Gurdwara Designs

[Guest jigsaw_puzzled_singh]

As structural buildings go, the Sikh Centre of Ealing has taken the 'fab' out of 'prefabricated'. This one won't be winning any awards:

[Guest jigsaw_puzzled_singh]

On ‎7‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 8:34 PM, Guest Haridas said:

i disagree that is has 'always been' that.  this is a modern attitude.  and a lamentable one in imo.  Gurdwaras usually have separate societies/halls for that community stuff.

and to "hear what's going on"?  what do you mean? if its religious message ("next week is Guru Janam Divas" or "we need more sevaks in the kitchen") that can be made quickly by someone just standing up for 2 mins.  by putting a podium there you are inviting 'lectures'. 

 

No you misunderstand the point completely Haridas. I'm talking about the vital social cohesion that a Gurdwara provides a fragmented Sikh community outside of India. In the UK particularly most Gurdwaras started their life as Indian Workers Associations and indeed if you look at the articles of associations even toady many of the old ones are still registered with the charities commission as such. 

And, when we talk about 'whats going on' we are having a discussion about the committee presidents standing behind the podiums telling us about 'whats going on'. 

[Guest Paapiman]

11 hours ago, lostconfussedsingh said:

I really really hate going to the gurdwara a lot nowdays. 

 

When people say oh go to the gurdwara and meet sat sangat etc i think that person is off their head as i feel like it is hell being in a gurdwara where i have sit like a statue where i can't sit freely as i have to sit in a crossed leg position.

 

The people annoy me a lot which makes me want to slice and cut their heads open as i always look at the persons throat when i am angry anmoyed.

 

The people in the langar act like dogs fighting over a bone when you ask for a refill. Which makes me mad when i go there that i want to spit on their faces breads and urnitae on it.

 

The ardas is so long and boring that i have to stand as a pole for some ritual that just bores me to death standing there. 

 

Go to a Gurudwara at Amrtivela. The sangat is usually less at that time. Sing kirtan with concentration, love, etc, along with the Ragis. You can open up the shabad on your smart phone and follow along.

Don’t pay too much attention to what other people are doing inside the Gurudwara. Find a location, where there is less sangat and try to do mental Jaap (or Jaap at a very low volume) as much as you can.

If you don’t like standing during Ardas time, then go outside (before Ardas begins), have some fresh air and then come back inside the darbar. By that time, Ardas should be done.

Above all, why don’t you go and meet a Gurmukh Mahapurakh? He might give you some tips to improve your mental condition.

 

Bhul chuk maaf

[Guest jigsaw_puzzled_singh]

Bangla Sahib, Delhi

Distortion of Gurbani is a serious accusation to make against our people  so I won't make it. But what I will say however is that there is a general lack of understanding. "Mann nivan......Matt uchchi" (simple living and high thinking).  Guru expected us to be at least clever enough to understand how to marry those two concepts. Alas, we can't even get that right 

They take the beautiful white marble interior walls of Bangla Sahib Gurdwara (the way they were meant to be and historically always were) and think to themselves "we need to make these walls and pillars look more like a gay caberet singer's extravagent and fabulous ballroom" so they cover the beautiful white marble with gold. The barstardos !!!  

 

 

When the great Sikhs of before built Bangla Sahib Gurdwara they built it a certain way for a reason. It's use of white marble was exquisite and, from an art and architecture point of view, people would marvel and comment about it's marble artwork:

To possess such beautiful marble art and architecture, let it slip through our fingers because we're too thick to see it and cover it with gold the way a gay Bombay drag queen would cover her apartment is testament, I think, to just how low we have such on an intellectual level.

[puzzled]

On 10/5/2018 at 9:19 AM, Guest jigsaw_puzzled_singh said:

Bangla Sahib, Delhi

Distortion of Gurbani is a serious accusation to make against our people  so I won't make it. But what I will say however is that there is a general lack of understanding. "Mann nivan......Matt uchchi" (simple living and high thinking).  Guru expected us to be at least clever enough to understand how to marry those two concepts. Alas, we can't even get that right 

They take the beautiful white marble interior walls of Bangla Sahib Gurdwara (the way they were meant to be and historically always were) and think to themselves "we need to make these walls and pillars look more like a gay caberet singer's extravagent and fabulous ballroom" so they cover the beautiful white marble with gold. The barstardos !!!  

