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