Educating Youth On Sikhi

[virk30]

i believe the huge reason for sikh youth getting involved in drugs or girls running off with muslims has to do with the fact their is a lack of sikh education

most parants have failed to educate their children on sikhi

so how can we fix this problem

and how can we educate youth on sikhi without ppl judging the youth, cause alot of ppl who try educating sikh youth end up angering many youth by judging them and telling them what to do rather then just educating them and inspiring them

[humkire]

ill cut and paste what i kinda replied to this elsewhere if it help,i.e

lets step up on parchar .

I notice many people on here are younger with various media ,modern technology and computer skills .

Use your computer knowledge ,to spread sikhi through facebook,twitter, through blogs and creating podcasts ,live internet radio and internet tv shows . Every youth camp whether in UK/Canada/USA/Malaysia /Singapore /India has to be broadcast live . When i was 20 ,i did what i could with the technology available then . Now this is your turn . Take up this challenge .We need young sikhs doing degrees in sound engineering ,in music technology ,in music production ,in computer technology etc .

We cannot keep looking back at memories of a glorious past . We need to create a glorious future . A lot of what we need to do does not require much money but instead requires new skill sets . There have to be very actively run Sikh societies in every university ,school and colege and we have to learn to be all connected ,to be united and to work in harmony .

In the main towns such as Southall ,Birmingham we need little stalls in the busy town areas where pamplets on sikhi are handed out especially on saturdays when people are out shopping . We also need amritdharee restaurants ,sikhi libraries ,sikhi bookshops in big towns . We tend to be aggressive towards each other but very pacifist,indifferent and inate when it comes to taking up new parchar.

challenges . Why not stand outside near big clubs like Matter or Fabric in london and hand out little pamplets to any one going in who appears to look sikh in colour or appearance .Maybe we need to be learning a few lessons from the 3HO s too instead of shunning them as to howto cross cultural boundaries in promoting Sikhism . What about a sikh style befrienders helpline number to fone when in trouble. Flyering and pampleting are important too . this indeed is the challenge facing young sikhs .

[virk30]

those are pretty awsome ideas

what are your ideas on using the gurdwara better on educating sikh youth, everyone goes to the gurdwara but majority of us don't know sikhi, how can we make the gurdwara more effective

[sonearyetSOfar]

yeap great ideas, i will take some time to think about the subject and maybe tommorow post my 2 pence.

but for now i will say this, that some people are saying we need to teach more in english cause that's what the youth understand more easily.

I'm sorry but the essence of being a sikh, is taking sedh, direction, from gurbani. understanding gurbani, reading gurbani and vichar of gurbani. It is not the same in english, it's no where near as shudh and the true deep meaning sometimes can't be appreciated due to the background of the language.

Also bani is written, in original form, in gurmukhi. Guru ji speaks to us through gurmukhi. i believe it's much nicer to understand the language of GURU'S MUKH - a unique language - rather than translating it to understand in another language.

I understand for those who's mother is english or whatever and have converted to sikhism, for them translations help greatly and hopefully they can eventually read punjabi and gurmukhi.

so my one main plea would be that the sikh youth are taught punjabi and gurmukhi. Also many parcharaks say that in your home only punjabi should be spoken cause kids will learn english at school and elsewhere anyway, which is a pretty good idea.

vaheguru ji ka khalsa, vaheguru ji ki fateh

[humkire]

Hehe you are wiser than me but anyway since you requested.

To make the gurudwara ...a)help educate youths in sikhi

b)make gurudwara more effective

My views are as following, but im going to have to go back in time to paint a clear picture.

The generation i grew up in( /late 50s/60s/70s)the gurudwaras were characterised by the following ,

a) a high understanding of punjabi and meanings of gurbani

b) however ,it was also a time wen a big rot had started in gurudwaras i.e jaat paat/complacency/ money quarrels/quarrels for positions/materialisticness / compromise betwen religion and culture.

c)a lot of illiterate people who otherwise were successful in money lending ,business etc were in charge of gurudwaras with a new generation growing up educated in english but lacking knowledge of punjabi and sikhi . For this generation gurudwaras became irrelevant, and a lot of this generation grew up becoming professionals etc and relegating sikhi as some minor irrelevant part of their inherited culture .the granthi started becoming more of a 'middleman' like a hindu priest , helping fix ceremonies for rites of passage like birth/marriage/death etc ,these becoming meaningless little understood rituals .

d) gurudwaras started to operate as places to hold religous functions for rites of passage ceremonies rather than places for sikhi and punjabee learning . I remember my childhood consisted of going to a gurudwara every sunday morning either for sumone's death barsee or sumone's marriage , or an akhand paath bhog .

e) granthees were educated in reading and singing gurbani ,not educated intellectually in understanding the different sources of sikh history, or the art of preaching or the art of ''pastoral theology ' etc etc. They were treated bad as some low level employee to be bullied , given little income , but were expected to life up to the highest standards of morality . their views were never sought ,and gurbani teaching was optional . gurudwaras were run as businesses, had huge bank balances in credit but very very unhygienic and dirty toilets .

