Gurdwara

A Gurdwara typically has two periods, a morning program and evening program which consist of katha and kirtan.

Gurdwara Politics

Guru's verdict on Gurdwara Elections - Dr. Pritam Singh

 We made enormous sacrifices in men, money and material

to rid our gurdwaras of the Mahants and the toadies. After a struggle lasting five years during the 1920's, the SGPC came into being and the management of our shrines passed into the hands of the elected representatives of the community. The SGPC now has jurisdiction over gurdwaras in the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, Other states have also brought similar acts into their statute book. For instance, we have a separate Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act. Similar acts exist in Bihar and Maharashtra. But the management of the shrines has not improved. Rather, there is more corruption now than during the days of the Mahants. Various leaders, regardless of their bad habits, use money and influence to get elected to gurdwara management committees and consider the shrines to be their personal fiefs. Even drunkards and known womanizers find their way into these committees, This means throwing down the drain not only the tenets of the Sikh way of life, but also the huge sacrifices we made in bringing purity into the gurdwara managements. Varied suggestions have been made from time to time about how to bring about improvements and end the present malaises. One of them was that shrines in one city should be entrusted to the care of Panj Piyaras of known piety and purity and chosen by the Sangat. A new proposal, advanced in this ticle by Dr. Pritam Singh of Palatine (U.S.A.), is that the Sangat of the area should choose men of purity, piety wisdom and dedication and then lots should be drawn to elect a management committee. - Editor of The Spokesman Weekly