What I Think Should Be Done

[malkeet]

Firstly, there is too much corruption in a lot of gurdwaras. people spending money for themselves. This is something we are all aware of. We need to make a list of all the gurdwaras which have corrupt commitee members. Once we know how many there are, which ones they are we can do peaceful organised protests outside them. Put pressure to turn them honest. The gurdwara i go to, any1 is welcome to have a look at the accounts, to see how money is being spent. Im persuming all gurdwaras should allow this?

what needs to be done to "combat" extremists whom are trying to convert is that we need to educate our children, brothers and sisters about sikhi. I dont understand punjabi, as do a lot of sikhs nowadays, yet in the gurdwara everything is in punjabi. Ok its getting better with those sikhitothemax translations which are used every sunday. But katha/talks are still done in punjabi.

Let me describe the typical visit to the gurdwara for a mona sikh who doesnt know anything about sikhi, and hardly speaks punjabi. He will walk in, take his shoes off, cover his head, wash his hands cos his dad says its something he is supposed to do. He will be given some money then go into the darbar hall bow before guruji (to him it will just seem like a book) he will go and sit down. Listen to the paath which he wont understand, listen to the katha which he wont understand. eat some prashad and langar then go home and watch tv.

ok maybe thats a slight exaggeration,if i am honest this is what it was like for me and all my cousins cos nobody is religious. infact i am he only one into sikhi.

We should have talks in english because we are living in england. Then a lot of the kids would understand what is being said, they will learn something about their great religion. Translation of the paath should be up as it is being read. Teach some people how to use the sikhitothemax powerpoint stuff.

There should be free leaflets/booklets at the entrance which teach people about sikhisms philosophy,beliefs. how we differ from islam, hinduism etc. perhaps even have the gurdwaras in each city send information/leaflets about sikhi to the houses of sikhs. Everyone should come to the gurdwara not only to worship, but to gain the divine knowledge of the gurus which they passed to us. We need to educate our people, most sikh families whom arent amritdhari know so little about sikhi, about why we do this and that.

anyways i am sorry if i have offended anyone with the things that i have posted, they are just my beliefs from my life experiences. and they are just some ideas as to how to solve it. I really do think education is the key. We dont have to convert, but we have a right to teach and educate those whom come to see guruji about the teachings. Its not good enuogh just to say we hold a weekly sikhi class etc cos half of them wont turn up.

[Wicked Warrior]

He will walk in, take his shoes off, cover his head, wash his hands cos his dad says its something he is supposed to do. He will be given some money then go into the darbar hall bow before guruji (to him it will just seem like a book) he will go and sit down. Listen to the paath which he wont understand, listen to the katha which he wont understand. eat some prashad and langar then go home and watch tv.

This is exactly what I was like up to the age of around 20. Used to go in, didn't really know why I was bowing to a book, sat down for five mins, get up and go out and chat with mates. Have langar and go home. Parents used to send me to Punjabi school. Helps a little bit - enough that I could read Bani (which is what my parents' intentions were) but not enough to understand Bani.

HAd a mate who was Amritdhari but only knew him for a year. Taught me loads about sikhi but then came to uni and kinda got out of it.

Then one day I walked into a Gurdwara and suddenly I could understand the gist of the katha (still don't understand it word for word but enough that it awes me or makes me cry). Only read the Japji Sahib but been reading it for so long that things start to become clear.

The young mind needs to be engaged in the language it knows and uses. If the youth are speaking in English, katha needs to be done partly in English - enough so the youth can understand what is being said. Many times the Gianni would say that children should come to Gurdwara and listen, and that Bani should be read in Gurmukhi and not in English but if the youth can't understand Bani they're not gonna make the effort to learn.

Should meet them half-way. Teach in English, using and explaining important words like Naam, Sangat etc. If Gurdwaras have Punjabi classes to learn Punjabi they should also have Bani/Sikhi classes to teach Sikhi.

Do it bit by bit like Guru Maharaj did. He didn't demand five heads as soon as he came here. Instead he spread the Word and slowly formed the followers into great warrior-saints.

[Bundha]

I would totally agree, but we are so stuck with the committee people, until this is sorted out what can we do. They are sat on their "kursies" and have super-glued themselves in. There seems to be so much infighting that we are not tackling the real issues.

