Mr. Speaker, this weekend we celebrated the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh religion. His mission was to create a universal religion of compassion, love, and kindness, and to reinforce that we are all children of the supreme being.
In the late 1400s, when women were severely oppressed, the Guru empowered them and uplifted their status by writing in a Sikh holy scripture that disrespecting women is unacceptable, that within her, man is conceived, from her are born saints and kings.
The three basic principles he taught were to lead an honest life, to help the poor, and to seek God within, by shunning Maya, meaning materialism, and by serving humanity and lifting up others.
The principles of Guru Nanak Dev Ji led to the daily prayer, “Nanak naam chardi kalaa, tere bhane sarbat ka bhala”, where every day a Sikh asks the Almighty for the well-being of all humanity in the worldwide community.