Gurudwara Nagina Ghat Sahib

The Gurudwara NaginaGhat Sahib is located beautifully on the banks of the Godavari river. The location adds to the peace and beauty of the place and is therefore one of the most sought after place of worship for the Sikhs. Guru Gobind Singh had spent considerable time here and had discussed in detail about the religion and opened the eyes and minds of the common public to focus on more divine pleasures than wasting time on worldly pleasures.

History

There is an interesting story that is associated with this place and why the name of Nagina Ghat. Guru GobindJi used to have religious discourses with his disciples and other people on a regular basis. On one such day they were all involved in a serious discussion on the banks of the river Godavari. They were overlooking the river and talking about the religious aspects of life and the inner calling.

One rich merchant approached the group and presented a jewel called Nagina to boast of his wealthy status. Guru Gobind just threw the jewel into the river. When an agitated merchant questioned the Guru on why he threw such a valuable jewel in to the river, the Guru was not disturbed even a bit. This was the moment he was going to instil in the merchant a very valuable lesson for life. For the others it was a moment of revelation of great lessons for a lifetime. So he very calmly stated that if the merchant considered the jewel to be valuable he could dive into the river and claim it.

The merchant just plunged into the river and that was his point of realisation in life. He found the river bed to be full of many more precious gems and jewels and what he offered the Guruji was nothing. He then realised that there are no many invaluable treasures and his wealth was nothing when compared to all his wealth. His ego was wounded and pride just left him. He just completely surrendered at the feet of the Guru and accepted his mistake.

The Gurudwara that stands here today in memory of Guru Gobind Singh teaches the pilgrims greater values in life and how to reach the height of spirituality. In the modern day world where most of us are extremely busy and are running behind materialistic pleasures and this incident is a simple yet powerful lesson that applies to even the current day scenario. Just like the rich man who achieved enlightenment that led him to the path of righteousness, most of us also need to understand what the more important things in life are and those that we should not be focussing our energies on.

The Gurudwara that stands today is a structural excellence and was built by Raja Gulab Singh Sethi who was a native of New Delhi. Though the work for this Gurudwara was started much earlier, the final completion took much longer. The fine architecture seen in this Gurudwara could have taken longer time than planned and therefore the final completion was in 1968. Raja Gulab Singh had passed awayby then and his wife took the ownership of finishing this place of worship and she fulfilled her husband's desire of dedicating this to the Sikhs.

The Gurudwara's structure as it stands today deserves special mention due to its magnificent architecture. There are two floors that make up the Gurudwara. On the river bank of Godavari stands the Gurudwara NaginaGhat Sahib, which is made in pure white marble. The ground floor houses the idol of Guru Granth Sahib. There is a single room structure in the first level, just above the place where Guruji is seated and this leads to the roof directly.

How to Reach

• By Air - Nanded airport - Shri Guru Gobind Singh airport is the closest to this Gurudwara. Mumbai and Hyderabad airports are 480 and 250 km respectively.
• Sachkand express connects Nanded directly to Amritsar - but there are other trains connecting to important cities as well. In general Nanded as good rail connectivity.
• Most major cities like Aurangabad, Pune and Mumbai and other parts are all well connected by road to Nanded.

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