Questions for the Amritdhare

[BahaPolska]

For a long time I've been desiring to take Amrit. But when I ask anyone about it, they try to change the subject or suddenly need to go to the john or something and I learn absolutely nothing! I feel like I'm trying to join the Masons or something, and no one wants to let the secret out of the bag.

What I've been asking isn't can I, or when, but what must I do beforehand? Like must one be fluent in Punjabi (I'm not; we go to a bilingual gurudwara or else I'd know nothing from Bani) or must you fully memorize Nitnem etc.? All I want to know is what I need before I move forward, and I so wish someone would just TELL me instead of hedging it. There has to be a few of Amritdhari out here. Any advice from those who know best?

Blessed be!

[smartsingh24]

you need five kakkars. You must be able to read punjabi. You don't have to be good at it, fast at it, but you must be able to get by on your reading skills. While you don't have to memorize nitnem, it is defintley a plus.

[Pheena]

and we seem to forget the most important requirement of all, 'LOVE'.

[smartsingh24]

yeesh, you didn't let me finish. And love.

[Pheena]

:doh:

[All-Info]

For a long time I've been desiring to take Amrit. But when I ask anyone about it, they try to change the subject or suddenly need to go to the john or something and I learn absolutely nothing! I feel like I'm trying to join the Masons or something, and no one wants to let the secret out of the bag.

What I've been asking isn't can I, or when, but what must I do beforehand? Like must one be fluent in Punjabi (I'm not; we go to a bilingual gurudwara or else I'd know nothing from Bani) or must you fully memorize Nitnem etc.? All I want to know is what I need before I move forward, and I so wish someone would just TELL me instead of hedging it. There has to be a few of Amritdhari out here. Any advice from those who know best?

Blessed be!

104670[/snapback]

I cant read punjabi yet i maharaj blessed me with amrit.

I tell you a few things to prepare you, these are what i was told.

Do ardas to maharaj to one day bless you to be his child. Guru Gobind Singh Ji will be honored by this!! Try to practice rehat asap, ie panj kakkar, read as much nitnem as you can, if you cant read punjabi then learn asap but still do your nitnem, do from times new roman but follow on a cd for prounanciation etc..

Just listen to kirtan as much as you can too huna, with this playin in your mind all the time, you will jst be craving amrit one day so much that out of no where you will be in this room, infront of maharaj watchin the Kirpan take your head off! Its beautiful!

What are your exact questions huna, its difficult to summarise what to do before without specific questions in a way...

Amrit is a massive thing, it doesnt come cheap, you become like a 24/7 police officer!! Always on duty!! Comes with alot of responsibility!!

Your rehat will say you need to learn your nitnem off by heart, more then likely neway but when you read enuf you remember neway!!! So dont worry about that.

Amrit is the first step, its not something which you can b like ready for jst at an instant, when its given to you, you take it. You dont choose when or where, you have to beg for it!! Hence its such an expensive thing. Remember tho, When you take Amrit, you start your life. Its the beginning. Alot of people will rate you highly for giving your head etc but end of the day, its not yours anyway!! So when you realise that much, you are blessed to have it taken of your body formely!!! You can train yourself as much as posible to be ready but even then you wont b, Maharaj makes you ready.

All you really need to do is if you know you want to give your head is follow as much rehat as you can, bring amritvela into your routine if not already and beg! On the day, make sure you have full ishnaan including kes and have panj kakkar - bear in mind to be thiyaar bithiyaar - ie dependant on your panj, rehat can sometime differ (not goin into specifics... !!) Try not to eat and drink too much the day before as i was told you have to have ishnaan again if you go toilet (so if amrit sanchar is in the evening, had full ishnaan jst before you go!!), do simran and chaupi sahib paath all the way! and dont stop!!!!

If u need anymore help, jst ask!!

I hope these messed up words are helpfull.. been a LONG day and im officially shattered after no decent sleep for weeks...

Please forgive me for any mistakes...

WJKK WJKF

(PS before anyone makes a big fuss about you have to be able to read punjabi, theres are thousands of now Khalsa Sikhs who cudnt read/write or speak punjabi, countless inspirational stories of goray and hindus etc who were blessed yet knew nothing of Sikhi).

[jss]

veerji/bhenji...

all you really need to be blessed with amrit is the thirst to become guru ji's slave...

if you are ready to put your head on your hand and give it to guru ji should he ever ask for it, then you are ready for amrit,

if you are prepared to change the focus of your life from outward materialistic pursuits to the inward progression toward your soul and naam, then you are ready for amrit...

if you are so in love with guru ji that you can't stop smiling...that you start laughing at random times, that you feel the pangs of separation from your guru...then you are ready for amrit...

if you want to become the dust of the earth, if you want to become a flower who spreads the divine fragrance of guru nanak's divine love all over this world unselfishly to all people all times...then you are probably ready to take amrit...

as for whatever smart singh said...

yes...you'll need five kakaars...BUT your LOVE for guru ji will compel you to wear those

punjabi???...no problems....if you LOVE for guru ji is sincere, HE will find a way to communicate with you...(ie..he'll teach you punjabi in no time...actually don't need to know punjabi...rather GURMUKHI)...i'd suggest getting an english gutka and working from there...you'll find that as time passes and you keep doing simran and seva...that when you do paath..the meanings will come to you in your heart....i'm not kidding..

memorizing gurbani....it's not a requirement...but again your LOVE for guru ji and guru ji's bachans will mean that you won't one to be separated from that ilahi (spiritual) treasure of guru bani...

if you are ready for khameer da jeevan (a metaphore to the making of yogurt)...as you will receive naam when you take amrit through panj piyaraay...but that naam has to be cultivated through simran, seva, sangat...and by doing so...that small sip of amrit that you receive will transform every molecule of your body into amrit...every pore of your existance will ooze of amrit....if you are ready to cultivate that amrit...then don't wait another second....but if you aren't ready for that amrit...just like if when making yogurt, we don't take the right precautions and steps..the yogurt ends up being sour and spoilt...if we aren't ready for amrit and do not cultivate that naaam given to us by panj piyaraay, then our jeevans instead of becoming the embodiment of nanak love, may become sour themselves....

