The Role Of The Dharamsala/gurudwara?

[Akaal Purakh Di Fauj]

Wahegurujikakhalsawahegurujikifateh

What do you think the role of the Dharamsala/Gurudwara Sahib is?

What was the intended role as per puratan literature?

What changes can we make as individuals to allow it to achieve these goals?

Wahegurujikakhalsawahegurujikifateh

[N30S1NGH]

1. Same role it was for 22 manjiya located in all across India back in guru's time for Parchar and bhai dya singh duty of atamik vichar among sangat in sooraj parkash granth.

2. Learning gurbani, adhyatam and actually more question and answers to clear doubts..interestingly if you notice lot of puratan literature such as bhavrasamrit/adhyatam parkash, suraj parkash granth and even off course in gurbani gyan parbodh, akaal ustat among others have lot of questions and answers given in some poetic form and in some straight question/answers form.

3. No drastic change, start from where you want..start with good pure intentions even in small tent .. start off with ardas of maharaj, guru maharaj itself will make it grow full fledge dharamsala ..actually i like concept of budda dal chauni/chakarvarti better...just like that no fix address of dharamsala..make it mobile dharamsala on wheels on big bus or rv... stop wherever one want to do parchar.. basic of sikh channel started with an concept now look at its turned to reality and huge success by guru maharaj kirpa..!!

[Akaal Purakh Di Fauj]

Wahegurujikakhalsawahegurujikifateh,

Really love your posts neo veerji - thank you once again.

So essentially centres of learning...Gurmat maryada, dharm vidiya, brahmgyan, shaster vidiya, jang vidiya, raajneeti...

How many of us can honestly say our local Gurudwaras are like this?

Where/when did things go wrong?

Wahegurujikakhalsawahegurujikifateh

[N30S1NGH]

I have no hopes for gurdwaras these days and have no desire to change old tribal ways of our leaders,..we must focus on task at hand, more focus on negative in gurdwaras will make us bitter and loose our focus, there is no point changing gurdwaras..start your own individual parchar with good/pure intentions with ardas infront of guru maharaj..and guru maharaj will make it flourish...every gurdwaras in west started off very small like place as small as tent..if you want good pratical example...seek inspiration from basic of sikh bhaaji which turned negative lack of parchar gurdwara into positive role by using internet as medium as parchar as far real life place goes...start from everywhere and anywhere. ..!!

[Akaal Purakh Di Fauj]

Wahegurujikakhalsawahegurujikifateh,

If you wanted to 'setup' a darbar sahib at home - essentially a room for pothi sahibs/to do abhiyaas/kirtan/simran - how would one go about doing this? What things would you need? Where can you get these from?

Wahegurujikakhalsawahegurujikifateh

[S1ngh]

Gurdwara sahib should have one simple goal and that is keep sangat together and attached with gurbani.

They are ok in putting sangat together by having various events such as nagar Kirtan but mostly they fail to help sangat in making link with gurbani/waheguru.

In my personal viewpoint I think gurdwara sahib should have qualities of both taksal (katha/saantjiyaa) and akj ( naam sinran/Kirtan).

[VanHelsingh]

Gurdwara sahib should have one simple goal and that is keep sangat together and attached with gurbani.

They are ok in putting sangat together by having various events such as nagar Kirtan but mostly they fail to help sangat in making link with gurbani/waheguru.

In my personal viewpoint I think gurdwara sahib should have qualities of both taksal (katha/saantjiyaa) and akj ( naam sinran/Kirtan).

It's become almost corporate hasn't it? Very soulless, almost like going through the motions. It's only when a class kathavachak turns up with a bit of fire in his belly does the sangat get going.

What do we expect when the decision-makers and the people who pull the strings in the Gurdwara are men in suits concerned with committee politics, etc?

[Wicked Warrior]

It pains me much to say this, and I know I will only increase the burden on my head, but the Gurdwaras I've known have been run by "committees" who are only interested in themselves. Guru Ji is treated as a second class citizen. Many of them are not Amritdharis and have no qualms about going home to eat meat and drink alcohol. When we have people like this running the Gurdwara, how will they ever achieve success?

In some ways, I liked what Baba Nand Singh Ji did - he did not allow anyone to handle maya in the sangat. If food was needed, it was brought from home by sangat. These "taaths" were for the spiritual side of Sikhi. It was an extreme but it helped discipline the mind.

I would prefer the Gurdwara to be run by Panj piare. Maybe have ten in total so one group on/ one off. It would allow for 24 hr running of Gurdwara. There should be shelter and washing facilities so even homeless people could use it. One could come to listen to Bani, do paath, learn to read Bani, learn to sing Bani, learn gatka/fighting, do seva etc.

In some ways, you'd need to have fewer Gurdwaras so you could concentrate more efforts into one place.

Oh and I'd stop the idea of giving saropas for everything - birthdays, being born, good luck etc. In the olden days, it would only be given to those who had contributed a lot to Sikhi.

[S1ngh]

Agree with both of the above replies. Sometime i think democracy (voting) does not work in our gurdwara system. How can we expect a gurmat committee if 80% of gurdwara sahib visitors/sangat are patits. Same applies with SGPC elections etc. Temporary it maybe working in many areas as first generations patits do feel that cutting hair is against gurmat and votes/support gurmukh for election purposes. However, what will happen when our future generation who may not feel any remorse/guilty about being patit.

Also study need to be conducted on flourishing of dera inside Punjab and learn something from that. Why deras of ram rahim or beas are flourishing and why gurdwaras are empty in many pinds? Maybe stuff that suppose to happen inside gurdwara (stuff that wicked warrior mentioned in above reply) are happening in deras. Sooner or later Deras will also end with all its glory and popularity because of feuds and panj evils. We need to have what "positive" dera is doing in local gurdwaras. - such as effective cost-free hospital(s) being managed by beas dera.

SGPC is root problem for all of this. They are too busy in conduction elections, visiting local programs where people give them money/support. They should be focusing on such topics/issues. Gurdwara will do good for panth if there is ONE universal by-laws or guidelines created by SGPC/Akal Takth. If they are too lazy then they should copy/cut/edit/paste same policies as of Catholic church system on how to monitor/setup gurdwara management.

[VanHelsingh]

I honestly don't know what kind of Gurdwaras some of you fellas attend, but never in my life have I seen people with cut hair responsible for the running of any type of Gurdwara I've been to. :blink2: