There is a gurdwara I know - very big and very rich. And the mortgage is huge. So the management decided to raise some serious funds, not penny ante stuff.

The local Sikh community has some people with obscene amounts of money and they have contributed generously. Now the management wants to put up a magnificent slab of marble listing the names of the fat cats and their donations. This would be a permanent marker. Generations will see it. All visitors would pay symbolic homage to these Sikh powerhouses as they walk past it to enter the building. In fact, they will do so before bowing their heads to the Guru Granth.

The idea has been bothering me ever since it was floated a few weeks ago. My thoughts crystallized somewhat because the talk has now turned serious. The plaque may be erected soon.

Today I am going to put down my reasons pro and con and hope my readers will help me make up my mind.

I can think of three arguments why a plaque honoring the donors seems like a good idea and this the right time for it.

It is not really a novel concept. Look at the major gurdwaras in Punjab. Visit the holiest Sikh gurdwara - Golden Temple at Amritsar. The atrium and the walkway are studded with marble slabs etched with the names of donors. I remember seeing names of army regiments, industrialists and individuals from as far back as the First World War.

I have seen gurdwaras in North America bearing plaques in honor of those who had donated substantially. I hasten to add that some of these plaques - like the one at the Sikh Cultural Society Gurdwara in Richmond Hills, New York - have since been removed.

A third supporting argument contends that a prominent plaque will spur others to donate. There is nothing like peer pressure, some shame and a little envy to motivate people. And we do need the money.

Now, I believe that these arguments, plausible as they are and attractive, are not entirely convincing.

Obviously the plaque will bear the names of only those who give will a certain minimum amount. There must be a bar; how high you set the bar is immaterial and irrelevant. A bar exists to separate those who qualify for the honor from those who do not. Do we not then create a society stratified on economic class? Is this not contrary to the fundamentals of Sikhism? Historically the gurdwara and particularly the langar exist to demonstrate and construct a classless and caste free society. Would we not be defeating this base objective of our religion?

Let us take a simple example to illustrate the absurdity. If a man makes a million dollars, donating 20,000 of them would not be a significant hardship. And of course he would earn a place on the marble. If another person makes only $20,000, donating even $200 might mean a significant sacrifice; even then it will surely not earn him an etching on the plaque.

I know a family that serves in the langar ever day that the gurdwara has a langar. They arrive early and spend much of their time laboring over the hot stove. Their names would be missing from the wall of honor. Another man has become reasonably successful, but by no means wealthy, contractor in the construction trade. He donates his sweat and labor for much needed construction in the gurdwara. His seva must be worth several thousand dollars. His donation is not in cash and, therefore, remains uncounted.

Years ago when we had no gurdwara building in New York, we used to meet for our service every Sunday in the basement of a church school. The night before - Saturday - the basement was often used for parties, and Sunday morning the hall would be strewn with beer cans, cigarette butts and plastic or paper garbage. Our service started at 11 in the morning but one couple always arrived an hour earlier to broom-clean the hall. Their contribution was not in cash but in seva; the marble plaque would never discover their names. Then there are others who make only a perfunctory appearance at the gurdwara, perhaps once a year, but who send a reasonably large check, perchance at the advice of their tax accountants. And these movers and shakers will surely be on the marble.

A plaque will shift the emphasis away from the sangat to a chosen few. It is the pennies and dollar bills of the sangat that make a gurdwara. Large donations and plaques establish a club, a university chair or a hospital.

Is this what the Gurus intended? This stress on money reminds me of the sakhi about a poor Sikh who was ashamed to offer his kaudi (perhaps equivalent to a penny) to the Guru but that is all he had. Guru Arjan, however, spurned all kinds of rich offerings from others, and instead approached the Sikh for his penny. There is also the parable from the life of Guru Nanak. The Guru walked away from the rich but dishonestly earned repast of Malik Bhago and preferred to break bread with the honest but poor Lalo. I emphatically do not mean here that the rich donors to the gurdwara have come about their money by less than honest means. What I wish to suggest is that the Guru did not pay any mind to the size or quality of Malik Bhago's possessions; the criterion remained dedication and loyalty to Sikh teaching.

In the final analysis what does it mean to have our name inscribed on a wall at the entrance to a gurdwara? Is it not an extension of our ever-present ego? I recognize that we are almost continuously ego-driven, at work or at home. Must we also bring its baggage into the gurdwara? If we do, the connection to our inner self that we are seeking will not occur. Then why go the gurdwara? If the sangat in a gurdwara is going to be riven by economic class, where are humans to be equal in the eyes of God and Guru? I would like to see the granthi of the gurdwara enter the fray and address the issues directly, not sit quietly.

I know that during their high holy days, in some Jewish denominations, worshippers can purchase seats in the synagogue for the service. Better seats cost more. And that becomes a very effective means for fund raising. This, I need not add, is decidedly not the Sikh way.

Keep in mind that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven.