Subject: Re: Reg. Darbaar Sahib or Harimandir / Golden Temple ??
From: bharpur singh [mailto:bharpursingh@yahoo.com] 
Sent: Saturday, 5 October 2013 10:41 PM
To: Gurmit Singh; mspurewal@gmail.com 
My dear S. Gurmit Singh,
Guru Fateh Ji. I perfectly agree with you and support your views. It is our bad luck that the people and even some of our Ragis and Parcharaks refer to Darbar Sahib as Harmandir or even as Hari Mamdir, which is a misnomer and must be avoided. In the time of Pujaris, they wanted to attract the Hindus to Darbar Sahib for more of Golak so they tried to show to the Hindus that it was a temple of 'Hari' as any other Hindu temple. This attracted many Hindus and they evenstarted performing Artis with their statues in Darbar Sahib. This was banned during the Gurdwara Sudhar movemet. This annoyed the Hindus and they constructed Lakshmi Narain Mandir, now called Durgiana Mandir and connected to Goddes Durga, although the place was known as 'Dhab Durgiana', belonging to a person whose name was Durga. At the same time the name 'Darbar Sahib' was popularised. I definitely rember in the 1920s the Amritsr people always called it Darbar Sahib. The English  called it Golden Temple, which is now called as Sowarn Mandir. I met an Austrlian here who said he had lived for sometime in Benaras and had learned Hindi. He tried to talk to me in Hindi, and while talking about his visit to Amritsar, mentioned 'Sowarn Mandir'. I told him it is not Sowarn Mandir but Darbar Sahib because calling it sowarn mandir, robs it of its spiritual essence and gives it a materialistic meaning. I wish the Sikhs could realise this.
After 1947 and particularly after 1984, the name Hari Mandir became more popular. After 1984, Manjit Singh Calcutta, who was Secy. SGPC, popularised Darbar Sahib as a tourist place. He wanted to attract people from all over India to visit Darbar Sahib for the sake of a fat Golak, because during 1984 upheavel, the earning from Golak was very low. It is all money that SGPC is now after. You can see all and sundry from other states visit Darbar Sahib as a place of tourist   interest, just as they would go to see Taj Mahal!
Even in Austrlia and many other countries the Sikhs call our Gurdwaras as 'Sikh Temple' which needs correction and enlightenment.
Regards.
Bharpur Singh.