What the essence of Vasakhi is about

Published on: Saturday, April 22, 2017

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By Balvinder Kaur Kler, PhD
AS a member of the Kota Kinabalu Sikh community, I was dismayed with the report (“Special Day For The Sikhs Today,” DE 13th April 2017, P9) and would like to highlight the true importance of Vasakhi for Sikhs, beyond having fellowship through drinking spiced tea.

First, although Vaisakhi is a harvest festival, that is a secondary, cultural celebration.

The true significance of Vaisakhi is a religious one: it is the day we commemorate the Birth of the Khalsa (Order of the Pure), a religious order founded by the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji in 1699.

On this day, Sikhs were given a common external identity (five articles of faith including uncut hair) and the names ‘Singh’ (male) and ‘Kaur’ (female) through an initiation ceremony known as Amrit Sanchar.

To this day, unitiated Sikhs strive to join this order as a commitment to the faith and God.

Secondly, to celebrate religious occasions, the congregation (Sangat) arrive at our house of prayer (Gurdwara Sahib).

Inside the gurdwara, there will be kirtan (devotional shabads similar to hymns) and prayers, whereas outside, the Sangat actively practices Sewa (selfless service) to prepare the Langar, or “free kitchen”

The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, introduced the free kitchen to the Sikh community to ensure the practice of equality. As long as you are willing to sit side by side, anyone of any faith and background is welcomed to partake in a blessed, vegetarian meal. You should cover your head with a scarf and take your shoes off to do so.

Here, the Sangat donate the rations, cook the meal, serve the food, consume the meal and finally wash up the dishes together. It is a practice in humility regardless of what status you have outside, here, at the gurdwara you serve the sangat. Fellowship is a by-product of doing sewa together regardless of age.

For Vaisakhi, an Akhand Path is held at the gurdwara. Here members of the San at take turns for the continuous recitation over 48 hours of 1430 pages of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji

In Sikhism, this religious scripture (Granth is holy book), is regarded as our eternal, living Guru.

It is written in the Gurmukhi script which Sikhs learn at a young age.

Here in Kota Kinabalu, classes are held on Sunday at the Punjabi Education Centre at the Gurdwara under a sllyabus developed by the Khalsa Diwan Malaysia.

For the Vaisakhi Akhand Path, once the reading is complete, a lively ceremony takes place outside.

The Nishan Sahib houses the flagpole, depicting the traditional symbol of the Khalsa (Khanda) on a saffron coloured flag.

As the Khalsa anthem is sung, both the flag and fabric covering the flagpole are replaced to commemorate this special day.

Undeniably, Punjabis who are Sikhs originate from the “land where five rivers meet”, (Punj-ab), the agricultural ricebowl of India. It is our culture to celebrate the harvest festival with bhangra dancing (but not in the Gurdwara).

However, the true meaning of Vaisakhi for Sikhs is to commemorate the birth of the Khalsa and the principles of the faith. This is something we should not forget as we drink copious amounts of spiced tea at the Gurdwara.

Balvinder Kaur Kler, PhD