it is a growing concern,especially with our younger sikhs, that 'dating' is promoted by western culture, and in fact encouraged to find the right partner. it is now acceptable and tolerated within western-punjabi's, and it is gaining strength within our amritdhari youth as well. below is an intriguing article on the dangers of dating, ironically from a christian website.

[www.bibletopics.com]

i feel we have now forgot the role of 'parent' in attempt to become our children's 'friend'. there needs to be structure and discipline in society, and it begins within the family unit. teen pregnancy, std's, and the divorce rate are rising at an alarming rate.

as sikhs, we must guide and instill the value of respect of parents and family, and teach the importance of honour. i feel this article is well written, and should be discussed with our youth.

THere is absolutely no place for dating in gurmat. Even useless chit chatting or haha hehe with the opposite gender shud be discouraged. However, when it comes to marriage, leaving things entirely on parents or elderly gursikhs, well... thats risky too.Elderly people can make mistakes, have selfish motives, greed etc, so to leave the process of finding a life partner entirely on parents or elderly people, i personally dont think its safe.
I do feel that even in gursikhi people shud be able to properly know the views of each other before tying the knot. And this sharing of views shud not be random gallan but shud centre around gursikhi, rehit and other zaroori aspects of human life. Its all about views or khiyaalat, and views need to match, otherwise there will be problems and marraige problems can ruin ones life, ones jeevan. These days anand karajs both inside and outside the jatha have just become a vapaar, or sauda. There is no considereation for views or rehit, its all about money, job salary, immigration(thats the biggest one), physical roop. May be there could be an online forum where interested people can just start posting just as we have on this forum. And if 2 parties like each other's views, then things can go ahead and elderly peoople can be brought into picture.