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himalayanreview
Power Mamber
Joined: 10 Jul 2006, 15:38
Posts: 2279
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 Army Denies Baba's Retirement, Seals Army Mess GANGTOK, January 10: After the recent controversy about accepting donations at Baba Harbhajan Singh’s Mandir located 14,000 feets above sea level towards Kupup in East Sikkim, the closing of Army mess at Baba Mandir became yet another issue of debate lately. Adding to the it, surprising opinion from Army sources also came up negating the retirement of Baba Harbhajan Singh, scheduled on 30 November last year.
Driven by faith, tourists as well as devotees never left a chance to visit Baba Harbhajan’s Mandir that had turned up to be a coveted tourist destination along with the placid Changu Lake. Local tour operators here at Gangtok expressed being letdown at the decision of closing down the only Army mess near Baba Mandir wherein twice a week (on Sundays and Tuesdays) Baba’s prasad was distributed until recently signifying his blessings.
“No offering of money and now no prasad! At least there should be something that can make us feel that we have taken the glimpse of a holy saint”, said a tourist couple here in Gangtok returning from Baba Mandir today. Local tour operators also opined that Army should re-open the mess.
Infact every thing was fine till September last year when a Public Interest Litigation was filed against collecting donations and the story of Baba Harbhajan Singh by one Subedar Piara Singh, who had retired in 1970 after serving the 1st Sikh Light Infantry Battalion, in the court of GS Dhillon, Civil Judge, against the Defence Ministry through its Secretary, Commandant of Punjab Regimental Center and Records at Ramgarh Cantonment in Jharkhand, Chief of the Army Staff and Commanding Officer of 23 Punjab, asking them to controvert the matter and ensure that such ‘superstitions’ were not advertised through the media in future.
To be away from any kind of financial controversy, Army removed the donation box and no monetary or any kind of offerings were allowed. Likewise, following unknown speculations and against no concrete reasons the Army mess therein was also shut down, informed reliable Army sources today.
Army officials here at Gangtok today also ruled out the general belief about Baba Harbhajan Singh’s retirement as a Captain on 30 November 2006. Contradicting the common knowledge that Baba Harbhajan has retired, the Army sources held that Baba is worshipped as a holy spirit who motivates the Army jawans deployed in rough terrains amid extreme climate.
According to legend, Harbhajan Singh of the Dogra Regiment drowned in a glacier during the 1962 Sino-Indian War. A manhunt was launched to find him and was found three days later and cremated with full military honour. It is said that Harbhajan led the search party to his body and later, through a dream, instructed one of his colleagues to build and maintain a shrine after him.
A shrine was built at his samadhi in the hills. Army folklore holds Baba is a hard taskmaster for discipline and is known to admonish those who do not tow this line. The Indian Army, considering Harbhajan Singh ‘immortal’ and ‘on service’, had been promoted in ranks to a Captain – his spirit believed to be the custodian and sole ‘commander’ for Indian Army at the international border.
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