New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, along with several eminent members of the Sikh sangat called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Friday and requested that ‘Jore Sahib’, the holy relics of the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, and his wife Mata Sahib Kaur, be placed appropriately where devotees can pay obeisance in large numbers.
The Union Minister submitted recommendations of the committee for the safekeeping and befitting display of holy ‘Jore Sahib’.
In a post on X on Friday, Puri wrote that his family has been “immensely blessed and fortunate to perform seva of these holy relics from the time these were bestowed upon our ancestors by Guru Sahib and Mata Ji themselves more than 300 years ago”.
The holy ‘Jore Sahib’ is a footwear each of Guru Gobind Singh (right foot 11” by 3½”) and his revered wife Mata Sahib Kaur (left foot 9” by 3”).
The Union Minister explained that his ancestor had the “great divine blessing to be in the direct service of Dasam Pita”.
Legend has it that pleased with his ‘seva’, Guru Maharaj commanded him to ask for any reward in return. “Our ancestor requested Guru Sahib to kindly grant him his divine permission to keep the sacred ‘Jore Sahib’ so that the direct blessings of Guru Sahib and Mata Ji continue in his family and their generations to follow,” Union minister Puri wrote.
He said the last custodian of the ‘Jore Sahib’ was my late cousin Sardar Jasmeet Singh Puri, who lived in Delhi’s Karol Bagh on a street which was subsequently named ‘Guru Gobind Singh Marg’ to honour the sanctity of the precious holy relics.
“Since I am one of the eldest members of the family now, his wife Manpreet wrote to me to find an appropriate home for these holy relics so that the faithful could pay their obeisance to the revered ‘Jore Sahib’ in greater numbers,” Puri said.
“Subsequently, with utmost humility and reverence, I had the holy relics carefully examined by the Ministry of Culture. Carbon testing has also been done to establish their authenticity and supreme religious and spiritual importance. Members of the committee have made their recommendations and have presented a report for a decision befitting the holy ‘Jore Sahib’ to PM Modi Ji who has always expressed respect towards teachings of our Guru Sahibs and affection towards members of the Sikh Sangat,” he wrote.
“PM Modi Ji’s unmatched affection towards our Sangat reflects in several compassionate and visionary decisions taken under his farsighted leadership in the last transformative eleven years. PM Modi Ji has also taken keen personal interest in matters pertaining to enhancement of several Sikh religious places and in ensuring better connectivity and accessibility to these centres of pilgrimage,” the Union minister added.
–IANS
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