Against this background ,what is required is;

1)A radical shift in thinking about gurudwara management as the main agent of change to make gurudwaras more amicable as places of learning about sikhi and punjabi. There has to be a shift in balancing the needs of a gurudwara to be a function place for rites of passage ceremonies , and the need for a gurudwara to be an institution for the learning ,promotion , preaching and teaching of Sikhism .

2)Likewise to restore gurudwaras to their pristine purity as a house of God, a gurudwara at its apex should be administered by 5 fully baptised pyaras who are well educated and totally non partisan ,one of which ought to be the granthi/gyani. They in turn can then organise different teams in charge of different operations.

3)A programme has to be instituted for the granthi of that gurudwara to be fully conversant in english/norwegian/french/malay/chinese/etc depending on the national language of the country that gurudwara is located in . Likewise the granthi has to be computer literate ,well connected to going ons around the world and his town . Ideally a person who could be conversing with his sangat on twitter ,facebook ,msn ,yahoo .etc .

4)Specific programmes on specific dates and times targetting youths need to be arranged at the gurudwara which are well publised e.g youth satsangs, punjabi ,gurbani santhiya n xplanations classes ,sangeet etc etc.

5)The gurudwara must also extend facilities to local schools/colleges /universities offering to send ppl to give little talks on Sikhism ,hold an exhibition on Sikhism etc.

6)Easily accessible well stocked libraries are an essential .Wherever possible gym/gatka facuilties to be added . An online and prinited weekly/monthly bulletin from that gurudwara would be helpful.

7) wifi facilities are essential for a lot of different reasons ,including the ability to broadcast going ons in the gurudwara for those who cannot attend .

8)Gurudwaras cannot afford to be seen as community centres answering the needs of a minority 'closed up' community within a population, with a fixed agenda of promoting punjabee culture . Sensible thinking says that a gurudwara is a place for the propagation ,popularisation and promotion of Sikhism in that locality/town or city even to the wider population. This serves 2 purposes ,i.e a greater understanding and tolerance of sikhs in that town ,and b) gives access and creates the possibilty of other races converting to Sikhism.

9)In relation to point 8, a gurudwara has to be an avenue and institution that represents and speaks out not only for Sikh interests ,but also gives the local media the community's feelings over going ons in that town be it crime ,some positive developments etc .

10)Likewise, a gurudwara has to play an active role in helping other institutions key to welfare ,progress and development to flourish . During the Guru's times , Gurujee never just started a gurudwara e.g harmandir sahib ,They also encouraged a town and businesses to develop in that vicinity ,or a colony for lepers(tran taran). A gurudwara in a town has to have 'the ripple effect'' not just close in on itself as a private members club .

Essentially a gurudwara cannot afford to remain a 'stand alone ' sikh institution in a town, dedicated to rites of passage ceremonies . It has to take centre stage ,spearheading ,co-ordinating parchar activities within that town ,acting as the liason between the community and the authorities ,amongst other things. You cannot run it like how you run a democratic goverment with a 2 party system ,constantly at odds with each other . This requires a paradigm shift in our thinking about gurudwaras . Further, constantly changing educational ,socio-cultural,employment and linguistic demographics mean that gurudwaras must have inbuilt levers of change with the flexibility to adapt according to new needs of upcoming generations.

[virk30]

these are awsome ideas

in surrey we got lucky we had a bunch of young guys win the election and take over power of the gurdwara but now the old guys are taking the matter to court, but these old guys well majority of them have let them community down and need to be booted out, especially the once who judge others the once who get up and tell others their bad cause they do this or that and cause their not gursikhs, those dumbasses really need to be kicked out and get ppl who know how to inspire others to be better sikhs rather then piss them off

[humkire]

these are awsome ideas

in surrey we got lucky we had a bunch of young guys win the election and take over power of the gurdwara but now the old guys are taking the matter to court, but these old guys well majority of them have let them community down and need to be booted out, especially the once who judge others the once who get up and tell others their bad cause they do this or that and cause their not gursikhs, those dumbasses really need to be kicked out and get ppl who know how to inspire others to be better sikhs rather then piss them off

wow thats gr8!!wen did you take over?please share the changes brought in since the young naujawans took over . and where is surrey -canada? or the UK one? As part of the new changes are programmes being broadcast via the internet . enlighten me about everything .