Question...

[ohifwinterends]

What exactly do you call the leader of the gurdwara?

[MokhamSingh]

What exactly do you call the leader of the gurdwara?

The leader of the Gurdwara is SriGuruGranth Sahib Ji Maharajh. The person who reads from SGGS is the Granthi Singh. The person who is the head of the committee that runs the Gurdwara Sahib is called the Mukh sevadaar.

[tuhintuhin]

to add

mukh sewadaar is also called " mahant" at some gurudwaras

person doing katha is "kathavachak or giani "

person doing keertan is "raagi"

[RebelSingh]

i thort it was pardhaan, well watever u call em, theres another word id call em, but the word wud get censored, all over 45+ yr old shud not b allowed in 2 a gurdwara committe, its coz of these grandads or the 'white beard brigade' who have set the sikh community back 30 yrs in UK, they r not catering for the youth or even the community as a whole. Then they start fights in committee conferences for power, coz they think we actually care about them/their status, wen in actual fact we kno dey dont do jack for the sangat, jus their own pockets!

rant over

[MokhamSingh]

i thort it was pardhaan, well watever u call em, theres another word id call em, but the word wud get censored, all over 45+ yr old shud not b allowed in 2 a gurdwara committe, its coz of these grandads or the 'white beard brigade' who have set the sikh community back 30 yrs in UK, they r not catering for the youth or even the community as a whole. Then they start fights in committee conferences for power, coz they think we actually care about them/their status, wen in actual fact we kno dey dont do jack for the sangat, jus their own pockets!

rant over

KhalsaJi

The word Pardhan in Gurbani is used for someone of a very high spiritual avastha , unfortunately not all sevadaars fall into this category.

With regards to certain committee members or leaders we have to accept that they were either elected or selected by the community. In a democracy the majority vote counts. In a democracy a change can only be acquired through election or selection. Maybe more Gurmat parchar can influence people's thinking.

[chatanga]

person doing keertan is "raagi"

not really, kirtani is someone who sings, raagi is someone who has gian/knowledge of raags. The word raagi is dissappearing from sikh shabdavli, as kirtanis are ignoring Guru' s hukam on raags.

[_singhni_]

RebelSingh have you ever had close contact or lived with someone be it family or parent who's the Mukh sevadar?.I take it from your post you haven't. Seriously if the seva is taken up correctly with sangat as main focus and guru mahrajiz orders as a key point the seva takes up 99.99% of your time. Its such a big responsibility that you don't get to attend even your child's birthday, graduation etc because gurdwara sahib has to come first so your always there doing seva/attending meetings. Now your telling someone in there mid 20s-under 45 could make such a big commitment? I doubt it very much. As of your point of them setting the community back; I guess you haven't looked at the bigger picture. Your comment might apply to your area but I know that whilst the person iv used as a example of a mukh sevadar was head of committee gurdwara sahib started up so many new classes/activities for the youth. For example last year 300+ 8-16 year olds attended the annual sikh camp and over 100+ members of sangat have attended santhiya classes, most of whom are youth. As for "for their own pockets", I don't know where you get this idea from but I know the few gurdwara sahibs I attend often that the cost/payments made by gurdwara sahib for bills etc are read out to sangat. Point not all gurdwara sahibs pay committee members, actually I might be bit naïve saying this but I don't know of any gurdwara committee where members get paid as its purely seva.