Detailed Information about Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti & Its Importance

The adroitly turbaned people of the Sikh community have been known from the time past for their bravery and the kindness. The Sikhs have been maintaining the simplicity of the religion by following the ways shown by the Sikh gurus from the time past. The ten living Sikh gurus and the eternal guru of the Sikhs Guru Granth Sahib has been showing the way of living and acting as the master for the entire Sikh community. Guru Gobind Singh Ji was the last Sikh guru of the Sikhs and is remembered every year on the Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti among the Sikh community as a very auspicious occasion of his birth.

The Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti falls usually in the months of December or January every year according to the Gregorian calendar. The people gather in large numbers on this day at the Gurudwaras to offer special prayers and seek the blessings. The people also take out the large processions on this day into the streets. The Prabandhak committee of Takht Sri Harimandir Ji Patna Saheb on the occasion of Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti hosts special prayer services and a very large congregation of Sikhs gather at the place as it is known to be the birth place of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

Guru Gobind Singh was born on the 22nd December 1666 in Patna Sahib. The exact date festival is calculated based on the lunar calendar and hence sometimes the celebration fall on two different days in the same year. The people gather at the Gurudwaras to perform the "prabhat pheris" or the morning rounds.

Guru Gobind Singh was the son of Guru Teg Bahadur the ninth guru of the Sikhs. He became a guru at the age of There has been a practice of performing the Sikh form of the martial arts at the occasion called the "gatkas". The tenth Sikh guru is known for his bravery as a soldier and at the same time a great spiritual leader with an intense devotion to god. He sacrificed his life to the protection of the people against the exploitation and injustice of the Mughal rulers nine years. He is credited to the formation of the Khalsa Army. He called upon men, those who were willing to lay their lives, at a congregation at Anandpur Sahib and took them into his tent one by one and to everyone's surprise the five men turned out of the tent clad in nice clothes and still alive. The guru had baptized them and these five men or the "Panj Pyare" formed the nucleus of the Khalsa. He also declared that after his death the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs would be the next and the eternal guru of the Sikhs.

On the occasion of Guru Gobind Singh Ji Jayanti the people come out in the streets and the volunteers offer the sarbats or the fruit juices to the people of the procession. The Sikh flags, the banners and the posters of Guru Gobing Singh Ji are carried by the procession along the holy Sikh symbol of 'Ek Onkar". The langars cook the free food for the people at a large scale and exhibit the principle of seva or service.