Mayor of
of Riverside, Mayor of Rancho Cucamonga at 300 Saal Gur Gaddi
Nagar Kirtan in Riverside, CA on Nov. 29, 2008
Los Angeles, Nov 30, 2008
Gary Singh/ Jaswinder Dhillon
The management committee of Gurdwara, Riverside, California hosts
Akhand-Paath and Kirtan Programmes to mark the celebrations of 300
years of Guru Granth Sahib Ji as Sikh Guru.
More than 2000 Sikh NRIs from Riverside County and Los Angles area
get together in Sikh Gurdwara Riverside (approximately 60 miles
from LA airport) to celebrate this event. Another land mark of this
year’s Nagar Kirtan was that two mayors attended 300
Saal Gur Gaddi Nagar Kirtan.
The
Honourable, Ron Loveridge, Mayor of Riverside was invited and
he gave best wishes on behalf of the American people community to
celebrate the 300 year milestone in the history of Sikh faith.
The
Honourable, Dr. Donald Kurth, MD, Mayor of Rancho Cucamonga,
California along with Karmjit Grewal, well known entrepreneur and
philanthropist also took part in the the procession of Nagar Kirtan
. (Also see new press release when the management
committee of Gurdwara, Riverside, California invited Dr. Donald
Kurth, MD, Mayor of Rancho Cucamonga, California along with Karmjit
Grewal, well known entrepreneur to discuss the awareness of sikh
mistaken identity issues)
The procession started at 1:30 pm, ends 4.30pm, it moved through
the streets and lanes of the city (2.5 long) and are accompanied
by music, singing and chanting scriptures and hymns. Large number
of devotees including women, school children, band parties and members
of various Sikh religious organizations participated.
In Nagar Kirtan, many are not wearing any shoes regardless of weather
conditions, clean the roads before the Panj Piyaras and our Sacred
Guru Granth Sahib Ji is transported and Sadh Sangat are also singing
the praises of Waheguru throughout the route. When participating
in the Nagar Kirtan, one can truly reach a state of Nirvana when
indulging in the singing of Kirtan while following the Sacred Guru
Granth Sahib Ji. This is what the Nagar Kirtan is all about.
‘Nagar’ means town and ‘Kirtan’
is a term that means singing of hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib,
the Sikh holy book. The term, ‘Nagar Kirtan’ therefore
effectively describes the most essential feature of Baisakhi Procession,
which is recitation of hymns from Guru Granth Sahib through the
streets of the town. The Nagar Kirtans is the term most popularly
used for traditional Processions lead by Panj Pyaras.
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