A Palace Fit For A King
Imagine a curious non-Sikh who is introduced to Sikhi by an enthusiastic Sikh. The devotee speaks passionately about the Guru, describing them as the “King of Kings,” a divine representative, and even a manifestation of God themselves. Intrigued by these grand claims, he eagerly agrees to visit a nearby Gurudwara with the Sikh to experience the Guru’s presence first-hand. As they approach, the anticipation builds. The non-Sikh, envisions a majestic structure befitting the exalted status of the Guru they heard so much hype about. However, once there, the excitement quickly turns to confusion as they find themselves standing before an old, semi-converted factory building.
Stepping inside, the seeker’s disappointment deepens. Instead of the expected grandeur, they encounter a space marred by neglect: faulty plumbing, worn-out carpets, faded walls, and unpleasant odours from poorly maintained facilities. The final let-down comes in the Darbar itself, where the Guru Granth Sahib rests not on a regal throne you would expect for a king, but in a palki adorned with gold plastic and tacky decorations.
How truly embarrassing. For community who makes so much noise about how amazing the Guru is, you would expect the places where we house Sargun Saroops of the Guru to be the pinnacle of Sikh excellence. However, since we have prioritised a quantity over quality approach, Gurudwarai have popped up all over the place with no regard to a minimum standard. You have some areas with multiple on the same road! They are treated like fast food joints that use the Guru as a prop to raise money with, rather than a palatial building where the community comes together to enthrone the Guru and revere them in a way that befits their status.
This lack of quality and aesthetic is present in all aspects of the Gurudwara experience, from the interior design, architecture, to the kirtan which is no longer performed in the traditional, high-class Raag or Gurbani Sangeet method, and instead replaced by Bollywood tunes, simplistic instruments and even just psychopathic screaming in some places.
I suggest that if we are going to grant a building the status of a Gurudwara, then it should have extremely high standards, near unobtainable. A Gurudwara should not be a makeshift, shoddily refurbished and poorly designed structure, it should be a palatial complex fit for kings. The interior design and architecture should rival and surpass that of other communities, employing the best talent from around the world. The everyday practices should be of the highest quality, performed by skilled professionals hired and paid well for their services.
This may mean that to establish a Gurudwara it will be a highly resource intensive endeavour — good. It rightfully should be. As a result of these high standards, there will likely be far less Gurudwarai, which is desirable. It would encourage Sikh communities to come together, uniting their efforts, forcing them to develop competent systems for resource management, conflict resolution and investment. If they can’t, the Gurudwara will simply not get built. Only the skilled and competent would therefore get the ability to construct one. There is a reason why you don’t see brawls in between project managers for large infrastructure projects in the industrial or commercial world — everyone behaves like a professionals, and gets the project done.
By pooling resources and working as one, we can create a truly worthy space for the Guru, rather than dispersing into smaller groups and constructing subpar buildings that fall short of the reverence a Gurudwara should embody. This consolidation ensures that each Gurudwara genuinely lives up to its sacred purpose, rather than merely adopting the name without meeting the standards befitting the Guru’s presence. But what should these mimumum standards be? The following is what I suggest:
The SAS Standard
- Security
- Aesthetic
- Saroop
Security
First priority is ensuring security. If a Gurudwara is not secure – it can not guarantee to the safety of the Sangat and the preservation of a Sargun Saroop of Guru Granth Sahib - then it simply should not have a Saroop. Preventing Beabdi is a top priority, and if a Gurudwara can not ensure this to any reasonable degree via full-time, 24/7 security details, like world-leaders employ, then it should not have a Saroop. If there is no Saroop, then it can not be claimed to be a Gurudwara, and so must be relegated to the status of a Dharamsaal.
Aesthetic
The second minimum is that it must be beautiful. Now, obviously this is no objective measure, but the aim should be to leave as many people awestruck as possible. It is hard to deny the grandeur of certain cathedrals or the intricate geometry of major Mosques. Although, there are many Puratan Gurudwarai like Hazur Sahib, Harmandir Sahib, Patna Sahib etc, that still represent a lot of masterful art of Sikhi, these are not the norm and are targets for destructive “restoration” by brain-dead fools. A Gurudwara should be a serene space that is a love letter to the Guru by culminating the best art and craftmanship. Every Gurudwara should be the most preeminent structure in the whole city or vicinity it is located in.
Saroop
Only then should you even consider installing a Sargun Saroop of the Guru Granth Sahib. Only structures with these pre-requisites are fit for the Guru to reside in.
Excerpt From “Punishment For Beadbi”:
Artificial Scarcity
The above [suggestions for Beabdi prevention] may sound great to many of you, but only the naïve would think it is realistic to implement such a thing for every Gurudwara in the world. There are simply too many to account for. So, what should we do? I think let’s scale it back and reduce the amount of available Saroops for the time being. This will allow us to concentrate efforts and adopt a quality over quantity mindset with this.
