Amritsar Sahib – The Akal Takht, supreme temporal authority of its religion, took the decision on Wednesday at a meeting of the Sikh high priests here. Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh presided over the meeting and, later, told the media about “complaints from certain quarters against ‘granthis’ (priests) who stop reading from holy book Guru Granth Sahib to receive telephone calls”.
All shrines, even the ones located abroad, are to implement the order. “We will hold the shrine managements responsible, if we receive reports against their ‘granthis’,” he added. The high priests took a serious view of reports that some ‘ragis’ (hymn singers) performed kirtan by reading download verses from their phones. “It’s okay to keep hymns on your handset, but reading from it while performing kirtan is not a tradition. All ‘ragis’ must memorise ‘Gurbani’ so that they need no help of gadgets,” the jathedar said.
Takht Keshgarh Sahib jathedar Giani Mal Singh, Takht Damdama Sahib acting jathedar Giani Gurmukh Singh, Takht Patna Sahib jathedar Giani Iqbal Singh, and Golden Temple ‘granthi’ Giani Raghbir Singh attended the meeting.