Sikh Gurdwara San Jose

The Sikh Gurdwara of San Jose is a gurdwara (a Sikh place of worship) located in the Evergreen district of San Jose, California. It was founded in 1984 by leaders of the then-rapidly growing community of Sikhs in the area. It is the largest Gurdwara in the world outside of India.

History

Initially, the community met in a rented community center, but soon bought a small building in east San Jose. After buying nearby land in 1995, they decided it would be too expensive to build in the city limits, so they sold that land and bought a larger property further east. The first phase of the project of almost 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) was completed in 2004.

The second phase was completed in April 2011, making it the largest gurdwara in North America at 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2). The chief architect and designer of the project is the late Malkiat Singh Sidhu. The largest audience at the San Jose Gurdwara was on opening day when some 20,000 people were thought to have come.

Architecture

The gurdwara includes a prayer hall, called the “main Diwan Hall”, that sees 10,000 in attendance every Sunday. It also includes a kitchen and accompanying hall to provide Langar service. Additionally, the grounds include a school wing that hosts about 700 students every Sunday for Punjabi, kirtan, and gurbani classes, basketball courts, and a free health clinic.

Daily prayer services, a Sikh youth school & a langar kitchen serving free meals at a serene temple.

A serene & divine place of worship for Sikhs is open for all irrespective of their religion, cast, creed & gender. The peaceful environment adds to the divinity. One can sync in the divine recitation of Shree Guru Granth Saheb, meditate & attain eternal peace of mind. The overall cleanliness, sense of spiritual consciousness, selfless service of the carsevaks (volunteers) are all so admirable. A must visit place in San Hose.

Beautiful and serene experience. All well maintained and beautiful. The langar prasad was delicious as well.