What Is Your Sewa?

[chatanga]

Just an idea I had, and I hope these words can express it, but when I look around at younger Sikhs today, those who follow Sikhi, to any extent seem to be into everything and anything Sikhi.

I was thinking about this, cos I have been like this in my younger days, but now have realised that there are so many areas to work in, for the betterment of the panth, that it is impossible to do every one. Rather than be a jack of all trades and expert in none, i made a decision to look at what things in the panth can be improved and do sewa specifically for that.

So i made a decision to work on 2 main projects only for the future, whilst supporting any others i can.

Since I have been doing it, i have felt that there has actually been progress, and would like to impress on the Sikhs here that maybe there could be an issue(s) that they feel strongly about and devote themselves to that practically and prioritise that.

Here are some areas in which attention is required, please feel free to add others:

Sewa in your local gurdwara, ie specifically,langar, education, community awareness

Gurmat Sangeet

Shastarvidiya

SIkh heritage around the world, esp Pakistan, and certain states in india

SIkh manuscripts, which are rotting/hidden away, which could be brought before world-wide sangat, and translationed into english

Human Rights

Fundraising

Charity work

Sikh political issues in the western world on community or national scale

Important annual events in the Sikh calendar

Sikhi camps

Forgotten traditions within the panth

International world days (examples of this are world literacy day, sept, and world book day in march)

With some of these people who are reluctant to do sewa for the panth, because of their personal commitment to their Sikhi, (meaning they may not be keeping kes etc) there are still areas in which they can still provide sterling assistance to the Panth.

[SikhiStore]

Fully agree with this. I think actually taking responsibility for a certain Seva and putting some time and dedication towards it will definitely show results and it amazing what you can achieve and what we can all achieve together. We know this from our experience.

We thought there was a need for an online Sikhi Store a few years ago. Maharaj had blessed us with the skills and expertise available to make it happen. We contemplated it for a long time, but one day we thought you know what, we need less of the talking and thinking and more action. Maharaj kirpa naal, SikhiStore started. Takes around 1-2 hours each day but almost 2 years later, we still thank Vaheguru for being able to serve the Sangat each and every day in this way.

[chatanga]

Sikh history can be divided into 5 periods:

1.The Guru Period 1469-1708

2.The Dal Khalsa 1708-1799

3.The Sikh Raaj 1800-1849

4.The British Raaj 1849-1947

5. Partition and after 1947-present

Of course these 5 main periods will still have further specific divisions in them.

Brothers and sisters, why not take a particular period, and focus on that for personal interest and specialise in that time period?

Or take a particular event, person, from these periods and learn all about that, from every source available and specialise in that?

That is not to say, neglect the others, but to become experts on particular strands of Sikh history.

Then why not in some future time, share that expertise with the wider Sikh community?

Take the example of Gurinder Singh Mann, who has devoted himself to learning about Dasam Granth and other less well known scriptures. Now after years of intense research on specific subjects, he is doing an amazing job sharing his research with the world.

YOU can be the next Gurinder Singh Mann.

[chatanga]

Why not look at one of the Guru's, and make a in depth research into his life? You have 10 glorious examples to choose from.

[DiscoverSikhism]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

Great question, everyone should ask themselves what their seva is?

Which is why we recently decided to start a new Sikhi website. An excellent way to learn, teach others and do seva.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

[N30S1NGH]

Some good intiatives on the seva. However, we all need to make sure we keep bhagti in our back of head-do bhagti while we do seva. Sri guru nanak dev ji bless us with sehaj marg in kalyuga where one can do nishkam seva among other social/family chores while being (bairagi/udasi) de-attached (personal feeling) to seva and attached to the center theme naam/gyan- Vahiguroo.

I must have wasted 7 years since 2003 on and off when i got into forum business by personally getting too attached to the issues which have over shadowed my central theme focus -shabad. Overall i have no regrets, just learning from things by getting guidance from senior gurmukhs -moving on the path. So people its good to learn from your mistakes but its even wiser to learn from other people mistakes here it is..whatever seva you do - do it without any personal attachment -niskham without any expectations of any results be it good or bad and make vahiguroo naam simran as your central theme.

