Tierra Buena Road, Yuba City, California 95993
Ph. (530) 673-9918, (530)673-2468
Friday, October 30
9am–Start of 48 Hours of Non-Stop Prayer
8pm–Fireworks(Sangat Sewa)
Saturday, October 31
6am–Amrit Sunchar
10am–Nishan Sahib Sewa(Sangat)
2pm–Open House & Seminar On Sikh Belief and Values(In English)
Meeri Peeri(In Punjabi)
Sunday, November 1
11am(Sharp)–30th Annual Gurgaddi Procession
click here for Tierra Buena Sikh Temple Board Member List 2009
For any information about sikh parade, please contact Tejinder Dosanjh 530-751-6322, Pavinder Kariha 530-510-7095, Balraj Dhillon 530-682-3979, Harbhajan Johal 530-301-3652 or Sukhdev Mundi 530-682-3925

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Please click here to see/download 466 pictures of 2008 Yuba City Sikh Prade: ->http://picasaweb.google.com/yubacity1

PICASA WEB ALBUM OF 2008 YUBA CITY SIKH PRADE

Nevi Bhati stood on the roof of a car on the side of Tierra Buena Road Sunday afternoon dancing to the music and waving as floats passed her by during the 29th annual Sikh Parade in Yuba City.

The 2-year-old was dressed from head to toe in an orange salwar suit. She laughed as her mother, Venu Bhati, 25, pointed to the floats and spoke to her in Punjabi.

Bhati said she and her daughter were visiting Yuba City from the Bay Area. They were joined by several family members, she said with a discernible accent from her native India.

Nearly 80,000 people from all over the state and the country joined the Bhatis to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book.

The three-day festival concluded with Sunday’s parade that took the holy book around four miles of Yuba City.

The event also included fireworks on Friday and an open house at the temple on Tierra Buena Road on Saturday.

Sunday’s parade featured nearly 50 floats from local schools, businesses and Central Valley temples. Each float was designed to depict an event in the Sikh scriptures.

One of those events is known as the “Golden Temple.”

The Golden Temple is a famous pilgrimage place for Sikhs in India. During a battle between Sikhs and Muslims in the 1700s, Baba Deep Singh, known as a Sikh martyr, fought to protect the temple from the Muslims.

It is believed during the battle a Muslim cut off Singh’s head. Singh, though, continued fighting, holding his head in his hand and his sword in the other. He walked to the temple to place his head on the steps. The spot his head fell is marked in the Golden Temple complex.

Preeti Grewal and members of the Yuba City High School Punjabi American Club recreated the Golden Temple for their float.

“It’s a celebration of who we are,” Grewal said of the float and the parade.

Many floats donned depictions of the Golden Temple, but the Sikh Student Association decided to go with something different, Ajitpal Singh Dhani said.

Dhani said their float, which is created by Sikhs attending California universities from Chico to Los Angeles, shows the holy book shining its light on Ik Onkar, the symbol meaning “God is one.” The artist rendition was etched in glass with a water feature below it.

“It feels great to see everyone come together,” Dhani said on the parade route. “It’s the biggest gathering in Northern California.”

While many walked the parade route, others watched from the street shoulders or stayed at the temple to eat food and shop.

Jag Sidhu, 40, of Live Oak, said he comes every year and is even able to catch up with some friends he’d lost touch with over the years.

“To me it’s like a big festival,” he said. “But I get to see people I used to know and have not seen in awhile.” source: appeal-democrat

 By Sukhjit Purewal/For the Appeal-Democrat

Temple officials said they expect as many as 80,000 people to visit the gurdwara on Tierra Buena Road during the weekend. The festivities begin Friday morning with the recitation of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, or the faith’s scriptures, a process that takes 48 hours to complete.

Friday will be punctuated by what temple officials are describing as a grand fireworks show and an open house Saturday will feature the presentation of several films, including the critically acclaimed PBS production “Sikhs in America” and “Monument of Injustice,” based on the life of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last king of Punjab whom the British Army whisked away to England following the death of his father Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

The weekend concludes with Sunday’s parade, or Nagar Kirtan. A showcase of floats following the four-mile parade route along Tierra Buena and Butte House roads will include a group of motorcycle riders from Vancouver, Canada, known as the Sikh Motorcycle Club, which won the right to wear turbans rather than helmets when riding.

