the clothes he was wearing without any hesitation. Once when he was doing Sewa for the Guru’s Sangat, when he could not get the money he needed, he sold a ring made of gold from his home.

He had a daily routine of reciting Naam-Bani at Amrit Vela. No matter how late he was in Satsang the night before he would always be awake for Amrit Vela. At Rehras time in the evening, he would stop his work, no matter how important it was and be present for the Rehras Divaan and bring others with him. This was a part of his Nitnem. After the morning’s Nitnem he would not eat any food before doing Darshan of Guru Sahib.

Bhai Amrik Singh was always doing Sangat of Gurmukhs or Sangat at the Guru’s house, and he was always strict in his Rehni-Behni according to Gurmat Bebek. He also acquired a love for Sarbloh Rehni (eating in iron utensils). He would always keep his Bata (iron utensil) shining and would never let anyone who had not taken Amrit use it.

He persuaded the workers who helped his mother and father with the farming work and many other people to tread the Guru’s path. Even though his family was well off he still wore simple Gursikhi clothes. He would never tolerate anybody who showed disrespect towards Guru Sahib.

On Vaisakhi day Bhai Amrik Singh woke up at Amrit Vela and did his Ishnaan and Nitnem. He then went to the Gurdwara and then went to meet Jathedar Kala Singh who was staying at room number five at Guru Nanak Niwas. He then left his shoes there and bathed at the Holy Amritsar Sarowar. Afterwards he walked around Akal Takht Sahib, did Darshan of the Shastars, thought about the Shaheeds and did Ardas that he may also be able to give Kurbani for his Guru and Panth. He then walked around the Nishaan Sahib reading parts of the Hukamnama:

Kaya Kagad Mun Parwana

Sir Ke Lek Na Parey Iana

(Dhanasari Mahalla 5, Panna 662)

He met a Gurmukh on the way to the Divaan who says to him, “Singh of the Guru, today is the time for Kurbani, Guru Ji is in need of a head. The Singhs are preparing to go and stop the insults being shouted against our Guru, you should also be present”. Then Bhai Amrik Singh walks towards the Guru’s Army. As he was walking he was about to drink water to quench his thirst, when some other Gursikh took the glass he reached out for. Then he did not care for water or Langar, he did not even bother to put his shoes on and went forward to offer Shaheedi. As he received bullets, he shouted out Fateh and died a Shaheed.

IMAGE 1: Shaheed Bhai Amrik Singh Ji

IMAGE 2: Bhai Amrik Singh Ji being presented with a Kirpan and Siropa in recognition of exemplary Seva in which he encouraged hundreds of Sikhs to take Amrit at Siri Akal Takht Sahib.

http://www.akj.org/literature/adobe/Books/Kurbani.pdf

Vaheguru ji ka Khalsa vaheguru ji kefateh

Vaheguru jee kaa Khalsa

Vaheguru jee kee Fateh

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Vaheguru jee kaa Khalsa

Vaheguru jee kee Fateh

Brothers & Sisters,

30 Years of Shaheedi

The bloody Vaisakhi of 1978 was a landmark in recent Sikh History, 13 Sikhs were martyred whilst peacefully protesting against the heretical Nirankari Gurbachna’s heinous cult’s display of disrespect to Sikhi and great Gursikhs. To commemorate the sacrifice of these great 13 Shaheeds and the Shaheedi’s of Sikhs over the last 30 years, a special national commemorative programme has been organised.

The programme will start with a 24 hour Akhand Jaap of Sri Sukhmani Sahib in the beloved memory of the Shaheeds of the last 30 years, the recital will start on Friday 11th April at 6pm and the Bhog will be on Saturday 12th April 6pm, followed by a Mahaan Diwan.

There will be Kirtan by Bhai Satvinder Singh/Harvinder Singh Delhi Vale, Akhand Kirtani Jatha, Damdami Taksal and a live web broadcast of a speech by the Former Jathedar of Sri Akhaal Takhat Sahib, Singh Sahib Bhai Ranjit Singh.

This programme has been organised by the youth, for the youth, with this in mind there will also be a speech in English about the last 30 years and challenges to Sikhs today.

There will be a special commemorative exhibition, free literature and plenty of seva and simran to participate in. Transport has been arranged across the country, please attend and pay your respects to those who laid down their lives so we could have a better tomorrow. Let’s not forgot the sacrifices of the Shaheeds.

We acknowledge and accept the programme is near Vaisakhi and there will be numerous programmes across the country, but we urge the Sangat to attend at anytime from Friday through to Saturday night to pay their homage to the Shaheeds.”

[khalistan_zindabaad]

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Vaheguru ji ka Khalsa vaheguru ji kefateh

Pyare jio, in the third extract from Kurbani, we look briefly as incidents from the life of Bhai Fauja Singh ji.

