The Sindhi Association of New England celebrated Guru Nanak Jayanthi at the Sadhu Vaswani Center, in Dracut, MA on Saturday, Nov 8th 2003. Attended by over 150 people, the celebrations included Bhajans and the reading of Gurubani by the “Sevadar” from the Milford Gurudwara, Bhai Gopal Singh.

“Guru Nanak Dev has always been revered by the Sindhi Community” said Baban Motwane, President of SANE, “We go to Gurudwaras especially on Guru Parab. Each year we bring the people from the Gurudwaras to read the Gurubani”.

The celebrations began with a “Langar” or a serving free dinner to everyone. Baban Motwane personally welcomed all the guests. The food was excellent and members of SANE personally served the guests.

After the “Langar”, everyone moved into the prayer hall where the "Guru Granth Sahib" the Holy Book containing the sayings of the Sikh Gurus, was placed in the altar with two devotees continuously fanning it. Prabhu Hingorani, who established the Sadhu Vaswani Center, dedicated to his Guru Dada Vaswani, began the ceremonies with the singing of a a few bhajans. These bhajans were drawn from the collection of bhajans that are sung every Sunday during Satsang at the Sadhu Vaswani Center organized by Prabhu and Savitha Hingorani.

Bhai Gopal Singh then proceeded to sing the Japji Sahib (banis of Guru Nank Dev recorded in Pages 1 -8 of the Guru Granth Sahib). Through his musical rendition of the Gurubani he brought a sense of peace and spirituality to the prayer hall. With his melodious voice and his musicianship he was able to ably express the spirituality in the verses.

SANE and the Sadhu Vaswani Center should be commended for having an event that beautifully brought forth the pluralistic nature of the people of the Indian subcontinent.

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