Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Sikh Temple



Had an amazing evening being escorted through the Gurudwara Dera Sahib Panjvin Patshahi -  Shrine of Guru Arjan Dev (1563- 1606 A.D )in  Lahore. It is a Sikh shrine that had 3000 visitors when I was there – they were part of a 14 day pilgrimage from India to the shrine.

This shrine has a highly gilded attractive dome and followers of Guru Arjan Singh believe that he miraculously disappeared in 1606 A.D. at the site in the waters of river Ravi.

It is a beautiful old temple and shrine and I was honoured to be given special permission to enter with all the people who were on pilgrimage. They spend 2 weeks at the temple living on site and offering up prayers on a 24 hour basis. The temple was run along similar lines to a marae with everyone pitching in and living in a communal way.

I was treated royally, (including being guided by the man who showed Prince Charles around!!) and found everyone to be calm, serene, and very gracious. Also loved the fact that most of the men wore orange or purple – very colourful.

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