Conversely, any room in which the
Gurū Granth Sāhib is appropriately installed is a
gurdwārā. Those who enter do so only after taking off their footwear and covering their heads (if they are not already wearing a turban).
Use of Text in Worship
The text of the scripture plays several roles in Sikh worship. Each day the pages are opened at random for a vāk (utterance) or hukam (order) that is regarded as guidance for the day. The passage that is read is the first stanza on the left hand page, which will be read from the beginning even if this is on the previous page. The vāk from Sikhs' holiest shrine, the Harmandir Sāhib (the Golden Temple) in Amritsar (Punjab, India) is now disseminated worldwide by the internet, as the daily hukam-nāmā (command, edict). Some of the vāks from the Harmandir Sāhib have attained historic status because of their pertinence to a particular situation. In 1920, for example, a vāk resolved (in the affirmative) the question of whether converts from the lowest caste should be allowed to offer prasād (blessed food) that is distributed to the congregation.
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