Also, I think that every Gurdwara should appoint a Sewadharni (female) and she should have a small office of her own and any person especially young bibia who have any concerns should be able to voice their concerns - about themselves of about their friends - and then maybe a team of three members (1M 2F or 2F 1M) should follow up the concerns to go meet the person in question. We lack a support system, we need to be proactive rather then run around like headless chickens once the damgae has been done.

This needs to be Gurdwara led, it is too difficult for individuals.

[malkeet]

exactly i was the same. Even though all of my life i have loved sikhism, and always asked my uncle to tell me stories about the guru's lives, the fact that i couldnt speak punjabi or understand anything in the gurdwara really hindered my progress spiritually. waheguru blessed me by introducing 3 religious friends into my life when i went to university who taught me A LOT about sikhi. And the gaps i filled in with the internet. However i still have a long way to go! but i look at all of my sikh friends, family members and they all know so little about sikhi, and i know a lot of people at university and have a huge family.

if we could just teach everyone about sikhi, put all the basics onto a leaflet, booklet. which is free and they could pick up as they leave or something. I think it would make a huge difference. I am considering doing this seva for my local gurdwara, but for it to be a success it needs to be widespread across the uk, i have no idea how to organise and implement such a scheme.

any advice would be appreciated sangatji

and thankyou for both of the posts in this thread so far

[wjkk wjkf]

These are brilliant ideas jio's! Nice to hear some ppl wanna be proactive :lol: If the problem is implemetation I have a few ideas...it will take time for the coortup to leave or reform...so i think til then we can do benti and ask if we can hold parchaar classes for the youth on a certain dayy- be it to teach bani or just sikhi - i dont think the committees will say no and if they do - hold em in your house! Get a group of youths and even elders together and start classes... If we start small but think big things will surely get done :| I also have trouble with my Punjabi - english is a LOT easier and I'm 100% sure will bring more people into Sikhi - Guruji didnt just speak/write in Punjabi/Gurmukhi they knew persian, urdu, sanskrit, hindi cos these were the languages of the lands

[britiah sikh lad]

Garem Parchar all the way is the only way backed up with fact of whats going on.

[Sarbloh]

Garem Parchar all the way is the only way backed up with fact of whats going on.

I think Parchaar is the easy bit. What's lacking is Jeevan (the lifestyle), i.e. following, accepting and implementing the parchaar. In my opinion that's where the Khalsa support network needs to focus on. We can all become those amazing parcharaks, write powerful postings, make great youtube video but if we do not implement our own parchaar into our own lifestyles than we will always be viewed upon as hypocrites. And it's usually the practice of hypocrisy that makes people question a religion.

Instead of looking for the role models, we need to become the role models!

[britiah sikh lad]

No holds bar.

When partion took place they would stab a pregnent sikh women. Anyone got any pictures of this

or illistrations ??

[wjkk wjkf]

^say what?

[Sarbloh]

No holds bar.

When partion took place they would stab a pregnent sikh women. Anyone got any pictures of this

or illistrations ??

British Sikh Lad,

I do think you have an agenda of further encouraging the animosity between Sikhs and Muslims. I really don’t think taking this route achieves the desired outcomes as all we do is create a common enemy to pass blame and cloud the real issues.

In my view, as Sikhs we make little attempt to engage ourselves in Gurmat discussion to make us understand how Gurbani relates to our everyday life. If we do not understand this and fail to relate Sikhi to our own lives, then we are always exposed to people from islam etc coming and confidently promoting their belief. Most Muslims, from orthodox to less orthdox, vocally talk about their religion, study their history and learn/quote their scriptures. As time goes by they become exceptionally fluent in their religion, which is something that the majority of us are definitely weak at. Only through consistent dialogue and discussion will we know how to respond confidently and fluently when others try and put doubt in our own minds.

Not only should we engage oursleves more with veechar and parchaar but we should not naivly assume we are going to be fine by simply learning Punjabi, keertan, and attending the odd saheedi kirtan darbar or beadbi protest/rally/vigil. We really do need to understand what purpose Sikhi has in our lives.

We Sikhs do not talk enough about Sikhi between ourselves let alone the outside world. We shy away from openly showing our rehat. We want to completely blend in with society and fear to remain distinct. We dilute what we can in order for our own convenience. All these things play a part in our current feeling of vunerability.