EMN
DIMAPUR, AUGUST 7
THERE are as few as five Sikh families who live permanently in Dimapur and an additional forty who maintain business links with Nagaland.
While their presence may be small in number, their hearts are not. And this is clearly evident in the service they provide at the Gurudwara. Every Sunday at 2 pm they serve free food to the hundreds of hungry people of all faiths.The Gurudwara in Dimapur is one of the four Sikh Shrines in Nagaland and the oldest. The other three are in Mokokchung, Tuensang and Kohima.
In addition to the feeding the hungry the Gurudwara in Dimapur has also been quenching the thirst of thousands of inhabitants of the city with no access to clean drinking water.
Just about anyone can draw water from the taps at fixed timings from 5 am to 11 am and from 3pm to 9 pm at night. Kumar, a regular who also relies on the free water service provided by the shrine stated that, “I always come here to get drinking water for my family because this water is so clean and pure and its always free and available”.
service was made available to the people of Dimapur since 1981 by the ‘Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha’ under the leadership of P.S Ahluwalia as part of their godly favor as they believe that there can be no worship without performing good deeds.
The thought behind the service is considered as one of the most important aspects of Sikhism. It is the notion of ‘Waheguru’which is equivalent of providing service to the community in order to serve God.
The Guru Granth Sahib the religious text of the Sikhs also upholds the concept of service for others to be right before God.
That is why the Guru Granth Sahib also contains a reference in its text for wandering ascetics, warriors, celibates, holy men. The text says that none of them can obtain “moksha” without performing “sewa”.
This belief forming the heart of Sikhism, perhaps explains the multifarious contributions for the welfare of the society in the form of physical, mental or material services associated with the Sikh community across the world.