[>Bikramjit Singh<]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa

Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

BahaPolska Bhainji

Firstly please don't allow the apprehensiveness of some in the Sikh community to put you off your journey. The Sikhs that you ask about Amrit are probably just concerned that you do not take Amrit one day and then finding it difficult to keep the Rehat break the Amrit. Unfortunately we Sikhs do not have any organisations specifically to help people of non-Punjabi background to learn about Sikhism. The level of support depends of what the priorities of your local Gurdwara are. That being said you should not feel disheartened, I hope you will use this forum to ask any questions that you may have as well as use the internet to learn more about Sikhism.

It is important to be able to read and understand Punjabi. But that should not be a barrier to taking Amrit. I know a few people who have taken Amrit and their first language is English and one whose mother tongue is Swedish. They use the bilingual Nitnem daily prayers book. The important thing is to understand the essence of the message and live according to it. Most Gurdwaras have Punjabi classes in the evenings or Weekends so it might be useful to enrol there and try to learn Punjabi. If you take Amrit before you have a good understanding of Punjabi it maybe an idea to ask if you can have someone with you who understands Punjabi and who can translate the Rehat as explained by the Punj Pyare.

Amrit is open to all. The only distinction is that one must be ready both mentally, spiritually and physically.

GurFateh

Bikramjit

PS Great to see WJKK WJKF in Polish as your signature :doh:

[arinakaur]

dear BahaPolska ji .

all u need. in my opinion is luv n dedication to the panth.

the rehat, naam, path n everything else will be given to u when u take amrit...remember, neither of these belomg to u.... it belongs ro akal purakh...

amrit, i stress, is the first step... the rest u leave it to Him... He will guide u ...

its not necessary tht u should even kno how to read the panj bania, let alone gurmukhi before taking amrit... U will learn eventually ... God bless...

People always enjoy making things difficult for everyone else... thst normal human nature... i'm not saying tht watever has been posted above is wrong... thts their view abt things n they're fully entitled to it... but to me, sikhi is simple n easy... its practical... in fact, the most practical...

so dun wait any longer... drink the nectar n ull realise how sweet it actually is... u'd never kno otherwise...

n i'm sorry if i hurt anyone's feelings... im open to suggestions...

bhul chuk maphi...

god bless n gurfateh

[BahaPolska]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa

Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

BahaPolska Bhainji

Firstly please don't allow the apprehensiveness of some in the Sikh community to put you off your journey. The Sikhs that you ask about Amrit are probably just concerned that you do not take Amrit one day and then finding it difficult to keep the Rehat break the Amrit. Unfortunately we Sikhs do not have any organisations specifically to help people of non-Punjabi background to learn about Sikhism. The level of support depends of what the priorities of your local Gurdwara are. That being said you should not feel disheartened, I hope you will use this forum to ask any questions that you may have as well as use the internet to learn more about Sikhism.

It is important to be able to read and understand Punjabi. But that should not be a barrier to taking Amrit. I know a few people who have taken Amrit and their first language is English and one whose mother tongue is Swedish. They use the bilingual Nitnem daily prayers book. The important thing is to understand the essence of the message and live according to it. Most Gurdwaras have Punjabi classes in the evenings or Weekends so it might be useful to enrol there and try to learn Punjabi. If you take Amrit before you have a good understanding of Punjabi it maybe an idea to ask if you can have someone with you who understands Punjabi and who can translate the Rehat as explained by the Punj Pyare.

Amrit is open to all. The only distinction is that one must be ready both mentally, spiritually and physically.

GurFateh

Bikramjit

PS Great to see WJKK WJKF in Polish as your signature  :doh:

104850[/snapback]

Thank you, Bhai-sahib, along with everyone else, for some good, wise words. Maybe you're right. Thinking on our local gurudwaras, there is one that is highly orthodox and one more liberal; one more isolationist, one that teaches that the Indian sangat must learn to deal with the West. And I'm a Westerner, like it or not. Matter of fact I am one of only two non-Indian Americans at both our local gurudwaras, and I think I weird out some of the sangat. I spent a good while being referred to as The Polack until I got married and my father-in-law very loudly called me Bahadur Kaur as he led the ceremony.

My husband (Indian but born in the USA) and I both take Punjabi class, and work to improve ourselves by talking Punjabi to our cats. He wants to re-take Amrit, as he believes he broke Rehit sometime before meeting me by drinking booze. He was required to memorise Nitnem, but another lady we know was not; and someone in Canada was willing to administer Amrit sight unseen. But this was during the SARS scare, my husband is in AIDS research and his company were forbidden to go to Canada until it was contained, so we missed out. So we hear all kinds of different stuff. You can see why I get so frustrated sometimes!

If a wiser person thought I was not ready, I wouldn't mind them saying so, and telling me where I need to work. That's constructive and for my greater good. But it irritates the stuffing out of me to NOT get a straight answer. I'm a grown lady, don't treat me like I'm dumber than a rock!

Thanks again, Bhai-ji! And thumbs up to you :doh: for noticing (and knowing!) the Polish sig!

Blessed be,

BahaPolska