3,500 gurdwaras take part in Sikh Environment Day celebrations

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 26

Over 3,500 gurdwaras and institutions took part in celebrations of the Sikh Environment Day held on March 14 across India and the world.

In a press statement here today, Dr Rajwant Singh, president of EcoSikh, a Washington-based organization, said this year’s focus was on going organic.

The Sikh Environment Day marks the new year in the Sikh calendar and the Gurgaddi Diwas (enthronement day) of the sixth Guru, Sri Guru Har Rai Ji, who is remembered in the Sikh history for his deep sensitivity towards nature, its preservation and well-being of animals.

He said EcoSikh has offered a faith-based response to challenges of global climate. The move to switch over to organic food was getting an enthusiastic response from the Sikh community spread across the world, he added. The endeavor received an impetus as the management started serving organic langar (community meal) at the Golden Temple to as many as 100,000 people every day.

He claimed that hundreds of gurdwaras and Sikh households made a commitment to go organic. “It seems that this is the best tribute to Guru Har Rai, who has inspired Sikhs to live in harmony with their surroundings,” he added.

He said, “Organic food is necessary to revive the true spirit of langar, which is sharing healthy food with the humanity. The campaign aims to serve pesticide-free food at over 50,000 gurdwaras partaken by nearly 5,000,000 devotees in Guru’s kitchen world-wide.”

He averred that this year’s appeal reached over one million Sikhs across the world through social media. There were over 45,000 engagements on EcoSikh’s Facebook account and hundreds of Sikh groups across the world shared the idea, which inspired to go green at many places.