Recognize The Human Race One -Gurdwara Arambagh, Karachi

Karachi is a city which equally loves all its citizen without any discrimination like a mother. A place which has diverse worship places; a mosque, Sufi shrine, a Sikh gurdwara, a Hindu temple and a Catholic church. All these things made the culture of Karachi more fascinating and diverse. The visit of different religious sites at Karachi reminds how diverse Karachi is and the importance of protecting the historic religious sites at Karachi.

One of these diverse and historic religious sites is the Sikh Gurdwara that is located at Aarambagh, Karachi and called as Sri Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha Gurdwara. The surrounding area of Arambagh is densely populated and different apartment buildings and shopping centres are located here.

It is also important to observe the life style of Sikh; they wear Kara on a wrist, a turban to cover their uncut long hair and keeping a kirpan and dagger on him all the time. Their attire and life style shows their devotion towards their religion and it is an important part of the Gurdwara visit to cover heads while visit this religious place.

Entrance of Sri Guru Nanak Sat Sang Sabha Gurdwara Arambagh Karachi –Photo by Maliha

There is a narrow entrance of Gurdwara as it is sandwiched between buildings. The narrow entrance of Gurdwara lead it to the main hall where Sikhs perform their worships. All the visiting devotees and listeners revere the premises with utmost respect, sit on the carpeted floor, and never show back while leaving the place where the holy-scripture is placed on an elevated throne in a prominent central position under the shadow of a crown made of golden color.

Holy scripture of Baba Guru Nanak at Arambaagh’s gurdwara Photo by Urooj Fatima

The Gurwara Arambagh was sealed by the court on July 21 1993 and reopens after 24 years. The reason behind its closure is that it had become a disputed worship property between Sikhs and non-Sikhs.

Delivering kind words to the visitors, the president Hira Singh told that there is only one god who is creator and sustainer of all. ALLAH, VAHIGURU, BHAGWAN never take birth and there was no universe but He was there.

We all are created by one god so there is no discrimination and no fight between each other. Religion is a personal thing of every human being. As when we go to hospital, the doctor never ask us what is your religion but he treated us as a human being.

He narrated baba Guru Nanak is the first guru of Sikhism who preach and teach us about one God and took the education of holy book siri guru granth sahib, after him 9 more gurus of Sikhism came namely Guru Angad Dev, Guru Amar Das, Guru Raam Das, Guru Arjun Dev, Guru Har Govind, Guru Har Rai, Guru Har Krishan, Guru Teg Bahadar, and lastly Guru Gobind Singh.

President of Guru Nanak Gurdwara Hira Singh addressing visitors –Photo by Zaigham Sajid

He said guru is a combination of two words ‘gu’ and ‘ru’; gu means darkness and ru means light. Guru provides us the light to see what is right and what is wrong.

Talking about the preaching of Sikhism he said that baba Guru Nanak told there is no need to go to ganga to wash sins, river ganga only wash our body but the dirt which is present in our heart can only be wash by the worship of God and if you wanted to free yourself from sins keep helping others and serve the humanity.

Talking about the lifestyle, attire and appearance of Guru, he explained the importance of five k’s; he said the 5 Ks taken together symbolize that the Sikh who wears them has dedicated themselves to a life of devotion and submission to the Guru. The five Ks are:

📷 Kesh (uncut hair)

📷 Kara (a steel bracelet)

📷 Kanga (a wooden comb)

📷 Kaccha - also spelt, Kachh, Kachera (cotton underwear)

📷 Kirpan (steel sword).

In Sikh Gurdwara, Prashad is offered to all the visitos after the sermon. Prashad is a small sweet which is a sanctified offering served to every person who enters the gurdwara. It is customary to eat it with your right hand. If you do not wish to eat it, it is disrespectful to refuse it or throw it away, so it is best to accept it and take it with you.

There is no harm in visiting other religious places apart from ours because it is a learning. There is nothing wrong in learning from any individual or a different faith as every entity in its entirety comprises salient attributes that must be acknowledged and learnt from. After all, it is all about perspective!