Gurdwaras celebrate 2nd Sikh Environment Day

Over thousand gurdwaras across the world have celebrated the second annual Sikh Environment Day at the initiative of a Washington-based Sikh organization.

March 14th is the day when Har Rai, a famous nature and animal lover, became the seventh Sikh Guru in 1644. "Guru Har Rai's life has inspired so many individuals to lead efforts at the local levels in India and all across the globe to take meaningful actions dedicated to this day," said Rajwant Singh, president of EcoSikh, which started the global environment movement among the Sikhs last year.

In the first year, around 450 gurdwaras across the globe had observed the Sikh Environment Day.

"Many Gurdwaras are engaging in the local environmental issues in North America in their own localities and many are becoming eco-friendly in their operations. Southhall based largest gurdwara in Europe has organised a major green drive on this day," said Bandana Kaur, New York-based programme director of EcoSikh in North America.

Singh said the Seventh Guru was instrumental in developing Kiratpur Sahib on the banks of tributary of the river Sutlej in Punjab as a town of parks and gardens: he planted flowers and fruit bearing trees all over the area, as well as medicinal herbs and wildlife sanctuaries for the benefit of the masses in the 17th century making him perhaps the earliest environmentalist in the Indian Sub-continent.

He inspired Sikhs to live a life of minimum harm to surroundings.