The gurdwara’s kitchen, as well as food stands set up in the parking lots, will be awash with activity as thousands of pounds of rotis and daals (Indian bread and lentils) are prepared to serve complimentary meals to all gurdwara visitors, as is customary in Sikh tradition.

At the center of the celebration is the Sri Guru Granth Sahib itself, which contains more than 1,400 pages of Sikh scripture. Sikh faith teaches that there were 10 successive living gurus, or religious teachers, but that there is one god. The last of these teachers was Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who is believed to have died in 1708. At the time of his death, he told his followers:

“Sabh Sikhan Ko Hukam hai, Guru Mania Granth,” translated as from this day forward Sikhs are to consider the scripture their guru. This weekend marks the 300th anniversary of the reception of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib as the lasting voice of the Sikh faith.

“By passing the bani (scripture) on, Guru Nanak is still alive,” said Jaswant Bains, a temple director, referring to the first of the gurus.

What makes the Sri Guru Granth Sahib so unique is the revered space it occupies within the Sikh faith and its message of universality, according to Sikh scholars and adherents.

“It is accepted as the living embodiment of the spirit of the Sikh gurus,” said Pashuara Singh, professor and chair of UC Riverside Punjabi and Sikh studies. “It is accorded the same reverence and respect as the gurus when it is installed ceremoniously.

According to religious practice, families who own a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib are supposed to afford it a private room. It always sits upon a throne known as the Takht, adding to its imperial presence.

Sikhs are supposed to read from the scriptures in the morning and in the evening. Special prayers are recited before the book is put to rest for the night.

The Granth Sahib contains the words of six gurus and 15 other individuals, including Muslims and Hindus, according to Singh.

“What’s most interesting is that the Sri Guru Granth Sahib is not just a Sikh philosophy, it is more like an interfaith teaching,” said Dr. Jasbir Kang, a Yuba City physician and a self-described amateur historian. “The gurus were the founders of interfaith dialogue.”

The scriptures contain quotations from Sheik Farid, a Muslim. Singh explained that (Baba) Sheik Farid always speaks with his Muslim voice and his disagreements with the gurus are presented as dialogue.

Another figure that appears in the scripture is Kabir, who was born a Hindu but raised a Muslim. Bhagat Ravidass was a Hindu cobbler who is also quoted in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

But it’s not surprising that nonSikhs are given voice since the gurus roundly rejected the caste system, Singh said.

“The gurus believed the same divine system runs through all of us,” professor Singh said.

According to one passage from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, “Eaek noor thae sabh jag oupajiaa koun bhalae ko ma(n)dhae.” Translation: From the One Light, the entire universe welled up. So who is good, and who is bad?

Kang said the basic message of Sikhism – love, respecting others and gender equality – is an enduring one.

“The basic fundamental philosophy is very progressive and I think it will survive,” he says.

In preparation for the annual Nagar Kirtan, the temple has undergone an estimated $250,000 in renovations, paid for by temple funds and donations. The upgrades were centered on the dining hall, Bains said. His family shared the costs of the renovations.

Old windows were replaced with double-paned ones, doors were replaced, walls were painted, serving stations were replaced and granite countertops added.

New sod was added to a six-acre area behind the main gurdwara building.

“The building is pretty old,” Bains said of the temple built in 1969. “It needed a lot of work.”

Sikh Schedule:

FRIDAY

• 9 a.m., reading from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib begins, marking the beginning of prayer services.

• 7 p.m., Yuba City Mayor Rory Ramirez to present a proclamation to the gurdwara. Fireworks to follow.

SATURDAY

• Noon, open house during which three films will be shown including the critically acclaimed PBS production “Sikhs in America.” Lt. Gov. John Garamendi is scheduled to attend.

SUNDAY

•  11 a.m., parade begins. Attorney General Jerry Brown and Rep. Wally Herger are scheduled to join in the parade.

source: appeal -democrat

Ajit Jalandhar – coverage for Yuba City Nagar Kirtan

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