The Hope of Sikhi.
A movement of young Sikhs — in India and across the diaspora — who refuse the false choice between deep roots and global service. Anchored in Sikhi, committed to Sarbat da Bhala — the welfare of all.
A generation of young Sikhs has come of age in a world that asks them, often, to choose. To be modern or rooted. To engage globally or preserve heritage. To assimilate quietly or withdraw inward.
The pressure runs in both directions — from a wider culture that mistakes uniformity for universality, and from corners of our own community that mistake fidelity for fearfulness.
Sikhiyas refuses the choice. A young Sikh today can — and must — be deeply rooted in Sikhi and unconditionally committed to the welfare of every human being and every form of life. The Gurus who built our lineage built it precisely as a refusal of that false choice.
Sikhiyas exists to make that posture available to every young Sikh, in any country, in any circumstance — and to put it to work in service of a world that needs it.
This is not a closing flourish. It is the operating system of Sikhi. We were not given our distinctiveness so we could keep it for ourselves. We were given it so that we would have something to bring to the table when humanity sat down together.
Sarbat da Bhala — the welfare of all — is the test Sikhiyas applies to every action it takes. If a Sikhiyas programme serves Sikh youth alone, it is incomplete. If it serves humanity but neglects Sikh youth, it is deracinated. The work is to do both, in the same act.
Deceptively simple. Inexhaustibly deep. Sikhiyas treats them as the daily practice of every member.
Remember, in your breath and in your work, the One reality that holds everything in being. The young Sikh who forgets Naam is a building without foundation.
Work honestly, with your own hands and mind. There is no honour in inherited entitlement and no shame in any honest labour. Every Sikhiyasi earns their living, and earns it cleanly.
Share what you earn, what you know, what you have. The closed hand cannot hold Sikhi. The programmes that follow are simply ways of practising this at scale.
Concepts from the Sikh tradition that shape how Sikhiyas thinks about the cosmos, politics, society, and the inner posture. Each is a working tool, not a closed doctrine.
The daily, intimate, breath-by-breath instruction in our shared dependence.
The carrier of the line of life across generations and species.
The holder, the nourisher, the one who receives back.
Not weak governance. Not absent governance. A governance whose strength is measured by the smallest guest it shelters as fully as the largest, and that uses its power solely to protect the vulnerable from the strong. The strongest institution is not the one most able to dominate — it is the one most able to protect without dominating.
From Bhagat Ravidas, in the Guru Granth Sahib. A place free of fear, free of exploitation, free of inherited hierarchies of birth, free of second-class citizenship. The institutions of Sangat (community of seekers) and Pangat (the line of equality at Langar) are practical rehearsals of Begampura, performed daily in every Gurdwara.
Guru Hargobind Sahib girded two swords — miri (temporal sovereignty) and piri (spiritual sovereignty) — and asked his followers to hold both. Be in the world fully, with full agency and citizenship; remain anchored fully, with a heart that cannot be bought. The temporal sword must never sever the spiritual one.
Eternal optimism even in adversity. Not naïve cheerfulness — the deliberate refusal to let circumstance define one’s interior horizon. The spirit of those who have been hunted and have still served Langar to the hunter. Despair is a luxury Sarbat da Bhala cannot afford.
The cosmology above is not held only for ourselves. It is offered into the wider human conversation as conceptual Daswandh — a tithing of intellectual and spiritual wealth back to the common pool of humanity. Long before the modern language of climate and biodiversity, Guru Nanak's Japji Sahib gave us a precise teaching: the three life-givers are not resources, they are kin.
The conceptual architecture above translates into specific work. All programmes are governed by a single test: does this serve only us, or does it serve us and the world?
The Sikhiyas–CIEEL Diaspora Seva Scholarship — providing structured internships and volunteer opportunities for NRI, OCI, and international Sikh youth and young professionals aged 16 to 45, with active Seva placements, professional field learning, and cultural reconnection in India.
