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Summary of Question:	"The spiritual and temporal leader"
Category:	Other
Date Posted:	Friday, 10/13/2000 12:18 AM MDT

I am a Canadian from Ontario who is trying to convert to Sikhism, I have been trying to research as much as I can about Sikhism, but their are few if any Sikhs in my community. I was reading on the web page of the "Ontario Council of Religous Tolerace", and they refered several times to what has been going on in Vancouver, on the "Sikh dispute concerning funiture" section, on their page about Sikhism. They called the Jathedar of the akal Takhat the "spiritual and temporal leader of Sikhs and the final authority in any religous disputes within the faith." My question is, who is the Jathedar of the akal takhat? is s/he a person? a priest? if either, I thought that Guru Gobind Singh stopped the priesthood because he considered the priests egotistical, and selfish, has this changed? Or am I mislead b=about the role of the Jathedar of the Akal Takhat? They also said that some Sikhs were excommunicated because of the funiture dispute, is this practise common?

*********************************************************************************Reply***********************************************************************
The Jathadar of the Akal Takhat is one of the five leaders in the Sikh community. He represents the "Akal Takhat" which is the throne of the Sikh community established by the 6th Sikh Guru, Guru Hargobind.

He is not a Guru. There should be no excommunication.

He is a man and a servent of the Khalsa Panth; the Sikh Community. The Siri Guru Granth Sahib( Sikh Scriptures) are the real guide and leader of the community.

It is fair to say that there are many confusing disputes that reflect a hazy understanding of the purpose of our spiritual practices.

Keep studying, but most of all:
Read Guru Nanak's "jap Ji" every day for the next 40 days----in English. Learn and understand it. It will give you the most deep understanding of life. It will make you a master of your own destiny. This is what it means to be a SIkh.