Hey friends! I’ve posted the presentations from the Sikh Seminar Titled “Gurudwara and Sangat, Nurturing Sikh Heritage in Our Youth,” held at the Philadelphia Gurdwara last weekend. I also just recorded my presentation and have posted it as a YouTube video for your comment and review.

Please review the YouTube video and the other presentations and add your feedback in the comments.

The presentations were largely well received. I will add one anecdote–the Gurdwara Bhai Sahib, who has just finished katha before we took the stage, listened intently and had some comments on our presentations after we finished.

Here’s my English translation of the excellent story he told:

About 30 years ago, a group of Sikhs in England raised funds to purchase a church as their first gurdwara building. They were all very excited. Just before the Sikhs moved in, they had a meeting with the church’s pastor to get the keys. The pastor was fighting back tears.

“Why are you crying?” asked the Sikhs.

“You’ve purchased my church, and here you will build and wonderful and beautiful Guru Ghar,” said the pastor. “But what I ask of you is that while you build your gurudwara, you must also build interest in your youth. That is why we are here today–we built a beautiful building, but we didn’t engage the kids, so we are selling our church to you.”

The story really struck home as I have been to a few gurdwaras that are in old churches in New York and elsewhere. It’s a good point, isn’t it? What’s to say that we are any different?

The Next Seminar is May 4, 2008 at Sikh Sabha Gurdwara in Lawrenceville, NJ. The Topic is “The Relevance of the Sikh Rehat Maryada Today.” If you would like to participate, give a talk, or do any other sewa, please contact sutinder singh [ sutinders at gmail.com ].

Recorded version of my presentation:

I’ve also included the full slides from all of the speakers below.

Presentation by Dr. Harminder Singh
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Presentation by Inderpreet Singh
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Presentation by Satnam Singh
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Presentation by Savraj Singh
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