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A Complete Guide to help students with professional guidance after Xth & XIIth

Born to a doctor couple, the father is a surgeon and mother being an obstetrician, this man chose to quit his cushy job in a top FMCG Company in 2003 to help students find their right career path.

Mohit Mangal is a Career Counsellor, Social Entrepreneur, qualified Structural Engineer and holds another Master’s in Business Management. He has been counseling for the last 15 Years. He is a motivational speaker and has helped more than 2 lakh students identify their right path forward. He is an academician, mentor, and guide to more than 25,000 young students, who have prepared for national level competitive exams under his guidance and have reached their goal.

As a philanthropist, he continues to give free career awareness workshops to schools and guides more than 50,000 students every year. He does individual Career Counselling for School/College students and working professionals, who need help in identifying and fine-tuning their Career and Career Goals.

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549th Prakash Purab of Guru Nanak Dev Ji celebrated at Akal Academy,Kajri

Invoking the memoir of eternal majesty of ‘Guru Nanak DevJiMaharaj’ the first Guru of Sikhs who lived in the corporeal world to show humanity the path of virtuous life and gave him simple and vibrant principles of life ‘KiratKaro, NaamJapo and VandShhakko’. Akal Academy Kajri celebrated the 549th Aagman Prakash Purab of DhanDhan Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji with devotional fevor and great zeal. Two Akhand Path of Shri Guru Granth Sahib were kept in Darbar Sahib by the Akal Staff and the students. The programme started with the ‘Hukamnama’ taken by Bhai Jagveer Singh. The religious programme was performed by the different students of Nursery to XII. The programme was a series of Gurbani Kirtan, Kavishri, Poems, Sakhis and short speeches. The programme was anchored by the student of class 11th ‘Rajpreet Kaur and Jasdeep Kaur’ under the supervision of S. Avtar Singh Sandhu, Mrs.Savita, Mr.Balvinder Singh and Mrs.Jasbir Kaur. After the Bhog of Akahand Path Sahib the decorated Palki of Guru Granth Sahib Ji’s was brought to the pandal with full honor, respect and devotion by reciting the shabad “Jithe Jaye Bahe Mera Satguru So Thaan Suhawa Ram Rajje”. Senior boys performed their important role of ‘PanjPyaras’. Bhai Nachattar Singh (Katha Wachak) from Gurmat Gyan Missionery College Ludhiana enlightened the sangat with his divine words.Everyone presented in the pandal was warmly welcomed and congratulated on this occasion by our Honourable Principal ‘Mrs. Simran Kaur Thind’ by her short speech. The principal expressed her views with the life of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and also highlighted the success in annual report of academy. Art & Craft exhibition in which the things were made by the students with the help of teachers were appreciated by everyone. A model structure of Akal Academy, Kajri which was hand crafted by a student gathered the main attention .Free eye check-upcamp by One Beat Hospital Bhira was too appreciated.

​How Muslim devotees continue to visit Kartarpur Sahib, keeping the legacy of Nanak alive in true sense

