Sewa Panthi Sampradaye
Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib and the various Sampradas
Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, when he envisioned a Sikh nation, he did envision the entire world as his realm, and not just a particular geographical area. Similarly, the All-Knowing Guru, in keeping with the traditional ways of the preceeding Gurus, knowing the core philosophies of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, envisioned an all-inclusive Sikh nation, rejecting the exclusive norms of other faiths, understanding the ways of the Creator, allowed some diversity and some distinguished ways within it, and personally and specifically blessed Nirmalas and Seva-Panthis. Earlier, Guru Ram Das Sahib honored and acknowledged Baba Sri Chand, founder of the Udaasi Samprada, as per Guru Nanak Dev Ji's blessing to Mata Sulakhni, for her sons. Again, Guru Hargobind Sahib, offered his eldest son Baba Gurditta, and the father of Guru Har Rai Sahib, as successor to Baba Sri Chand.
These distinguished ways or paths are termed ‘sampardaya’ or 'samprada'. This term has in the past been wrongly mis-interpreted or conveyed to the public as ‘sect’ or ‘cult’, terms that imply deviation arising from dissent from practised beliefs. The term samparda does not mean ‘sect’, but rather order like in an order of monks. In this sense a sampardaya represents one among several mutually complementary other orders. Each one of the five traditional sampardas began with our Gurus blessings. The five, traditional sampardas are the Nirmalas (spiritual scholars), Udasis (scholar mystics), Nihangs (warriors), Sevapanthis (spiritual mystics serving humanity) and the lesser known Suthra Shahis started by Suthra Shah who was named and raised by Guru Hargobind Sahib.
Sampradaya can be interpreted as ‘tradition’ or a ‘religious order’. It signifies a spiritual or a monastic progression serving as a spiritual conduit via an organisation that lends perpetuity of religious identity. It is somewhat in contrast to other Indian Guru Lineages called paramparas, where by receiving an initiation into a parampara of a living guru, one belongs to a sampradaya. The sampradaya is — a succession of spiritual mentors who carry forward and further convey a religious order of holy men. Holy men belonging to particular sampradas follow their traditional way, hold on to their unique philosophies, as conveyed by a mentor to their successor, hence perpetuating their identity. Each successor, however, exercising discretion, does keep the organisation further evolving, while staying with the panthic norms and their tradtional ways.
“The human spirit at Anandpur manifested its joyous spiritual energy in many ways. On every day that dawned there were new ideas in the very air, and the Khalsa crystallized in many shapes. The Sevapanthis, the Nirmalas, the Sahej-dharis, set forth new shining resolutions...Sevapanthis reserved themselves for the creed of service; later on they formed the first ‘Red Cross’ corps of Gobind Singh, serving friend and foe alike. They carried water on their backs in the battlefield, and held the bowl of mercy to the thirsty lips of the dying. They carried on (them) a stock of first aid, and gained special knowledge in surgery and medicine...” (Prof. Puran Singh, The Book of the Ten Masters, page 107-108)
