A vision of Guru HarKrishan healing a COVID patient

In recent days and weeks, Sikhs remembered Guru Harkrishan Ji –  the child Guru who healed thousands of Delhi residents who were afflicted with smallpox. The remembrance coincided with a modern crisis as India’s COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed with a new series of record deaths in one day. Thousands of afflicted are not able to get the oxygen they so desperately need – it is being called an oxygen crisis.

Many onlookers overseas don’t know what to do, besides sending our prayers, while desperate Indians are doing everything they can do procure oxygen for their suffering relatives. Cremation grounds now have lines of bodies waiting for cremation but there are simply too many dead to be processed.

If you can offer your support – these are the organizations who are doing their best to help on the ground:

• Khalsa Aid has procured oxygen concentrators for people in Delhi and has delivered firewood to overwhelmed cremation sites. They are currently appealing for donations for more oxygen machines.
• Hemkunt Foundation has been collecting oxygen tanks from various states in India, then giving them out for free to anyone who shows that they are in dire need. They are also receiving donations to keep expanding the help they are able to give.
• Shaheed Bhagat Singh Seva Dal has taken it upon themselves to cremate bodies that the cremation centers are unable to attend to.
• Khalsa Akaal Purakh Ki Fauj Sewak Jatha is spreading the word to help with providing cylinders.
• Kripa 2% Wale is a youth group dedicated to langar which has now taken it on themselves to provide neb­u­lizers to provide temporary relief.
• The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee has for a long time been providing the most inexpensive MRI scans to the public. In response to the pandemic crisis, they have started delivering langar to the homes of the sick .

There are many other organizations, unsung heroes, and sevadars who haven’t hesitated to act in this time of need. Only God knows how many lives have been saved by the selfless actions of such saintly hearts who have sprung into action to answer humanity’s call. This is truly a way of carrying on the legacy of helping humanity as our Gurus have.

The SikhNet Team

This article was published by the Dharmic Office of Public Affairs