Gurbani Beadbi - Action needed

Recently I received a New Years greeting card through the post from my local Gurdwara. Inside and outside of the card contained Gurbani. For those of you that may not be aware, any Gurbani that is written down whether it be a piece of paper or a greeting card needs to be treated with the same respect you would have for a Gutka Sahib. Would you ever put your Gutka Sahib on the floor?

The organisation that printed the card is called Sikh Missionary Society. I contacted them on the phone and to be frank the gentleman I spoke to didn’t seem to understand the beadbi that’s happening or seem too bothered about it. Their reply was we’ve been doing it for twenty years and then went on to say they print Gurbani everywhere. In the end he told me to write to them. Below I have included the email I sent them and I urge every single one of you to get in touch with them to ensure no further disrespect continues towards our Guru.

Feel free to copy this letter or write your own but please contact them if you can. The more of us that do will increase the chances of putting a stop to this.

Sikh Missionary Society
8-10 Featherstone Road
Southall, Middlesex
UB2 5AA
Email: info@sikhmissionarysociety.org

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh,

I'm writing to you in regards to the New Years greeting cards that are printed by your organisation.

I received a card recently which had Guru Gobind Singh's Gurbani printed inside and Guru Nanak's Bani on the front. Once these cards have been printed and are sent to the postal service they are going to be handled without any respect for the Gurbani inside and ultimately end up on the floor of each recipient when they are posted.

To have any material which contains Gurbani on the floor or mishandled is gravely disrespecting our Guru. I would also like to point out that these cards will most likely be placed in a drawer after the holiday season and again there is no guarantee that the recipient will treat them appropriately.

I appreciate you would like to spread the message of Gurbani and share it's beautiful message and this can still be done. I propose that you use a Romanised version to write the transliteration of Gurbani with the english meanings. That way the message of Gurbani will still be received and there will no beadbi of our Gurbani.

I look forward to hearing from you.