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Conversation about this article
1: Sandeep Singh Brar (Canada), October 13, 2010, 9:20 AM.
It's been a pet peeve of mine for a long time. It especially bothers me when new gurdwaras put up signs labeling themselves as 'Sikh Temple'. We have learned to call Christian temples 'churches', we have learned to call Hindu temples 'mandirs', we have learned to call Muslim temples 'mosques' and we have learned to call Jewish temples 'synagogues'. So why the issue in teaching people what our house of worship is called. The term 'Golden Temple' evolved out of British colonial ignorance, as they used the generic term 'temple' out of a sense of indifference towards eastern religions and their places of worship. No need for us to prepetuate that ignorance. It's not a temple, and incidentally, its not a mandir either. I like to use the term Darbar Sahib, meaning The Royal Court. If you study the Guru Granth Sahib, almost every reference to 'Hari ka Mandir' is referring to our inner self and our human body as a place of worship and not a reference to any building.
2: Prabhjot Singh (New York City, NY, U.S.A.), October 13, 2010, 10:04 AM.
Our gurdwaras evoke the concept of a temple, but stretch the concept beyond to encompass entirely new spheres of social life such as a free kitchen, a place to practice our martial traditions, the congregation of the true community, the focal point of our means to organize financially, the collectively-held land of our sovereign nation that is distributed throughout the world. And other important missions that the panth will innovate, establish, systematize and institutionalize as we develop to meet our jakara, "Raj Keraga Khalsa!" We are already becoming the vibrant and confident community to not need to have "gurdwara" translated. As we lead with Chardi Kalaa, each perceived encroachment upon our institutions, culture and faith is an opportunity for us to serve as ambassadors of the highest court with warmth and welcome. Thank you for bringing up such an important topic. As an aside, I always heard gurdwara transliterated as "door of the guru," but I'm no scholar. Simply worth pointing out that even as we take offense to colloquial analogies/ translations, so long as we don't speak Gurmukhi we can only hope to evoke the importance and distinctiveness of spirit that "gurdwara" implies. Since that is unlikely to take place universally, perhaps we should do as you describe in your article - make each misunderstanding a teachable moment to introduce someone to Sikhi.
3: Inderpreet Singh (Chelmsford, MA, U.S.A.), October 13, 2010, 2:42 PM.
Completely agree with the sentiment of the article. I would take it a bit further. Gurdwara is usually translated as the "Door of the Guru" or the "House of the Guru". The unique path of Guru Nanak completely and creatively transforms normal views of worship and changes it to action-based learning. As per the Guru Granth Sahib - "guru duare hoi sojhi paisi" - we come to the understanding that "gurdwara" is transformational thought process through Guru's wisdom. So the place we know as gurdwara today is a "place of learning" rather than a confined abode of the Divine. In Asa ki Vaar we come to know that the Divine lives everywhere within this universe and is recognized as Truth within it - "eh jag sacce ki hai kothri/ sacce ka vich vas." [Editor: the point has been made well by both Prabhjot and Inderpreet vis a vis the meaning of "gudwara", and the error has been corrected. Thanks.]
4: Bibek Singh (Jersey City, U.S.A.), October 13, 2010, 4:55 PM.
Very good article!
5: Jaspreet Singh (U.S.A.), October 14, 2010, 10:19 AM.
I humbly disagree with the article. A temple is a generic term without religious connotations. Using the word doesn't chip away at our identity. There are many issues that dilute our identity that we could be dealing with, but this issue is a waste of breath in my view. Let's start with what goes on inside the gurdwara gurdwara first. I stopped attending weekly a few years ago in disgust of caste issues ("jutt" pride, for example), putting pressure on people to take Amrit, politics and other such issues.
6: Parvinder Singh (Alpharetta, Georgia, U.S.A.), October 14, 2010, 3:55 PM.
I would like to echo the comments of my veer, Jaspreet Singh here. It is really high time that we focus on things that are going inside our gurdwaras. Are they really guru ghars, guru dwaras, or they have become ego nourishment centers. If we don't realize that and correct ourselves, the day shall dawn soon when it will not be neither a gurdwara nor a temple.