Thursday was a normal day at work. One of the work colleagues was asking me about the next GURPURB. I explained that on 24th November is the SHAHEEDI DIWAS (martyrdom day) of Guru Tegh Bahadar, the Ninth Guru of the Sikhs. She was very fascinated to hear about Guru Sahib and so I explained that Guru Tegh Bahadar Sahib jee is recognised by Amnesty International as the first person in recorded human history who gave his life for ANOTHER'S human rights and right to live.
Afterwards she asked HOW was I going to mark the Gurpurb. I explained that as Sikhs we get together and enjoy the company of the SAADH SANGAT (company of the Holy) through KATHA (Gurbaani discourse) and KEERTAN (singing the praises of Vaheguru). Also GURU KA LANGAR is served and it is an opportunity to do SEVA, SIMRAN and REFLECTION upon one's life in relation to the event being marked. When she heard about Guru Ka Langar she was taken aback. "Food for EVERYONE?" "Yes, the poor man and rich man SIT TOGETHER and eat. The atheist, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and Sikh all sit together and eat with God's blessings." She said, "Thats wonderful. I like that." The concept of seeing God in all and focusing on devoting one's life to the devotion and worship of Vaheguru through living a spiritually balanced and complete lifestyle sounded nice to the lady.
Near the end of my shift, there were no customers around so I was swizzling on the chair and look around the desk and drawer. Near the counter there is a RED type BUTTON (well it doesn't look like a button more like a seat-belt clip type). I didn't realise what it was and touched it and carried on.
A few minutes later a phone call comes to the store. I picked up and the man said he is from security and is everything okay. I said, "Yes, fine." He then requested to the talk to the manager. Minutes later the manager calls the cash desk and said, "Manvir did you know that you just pressed the PANIC BUTTON?" I said, "Ermm... did I?" He said, "Yes, you press the button and I just had to talk to the LOCAL POLICE station and tell them not to come down as it was a mistake." I felt EMBARRASSED but not my fault if no one told me what the button was for! It didn't even look like a button! Chalo, the staff nearby got HAPPY, got cheered and had a good laugh :) One girl said, "I always wanted to know how it would feel to press the panick button but never got guts to do it." I thought, "Bhainey! WHY you wanna press the panic button!" Rab Rakha.
Afterwards she asked HOW was I going to mark the Gurpurb. I explained that as Sikhs we get together and enjoy the company of the SAADH SANGAT (company of the Holy) through KATHA (Gurbaani discourse) and KEERTAN (singing the praises of Vaheguru). Also GURU KA LANGAR is served and it is an opportunity to do SEVA, SIMRAN and REFLECTION upon one's life in relation to the event being marked. When she heard about Guru Ka Langar she was taken aback. "Food for EVERYONE?" "Yes, the poor man and rich man SIT TOGETHER and eat. The atheist, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and Sikh all sit together and eat with God's blessings." She said, "Thats wonderful. I like that." The concept of seeing God in all and focusing on devoting one's life to the devotion and worship of Vaheguru through living a spiritually balanced and complete lifestyle sounded nice to the lady.
Near the end of my shift, there were no customers around so I was swizzling on the chair and look around the desk and drawer. Near the counter there is a RED type BUTTON (well it doesn't look like a button more like a seat-belt clip type). I didn't realise what it was and touched it and carried on.
A few minutes later a phone call comes to the store. I picked up and the man said he is from security and is everything okay. I said, "Yes, fine." He then requested to the talk to the manager. Minutes later the manager calls the cash desk and said, "Manvir did you know that you just pressed the PANIC BUTTON?" I said, "Ermm... did I?" He said, "Yes, you press the button and I just had to talk to the LOCAL POLICE station and tell them not to come down as it was a mistake." I felt EMBARRASSED but not my fault if no one told me what the button was for! It didn't even look like a button! Chalo, the staff nearby got HAPPY, got cheered and had a good laugh :) One girl said, "I always wanted to know how it would feel to press the panick button but never got guts to do it." I thought, "Bhainey! WHY you wanna press the panic button!" Rab Rakha.
6 comments:
haha that was funny
"Food for EVERYONE?" "Yes, the poor man and rich man SIT TOGETHER and eat."
Right interpretation of the meaning of Langar, but does it really happens in the west... I do not see any poor coming to eat. All I see is that rich and not so rich eat together... I believe Langar has lost its meaning... We should be serving langar to the really poor and neady... not that they are impossible to find in west... We can definately find of homeless people and shelters where they eat... Gurdwaras can tie up with such shelters (organizations) so that really hungary can be feed....
Humbly, Bhul Chuk Dee Khema....
Whats become of langar
Sifar jee - I understand what you are saying. For example at Southall Gurdwara that I regularly go to its brilliant to see Tamils, Gujratis, Afghanis, Panjabis, White and Black people eating together. On top of that you have tramps, poor people and homeless people who have heard of Langar and taking opportunity to feed the hungry stomach in Guru Nanak's House. However, I agree that more needs to be done to share the humanity and pyaar which Guru Sahib has given us by making others aware of the Guru Ghar and extending seva outside the Gurdwara.
If there are no poor people, does this mean we should not have any langar? No. Sharing food and sitting on platform helps to shed the ego. Someone may not look someone, there may be tension between someone etc however the same people will sit together in Pangat and sit together in Sangat. We all put our differences to the side.
The Guru is great who instructed all Sikhs to satisfy the hunger of the body with Guru-ka-Langar and satisfy the hunger of the mind and soul with the Langar of Naam Baani.
Guru Rakha
bahahahahaha u set of the alarm! jokes! next time you stay over remind me to disable the alarm system lol.
umm is messing around on your job description bhaji? hehe
Im glad you work so hard at Currys. Could you get me a discount on the new wii
If my comments implied that there should be no Langar if there are no poor (which is really not possible) then I humbly apologize. But what we as Sikhs should do is try to go that extra step and reach out to the poeple who are in real need to have food in addition to continuing having langar ourselves at the Gurdwara. I have seen saangat members who would not talk to each other (political stuff) and have langar sitting in pangat and still are the same, i.e. no change in them to forget their animosity and be brothers and think of Sarbat da Bhala... Anyways, I myself have a lot to improve so I think I should not comment on what others do at the Guru Ghar....
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