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> PERSPECTIVES

* Dr. Roshan Attrey is a retired Professor of English and a founding member of The Sikh HeritageSociety of Greater Charlotte. Email: rattrey@aol.com

Blessed Sikhs of N. Carolina (USA)Gurdwara at Charlotte - Tenth Anniversary

ROSHAN ATTREY, PH.D.*

OCTOBER 26, 2013 WAS “a special dayfor our Charlotte’s Sikh and Hinducommunity.” That’s how GurdwaraPresident, Dr. Surendrapal Singh Macdescribed the tenth anniversary celebrationof the ‘Sikh House of Worship’ in Charlotte,North Carolina.This was also the dayknown as Gurta Gaddi Divas,commemorating canonization of the SikhHoly Scripture Sri Guru Granth Sahib in1708.

Dr. Mac addressed the sangat (congre-gation), welcoming them, congratulatingthem on this occasion, and thanking themfor their support. He also took the opportu-nity to outline the organizational history,considering that most of the congregationwasn’t familiar with the history of The SikhHeritage Society of Greater Charlotte andthe Gurdwara Sahib.

It was also a fitting juncture to acknowl-edge the Founders and other significantcontributors who built this house of worshipand to chronicle their efforts as nishkaamseva.

This article aims to capture the signifi-cance of the Gurdwara’s tenth anniversaryto Charlotte’s Sikh community, with a focuson its organizational history, its endeavors

to build the gurdwara, and the Holy Scrip-ture.

A Thumbnail History of the Gurdwara:The Genesis of the Gurdwara dates

as far back as 1985. Sajjan and KuldeepSingh Dhaliwal,having recently moved toCharlotte, invited their new acquaintances,Sikhs and Hindus, to a kirtan at their house.That was the beginning of a monthly kirtanin Charlotte; they encouraged others to taketurns to host it. In the late 1980’s, a Sikhcamp was held for children in Greensboro.Sajjan and Kuldeep, joined by Lakhbir andBali Suchdev,organized a group of childrenfrom Charlotte to attend the camp. As a re-sult, our children started participating inmonthly kirtans.Sajjan spent countlesshours teaching them(even adults) to singshabads and perform kirtan.

More families joined in the 1990’s.Monthly kirtans continued as before, but thevenue changed from home toMr. Mundi’sQuality Inn to the Hindu Center. The maingurpurabs were always held at the HinduCenter.The families actively participating inthe 1990’s included:the Dhaliwals, Rajpals,Bedis, Brars, Bals, Ahluwalias,Randhawas, Chaddhas, Attreys, and per-haps a few more.However,the consensus

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to build a gurdwara didn’t emerge until early2001.

February 24, 2001.This day we met atthe Hindu Center and formed an organiza-tion, The Sikh Heritage Society of GreaterCharlotte - under whose auspices, the“Gurdwara Sahib Charlotte” was to befounded.

June 16, 2001.This day we met at theUniversity City Regional Library and ap-proved the Constitution of the Sikh HeritageSociety unanimously. Roshan Attrey hadbeen assigned to write the document.Allthose present signed it. Soon we had thebody registered in North Carolina as a non-profit religious organization.Hereafter wehad to deal with such thorny issues as thecity’s zoning laws, intercultural-interreligiousmatters, and interpersonal concerns. How-ever, Sajjan Dhaliwal, backed up by a com-mitted team, moved the process of buildingthe gurdwara just as planned. We had noboard yet; only a secretary and a treasurer,who were Roshan Attrey and InderjeetRajpal, respectively.

September 11, 2001. Then 9/11 hap-pened. It created a sense of urgency andanxiety in the community. In response, weorganized meetings; the Charlotte Ob-server published an article on Sikhism andSikhs written by us; Americans (non-Indi-ans) joined us in our monthly services. Wemade presentations to educate the largerAmerican society about the Sikh commu-nity and Sikhism at various forums, suchas theTemple Beth-El (the Jewish Commu-nity Center), Mecklenburg Democratic

Party forum, Mayor’s International Cabinet,Mecklenburg Ministries, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, area colleges, uni-versities, and churches.

Fall 2001 - Gurdwara construction begins:The founding members started col-

lecting funds/pledges of financial sup-port from the community by visiting theirhomes.Sajjan and Kuldeep Dhaliwal, agreat blessing to the community,pledged seventeen acres of land for theHouse of Worship and a future PunjabiCulture Center, in addition to making/pledging substantial financial contribu-tions.

