labour of love: kar seva at darbar sahib's amrit sarover

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Labour of love: Kar seva at DarbarSahib's Amrit SaroverGurmit Singh VirdeePublished online: 19 Aug 2006.

To cite this article: Gurmit Singh Virdee (2005) Labour of love: Kar seva at Darbar Sahib's AmritSarover, Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory, 1:1, 13-28, DOI: 10.1080/17448720500231409

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17448720500231409

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Gurmit Singh Virdee

LABOUR OF LOVE

Kar Seva at Darbar Sahib’s Amrit

Sarover

Derived from the Sanskrit root sev, the Punjabi word seva has two different meanings: on theone hand secular: to perform service, to attend to, to render obedience to; on the other handtheological: to worship, to adore, to pay homage through the act of love. In the writings ofthe Sikh Gurus these two meanings have been merged and are best understood in relation toone of the central themes of the Guru Granth Sahib, namely, the concept of love as a self-losswhich is simultaneously the ultimate transaction between human beings and between divinityand humanity. Hence the modes of seva sanctioned in Sikh tradition include seva renderedthrough one’s body (tan), seva rendered through one’s mind (man), and seva renderedthrough giving of one’s material wealth (dhan). While all three forms of seva are consideredequally important, the Sikh Gurus stressed that all seva should be a labour of love performedwithout desire (nishkam), without intention (nishkapat), and with humility (nimarta).

Such self-effacing qualities can be seen in abundance during the performance of kar seva – aform of voluntary labour normally associated with the cleaning of the pool or sarovar surroundingtheHarimandar or ‘GoldenTemple’ regarded by Sikhs as theirmost sacred shrine.Themost recentkar seva at theHarimandar Sahib took place on 25March 2004marking the 400th anniversary of theinstallation of the Adi Granth in the Darbar Sahib by the fifth Guru Arjan in 1604. The kar seva pre-pared the pool for a newfiltration system. Similar kar sevas have taken place at theHarimandar Sahibin 1923, 1973 and 1984.

Entitled ‘Labour of Love’, the following photoessay by the late Gurmit Singh Virdee1 showsthousands of Sikh devotees manually removing sediment (pavitar kar) from the sacred pool sur-rounding the Darbar Sahib. The rich and the poor can be seen carrying sediment on their heads.Those who could not find iron bowls to carry the sediment preferred to carry it in hands. Con-tractors estimated that cleaning of the pool would take seven days. Butmen, women and childrenremoved the sediment without the aid of mechanical equipment in the space of a single day.

Notes

1 Bhai Gurmit Singh Virdee (1937–2005) was a sevadar of the Guru Nanak NishkamSevak Jatha. From the 1950s up to his retirement in 2002, Gurmit Singh played, pro-moted and taught tabla. Respected throughout the Indian classical music circles, heperformed with world-renowned artistes and taught hundreds of students. Since retir-ing in 2002 Gurmit Singh devoted himself to teaching photography and music. Theeditors of Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture and Theory gratefully acknowledge thesupport of Sandeep Singh Virdee and the Guru Nanak Nishkam Sevak Jatha formaking this collection of photographs available to us.

ISSN 1744-8727 (print)/ISSN 1744-8735 (online)/05/010013–16

# 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd

DOI: 10.1080/17448720500231409

Sikh Formations, Vol. 1, No. 1, June 2005, pp. 13–28

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labour of love: kar seva at darbar sahib's amrit sarover

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