Jaswant Singh Neki - Religious Activities

Religious Activities

Belonging to a devout religious family Dr Neki has always evinced keen interest in religion. Like his family, he also has unbigoted, liberal views. During his student life, he became President of the All India Sikh Students Federation and organized training camps for the Sikh youth in the Sikh lore. He has produced two authentic books. One is Ardas – Darshan, Roop te Abhias which has been evaluated as an 'all-time classic'. The second one, Vishva Ardas, is a collection of over 300 prayers from different religious groups, tribes and communities of different times and places, translated into Punjabi verse.This has been called "a landmark piece of work". Commissioned by Guru Nanak Dev University, he wrote The Spiritual Heritage of the Punjab which traces the evolution of spiritual thought and practice from the pre-Aryan times up to Guru Gobind Singh. Lately, he has produced an exquisitely produced book Pilgrimage to Hemkunt that compares with high international standards.

For several years, he has been a member of the Dharam Prachar Committee of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, the elected body that administers Sikh shrines. He was honoured with 'Order of the Khalsa' Award on the 300th Anniversary of the Khalsa, celebrated in Anandpur Sahib on 13 April 2000. He has represented his community at various international forums including The Parliament World Religions 1993, Unesco Conference on Religion and World Peace 1998, Unesco Center Catalunya Conference on Universal Ethics 1998, World Thanksgiving Conference 1999

In 2001, he received the Giani Lal Singh memorial award for his work in the field of poetry.