Gurdwara Essay

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Gurdwara A gurdwara is a Sikh place of worship. For some Sikhs it isn’t just a place of worship, it is also a place of socializing and learning. Many gurdwaras have many other facilities apart from a worship hall; they have libraries, classrooms, kitchens and dining areas. It is the presence of a guru granth sahib, the Sikh holy book that gives a gurdwaras status, so any building with a Guru Granth Sahib is considered a gurdwara. The word gurdwara means ‘the gateway through which the guru could be reached’ which significantly shows that a this place of worship was a direct link to their one and only god, very important to Sikhs because the Sikhs single most important beliefs are faith and justice in Waheguru, their god- represented by the phrase ik onkar which means ‘one god’. The Hamandir Sahib, a Sikh gurdwara at Amritsar, India History The first ever gurdwara was built in kartapur, on the bank of the ravi river in the Punjab district by the first ever guru, guru Nanak in 1521. These worship centers were built so that sikhs could gather to hear a guru give a spiritual lecture and sing religiuos hymns about God, much like they do today all though instead of a human guru giving a lecture, they read from the GGS(Guru Granth Sahib) and hope all their answers will be reveiled. Much like other religions including Islam and Christianity, Gurdwaras were considered a place of learning and a place where religious festivals were held. The Judaism place of worship, a synagogue was strictly only for worship unlike Sikhism but like all other religions, their holy book is read out and where people go to pray to God. Inside a guruwara There are no statues, religious pictures or idols in a gurdwara, because sikhs only worship one god, and they believe god has no physical form, no start and no end.

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