The Ravi river meandered through the lush green field in front of us. The sky was overcast, the early monsoon clouds threatened to burst open yet again. Just a while ago, from a temporary camp set up outside the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, I had watched news of flooding in various parts of Pakistan. Finally, after years of yearning, I had found the time to visit the final resting place of Guru Nanak in Kartarpur. “There are a lot of snakes in this area,” said Indrajit. A few days prior to my visit, a snake “the size of two humans” was reportedly spotted in the fields. “These snakes want to pay tribute to the shrine of Nanak,” Indrajit added. “Hence, we pick them up and place them next to the shrine. They go back after performing their darshan.” A grave and a smadh Abandoned at the time of Partition, the gurdwara came under the control of smugglers who travelled between the two countries frequently. The international border is only a few kilometers from here. In the 1980s and 1990s, as heroin flowed through the streets of Pakistan due to the policies of the Islamist dictator Zia-ul-Haq, many drug addicts found refuge in this gurdwara far away from the gaze of civilization. However, despite its dilapidated condition, a few Muslim devotees of Guru Nanak continued to visit the shrine and leave offerings at his grave. Legend has it that after Guru Nanak’s death, a conflict arose between his Hindu and Muslim devotees. While the Muslims wanted to bury him, the Hindus wanted to cremate him and build a smadh for him, for he had been born in a Hindu family. Amidst this tussle, Nanak miraculously appeared as an old man before his devotees, who failed to recognise him. He suggested they postpone the decision till morning. But in the morning, his body had disappeared and a pile of flowers had replaced it. Half of the flowers were buried following Muslim rituals and the other half was cremated and then a smadh built over it. His shrine now contains both the grave and the smadh. Out in the courtyard, the grave rests under an open sky while the smadh is inside a building that serves as the main congregation hall. For almost 50 years, as the shrine was abandoned by Nanak’s Sikh and Hindu followers and served as a den for smugglers and drug addicts, a handful of Nanak’s Muslim devotees continued to visit it, bowing to his grave, keeping the sanctity of the shrine alive. It continues to hold the same importance for them even today as it has been transformed yet again into a full-fledged gurdwara, visited by hundreds of Sikhs every year. “The current structure of the gurdwara was raised in 2001,” said Indrajit. “That is also when we prepared our first langar here after Partition.” Langar is a tradition that began with Guru Nanak and is an essential feature of a functional gurdwaras. Indrajit added, “Now many rich Muslim families of neighbouring villages provide us with monetary support to cook langar. This is their offering to the shrine, which is regarded as a sacred space. The wood for cooking the langar is provided to us by [Pakistan] Rangers, who patrol the border region.” Where god resides “Do the Muslim devotees also eat langar at the shrine?” I asked. Initially Muslim devotees were hesitant to eat Langar cooked by Sikhs. But over the years, as the myths dispersed, they started eating langar here. Today, more Muslims eat food here compared to Sikhs. This is what Nanak wanted, humans irrespective of their religion, caste or creed, sitting together, sharing food. Any place where that became possible would become the home of god, the pathway to divinity – guru dwara. In Pakistan, where there are now only a handful of functional Sikh gurdwaras, this becomes possible only at Kartarpur Sahib. However, here at the final resting place of Guru Nanak, his Muslim devotees continue to visit him, keeping alive the legacy of Nanak in its true essence. -Haroon Khalid

Kartarpur Corridor is more than a symbol of new peace- Interesting Views of a Muslim Scholar