Moreover, Sajjanji, one of the best build-ers of the Carolinas, accepted responsibil-ity to build the gurdwara. He spent two yearson building it, and charged nothing. InderjeetRajpal, among his best helpers, perseveredwith him providing invaluable support.

By September 2003 an amazinglybeautiful Gurdwara building was com-pleted. Six trusteessigned the mortgageloan documents for it, namely Dr.Surendrapal Singh Mac, Sajjan SinghDhaliwal, Dr. Gurmukh Singh Walha,Inderjeet Singh Rajpal, Dr. Paul Brar, andDr. Inderjeet Singh.

October 24-26, 2003 - Inaugural ceremonies:The inaugural ceremonies, spreading

over October 24-26, were magnificent,matching the grandeur of the GurdwaraSahib. About 500 people attended the cel-ebration. Mayor Patrick McCrory, presentlyNorth Carolina governor, was a special

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guest. We held a one-day international sym-posium on the Guru Granth Sahib, coordi-nated by Dr. Bhai Harbans Lal; Sikh schol-ars from England, Canada, India, and theU.S. made presentations.People of variousFaiths attended the conference and inau-guration. Invited raagis as well as the localsangat performed kirtan. Bhai BaldeepSingh, a 13th generation raagi of Gurbanifrom New Delhi, accompanied by a re-nowned tabla player from England,Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari, transportedthe audience to the old-time kirtan in theGuru’s darbar.

On the tenth anniversary, reminisc-ing over our past achievements,weshould celebrate the team that madethem possible. Sajjan Dhaliwal had an ex-ceptional instinct, the hallmark of a leader,to choose his team from friends and believ-ers who wouldembrace his vision and joinhim.To name them: Dr. Surendrapal Singhand Harjeet Kaur Mac have been most giv-ing and dedicated, financially andotherwise.Inderjeet and Arvind Rajpal havebeen unsparing in their contributions anddedication.Others who gave of themselvesmost willingly and freely were: Bishen andBandna Bedi, Dr. Paul and Ravi Brar, Pappuand Sarita Singh, Dr. Inderjeet and BabenaSingh, Dr. Gurmukh and Sukhwant Walha,and Roshan and Jaspal Attrey.

The Gurdwara President expressed hisand the community’s “deep appreciation andthanks to the original leaders”for helpingrealize the Charlotte Sikh community’sdream.

Ten-plus years later:Much has happened in the world since

the founding of The Sikh Heritage Societyof Greater Charlotte and the GurdwaraSahib: the nightmarish aftermath of 9/11,the Afghanistan war, the Iraq war, a re-cession, the first minority president inAmerica,the first Sikh prime minister inIndia, and numerous other events. In thesame time, one might say, the Sangat hasincreased tenfold, from about 15 fami-lies to maybe 150. While most of thoseassociated with the founding continueto serve energetically, there are many oth-ers who have become actively involvedin the Gurdwara in the last ten years.

These Sevadars deserve our apprecia-tion, too, and are named here. JoginderSingh Saini has run the langar and servedmany other needs in the gurdwara in an ex-emplary fashion. Dr. Ajaypartap SinghBajwa, Sukhchain Singh Jassal, SatianderSingh, Dr. Jaspal Singh, Suneet Kaur,Amarpreet Singh Pahwa, Ranjit Sethi, andDr. Rajdeep Singh – as a team they aredoing a great job teaching Punjabi andGurmat to children.Savinay Singh andGureet Kaur have commendably run thechildren’s camp and conducted speechcompetitions for children. Shahbaz Aroraand Rohit Walia have served creditably astreasurers and are always willing to serve.Lakhwant Kaur Dhillon has servedwith dedi-cation and generosity. The Sidhu Family de-serves our thanks for taking charge of theAkhand Paath.Giani Satnam Singh Ji andson Ranjit Singh have most commendably

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been serving the Gurdwara since 2005. Weare grateful for their dedication. (Please for-give the errors of omission andcommissionin naming the sevadars in thearticle.)