[Singh559]

Some good intiatives on the seva. However, we all need to make sure we keep bhagti in our back of head-do bhagti while we do seva. Sri guru nanak dev ji bless us with sehaj marg in kalyuga where one can do nishkam seva among other social/family chores while being (bairagi/udasi) de-attached (personal feeling) to seva and attached to the center theme naam/gyan- Vahiguroo.

I must have wasted 7 years since 2003 on and off when i got into forum business by personally getting too attached to the issues which have over shadowed my central theme focus -shabad. Overall i have no regrets, just learning from things by getting guidance from senior gurmukhs -moving on the path. So people its good to learn from your mistakes but its even wiser to learn from other people mistakes here it is..whatever seva you do - do it without any personal attachment -niskham without any expectations of any results be it good or bad and make vahiguroo naam simran as your central theme.

If someone does any kind of historical preservation despite not doing bhagti, the external and superficial fal will still be the same. Of course the internal fal may not be the same, but that's a different subject.

With that said, of course you're supposed to do Bhagti and simran 24/7, but you can't pick and choose or kirat karna and vand chakna. A good example of this is Baba Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale - he does great bani and Sikhi parchaar but he doesn't have kirat kamaiyee nor does he have vand chakna. In the end you can't pick and choose when you're a Sikh - it's the whole package. To take up the tasks that chatanga paji mentioned, all you need is that internal sharda to want to help the panth - everything else after that depends on the avastha of the person.

The mentality you mentioned is quite dangerous. This may not sit well with most Punjabis, but I feel like as a collective whole we make more excuses to not do something and use bhagti and naam simran as an excuse to be lazy. "Oh ki layna ah karke - mann khraab hunda. Bas baani pardi challo saara kuj set hojana". That's what a lot of pakhandi babay (who I will argue are indian govnt sympathizers) in Punjab say so the Khalsa Panth remains asleep and doesn't go out and act. Bani and Simran is a minimum every Sikh should have, but it's not the limit.

A lot of times doing sewa turns into bhagti, especially when done with Kirpa of Guru Sahib/Ardas done from bottom of the heart. Like Sant Singh Ji Maskeen has said we've lost a lot, never gained much mainly because of this kind of thinking.

The reason I'm saying this is because we're in a very critical stage in history right now and will be facing a lot of attacks on our ithihaas from many sides - including internal. Our goal right now should be to become GurSikhs AND it's very, very important to support any kind of sewa someone can do for the panth.

An example of this can be an environmental task, maybe someone isn't really a practicing Sikh, but they love the environment. Trees they plant in Punjab or any sort of environmental work they do will still be the same as if someone with a high avasta did the same thing. Hope you get what I'm saying with this.

[chatanga]

Some good intiatives on the seva. However, we all need to make sure we keep bhagti in our back of head-do bhagti while we do seva.

Neo, Bhaji you are right in what you say, but look at the world, if bhagti was a requirement then very little would get done.

Of course Bhagti should be done but Bhagti is on a personal level. What I was thinking of was, for each and every Sikh to be a specialist in his/her own sector of Sikhi. And to use their knowledge of such for betterment of Panth.

[Guest]

I was listening to a sakhi in Nanak Prakash Granth and guru Nanak dev Ji maharaj went to an area near Sialkot.There there was a sidh who was rich and helped needy people,fakirs,sadhus etc.If somebody was tired he let them stay at his house for how long they wanted,fed them the best food etc.If somebody had to get somewhere he used to offer them horses.He used to do a lot of seva to Sants,fakirs,bhagats etc.Once he heard about a sadhu sant coming and staying outside the village he sent people to get that sant.That sant was sache patshah guru Nanak dev Ji maharaj.At first guru Ji didn't want to leave.At the end guru Ji finally agreeded.Guru Nanak dev Ji maharaj then told the sidh tht he was doing a good seva but he also has to do naam.Seva alone won't get you past the dharam raja.Only naam can.

The sakhi is much longer but I'm on my phone so I can't fully explain.The gist of it is a person has to focus on Bhagti first and seva comes second.If somebody does both then they are a true bhagat like bhagat Puran Singh.

[Jonny101]

The sakhi is much longer but I'm on my phone so I can't fully explain.The gist of it is a person has to focus on Bhagti first and seva comes second.If somebody does both then they are a true bhagat like bhagat Puran Singh.

That's why at Gurdwara when you see some Sevadars they also whisper Bani or do Naam Simran whilst doing Seva. Bhagti done with Seva is an amazing way to increase Kamaee