SikhiWiki:Today's featured article/December 27, 2009

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In this article we look at the operation of making the food in the Guru-ka-Langar (the Guru kitchen) at the premier Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple, Amritsar.

On average forty to fifty thousand people take langar (or free meals) every day at Harmandar Sahib. Langar or community kitchen was designed to uphold the principle of equality between all people regardless of religion, caste, colour, creed, age, gender or social status as stipulated by the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak.

The Langar or free kitchen was started by the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak; in addition to the ideals of equality, the tradition of Langar expresses the ethics of ..sharing, community respect, inclusiveness and oneness of all humankind - ".....the Light of God is in all hearts." (sggs 282)

For the first time in human history, Guruji designed an institution in which all people would sit on the floor together, as equals, to eat the same simple food. It is here that all people high or low, rich or poor, male or female, all sit in the same pangat (literally "row" or "line") to share and enjoy the food together. .....More