Sikh
Rehat Maryada
Section Five
Chapter 12
Voluntary Service
Article XXI
Voluntary service is a prominent part of
Sikh religion. Illustrative models of voluntary service are organized, for
imparting training, in the gurdwaras. Its simple forms are: sweeping and
plastering the floors of the gurdwara [In olden times, buildings, particularly
in rural areas had mud and not brick paved or cement floors. To give to these
floors firmness and consistency, they were thinly plastered with a diluted
compound of mud.], serving water to or fanning the congregation, offering
provisions to and rendering any kind of service in the common kitchen-cum-eating
house, dusting the shoes of the people visiting the gurdwara, etc.
(a) Guru’s kitchen-cum-Eating House. The
philosophy behind the Guru’s kitchen-cum-eating house is two fold: to provide
training to the Sikhs in voluntary service and to help banish all distinction of
high and low, touchable and untouchable from the Sikhs minds.
(b) All human beings, high or low, and of
any caste or color may sit and eat in the Guru’s kitchen-cum-eating house. No
discrimination on grounds of the country of origin, color, caste or religion
must be made while making people sit in rows for eating. However, only baptized
Sikhs can eat off one plate.
