Bhai Kanhaiya who spent 28 years in serving the wounded and the sick three centuries ago lived to be 70 when life expectancy in those days was less than half that. So were his successors who lived long lives too. What was the secret? There is a hint in the life style of these men.

In a battleground where Guru Gobind Singh was in war with the Mogul rulers to protect the people of faith, a Sehaj-dhari Sikh, Bhai Kanhaiya, attended the troops of the enemy. He gave water to the injured, which revived their strength. Some of them began to fight again and seemed to cause problems to the Sikh warriors. Sikh soldiers brought Bhai Kanhaiya before the Guru, and complained of his action that they considered counterproductive to their hard work in the battle filed.

"What were you doing, and why?" asked the Guru. "I was giving water to the wounded because I saw your face in them," replied Bhai Kanhaiya.

The Guru responded, " Then you should also give them ointment to heal their wounds. You were practicing what you were coached in the house of the Guru." In love of altruism, is there any room for hatred or duality?

It was under the tutelage of the Guru that Bhai Kanhaiya subsequently founded a volunteer corps for altruism. This volunteer corps till to date is engaged in doing good to others and trains new volunteering recruits for doing the same.

Bhai Kanhaiya's successors who continued the tradition of serving others and who committed their lives to service of the sick and wounded lived longer than usual life spans. For example, his next successor (Sewa Ram, 1728) lived to be 70. Next to him, Bhai Bhalla Ram (1879) lived to be 158. Bhai Jagata Ji died at the age of 71 (1811); Bhai Hazuri ji (1826) served until the age of 70; Bhai Sahai Ram lived to be 76 (1844); Bhai Ralaya Ram served until the age of 85 (1870). Their successors, Bhai Lakshmi Dass was 73 when he breathed his last (1908), Bhai Gulab Singh was 79 (1950), and Bhai Asa Singh served until age 81 (1974).

Bhai Kanhaiya’s successors were not related genetically in order to account for their exceptional longevity. Rather they were volunteers from the Sikh organizations who committed their lives to serve the sick; first they did it themselves and then they recruited others to do the same. All of them defied the recorded longevity norms of the time for a long span of over three centuries.

Sikh history is replete with examples of unusual longevity of the serving Sikhs. In modern times, Bhagat Puran Singh of Amritsar is another example. While serving the crippled and diseased, Bhagat lived among the sick and infected, but lived to be 88. No death- causing organism injured his life. Those who worked with him described him healthy, content, and cheerful.

Among many physical benefits of helping others is included significant improvement in human longevity of the individuals practicing altruism. All of the known helpers of others are reported to live longer than their counterparts in every society. They include those living in the contemporary time and those who lived in the past if their life span and life habits could be traced accurately. In every case, those engaged in the service of the sick and helpless lived far longer than the average life span of the population around them. This is true across culture and across continental boundaries.

Longevity is determined by many factors, freedom from disease and stress are two such factors. The altruists were certainly observed to live calm and tranquil lives. For Sikhs, altruism was made an act of faith by their founders.