A global bridge for NRI and OCI Sikh families and individuals to engage in Active Seva and professional learning in India — as purposeful volunteers, interns, and skill-contributing professionals, not as visitors. A return that is not a holiday and not a hostel programme. A structured pathway designed for those who carry their Sikhi in the diaspora and want to put it to work where it began.
For many Sikhs growing up — or settled long-term — outside India, in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, the Gulf, East Africa, across Europe, and indeed wherever Sikh families have made their homes, the question of roots arrives unbidden. For some it surfaces in the late teens or early twenties; for others it returns in mid-career, often as their own children begin to ask the same questions. Parents wonder how to introduce their children to a heritage formed in another geography. Young people, and sometimes not-so-young ones, wonder what their tradition would feel like in the place where it was born.
Sikhiyas was built, in part, for exactly this question. The Diaspora Seva Scholarship offers a structured, mentored, family-transparent pathway: a return to India for active Seva, anchored by professional internships with EduCARE field operations, accompanied by cultural reconnection (Punjabi language, Gurbani study, Gurdwara service, regional immersion), and held inside a recognised institutional partnership.
The point is not nostalgia tourism. The point is that a young person returns home with a recognised certification, a portfolio of meaningful work, the spiritual confidence that comes only from having served, and a deeper relationship with their own tradition than any classroom can provide.
For applicants under 21, this is for parents reading on your child’s behalf. For older applicants, this is for the spouses, partners, and parents who are part of the decision your candidate is making. Either way, the same commitments apply: structured cohort living with experienced mentors, regular video calls and written updates with families, transparent finances and operations, recognised institutional partners (EduCARE, RISHEE, CIEEL, the GlobalPEACE International network). No-one is disappearing into something unstructured. Every Sikhiyasi enters a programme designed by people who have run safe, dignified, transformative Seva programmes for three decades. We treat each candidate as we would treat our own.
Annual grants for Sikhiyas members — in India or abroad — who demonstrate sustained Seva commitment. Recognises young people who have already begun the work and need support to continue. Disbursed by nomination from local Sangats and partner institutions.
For non-Sikh youth from underrepresented communities — in India or internationally — to participate in Sikhiyas exchange programmes. Embodies Manas ki jaat sabai eko pehchanbo: there is one human caste, and our programmes belong to it.
Sikhiyas welcomes participation at three levels of relationship. There is no second-class welcome. At Pangat, we all sit at one level.
Sikh youth, anywhere in the world, who commit to the daily practice of the three disciplines (Naam Japo, Kirat Karo, Vand Chhako) and to the Sarbat da Bhala ethic in their public action. Membership is by sincere commitment, not by birth alone and not by ritual gatekeeping.
Young people of any tradition or none, who recognise the value of the Sikhiyas posture and wish to walk alongside in shared programmes. Friends are not asked to become Sikh. They are asked to honour the rooted-and-universal posture, and to bring their own roots forward in equal measure.
Other youth movements — within the GlobalPEACE International network and beyond — with whom Sikhiyas builds shared programmes on the basis of Sarbat da Bhala and the Radical Center commitment.
I will keep my hair and my heart open.
I will work honestly, share generously, and remember the One.
I will refuse the choice between my roots and my reach.
I will treat the air as my teacher, the water as my father, and the earth as my great mother.
I will recognise the whole of humanity as a single caste.
I will serve where I am needed, and rise even when the day is heavy.
I will hold my Sikhi as a treasure that grows by being shared.
ਸਰਬੱਤ ਦਾ ਭਲਾ
Sarbat da Bhala. The welfare of all. So let it be.
Whether you are a young Sikh in the diaspora, a parent reading on your child’s behalf, an educator seeking partnership, or a movement looking for shared ground — please reach out. A member of the Sikhiyas team will respond within seven working days.
Sikhiyas is a founding member of the GlobalPEACE International network — the pluralistic-universal platform on which constituent partners offer their conceptual treasuries to the common table. The Sikh wisdom we carry is not held only for ourselves; it is offered, freely, into the wider human conversation.
This is what Sarbat da Bhala looks like in the world of ideas.
Visit GlobalPEACE International →