The legend of Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s samadhi and grave is one of the most popularly known stories about him in Pakistan. At Kartarpur Sahib, outside the main shrine which contains Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s samadhi, is his grave. He might be one of the only people in history to have both a samadhi and a grave. Legend has it that when Guru Nanak Dev Ji passed away, an argument ensued among his Muslim and Hindu followers if he should be buried or cremated. He was born into a Hindu family but his philosophy had a strong tinge of Islamic monotheism... In fact, even when the Gurdwara was abandoned at the time of Partition, it was these Muslim devotees of Nanak that continued coming here. It seemed as if Nanak’s legacy of drawing followers from across the religious divide was still alive. Harish Dhillon in his book on Guru Nanak Dev Ji writes that when Nanak decided to undertake his spiritual journey, he deliberately took up garb that diluted his religious identity — a loose choga similar to Muslim dervishes, but of reddish ochre, preferred by Hindu ascetics, with a white cloth belt around his waist, similar to fakirs and a cap on his head like the Sufi qalandars. In his poetry, he refers to God with multiple names, including Allah. When asked by his Hindu and Muslim devotees what religion they should follow to become his Sikhs, he replied that if one is a Muslim then one should strive to be a good Muslim, and if one is a Hindu then one should try to be a good Hindu... ...What is even more remarkable is that the site chosen is Kartarpur, where physical traces of this syncretism in the form of a grave and a samadhi are still present. The sanctity of the shrine was upheld by Nanak’s Muslim devotees when it was abandoned and in ruins, while today it has emerged as the ultimate symbol of peace... ...I am delighted that thousands of Nanak’s devotees who have been catching sight of the shrine from afar will finally be able to visit it. On the other hand, my thoughts go to the local Muslim devotees of Nanak who have upheld the sanctity of the shrine when there was no other. This shrine belongs to them as much, as it does, to any other religious community. Spending almost 25 years on the road, Guru Nanak became one of the most widely travelled people of his era. If not known for his spiritual and poetical philosophy, Nanak would have been known for the extraordinary length and breadth of his journey. From Talwandi (Nankana Sahib) he is believed to have gone as far east as Bengal, to Sri Lanka in the south, to Tibet in the north and then Arabia in the east, before finally settling down at Kartarpur Sahib where he spent 17 years as a farmer. These journeys took him to some of the most sacred Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim pilgrimages. Wherever he went, he provoked the followers of these religions by challenging the dogmas and rituals at these sites. He is believed to have engaged in critical discourse with Hindu Pandits and Muslim Sufis, educating them on their own respective religions. When asked what his message was, he used to retort: ‘There is no Hindu, no Muslim.’ This was not meant to be a negation of these religions — rather, an argument that when these religions are practiced in their essence, they all become one, similar to his concept of divinity, which is all-encapsulating and the entire cosmos a part of it. What Guru Nanak was criticising were dogmatic religious beliefs, superstitions and propped up distinct identities between communities that, instead of bringing people together, became a source of friction. Unity of the cosmos and everything that was a part of it was his philosophical underpinning. *** It is therefore apt that it is Guru Nanak and his final resting place that has today emerged as a symbol of some sort of normalisation on the Pakistan-India border, one of the most dangerous borders in the world. A visa-free corridor, where there is no Pakistani or Indian, but a devotee of Nanak, would be the ultimate tribute to the first Sikh Guru by both countries. What is even more remarkable is that the site chosen is Kartarpur, where physical traces of this syncretism in the form of a grave and a samadhi are still present. The sanctity of the shrine was upheld by Nanak’s Muslim devotees when it was abandoned and in ruins, while today it has emerged as the ultimate symbol of peace. However, while the corridor might become functional, it is possible that local Muslim devotees of Nanak might be barred from entering. This is what happened at other Sikh gurdwaras in Pakistan that have been renovated and its administration taken over by the Pakistani government. - Haroon Khalid Source-www.dawn.com

Highest Ranking Sikh police officer in Asia retires and win hearts with his thoughts about work

The highest ranking Sikh police officer in Asia, ex-India, retires. The retirement of Malaysian police commissioner Amar Singh Ishar Singh also brings to a close a three-generation run spanning over 90 years in the police force. Though having served a good 35 years in the Malaysian police force, Amar Singh, who retires as the Federal Commercial Crime Investigations Department (CCID) director, says he never worked even for a day. “I did not work a single day in the police force. You work when you’re paid to do something. I did what I like to do and I got paid for it. (In essence) I never really worked even for a single day. “This is the Punjabi spirit. We don’t work. We serve. Whatever we do, we do it with passion, drive and love. You don’t call that work. You can pay, that’s by the way,” he told more a gathered crowd of more than 300 Sikh policemen and community members at a farewell at the Gurdwara Sahib Pulapol in Kuala Lumpur. You can view parts of the event today captured live at Asia Samachar Facebook page. “We are blessed that our parents came up the hard way. My family history in the police force spans beyond 90 years. My grandfather was a policeman. His number was PC2023. He served at Federated Malay States Police (FMSP) in the 1920s. “My mum was born in Raub (in Pahang). She was brought up at Bukit Aman headquarters. My father then joined the police force. “And later so did I. Not that I wanted to be a policeman. I told my dad: even if this is the last job in the world, I didn’t want to be a policeman. Things have changed. You ask me now, I love being in the police force. My 35 years in the force was beautiful, we did good work together.” Amar Singh’s maternal grandfather, Bachan Singh, was a constable who joined the force in the early 1900s. He was reported to have served in Kuala Kubu Baru, Kuala Lipis and Raub, and retired in Klang in the 1940s. His father, Ishar Singh, joined the Federated Malay States Police in 1939, a year after coming to Malaya from Punjab and was a pioneer member of the police jungle squad established during the Emergency, according to a news report. He retired as a corporal in 1971 and died in 1999 at the age of 80.

