For several decades ashram members have participated in reaching out to our New Mexico community and others by serving folks on their long walk to Santuario de Chimayo during the annual Easter weekend Pilgrimage.
This sacred journey is attended by thousands of Pilgrims from many cities and counties, including those from other states and nations as well. It is widely believed that the soil around and in the Santuario has strong and sacred healing powers and very large numbers of people make the journey to heal themselves as well as to pray for their families and friends. There are many stories of miraculous recoveries and the walls are filled with stories, prayers and even no-longer-needed crutches!
The Outreach Missl of Hacienda de Guru Ram Das used to organize and serve in this Seva. Amrit Kaur (now of Albuquerque) was the former Jethadar of this missl and always made sure that her children, Hari Singh and Prabhu Singh, participated in the night-before preparation and the Good Friday early to mid-morning serving of the Pilgrims. Amrit Kaur remembers that, at some point of every Holy Week, she would receive a call from Guru Simran Kaur at the Ranch with a message from the Siri Singh Sahib, or see the Siri Singh Sahib at class, and he wanted to absolutely make sure that this annual Seva was set and ready for Good Friday. This was very near and dear to his heart. He told Amrit Kaur that it was one of the most important Sevas that our community shared and that it should always, always continue.
Many Sangat members and their children experienced the joy of this Seva for years and the tradition does still happily continue.
Now adults, Hari Singh and Prabhu Singh, have continued and expanded this Seva and the items that are served each year, enjoying this annual Pilgrimage Seva with their family and friends (and even some grandchildren of the original Sevadars!)
Below is a description of what is involved in the Good Friday Seva, followed by some shared experiences from sevadars.
Each year as we approach Good Friday the organizers will take stock of the current supplies, determine what is needed, and then go shopping for the needed supplies. Supplies that may carry over include cups, tissue, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, and of course the tables, large thermoses and shade tents. Supplies which are bought include: trail mix, popcorn, oranges, bananas, lemonade, Gatorade, bottled water and for the early morning, hot chocolate.
An email is then sent out calling for sangat participation on Thursday evening for the prep work and Friday morning for the serving. On Thursday evening sevadars gather at the langar kitchen to pop, season, and bag hundreds of bags of popcorn, and also bag at least a hundred bags of trail mix. They also wash the thermoses and gather trays, cutting boards, knives, and all other needed supplies. The next morning the organizers and several of the same sevadars meet again at the kitchen at 5 AM. At that time, the Gatorade and lemonade is made, water is heated and hot chocolate is made.
Generally, in April at 5 AM, the temperature hovers around freezing and pilgrims will wear gloves, coats and hats. Often it will then warm up to 60+ degrees during the day and later pilgrims will be wearing shorts and t-shirts.
From the time Guru Nanak used the money his Dad gave him to make a 'profit,' to serve pilgrims, Sikhs have had that zeal of serving the spiritual pilgrims of the earth. In that spirit, serving of the Good Friday pilgrims begins at 5:30 AM.
With the tents up and the tables prepared, there are cups of Gatorade and lemonade, oranges and other fruit cut into slices, and bags of trail mix and popcorn ready to be served. This serving will continue non-stop for about 5 hours, until the supplies are exhausted, with the peak time being between 6:30 AM and 7:30 AM.
As the flow of pilgrims waxes and wanes so do the sevadars who come to participate in this beautiful seva, with a consistent core group of sevadars serving throughout. During the peak times, there are as many as 5 or 6 servers holding trays of drinks and snacks and another 5 or 6 slicing fruit and filling cups of lemonade and Gatorade and replenishing the supplies to the servers as fast as possible. This year around 120 bags of trail mix, 40 pounds of oranges, 380 bottles of water, and 450 bags of popcorn were served. Additionally, members of the sangat arrived with baked goods and yogi tea which was served to the pilgrims as well as the sevadars. Also, before the sunrise tissue was quite popular and several hundred were given out. The flow of pilgrims tends to wind down significantly around 10 AM when supplies also tend to dwindle. At that point the dedicated organizers and sevadars take everything down, clean everything up, and put away the supplies. With gratitude in their hearts, they are ready again for the next year.
Following are a few personal accounts of participants:
Amrit Kaur recounts: "Every year, in the sun, rain or even snow(!), as we set up our tables by the roadside for this Good Friday Pilgrimage Seva, I would think about why the Pilgrims were out walking and what they were feeling and thinking in their hearts. One year, an older gentleman. walking with his entire large family and his grandson riding on his shoulders, came up to us and said that it was one of the high-points of his long walk to the Santuario to stop by our humble Seva area to visit and to warm up. He said it was not only for the hot drinks, but also for the friendly smiles and conversation with the Sangat. He said this yearly interaction had peaked his curiousity and openess about the Sikh community and always warmed not only their bodies, but also their hearts. He smilingly added: "this was something Jesus would like." And I also knew in my heart that Guru Ram Das was very much liking it too!"
Jivan Joti Kaur recounts "One year I got a call from Amrit Kaur on Thursday night saying 'It's snowing like crazy outside right now, are we still going to serve the pilgrims tomorrow morning?' To which I responded 'will they still be walking?' and of course the next morning we met and served as we always did." Jivan Joti Kaur continues to serve each year and this year brought out her granddaughter to participate.
Prabhu Singh: "I've always enjoyed this seva and participated nearly all the years of my childhood. When I went to college and then later graduate school, this once a year activity began to slip my mind. After graduate school I came to find that this seva had been run almost single-handedly by Vir Kaur and then Siri Deva Singh and that it could benefit from some more participation and energy. Concurrently at that time my friends and I had started a group to share resources and do more seva in and around the Española area. We had already invested in the type of infrastructure (tables, tents, chairs, thermoses) which were needed for this event. The first year our seva group began organizing this seva we decided to provide some snacks as well as lemonade and other drinks. At that time our little panj were paying dues and we were prepared to spend a few hundred dollars. In addition to the drinks, we invested quite a bit in trail mix and realized that it was served within a half hour to an hour! I gave some thought to this issue, thinking 'how can we serve a lot of people drinks AND food and keep it within a reasonable budget?' That's when I thought of popcorn. Every year somebody questions if the pilgrims will take the popcorn, but every year it's quite popular and we reach hundreds with it. The orange slices also reach many hundreds as well and of course the drinks are as popular as ever.
Courtesy: Sikhs and Seekers... by SDI