To Current Committee of GNFA:

On behalf of our excellent and trustworthy bhaisahib’s the youth of Guru Nanak Foundation of America Inc. has come together to write a petition because we believe that bhaisahib’s should be permitted to stay in our Gurudwara. The youth cannot stand the nonsense that is occurring in our Gurudwara at this time. Due to the politics that have taken over our Gurudwara, we can no longer speak of our Gurudwara with pride in our voices. As kids, we are taught to go to Gurudwara, sit inside the main hall and listen to kirtan so we can learn more about Sikhism. How is it possible for young kids to do this when our role models are outside fighting with each other, about silly issues, like throwing the best teachers that we have ever had out of our Gurudwara and out of our lives?

Our Gurudwara has become so violent that every week there are police cars outside. This is disgraceful!! A Gurudwara is supposed to be a place of peace where Sikhs come together to worship WAHEGURU, not a court where everyone is fighting against each other. There have been many horrifying incidents that we would believe should never occur again! One of them has occurred recently.

This past new years many members of the board were seen outside the langar hall arguing with each other and disrupting the sangat inside the Gurudwara. In this incident police were also required which is extremely shameful. This not only makes our Gurudara look bad but it makes all Sikhs look bad. Another incident that isn’t so recent occurred one Sunday a year ago.

On this particular day, the youth was doing paath and kirtan after the morning diwaan when they heard rowdy noises outside the main hall. The youth was extremely disturbed but still continued to do paath. When the paath was over, the kids came out and saw police in the parking lot and were shocked at how inconsiderate the Gurudwara committee could be. I have personally experienced an event in which I have been ashamed of our Gurudwara. A couple of weeks ago I was telling a friend about our Gurudwara and where it was located. She had recognized it and replied by saying, “Wasn’t there police at you’re church a couple of weeks ago, because I think I saw them entering.” I as so ashamed that I had to quickly switch the topic. This shows our Gurudwara isn’t the guru’s house but the police’s house!!!

The actions of our elders have also caused many Sikhs to refuse to come to Gurudwara, which makes them unable to participate in Sikh related events. Every year, in New York, Sikhs come together to march in a parade that occurs around Vaisakhi. Usually, from our area 3 full buses of Sikhs attend this parade, but this year only one bus went to the parade that wasn’t even full to its capacity. Also, our Gurudwara sangat has decreased rapidly. On our Friday diwaan, 2 to 3 pangats used to be filled with Sikhs, whereas recently only about one pangat gets full. These are the results of the actions of our elders in the Gurudwara.

Now, we come back to our sole purpose of writing this petition. Our bhaisahib’s have been at our Gurudwara since the day we were born and have been teaching us about Sikhism since. They teach all the young kids kirtan and tabla every day for no charge. They take time out of their day to help us. They also take on extra duties at Gurudwara like cleaning, washing the dishes and doing langar sewa when no one is signed up for it. Our bhaisahib’s are intelligent, wise and most importantly friendly, and can make a smile on your face when you are upset.

Every year the bhaisahib’s also teach us kids shabads for the competition in Pittsburgh that occurs every year in early September. They have to take on about 8 groups of jathas at once and teach all of them different shabads. They not only teach the vaja players the shabad but everyone in the group so no one leaves empty-handed. Thus, our point is that whatever you are doing to throw the bhaisahib’s out needs to stop, and changing the locks was just wrong, and you said that you kicked bhaisahib out because you didn’t have enough money to pay them and not many people put money in the gholak. We don’t put money in there because from that money you pay the police. So if the sangat tries to pay it off, what will your excuse be next?

You obviously are extremely selfish, and arrogant for you do not care about anyone else. You are being very self-centered and something needs to change. If you (Current Committee) cannot handle this situation, please resign. We are writing this petition to let you know our position on this issue and hopefully you will listen to us because you haven’t listened to anyone else. So we are asking you to please look at what you are doing and change for the good of not only the Gurudwara but the youth also!!!!

Sincerely,

The Youth of Guru Nanak Foundation of America