A Great Seva – Sri Guru Granth Sahib Vidya Kender

November 3rd, 2009 by Sukhvinder Singh

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh,
Sat Sri Akal Everyone.

This is an article I am writing to raise awareness of an orphanage in New Delhi, India which has been doing amazing service for our Sikh community for nearly 30 years. 



This is a wonderful charity that I have been lucky enough to be involved with my whole life and I wanted more people in the UK, the US and Canada to know what fantastic seva is being done on behalf of the Panth at the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Vidya Kender ("SGGSVK").

Already hundreds of Sikh orphans from across India have been given shelter at SGGSVK where they are taught Gurmukhi, Santhiya and Kirtan as well as schooling in subjects such as Maths and English up to the age of 18. This has given a start in life to hundreds of children and has even led to some of the children going on to university to study subjects such as engineering and I.T. The graduates who have been given a start in life thanks to the SGGSVK are then closely involved with the orphanage when they start working thus guaranteeing vital funds for the existing children going forward.

Anyway, I had it in my mind to do more for SGGSVK but to be completely honest, I visit there every year and the sevadaars are doing such a great job, there is nothing I could possibly do to add to that. Guru Maharaaj Ji then gave me the idea that I could help them raise their profile on the internet through sites such as Sikhnet and in Western countries generally.

Hence this article.

The point of this article is to raise awareness of this amazing service for our Sikh community. It is not only to get more donations (although of course these would be very, very appreciated and the details for how to make donations are included below if you so wish).


One of the main objectives in creating this group was simply to make you all aware (if you were not already), of the amazing seva that is going on and has been going on for nearly 30 years now. Please go and see the orphanage when you are next in Delhi because I know the young children like nothing more than seeing sangat from abroad who have come to visit them. I assure you that when you go to the Darbar Sahib and there are around 90 small children doing beautiful kirtan in front of Satguru Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaaj, there are very few places on earth where you will experience the same anand from listening to kirtan.

I also know that many of you are active in your local Gurdwara committees and so my humble beanti to all of you is to please try and arrange for some of the boys to come to the UK, Canada or the US and do kirtan for your local sangat. Their kirtan is out of this world - take my word for it - and many have been learning Gurmat Sangeet since they were 4 or 5 years old. Seeing is believing!
 

Email: sggsvkender@rediffmail.com
Website: www.gurugranthsahibvidyakender.com
Office: Telephone Nos: 011-26806195, 011-5561306
Location: Andheria Morh Mehrauli

For foreign donations, SGGSVK has set up a separate charity under the name 'The Sikh Humanitarian Society' which is registered with the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs. Unlike the SGGSVK charity, this sister charity is permitted to receive foreign donations from any country in any currency.

The SGGSVK Secretary has requested that anyone wishing to contribute, should send their donations in the name of 'The Sikh Humanitarian Society' along with their name, address and contact number so that they can inform the Indian Home Ministry.

I would like to thank you all for taking your time out to read this article and also to Sikhnet and Gurumustak Singh veerji in particular, for supporting this project. This is something that means so much to me and hopefully some of you will also feel the same way after reading this article.

Please feel free to contact me if you need any more information about SGGSVK or if you think of ways that I can improve the seva that I have set out to do. I am based in London, England but can be contacted at sukhsingh13@hotmail.com

Thank you very much for your time, Sukhvinder Singh

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh


Comments

There is no place for cynics in Sikhism.....

Shavi Ji, Being a bit cynical here, aren't we? I mean, even if the Kendras are doing half of what they claim, that is much more than you and I are doing, agreed? I mean, at least their doors are open to these children. What have you done lately for our community and it's children? Or for that matter, your family? Comon - stop being a cynic. The last of the cynics..........refreshing to meet one again. Now stop it.

knock your own mind

PerrySingh Ji@ Without knowing any one personally you cannot judge. How come you know who is doing for the community and who is not? Just writing sanctimonious articles on web to gain popularity is also not a part of Sikhism. I am not here to criticise or appreciate anyone nor I am interested in such things. Only to OPEN the eyes of the readers and alert them that situation is bit different in Sri Guru Granth Saheb Vidya Kendra Chandigarh. No more comments!

False One

The state of affairs at Sri Guru Granth Saheb Vidya Kendra Sector 28 Chandigarh are opposite of what you have mentioned here. I have personally visited that kendra to view the condition of the children residing there and from their own mouth they told us that they were exploited by the staff; made to do household chores of the prinicipal and teachers who live a comfortable life in the kendra premises. They were not properly fed and also if donations come from Gurusikhs for these children in the form of clothes, daily utility articles like washing machines, fans or eatables are taken away by the teachers. Do visit their dorms and see how they are living. There are no studies or any training; only when some dignatory has to arrive they are made to dress up in good clothes so as to portray a false picture in the minds of the visitors. International Sikh confideration office is too in that premises and to my utter surprise they have their meetings; have good langar (prepared by these children) and go away but no one is bothered to hear their plight. Both Delhi Sri Guru Granth Saheb Vidya Kendra and Chandigarh Kendra are interrelated. False proclamation of gurmat studies in such kendras by the staff and management just to gather funds in the name of these children.

Help More Girls please!

Bhai Sahib, This is a great Seva you are doing and wonderful article for raising awareness of Sikh children. I have a few questions: Are there any girl orphans in SGGSVK? If there are, why aren't they mentioned in this article? If there are not, why not? Why are they not being helped and not asked to do kirtan in UK, Canada or the US? Waheguru Bless! I hope our Gurdwaras will invite these kids to do kirtan.

we need the concrete

we need the concrete foundation of our children , to religion to flourish as well the nation to prosper..after being AWARE through this very important piece of information (not just an article) only tears with prayers erupted...thank you bhai sahib.....sarbat da bhala...

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.