The Kartarpur Sahib is built in an area where the founder of Sikh religion was born, raised, and buried. This place comes in the list of top three famous shrines of the Sikh community, including Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib, and the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Before the Kartarpur corridor, the Sikh community of India used to come near the border in Dera Baba Nanak, from where the Gurdwara was visible. People used to pray and make their darshan from the Indian border site by just viewing the sacred place of Guru Nanak.
The opening of the Kartarpur corridor has made it easier for the Sikh community to come and visit the Gurdwara without any visa.
What Is The Importance of Kartarpur Sahib?
Guru Nanak settled in this area when he performed his missionary work. The reason for settling here was to start farming for feeding his family. It was in 1515 when he founded Kartarpur town near the Ravi River. He then started working on the fields for creating an environment for the community kitchen that tends to distribute langar.
He also created a proper Sikh commune in this area, where he stay almost 18 years of his life until his death on 22 September 1539. The Kartarpur Gurdwara is also built at the same location where he took his last breath. Hence, it became the second important holiest place for the Sikh community after the Gurdwara Janam Asthan.
It’s a place where Guru Nanak was born, and the area is located in Nankana Sahib in the Punjab region of Pakistan. There were three essential principles Guru Nanak taught the Sikh community, including Vand Chhako, Kirat Karo, and Naam Japo.
The ultimate meaning of these three principles was to work hard for your family to be stable enough to feed them. You should always remember God in every bad and good situation in your life. The last one is to share all of your stuff with others such as food, clothes, etc.
The founder of Sikhism taught to believe in one god, show equal respect to every religion, etc. These are some of the essential and beneficial teachings of Guru Nanak that he put in front of the community in Kartarpur. His teachings and existence in this place became the ultimate reason for its significance in front of every Sikh.
How to Visit Kartarpur Sahib from India?
After the long term demand from the Sikh community of India to allow them a visa-free visit through the Kartarpur corridor, the Pakistan government took the decision to open it for the pilgrims from India to visit this place without any visa through the Kartarpur corridor.
Navjot Singh Sidhu, along with 550 pilgrims, visited during the opening ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor, when the first batch got the chance to experience and perform their rituals in the shrine of Guru Nanak.
Anyone who wants to visit the shrine of Guru Nanak need to fulfill some requirements for entering the Kartarpur corridor. Being an Indian Sikh, you should have a valid passport with you for entry at both sides of the Kartarpur corridor. Other essential things to be submitted online for your entry includes an online application, scanned passport, and passport size photo.
You also need to pay 20 USD fees to the Pakistan Kartarpur entry office for making the trip to the shrine area.
If we talk about the accommodation, almost 5,000 people can come and stay near Kartarpur Sahib for performing the rituals.
10,000 people can daily visit the Gurdwara without any hesitation. The security of Gurdwara is also in the hand of highly specialised forces of Pakistan, which assures every pilgrim to have a great time in Pakistan and pay extra focus on their rituals.
How Kartarpur Sahib became the World's Biggest Gurdwara?
Because the birth and death place of Guru Nanak was located near to each other in the territory of Pakistan, Kartarpur has an important significance among the Sikh.
Another reason for it was the longtime prohibition on the Sikh communities due to the poor relation between India and Pakistan. Many died and didn’t get the chance to visit this place and offer their rituals.
After the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, it has become much more accessible for the Sikh community of India and across the world to come here and enjoy all the upcoming Sikh events in the birth place of Guru Nanak.
After the opening, many people visited the shrine through Kartarpur corridor. Upon the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, many travel and booking apps also offer special Sikh tourism packages plans for the international Sikh community to easily visit this place without having any worries.
The place gained immense popularity as a huge number of Sikhs are visiting this place daily since it has opened.