INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

Another popular non-profit organization committed to religious edification and
propaganda amongst Sikh youth is Guru Gobind Singh Study Circles which was
founded at Ludhiana in 1972. While keeping the administrative headquarter in
Ludhiana the organization has branched out in eight different directorates and fiftyfour
zones in India and abroad. 182 The aim and objectives of the organization are
primarily to foster Sikh youths in the Gurus’ teaching and to inculcate Sikh ethics for
a moral uplifting of the society. To achieve these goals the centre in Ludhiana organizes
a wide range of educational activities and projects to reach out to Sikh children
and teenagers, such as seminars on Sikh doctrines and worship, campaigns against
social problems (e.g., drug addiction, female infanticide, caste system), games and
contests in Sikh history and gurbani recitations, and so-called “Gurmat Training
Camps” during which Sikh children from different areas gather in camp meetings to
discuss Sikh worship, teaching, symbols, codes of conducts, and the like. Local Sikh
communities are encouraged to establish units of study circles and will be provided
Sikh literature free of charge from Ludhiana or the nearest directorate.
A Sikh family in Varanasi started up a local study circle attached to the state office
in Lucknow for the purpose of propagating and promulgating normative Sikh
doctrines and practices to Sikh youths. All registered members are required to fill in a
form in which they state three habits they will try to adopt and three habits they will
reject and then daily report their religious and moral activities that will be graded
each month. The printed form is revealingly called ”mirror” (shisha) as it is intended
to reflect the spiritual and moral qualities and progress of the individual child. It is
compulsory for members to wake up early in the morning to meditate and recite the
daily Sikh prayers (nitnem) and participate in the congregational life. So-called “bonus”
activities are recitations of additional hymns, engagement in literature on the
Sikh religion, and charity work for the society. The students are also expected to report
if they have lied, condemned or hurt anyone, wasted time, or conducted any of
the “prohibited” deeds. The formalized method of keeping records of daily habits
and behaviors aims to encourage moral conducts and person transformation.
In cooperation with the Gurdwara committee in Varanasi the Guru Gobind Singh
Study Circle has since the 1990s organized the annual Gurbani Recitation Test and History
Education Examination for Sikh and Sindhi children in Varanasi, usually in connection
with festivals. Three days before the celebration of Guru Gobind Singh’s
birthday in December 2000 around fifty children between the age of six and twenty
volunteered for a competition which included a written test in knowledge of the Sikh
tradition and an oral test in recitations of sacred hymns. 183 The tests were graded with
182
The organization is working in 17 states in India and 11 countries abroad. The Guru Gobind
Singh Study Circle is nowadays published on the Internet at: www.ggssc.net.
183
The historical examination on the first day was conducted in Guru Nanak Khalsa School at
Gurubagh Gurdwara. For ninety minutes the children were to answer fifty questions related to
the lives of the Sikh Gurus and significant events in the Sikh history. The questions had been
distributed to participants one week in advance for practice. The following day all children were
to individually display their ability to memorize and recite sacred hymns in an oral test before
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008