Guru Ravidass Jayanti Celebrations

 

Guru Ravidass Jayanti Celebrations

Guru Ravidass Jayanti, February 16, was observed, like every year, with all gaiety and solemnity. It is a matter of gratification to note that that the celebrations are gaining strength both by way of discipline in conducting the events and also by willing and spontaneous participation with a sense of pride and belonging. I personally participated and witnessed the celebrations at Bootan Mandi in Jalandhar and Khuralgarh Sahib in Hoshiarpur.

Celebrations at Bootan Mandi in Jalandhar

– Bootan Mandi, an informal capital and nerve centre of Dalits and dalit awakening for almost 100 years, now a days hosts a huge mela for almost a week. The buildings are illuminated and decked with decorations and
festivities. Guru Ravidass Dham becomes the special attraction during the celebrations. Almost all senior politicians like CM Charanjit Singh Channi, CM Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Singh Mann, Uttrakhand CM Baghle among others visited Guru Ravidass Dham and paid obeisance to the great Guru. A grand and befitting Shoba Yatra,

which traditionally started from Bootan Mandi, was taken out on February 15. One could witness the much needed ‘Josh-o-Kharosh’ among the followers of Guru Ravidass, the harbinger of social equality and justice. On the route of the Yatra several welcome stages/podiums were erected to honour the colorful ‘Jhankis’ with traditional beat of ‘Tamak’ – Nigadas and ‘Dhol Dhamka’. I humbly write that my family with the cooperation of our extended family host a ‘Langar’ on the route at Nakodar Road (LG Show Room and Chhabra Sweets) for the last 32 years from 11 noon to 5 p.m. and welcome the Shoba Yatra as our humble contribution to the celebrations. The next day that is the Jayanti Day, a mammoth congregation was held at Bootan Mandi, as usual, to

conclude the celebrations with ‘Bhog of the Guruvani’. The residents join the Bhog ceremony for Ardas for the wellbeing of all – Savat Da Bhala. In the evening of the Jayanti Day – February 16, a grand Music Darbar was held to carry forward the tradition with Hardial Bangar, President of Guru Ravidass Educational and Charitable Trust in the Chair as the climax of the celebrations. Many budding and established singers of Punjab headed by the legendry singer Kaler Kanth regaled the audience and touched their inner chords with the compositions on the mission and philosophy of Guru Ravidass. The atmosphere was fully charged with the Jaikaras of Jo Bole So Nirbhay – Guru Ravidass ji ki Jai.

Charan Choh Ganga at Khuralgrh Sahib in Hoshiarpur – Charan Choh Ganga is a holy site visited by Guru Ravidass in 15^th -16^th century situated in the picturesque hills in the Garhshankar Tehsil of Hoshiarpur district of Punjab boarding Himachal Pradesh. I was invited by the All India Ad-dharam Movemment who is responsible to upkeep and run the holy site under the able

stewardship of Sant Satwinder Hira along with others Sants and followers of the great Guru on the auspicious occasion the Gurupurab of Guru Ravidass on February 16. The followers and faithful were, in hordes, were reaching the place in tempos, cars, bikes and even on feet in spite of the sorry state of the approach roads. I visited the place some years before and I must register with appreciation that the management under the guidance and leadership of Sant Satwinder Hira was doing well in developing the site in a planned way. It was a matter of satisfaction that apart from spiritual sites like Charan Choh Ganga, a huge covered shed was being built which could host a congregation of 15 thousand people. Some devotees led by Dev Raj Lagha of the

UK and his extended family were instrumental in starting the project which would hopefully be completed in due course. I was touched by the hospitality and honour bestowed on me by Sant Satwinder Hira and his associates. Given the pace of development and involvement of dedicated people like Sant Hira, I am confident the holy site of Charan Choh Ganga would soon appear on the touristic map of India for the benefit of devotees of Guru Ravidass. I was happily surprised to see a young IAS of UP, Praveen Kumar who was in Punjab for a short duty as an Election Observer sitting on the floor in the audience, incognito, as a humble follower of Guru Ravidass. On knowing his presence, Sant Satwinder Hira thoughtfully recognized him and invited him to the podium and honoured him with a Saropa. I was impressed by the Langar arrangements at the site as informed by Sant Hira ji. I informed that the Langar arrangements have been done for the whole year by allotting the Langar Sewa to one of the villages for each day. People were ready to join voluntarily not only locally from Doaba but also from far off places in Majha and Malwa regions of Punjab. Now the management was engaged in promoting their monthly mouth-piece ‘The Ad-Dharam Patrika’ to fill the gap of media needs of their Mission. He requested the devotees to join the Langar of the Ad-dhram Patrika as they have done for the Langar of food. It is a unique approach to address the issue with people centric thinking. Sant Hira is fully aware of the importance of media and thoughtfully invited journalists from Jalandhar - the Akali Patrika, J.S. Sodhi, the Dainik Bhaskar, Manjit Singh Mani and also a couple hacks from Kharar to apprise and brief them about the holy site of Charan Choh Ganga.

 Personally experiencing the events and developments at Khuralgarh to carry forward the mission of Babu Manguram Mugowalia and Baba Banta Ram Ghera, my laud thinking was which I would like to share here, was that we the intelligentsia of the community should consider and nominate Sant Satwinder Singh Hira, National President of All India Ad-dharam Movement for the civilian award of ‘Padam Shri’ and urge the Central Government to kindly honour the much deserving personality of the community and the society at large with the coveted gesture of ‘Padam Shri. I leave it here as ‘Food for thought’.

तू पहले बात फिर बात का अंदाज़ पैदा कर;

फिर दुनिया में तुझे कोई नज़र अंदाज़ कर नहीं सकता।