Humanity above Religion! Sikh girl offers Kidney to her ailing Muslim friend

In a heart-warming episode, a Sikh girl from Jammu, Manjot Singh Kohli, 23, has offered her kidney to her Muslim friend Samreen who is suffering from a kidney ailment and require a transplant to survive. Manjot has offered her kidney to Samreen despite her family having reservations about it and whether it’s God’s wish, she is a perfect match for Samreen. However, despite completing formalities, there are obstacles, the authorisation committee has still not cleared the case "since the father of the donor has made a representation cautioning against removing kidney of his daughter for the transplant". "We can't blame them (family). They are emotionally attached to their kid. I cannot say they are wrong. From their point of view what they are doing is right. But I think rising above the emotions, we should do what God has sent us for. All the relations will stay here and saving life is most important. Plus I am a major and I can take decisions of my own," Manjot told DNA. Hailing from Udhampur in Jammu, Manjot met Samreen four years ago and since then they had been friends. "Since I am a social activist and she used to participate in my activities and we became good friends. Five months back, I read a Facebook status of our common friend about Samreen. I was confused about whether she is the same Samreen. Next day I took the flight to meet her," Manjot who also is the youngest women entrepreneur of the state and chairperson of an NGO 'International Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Council'. -Indiatimes

Gram Panchayat Lana Bhalta honoured by Panchyat Raj Minister and a prize money of 1 lakh

Cleanliness drive in village Lana Bhalta, under the valuable guidance of Baru Sahib Lana Bhalta is a village panchayat located in the Sirmaur district of Himachal-Pradesh state, India. This remote village of Lana Bhalta stood out and proved to be a clean place physically as well as spiritually by the grace of Baru Sahib. And we feel profound honour in announcing that this panchayat Lana Bhalta under the guidance of Baru Sahib has won an Award for cleanliness with a reward of 1 lakh rupees. By breaking all the stereotype that small villages cannot be clean. Baru sahib pays great emphasis on cleanliness and purity, both physically and spiritually at Lana Bhalta. By encouraging clean and hygienic surrounding, health issues can also be helped. It is organized and maintained by sarpanch of Lana Bhalta S. Jagjit Singh of Baru Sahib. it is a great contribution as the new ideas and useful skills are provided by the students of Baru Sahib to help the villagers in making their lifestyle better It restores the ecology with some effective ways : * They make compost from the waste vegetables and fruit peels * They have created a Gobar gas plant which recycles rotten vegetables * They use non biodegradable polythene bags to make bricks And many more ways which assure reduce, recycle and reduce. We are proud on the noble teachings of Baru Sahib and the obedience that these villagers have shown. We look forward to many such achievements.

Akal Academy, Baru Sahib clinches the title of ‘MOST ADVANCED MEDICAL FACILITIES’ BY NATIONAL SCHOOL AWARDS

Akal Academy, #BaruSahib has its own dedicated team of expert doctors, trained graduated nursing and paramedical staff to ensure the health safety of the students. There are well equipped separate infirmaries for boys and girls with round the clock attendance of experienced medical experts and support staff. Ambulance services are available within the campus to tackle any kind of emergencies. All students are mandated to undertake annual medical checkup that keeps check upon the growth charts, BMI for children with abnormal percentile and further advice on how to cope with it. Weekly Sanitary rounds of entire premises is conducted by the dedicated team.

