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Langar Halls as a social area


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this was taken from boss site.. wanted to know ur people's view

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we all know the problem when we go to a keertan darbaar.

most of the ppl seem to be dossing in the langar hall rather than sitting in the keertan (myself included -- that's how i know all this )

some people say that you shouldn't talk while eating langar -- and i see why, it would make the food taste so much nicer if you did simran while eating it.

but the whole concept of pangat is based around anthropology. since prehistoric times the human being has always eaten together, this is so that one person can watch the back of others for predators while they eat. Most other mammals tend to eat alone. This is one reason why as a human being we find it hard to eat alone - it's really uncomfortable. the best we can do is snack alone.

When we sit and eat together it is such a great way of socialising, we can really get to know each other. Many human events are based around food for this reason... think about it. The gore don't do it as much as the sikhs and stuff, but then i think we socialise more within the family units as a result.

Guru jee has played on this with the institute of pangat, telling us to go and sit and eat together on the same level -- i think to socialise a bit and lose some barriers. that way when we go into sangat, we have a lost an element of our individuality and hankaar -- which makes sitting in the sangat a deeper expereince. it's supposed to bring us together.

In my opinion we should socialise over langar, with everyone -- it's such a brilliant institute. But then you get problems of people taking the piss and spending all their time in there as if to get to know the whole gurdvara sahib....

whatdya think?

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ummm ive never really seen it at my gurdwara - or any other ones ive been too

the gurdwara i go to has a mic feed from the diwan hall - so u can listen to it while u eat ur langar

there are allot of old men there who sit there and chat all day long - and they have made a lil room for bajurag to go chill - watch tv - and talk with each other... so i dunno :? guess it differs from gurdwara to gurdwara - and also person to person :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I agree with the article writer 100 % - Gurdwara's shouldnt be grim austere places where all we do is pray - it should be a social hub where we meet friends shoot the breeze and in general make connections with our fellow man.

I remeber half the reason y i wanted to go gurdwara as a kid was to hook up with my friends there and to socialise - and along the way a great deal of knowledge about my faith rubbed off on me.

A gurdwara should IMHO be the social hub of the sikh community and serve the community as well as being served by it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

i duno.

when u eat God's foood in langar right... then u shudnt really b talking about anything bad really. Maybe just preventing the chance of kaljug entering the room.....

me duno...

maybe seperate area 4 ppl to have Vichars and stuff wud b a kool idea.

dno realy

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  • 2 months later...

well at our gurdwara, i see so many people just sitting around in the langar hall b4 the ardas at the end of the diwan is taking place! i find that really annoying and pathetic to be honest. yea langar halls r good to socialise but some people just use that place as if it was the actual darbar!

if one comes to the gurdwara, they should do sangat and pangat and not just pangat all da time! man that way wats the use of comn to the gurdwara other than doing a mutha tek! its like u just comn to socialise and not really gettn involved in praying...

most of the guys i see at my gurdwara around bout 18 + r just sittin in the langar hall, relaxing and socializing wid their friends and thats wat i see most of them do all the time..(i know this cuz sometimes i have to come downstairs to get some water, or use bathroom and etc.) this is y they dont learn nething...

many other people sit around there too, like some ladies, so that they can eat langar first! i mean b4 the ardas is finished and karah prashad has been distributed, u'll find that the gurdwaras langar hall is already full!

fateh

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Guest kaur1699

Fateh Ji,

I agree with alot that has been said, but I think that theres one thing, if people are coming to Gurdwara Sahib just to socialise, then thats better than them meeting somewhere else...

At least when they are at the Gurdwara there is the opportunity for them to hear something that may make them think, you never know when someone might hear or see something that changes their life, and there a better chance of this happening while people chill at the Gurdwara rather than them chill somewhere like a pub/street corner or wherever people chill...

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The Langar Hall is still Guru Jee's hazoori - we're still in Guru Jee's house - and if people want to talk, then it's one thing, but they should AT LEAST be talking about positive things/relating to sikhi. Talking too much isn't good for us anyway.

When we're in pangat, i don't think we even NEED to talk. Just being in pangat is good enough - if people aren't mindlessly gossiping, being in true pangat can be very rewarding, and it can give you really good vibes.

I was at a smagam a few months ago (dhodra sangat) and me and my bro sat down to eat in the langar hall, and they had simran blasting thru the speakers so that people would listen to that rather than gossip...And this gurmukh bhanjee was walking around with a sign that said "NO TALKING, PLEASE, ONLY VAHEGURU", vaheguru vaheguru vaheguru... (but it looked a lot nicer and was said more sweetly).. That really brought the sangat into more chardee kalaa and it increased the good vibes..

just like some bibian when making langar will gossip, but if they do simran instead even the food will become more blessed.. its all bout the good vibes

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I agree wid RK Pan jee

yea Kaur is right abt that maybe one day ppl could hear somthing which will change their life, but man we gotta do something...and not jst let our youth sit around in the langar hall and chill wid there mates all da time, and i very much doubt they 'listen attentively' while sittin in hall wid their mates...rather i mostly seem em laughing and all....well i dont know aye..ALL IS IN THE HANDS OF WAHEGUROO

at our gurdwara they put this kirtan on tape during langar times, which i mostly can't even understand what they r sayn, i think when i go to the gurdwara tomorrow i will change the tape wid my Wahegroo simran tape and turn the volume LOUD! haha i wanna see wat happens den... :P:P:P 8)

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