 

 

When the great Sikhs of before built Bangla Sahib Gurdwara they built it a certain way for a reason. It's use of white marble was exquisite and, from an art and architecture point of view, people would marvel and comment about it's marble artwork:

To possess such beautiful marble art and architecture, let it slip through our fingers because we're too thick to see it and cover it with gold the way a gay Bombay drag queen would cover her apartment is testament, I think, to just how low we have such on an intellectual level.

The only gurdwareh that get away with gold interiors, and look beautiful, are harmandir sahib and hazur sahib, because they were done by actual artists from the royal darbar of maharaja ranjit singh. All these other gurdwareh look really gaudy with their golden interiors. 

Whats sad is that when i went bangla sahib a few years back, i was shocked with the rows and rows of delhis homeless people sleeping with ripped blankets on the main road leading to bangla sahib and outside the gurdwara too. How can covering walls of a gurdwara with gold be a priority when there is so much poverty at your door step. Would guru harkrishan ji covered his house in gold or would he of used that wealth to feed the poor?  

[puzzled]

Tarn taran sahib gurdwara is also very beautiful. I'm pretty sure it was built during the Sikh empire, it has that vibe, it doesn't have that gaudy modern gurdwra look. 

I still havnt been tarn taran sahib      

apart from the 2 domes at the front either side of the big dome in the center, the building appears pretty much the same

[Guest jigsaw_puzzled_singh]

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Tarn taran sahib gurdwara is also very beautiful. I'm pretty sure it was built during the Sikh empire, it has that vibe, it doesn't have that gaudy modern gurdwra look.

Yes you're right Puzzled although......it looks like that SGPC committee member with a fetish for clocks has been there too and this time he's gone all casio digital on us !   Seriously someone needs to stop that man....They're drilling into these beautiful historic marble walls willy nilly in order put dentist waiting room clocks up !

[Guest Haridas]

On 7/21/2018 at 10:42 AM, Guest jigsaw_puzzled_singh said:

No you misunderstand the point completely Haridas. I'm talking about the vital social cohesion that a Gurdwara provides a fragmented Sikh community outside of India. In the UK particularly most Gurdwaras started their life as Indian Workers Associations and indeed if you look at the articles of associations even toady many of the old ones are still registered with the charities commission as such. 

And, when we talk about 'whats going on' we are having a discussion about the committee presidents standing behind the podiums telling us about 'whats going on'. 

please spare me this 'sociology textbook'' nonsense.  the 'charities commision' stuff is just for accounting purposes for the "paise" (money).  Gurdwara is a religious (spiritual) place not a place for 'fragmented Sikh community outside of India' whatever you intend that to mean.

theres no podium in Harimandir Sahib, for example.

[Guest Haridas]

does not matter what it looks like, only about the spiritual atmosphere.  i rather go to a shack like the Ealing Gurdwara if it has a spiritual vibe then a 'palace' with 'social concerns'. 

also, as for the communist /socialist "why don't they feed the poor instead?"- why don't you feed the poor?  what is stoping you?

[Guest jigsaw_puzzled_singh]

On 10/15/2018 at 5:38 PM, Guest Haridas said:

does not matter what it looks like, only about the spiritual atmosphere.  i rather go to a shack like the Ealing Gurdwara if it has a spiritual vibe then a 'palace' with 'social concerns'. 

also, as for the communist /socialist "why don't they feed the poor instead?"- why don't you feed the poor?  what is stoping you?

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does not matter what it looks like, only about the spiritual atmosphere.  i rather go to a shack like the Ealing Gurdwara if it has a spiritual vibe then a 'palace' with 'social concerns'. 

Totally agree. That's what me and Puzzled have been articulating over the last few pages, i.e. the gold is unnecessary and tacky.

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why don't you feed the poor?  what is stoping you?

Who said I don't ?  For what it's worth both me and the wife have a  key-holding early morning cleaning job (1 and a half hours) that we do together (in which I scrub and clean toilets) precisely so that every penny we earn doing this extra part-time job (not very much - minimum wage) goes towards clearing and cleaning the dangerous, dirty and toxic chapadh in our village from which children from poorer sections of the village are drinking out of. 

Any thoughts on Sikh art and architecture then Haridas...or is it all negative and pessimistic with you ?