Gurdwara Khalsa Mero Roop Hai Khas was founded in 1981 when Bhai Gholu Singh Ji donated his home to the sangat of South Shields for Gurmat purposes and to turn it in to a Gurdwara Sahib. This Asthaan was open until 1994 when the brand new Gurdwara Sahib opened close by.
It was a stroke of Divine Inspiration that so many sangat were blessed in such a short space of time. Regular Keertan Diwans were started on Saturdays evenings and eventually Wednesday evenings too. Wednesday diwans run from 630pm to 830pm on Wednesday and 630pm to 930pm on Saturday.
In the early 80’s Gursikhs from South Shields sangat would travel the length and breadth of the country doing parchar, seva and Amrit Sanchar programmes.
After the 1984 massacre in Amritsar the sangat started 151 Akhand Paaths which took 2 years. At the same time a continuous 24 hour simran programme was initiated which is still active to this day. Many sewadars wanted to go to Punjab to help physically, but the general ruling was to pray for our brothers and sisters in their time.
The Famous ‘New Year Rensbai’ also began in the early 80’s. Just before midnight the lights would be turned off and simran would be done in AKJ style for up to an hour to uplift the whole sangat. Imagine the tabla beating, the vaja humming, 100’s of sangat singing the praise of Waheguru in unison at the top of their voices! Divine. The power of these simran sessions can only be described as electrifying. Many great keertani’s have Graced the Gurdwara Sahibs over the years. Timeless keertan diwans have been heard and a few have been recorded either video or audio. Sangat from all over the UK used to attend in the early days and still do to this day.
By Guru’s Grace thousands of sangat have taken Amrit from the Panj Singh’s from South Shields over the years and many thousands more have been inspired on the path as instructed by Guru Sahib.
Gurdwara Khalsa Mero Roop Hai Khas do not charge for seva. They have done all travel for free and have never accepted money- whether it’s the Maya from the keertan sewadars or donations for attending programmes. As well as doing sewa in this country, sewadars have travelled to Ireland, Germany, Kuwait & Canada amongst other places.
The new Gurdwara Sahib opened in 1994 and has gone from strength to strength since. The local sangat has grown quite considerably since the beginning yet the philosophy has remained the same since the beginning- devoted selfless sewa to spread the word of Sikhi.
In the new Gurdwara Sahib there have been many successful programmes. From the Sehaj katha programme where thousands of sangat from all over the world joined forces to do a sehaj katha of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. This involved the listening of Giani Takhur Singh Ji’s audio and is still available for free from Gurdwara Sahib if anyone would like to continue.
There have also been Naam Abhiyas programmes, continuous 24 hour Simran, numerous Akhand Paath Sahib, Rensbai Keertans, Keertan Darbars, Asa Di Waar Keertan. By Gurus Grace this will continue for as long as Guru Ji blesses us.