Panthic Seva at the Local Level

When Bhai Manvir Singh came here in 2013 for Khalsa Camp, he shared some bachans of Bhai Jasbir Singh Khanne Wale, relating to Panthic Seva.

Bhai Jasbir Singh gave a simple-to-remember ੳ, ਅ and ੲ of effective Panthic Seva. 

The ੳ stands for "Ucha Sucha Jeevan" which can be translated as having high moral character and living according to Sikh principles. At the end of the day, our jeevan or way-of-life, is also the most effective form of parchaar. 

The ਅ stands for "Adhian" which can be translated as doing regular research and study about Sikhi. Sikhi is an ocean and a Sikh must always be striving to improve their jeevan over time by learning more about Sikh principles on a regular basis by studying Sikh history and the jeevans of Gurmukh souls.

The ੲ stands for "Ilaakay dee Sumbaal" which can be translated as being responsible for the well-being of your local area. It's worth noting that this bachan focuses on the local community rather than on the panth-at-large and there is certainly a lot of wisdom in that approach. Most of us are not able to influence Badal's re-election bid or other political matters in Punjab but we are able to help transform our local sangats.

So how can we take care of our local sangats, as recommended by Bhai Jasbir Singh? In this post, I am going to be focusing on the area of Youth Parchaar in BC. 

I am breaking down the thoughts into two categories of important changes: Structural and Cultural. 

Structural Changes

Structural changes are easier than cultural changes. They require hard-work but it is possible to implement these changes under the right circumstances. Some examples and ideas of structural changes to our local Youth Sangat are as follows:

1) The Creation of a “Youth Council” of 5 panthic-minded youth. This council can be selected by consensus at an annual or bi-annual meeting. Ideally, this council could guide Youth parchaar efforts in BC and intervene to preserve Ektaa among youth when needed. This council can also guide younger youth and help attach them to sevaas. This council must be representative of the sangat and must demonstrate a passion for parchaar and ektaa. This council can identify gaps that exist in the existing local parchaar and devise a gameplan to plug those gaps.

2) A monthly meeting among Youth who are interested in Sevaa. At this meeting, veechaar can be done on Panthic Issues and different youth can be attached to different sevaas. 

Cultural Changes

Changing the culture of the sangat in a local area is hard but if enough people implement these changes, it could cause a ripple effect. 

1) Many existing efforts are already being made towards parchaar. However, there is often a lack of support for one another's parchaar efforts. They are uncoordinated and in some cases, there is even an unnecessary atmosphere of competition surrounding different parchaar efforts. There should be a higher level of coordination in parchaar efforts and there should be a heartfelt effort to support all parchaar efforts even if they are "competing" with an effort that someone is already involved with. 

2) We need to create a more welcoming and inclusive atmosphere at all programs. If someone attends a local AKJ (or some other sangat) program, they should always feel welcome to do so. They should be greeted warmly and made to feel welcome. This would really help if different youth felt more welcome attending programs of different sangats. It would promote understanding and relationship-building between different youth of different backgrounds. 

3) Misunderstandings and personal issues need to be resolved more proactively. The Youth Council mentioned in the structural changes can also help with this. Too often, grudges hold back parchaar and they limit our imagination in terms of what is possible.