Balwant Sanghera
LINK COLUMNIST
It has been mine and my wife’sdesire for a long time to visitPatna Sahib, birth place of GuruGobind Singh ji. During ourprevious visits we have managedto visit the four Takhats-Harmandar Sahib (Amritsar),Anandpur Sahib, DamdmaSahib and Hazoor Sahib. Also, afew years ago, we had the privilegeof visiting a number ofgurdwaras in Pakistan. Theseincluded Nankana Sahib, birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev ji,Choona Mandi in Lahore,birthplace of Guru Ram Das ji, DeraSahib and many other gurdwaras.This time, as the opportunityarose, along with a fewfriends ,we boarded the train forPatna Sahib on February 11 atJalandhar. The train leftJalandhar for a 24 hour journeyto Patna at 7 AM .It has been a long time since Itravelled by train in India. TheIndian Railway network is thelargest one in the world. It doesa good job of moving aroundmillions of passengers daily.The air conditioned sleepercoach made our journey lesstiresome and stressful after travellingfor 24 hours and passingthrough five provinces-Punjab,Haryana, Uttarkhand, U.P andBihar we reached our destinationat 8 AM on February 12.Asour train arrived at Patna Sahibrailway station, a bus from theBal Leela gurdwara was waitingfor us. Bal Leela used to be thepalace of Raja Fateh ChandMaini. The Raja and his wifehad no child of their own. GuruGobind Singh ji , who was bornless than a kilometer away fromthe Maini palace, often used tovisit her with his friends. Shetreated Guru ji as her own son.Guru ji’s favourite treat-boiledand salted grams- are still servedas parsad at this gurdwara to thisday.Raja Fateh Chand donated hispalace for the gurdwara. Lateron , through the efforts of anumber of devotees, more landaround the palace was acquired.Kar Sewa by a number of devoteesincluding Baba KashmirSingh Bhooriwale has done agreat job in building an excellentgurdwara, langar hall and residencesfor pilgrims. I was veryimpressed with the gurdwara,the facility and dedication of somany volunteers. Usually, pilgrimsfrom other parts of Indiaand abroad stay here while payingtheir respects here and atSachkhand Sri Patna Sahib lessthan a kilometer away. TakhatSachkhand Sri Patna Sahib is avery serene, peaceful andrevered place. It gives one aunique feeling of peace andcalmness.Though we were staying at BalLeela yet we visited SachkhandSri Patna Sahib many times. Thestreet leading from Bal Leela toSachkhand is very narrow andcongested. It is reflective of theother streets of this holy yet oldcity. Just a few kilometers from PatnaSahib is the capital city of Patna.Being the capital of Bihar, Patnais much newer and cleaner. Ithas a number of very impressivebuildings. During our stay we setaside one day to visit the localgurdwaras. In addition to thetwo main gurdwaras there arefive other gudwaras linked to thethree gurus-Guru Gobind singhji, Guru Teg Bahadur ji andGuru Nanak Dev ji. These are-Kangan Ghat, Suniar(Goldsmith).Toli, GAi (Cow)Ghat,Handi (Earthen Pot ) Ghatand Guru ka Baag. Each ofthese gurdwaras has a historicallink/significance. Couple ofthem are located on the shoresof River Ganges which flows bythis historic place. It was a veryenjoyable experience to payhomage at each of these placesof worship.Link columnist Balwant Sanghera, a retiredSchool Psychologist and Community Activistis currently visiting India.
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