“In August-September 1977 in Gurdaspur Jail, he wrote a poem under the title of Kurbani. This was probably his first and last poem because as far as it is known, he was not a poet. This poem was written 7-8 months before his Shaheedi. There are two main points that come to light. First is the declining state of the Khalsa Panth. The soul that has met the Khalsa in his last life and gave his blood for that Khalsa, how can he accept the present situation? Even though he was only 42 years old, because he had been doing the Sewa of the Khalsa Panth, the one or two events which happened in Amritsar were intolerable for him. The incident that took place in the Misri Bajar in 1972 in which the Guru Granth Sahib Ji was treated with disrespect showed Bhai Fauja Singh's true personality. He was a farm inspector at the time. Even the police were scared to arrest the criminals. Bhai Fauja Singh intervened and caught the criminals and punished them accordingly. He was very saddened by the fact that our Panthic leaders tried to keep the whole incident quiet in case it may lead to some Hindu-Sikh conflict. He could not understand how a Sikh could quietly sit by as somebody was insulting or treating the Guru Granth Sahib Ji with disrespect. He always had one question in his mind, “What has happened to the Khalsa Panth?”

The question arose again on 17th October 1975. The Sikh Sangats were celebrating Sangrand at Gurdwara Bhai Salo Ji. The Langar was being served at the time. Some thugs came and treated the Guru Granth Sahib Ji with disrespect and beat up the sewadar and Granthi of the Gurdwara. They also made plans to burn down the Gurdwara Guru Keh Mehal that night. When Bhai Fauja Singh heard about this incident in the evening he got together some Singhs and went there straight away.

First they went to see the disrespectful treatment of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji at Gurdwara Bhai Salo and the damage done to the Gurdwara. After seeing this incident the Singhs started shouting “Sat Sri Akal” and went off to protect Gurdwara Guru Keh Mehal. The thugs surrounded the Singhs from tall buildings on all four sides and started throwing stones, bricks and acid bottles at them. Even though the Singh's clothes and bodies were covered in blood, they did not care for their own lives and protected the Gurdwara from being burnt down. After 1972, this was the second painful event to happen at the Sikh headquarters, Amritsar. The Panthic leaders at that time pretended as if nothing had happened and accepted no responsibility even though so much damage had happened at the Gurdwara.

The result of these actions by the Singhs was that the troublemakers now knew that one lion among sheep was more than enough. After this second incident in 1975 Bhai Fauja Singh did not sit quietly at home. Guru Maharaj stopped his daily presence at the office at the end of October 1975. He received money sitting at home, and he assumed this to be God's blessing. He said laughingly in Jan 1978 to Prof. Gurmukh Singh, “Satguru is having his Sewa done and is giving my wages from the Punjab Government.”

After the 1975 incident Bhai Fauja Singh organised a new programme. He mentioned in his poem that “the Joth (Light) in the Khalsa was disappearing and we will again awaken it”. In June/July 1976 a group of Singhs commenced religious preaching in 10 villages in Gurdaspur over 10 days. Prof Gurmukh Singh was lucky enough to be among this Jatha. Bhai Fauja Singh had a very bad impression from the previous incidents regarding Sikhs living in the cities, and thought that they were not prepared to sacrifice their lives.

So he turned his attention to the villages so that perhaps the sleeping Panth, which was asleep in village life, may be awakened by telling them; about Satguru`s history, performing Gurbani Kirtan and taking Amrit. This Jatha also held Gatka demonstrations. After the Kirtan, Bhai Fauja Singh would talk to the Sangat and this had a good effect on the Sangat. A similar Smagam was held in March 1977 for 15 days at Khalsa Farm, where Bhai Fauja Singh persuaded young Sikhs to learn Gatka and told them of the problems of the Sikh Panth today, They also performed Kirtan and meditated.

During this period, another incident happened which again showed the courage and spirit of Bhai Fauja Singh. A Hindu woman was arrested by the Police. During her interrogation, the Police officers began to rape her. Her husband unable to stop her from being gang-raped, went to the magistrates to secure her release, and file a complaint about the Police. However they refused to intervene. He then went to various pundits and mullahs for help, but none wanted to go against the Police. Eventually he went to the Singhs. People had informed him of a Singh called Bhai Fauja Singh of Amritsar. Bhai Sahib had become very prominent due to his fearless attitude. He immediately went to see Bhai Sahib, who at once with some Singhs went to the Police station. On seeing the pitiable state of the woman, he immediately released the woman, and severely punished the guilty police officers. Later he was sent to prison for this action. However he showed that the Khalsa which rescued innocent women in Sikh History, is still alive today to save humanity from injustice.

To read the booklet about Bhai Sahib and the Shaheedi Saka of 1978, click on

http://www.akj.org/literature/adobe/Books/Kurbani.pdf

Vaheguru ji ka Khalsa vaheguru ji kefateh