Daswandh - Giving To The Gurdwara

[Balait_da_Sher]

In olden days, sikhs used to say to Guru ji, Guru ji everything is yours so what can i give you? All the sins that i have commited are mine, which i give to you. Now days we put money in the golak, we do ardas and give money for parshad, langar, building funds and think thats our ticket to heaven. The question is

Are we really giving? OR are we just investing? because all this money comes back to us in the form of Langar, Better Gurdwara facilities, Programs etc.

So what is the purpose of Daswandh? What is Daswandh?

Guru Nanak dev ji said "Dassah nahooha di , Kirat karo" (do honest work with 10 fingers/nails - both hands)

As sikh we have been taught that sikhs are supposed to give 10% of their earning. Where do we give this money to? Myself and most of you guys give what we can to the Gurdwara and we say thats Daswandh. In my opinion we are just investing in ourselves.

I think daswandh (Das Vand?) - Distribute (vand) the earnings earnt through honest labour of Das (10 fingers)

We ( in my gurdwara) have a concept of Membership, everyone who has left highschool has to become a member and pay £10 monthly :| In my opinion thats nothing but still a lot of people make excuses while paying. This money goes toward langar, Gurdwara maintenance etc. I can guarenttee that none of this money is yet to be spent on any community improvement program.I dont mean sikh community, i am talking about the community we live in, Feeding the homeless etc. When ever there is a natural disaster, then commettee members get up on the stage and ask for donations. Then this money that is collected is sent to relevant charities.

So to me daswandh should be money + effort that is not going to directly be spent on improving one's self. By not spending money that is sitting in Gurdwara bank accounts on projects that really make a difference such as Drung awareness in india, we are collectivly making the situation worse and in the end it will come back to haunt us. Small problems such as Gwandia da munda has become a druggie might seem small at the time but over time these problems become so uncontrolable that it comes back to us. The neighbour's son who became a druggie and who we broke all ties with, one day will rob us or murder us for his next fix. So all these issues that we seem to ignore will effect us in one way or another.

So the point of this post / topic is to generate discussion on how should we as sikhs spend our money that we think should be used for religious purposes. Do we simply give it to the Gurdwara commettees or do we make sure it is used in a worth while cause.

So lets discuss

What is Daswandh?

What is the purpose of it?

What should it be used for?

finally it would be interesting to know how much money people give to the Gurdwaras per month/ year.

Also check out

http://www.sikhgiving.com/drugs/index.html

The link doesnt seem to work for me as i just got new broadband, i wonder if anyone else is having problems.

[curious_man]

Heera Singh ji (scarborough wale) once told me ..

tht dasvandh is not just giving 10% of ure earnings...but its also atleast to dedicate 10% of 24 hrs (tht is abt 3hrs) to pray and kirtan!!

nevertheless..more simran, paath, kirtan, the better!!

and its ok to give to gurudwaras...yeah valid point , its like inviesting....

its much better to give to the needy..to the charity or or give to pingalwara...

wahegurooooooooooo

[PuNjaBan]

Good topic Balait_de_Sher ji

So in response to your questions (my opinion of course):

What is Daswandh?

- In laymen terms it simply means – Giving. Whether its in the form of money, doing seva, donating clothes etc. basically any kind of offering where others can benefit from it.

What is the purpose of it?

- We do it in hopes of helping others esp. those who need it the most. Or even to help Sikhi prosper in any way possible.

What should it be used for?

- Same as above. This question is soo broad though, ok yeh the most common way we see it being utilized is in Gurdwara maintenance. While some may do it just to compete w/other Gurdwaras but that is also where Guru ji resides (in its physical form-SSGS) so I would personally want to make that location as pleasant as possible for Guru Ji and for those who come to visit (sangat). Yup, some things maybe of material value and maybe viewed as unnecessary, but when you love someone so much (in our case Babaji) some people do things in excess only out of pyaar. Anyway, so what should Dasvandh be used for? I can write a thesis paper on that.

finally it would be interesting to know how much money people give to the Gurdwaras per month/ year

- Really hard to say, sometimes I go 3/month and then there are months where I don’t go at all. But if you want to give, give with an open heart – don’t cloud your thinking w/”oh I wonder how my $$ will be used”

Oh and I am having no issues what so ever accessing http://www.sikhgiving.com/drugs/index.html ... its just you :| nice to see you guys got that site back :wub:

Ohhh I spotted another question:

Do we simply give it to the Gurdwara commettees or do we make sure it is used in a worth while cause.

I know there is no way for me alone to confirm where Dasvandh is going, but I do get a monthly income statement from the Gurdwara I attend which I study often and do a comparison to see if they simply plug in the same numbers from the previous month(s) but nope I actually see all kinds of different costs being incurred (i.e. April – kitchen expense was way higher than normal – my reasoning – most likely cuz of Vaisakhi). So this is sufficient for me, though it doesn't confirm much but works for me. I dunno, it depends on the individual re. your question.

[sikhlionz]

Dasvandh by definition means not only do we provide the finances but we have a duty as Sikhs to ensure it reaches those who need it most.

We provide money to Gurdwaras whose committees are more pre-occupied with extending the building than serving the community. No offence but issues like that raised on article:

http://www.sikhsangat.org/publish/article_1169.shtml

occur because we don't have the time to make a real difference so we just throw money at groups doing something we perceive as positive rather than ensuring our most important issues are tackled effectively. better to give $1 which will reach the needy than $100 that wont. why bother giving money without the compassion/effort?

To make a real difference we need more open and transparent organisations and we need to take the time out to fulfill our duty of ensuring it actively helps the needy. SikhGiving.com is a very very good step in the right direction and we should support such causes where we can see 100% of the dasvandh reaching the needy.

[PuNjaBan]

I don't mean to sound arrogant but how can the general public be certain that 100% of the dasvandh will reach this cause in one way or another? And the question doesn't just apply to Sikhgiving, how can we confirm that all charitable donations are being utilized/consumed 100% in the proper way? We can’t. Unless we directly partake in allocation of the funds raised, no one REALLY knows if 100% of the dasvandh is going towards the rightful cause.

Ohh BTW, will I get a tax receipt if I make a donation on Sikhgiving?? :|

[sikhlionz]

Thats precisely the point i was making and in the first instance its best to provide the dasvandh yourself however moorakhs like me dont have the time or effort to do so. i'm way too lazy to travel hundreds of miles to india and distribute dasvandh or start a project to encourage people to stop taking drugs. so people like me should only provide dasvandh though organisations that can be trusted. the point being made was that traditionally our community has been providing finances to groups PROVEN to be unreliable. we need organisations to be more open and transparent and Sikh Giving is certainly a step in the right direction particularly as proof of donations and pictures of the project enfolding are uploaded on the website. SikhGiving team are taking care of their own personal expenses such as ride, stay and food during the project and SikhGiving is not active in political affairs.

[PuNjaBan]

Define "trusted" organisation. Not all Gurdwara committee's are tainted you know.

So who exactly is Sikh Giving team comprised of? out of curiosity.

[sikhlionz]

an organisation you trust - each of us individually has to consider how and where to provide dasvandh as we remain responsible for it. i wasn't referring to all committees but there is a widely reported trend taking place with some committees doing very highly questionable acts with finances provided by sangat. For more information on SikhGiving please visit their site and get in contact.

[PuNjaBan]

Ok, thanks for replying. Nah I just thought you maybe personally involved with Sikh Giving, I do frequent that site.

SikhGiving team are taking care of their own personal expenses such as ride, stay and food during the project

When I read this I thought to myself well this applies to the caretakers of the Gurdwara too.