VACHAN GOBIND LOKA KE

VACHAN GOBIND LOKA KE ( Sayings of the Saintly People) is a didactic work in Punjabi prose by Bhai Addan Shah, a Sevapanthi saint. Completed in 1904 Bk/AD 1847 and written in the hand of one Khivan Singh, the work comprises 147 folios with 9+9 lines on each folio and 252 sakhls or anecdotes, each with a lesson. The work remains unpublished, and the only known copy of the manuscript is preserved under MS. 99 in the Panjab University Library, Chandigarh.

Although Sevapanthis are counted a sect among the Sikhs, they depart in certain respects from the Sikh way of life : a Sevapanthi saint, for instance, lives the life of a recluse renouncing all worldly attachments and remains celibate. Consequently, the work is an amalgam of Sikh and Sevapanthi teachings. Humility, service, generosity, detachment and contentment are the common virtues recommended. Yet, contrary to Sikh principle, there is an emphasis on celibacy. The work contains sakhis from the lives of several of the bhaktas such as Sadhna (83), Sukhdev (88), and Darshan (214) rehearsing moral precepts and values.

References :

1. Gurmukh Singh, Sevapanthian di Panjabi Sahit nun Den. Patiala, 1986