When Guru Nanak Dev Ji questioned the ceremony of wearing sacred thread

When NANAK entered the ninth year it was decided to celebrate the Janeoo sacrament. A janeoo is a cord-hoop, which is woven out of cotton.It is worn round the neck and slung over the shoulder by the upper class Hindus. A day was fixed to perform the ceremony and messages were sent all relatives and friends.All residents of the village were invited to takemeals. Confectioners were called and various types of cooked delicacies were prepared.Pandit Hardayal,the family priest came on the fixed time. For his sitting a specially built platform was prepared it was purified by cow dung plaster.He sat on the platform and drew a line around him.Then he burnt lamp and incense enchanting the mantras drew figures in front of him.Then he took the sacred cotton thread and again chanted the holy hymns.The child Guru was sitting in front of the Pandit.All others relatives and people of the village were sitting all around.The women were sitting on one side and sister Nanaki was sitting in front of all.She was watching the ceremony very curiously. After doing all necessary rites,Pandit leaned forward to place the cord across the shoulder of NANAK.As the ceremony was going to be completed so all the relatives and friends were making themselves ready to congratulate MEHTA KAALU.(FATHER OF GURU NANAK).But all were astonished when they saw Nanak pushing back the thread towards Pandit.He denied to wear the thread and in a logical manner said,”What are you doing with this yarn,first tell me what is use of wearing this thread?” Pandit replied,”This is a sacred thread, it is a symbol of high caste.”But the child Guru was not satisfied by Pandit’s answer.He said,”How can you differentiate men by such worthless threads.A man becomes high by his deeds and actions.How a cruel and wicked man can become a man of upper class wearing such a thread.Besides,this thread will not last long,this thread is soiled with filth and breaks.” But the pandit again tried to persuade him.He said,”You are a Khatri and it is a binding for you to wear the janeoo like all your ancestors.”The Guru smiled and said,”Pandit Ji,you are not coming to the point.This thread is useless because it does not yield any spiritual benefit.You buy a thread for four kauries,then twisting it put on your disciple while sitting on a platform.But when the wearer dies,the thread falls off and the soul departs to the next world without thread.If you want that I must wear a thread, then give me such a thread that should accompany me even to the next world.” When Nanak refused to wear the thread then Pandit asked,”Please tell me how that type of thread can be prepared that accompanies us till to the next world.Then the Guru Nanak recited these lines:- “Make compassion the cotton, contentment the thread, continence the knot and truth the twist.That is true sacred thread of the soul.O PANDIT JI! If you have such a thread then you should put this on me.”

How Guru Nanak changed the way of life of the famous cobbler, Sajjan

There lived a famous robber called Sajjan. He was as cunning of a man as he was cruel. He built a temple full of gods and goddesses for the Hindus and the mosque for the Muslims. “this will lure both Hindus and Muslims to my house,” he said to himself, “and, at night, when they are asleep I shall steal all of their money and jewels and kill them.” One day (Guru) Nanak was passing nearby and decided to spend the night at Sajjan’s house. Sajjan welcomed him warmly and spread out a great feast of tasty dishes before him. but all the time he was thinking, “this man, Nanak looks very happy and content. He must be very rich. Tonight I will rob him of all his money and then murder him. No one will anything about.” At sunset Sajjan began to urge (Guru) Nanak to go to bed early. “it is getting late you look tired,” he said in a voice full of concern for his guest. (Guru) Nanak answered that he always sang a hymn before retiring for the night. Sajjan was getting impatient but he agreed to sit down for a few minutes and listen to (Guru) Nanak. Guru Nanak Dev Ji sang a song he had composed himself: Herons and birds of prey are found in holy places Yet they eat living things; They are beautiful Yet their hearts are evil. Sajjan realized that what (Guru) Nanak said about herons and hawks applied to him too. “What Nanak says it quite true,” he admitted to himself. “I might appear kind and friendly, but I am like these birds Nanak speaks of. Although I do not eat people I do almost the same thing, for I kill them.” He fell down at Nanak’s feet and asked his forgiveness. (Guru) Nanak said, “Sajjan, only God can forgive you. And God only forgives those who admit their sins openly and repair the wrongs they have done. Tell me how many people have you robbed and killed?” Sajjan looked very ashamed. “I have murdered and robbed many hundreds of men, women and children. how would I possibly obtain God’s forgiveness for all my evil deeds?” “Give away all you have gained in this way to the poor.” Guru Nanak Dev Ji said. Sajjan did as (Guru) Nanak had asked and became his follower. The first Sikh temple in India was built by Sajjan the robber, in gratitude to (Guru) Nanak who had changed his way of life. --Dedicatedkaur.blogspot.com