There are frankly far too many Saroops in circulation to manage effectively, and evidently, serious cases of Beadbi occur as a result of this negligence. The proliferation of Saroops also contribute to the Nirgun Beadbi of them as well as mentioned earlier. Because there are so many these days, it is just taken for granted and value is evidently lost. The reason why gold is so expensive is because everyone wants it but there is not enough of it. It is a basic economic concept, and it works the opposite way too. When something is so readily available relative its demand, then the “price” of it goes down. This is what I believe has happened to the value of Saroops in people’s subconscious minds. This is why we may say all the praises and act all holy outwardly in the Gurudwara but as soon as we are out of the building we go back to our same old ways, which is again another example of Beabdi of the Nirgun aspect of the Guru. Can pay all the lip service you want, but as a community our double standards and hypocrisy is clear to see. Therefore, I state that…
We as a Panth have not yet earned the privilege to have so many Saroops all over the place.
Therefore, I propose the following. Relegate the status of any Saroop that does not match these three criterion:
1. Hand Written 2. Larivaar 3. Match spellings and include all characters and sections of at least one of the Puratan Birs
All Saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib that do not meet this criteria should no longer be considered a Sargun Saroop of the Guru at all. Since most currently available in Gurudware are not hand-written or larivaar especially, this instantly creates the desired scarcity of Sargun Saroops and now allows us to prioritise efforts on a far more manageable supply.
Any “Saroops” that does not match the above criteria, at best, would now be seen as a Gutka or Pothi Sahib (obviously, still worthy of Satkaar), and at worst an unverified “Saroop” . The latter is particularly important as it would take away any power philosophically from those who print Saroops with sections removed, or spellings or Panktis altered (I shall call this the “Ram Rai Protocol”). The hand-written requirement also helps mitigate the risk of manipulators since writing all of Gurbani by hand is a long, resource and labour-intensive process. This will not only make it far harder for the ill-intentioned to create Sargun Saroops of the Guru that match the above criteria, but all people in general. This is desirable because it will keep the supply low and will likely require community effort to produce new Saroops, not just the effort of a printing press. Which would be really nice to be honest. Jewish communities do something similar with their scriptures today and when it is completed they have a big celebration. That’s how we should do it so that Sikh communities around the world, be they towns or cities, come together amongst themselves for a combined purpose. You could get members of the Sangat to contribute to Angs as well and it will be an experience that sticks with them for life. We need to make Sikhi so much more interactive in general, rather than just going to a Gurudwara, matha tek, eat langar and go home.
Additionally, how do you think we used have Saroops before the printing press? Exactly like I am explaining above. Producing a new one would be a big thing, and there were so few in existence. You would need to go out of your way to go see a Sargun Saroop of Guru Granth Sahib (and even the human manifestations of the Guru) and that would increase the perception value that we seem to have lost today.
But what about existing Gurudware? Gurudware without Saroops of this calibre, are no longer Gurudware since there is no Sargun Saroop of the Guru enthroned there. Henceforth, these should be re-classified as Dharamsaals or Shastargarhs. Just as was the case before the printing press. This will do us some good as well as it will take some power out of the hands of committees and Sangat who do all sorts of puthe kam in those building right now with no regard to where they are at.
Cautions
Centralising is risky. If the community can’t come together and determine things like management styles or agree on roadmaps, then they simply won’t have a Gurudwara. Which is fine, since it prevents the Guru from being hosted in a subpar structure that can’t even guarantee basic things like security, let alone the respect expected for the king of kings. If Sikhs in an area really want a Gurudwara, then they will need to learn how to compromise, respect each other and form professional ways to arbitrate disputes and have debates that do not devolve into nonsense brawls. However, if groups fundamentally disagree, then they can split and experiment with other types of Sikh spaces, without a Sargun Saroop, and expand them in their own right before investing to establishing a Gurudwara of sufficient standard to enthrone the Guru within. This also is not undesirable. If Sikhs compete with each other to establish excellence, then there is a higher chance of achieving it when there are competitors. But the high standards need to be prioritised. Simply and cheaply refurbishing an old factory building and placing a Saroop there is not good enough at all and I personally am getting frustrated at how embarrassing this is.
Not only do we need to develop some self-respect as a Panth, but learn how to give due respect to the Guru and thier legacy. We can drop tens of thousands of pounds on weddings, but we can’t at the minimum provide an SAS standard for the Guru? If you don’t prioritise or appreciate gifts of the Guru, then don’t be surprised when the Guru doesn’t prioritise you and stops giving their gifts.