Looking toward the Future:On the tenth anniversary,

SajjanDhaliwal and Inderjeet Rajpal madepresentations showing the expansion plansfor the Gurdwara and a Punjabi CultureCenter. Sajjanji appealed to the sangat toshare greater financial responsibility and tobuild on what the pioneers have done.

The future success of our organization,among other things,will depend on thewillingnessand preparedness of theyounger members to take ownership for theupkeep and expansion of the place and tooffer a vision of a future that is expanding,inclusive, and progressive.

Gurbani Kirtan - the Soul of SikhiTenth Anniversary and Gurta Gaddi Divas

There is never a Sunday religious ser-vice in a Gurdwara without kirtan. Kirtan issinging or recitation of hymns from the GuruGranth Sahib.

The tenth anniversary and GurtaGaddhi Divas program included the normalreligious service, except that we had a vis-iting raagi jatha (ensemble) of Bhai RajinderSingh Sital from Atlanta who gave a trulysplendid performance.Subsequently, thelocal groups came on stage - first thegirls,then the boys,and finally theadults:Arvind Rajpal, Jaspal Attrey, Bandna

Bedi, and Priti Raj, with Sajjan Dhaliwalleading and accompanied by Gyani SatnamSingh Ji and Savinay Singh. The adults sangthe same shabad they had sung ten yearsago at the inauguration. All three groupsperformed superbly affecting the audiencevisibly.

The religious service concluded withAnand Sahib ka Paath followed by Ardaas,Hukamnama, and Prashad. As always, theday’s last activity was langar, a sumptuouscommunity meal.

The Sikh Scripture and Shabads (hymns):This report would be incomplete with-

out a brief comment on the Shabads recitedon a Gurdwara religious service and theirsource, the scripture.

Since its canonization as the GuruGranth Sahib, Sikhs have accepted theScripture – following the hukam(order)of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenthand last human Guru - as the most truth-ful source of religious and spiritual guid-ance and believed in it as their ultimateGuru. Save the compositions of GuruGobind Singh and two most eminenttheologians of Sikhism, Bhai Gurdas andBhai Nand Lal, no other scripture not in-cluded in the Guru Granth is recognizedas acceptable literature/text consideredpermissible to be recited, sung, orpropagated in Sikh congregations.

Among the world’s great scriptures, theGuru Granth Sahib is the only scripture thatwas composed, edited, proofread, andsigned for authenticity by the founders of

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the faith in their lifetime.And it is composedentirely in poetic form.The printed volumecontains 1430 pages, 5894 hymns, 28,534lines, and 511, 874 words.

When we read the Granth Sahib, we finddifferent languages used in it, but recognizea similar view of, and uniform approach to,God. Languages employed in the varioushymns reflect the diversity of cultural mi-lieus and times in which the composers hadlived. There are perhaps as many astwenty different languages of the Indiansub-continent, the Middle East, and thecontiguous countries used in theGranth. These languages were enriched byvocabulary from Sanskrit, Prakrit, Persian,Arabic, Bengali, Marathi, and other lan-guages. The script of the scripture isGurmukhi.

All hymns sung on the tenth anniver-sary, or any other day, are generally prayersto God or Waheguru,praising/describingHim as the Supreme Being, almighty, om-nipresent, omniscient, just, merciful, imma-nent, and transcendent.The followingverses from different hymns illustrate thepower and diversity of the Sikh religious andspiritual thought:

“God created the creative power ofthe universe, within which He

dwells.” Guru Nanak

“The Creator created the world in allits diversity; by his design (Hukam)the creatures appear and then mergeinto the grand schema.” Guru AmarDas

“Universal is my God, and universalis His language.” Guru Nanak

“If a person listens to kirtan of Godand sings kirtan of God, pain andsuffering shall not come near thatperson.” Guru Arjun

“Without the Naam everything elseis false and worthless.”Guru Arjun

These hymns and others underscorethe belief that God is all pervasive and uni-versal, and that He is the Creator and PrimeMover of the universe.The devotee will re-ceive whatever he/she asks of God byobeying and submitting to His Will com-pletely and unconditionally. God is invokedby different names by his followers –callHim Ram, Rahim, Allah, Waheguru, or whatyou will, but He is One God, Ik Onkar, thesource of all life.The entire world was bornfrom the same source, same light, and thesame light enlivens and enlightens us all.Guru Arjun Dev says it all, “One God ourFather, we are all His children.”

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