Guru Ji's "picture"

[UntitledSingh]

My mom has been greeting(folding hands, and tilting head) to Guru Nanak Dev Ji's picture every morning since she was a child, I know it is wrong becasue we dont follow the Guru's image we follow his words which are in the Guru Granth Sahib. Is there any quote from Gurbani saying that it is a useless practice? Should I tell my mom that she is wrong, and if yes, how?

Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa

Vaheguru Ji Ke Fateh

[Akaali]

Its fine man. Your mom has shardha and pictures remind us and give us a glimpse in the greatness of the Guru's image. As long as she doesn't bow down or pray to the photo its fine.

She has been doing it since she was young, my grandma also does it, your mom probably knows that Guru sahib says not to bow to any pictures, statues, artifacts. If it gives them assurance and peace, there's nothing wrong with it.

gur kee moorat mun mein dhyaan, gur ka shabd mantr mun maan ||

[Guest [TheSim]]

In the gurbani it says The Gurus are equal to Waheguru.

(ppl who dont believe that go search)

And, although its not completley "good" to do what she is doing, you must tell her, She doesnt need the picture if she has waheguru and Guru Nanak in her thoughts.

[UntitledSingh]

In the gurbani it says The Gurus are equal to Waheguru.

(ppl who dont believe that go search)

136118[/snapback]

well that is a completly different topic you just opened up, Guru means teachers, and Waheguru is ahh, like an experession, (wow God). Guru Gobind Singh Ji Said, "Those who worship the stones are think they are Akal are fools, those who think I am Akal are fools..." Also just look at the fist page of the Guru Granth Sahib written by Guru Nanak Dev Ji him self, " Akal Murat Ajuni Shaibung" (God is above births and death, timeless) Through out the Guru Granth Sahib Maharaj we see that the Guru express so much love for God, they thrist God, they claim to be the dust on God's "feet". Anyway I guess people will always have their own views, you are are entitled to yours as much as I am to mine.

And I decided that I will give my mom a little hint about the picture praying but ofcuorse I cant stop her from practicing religion the way she want to, because after all a picture can only show the physical features of the Guru and not what the Guru is saying.

VJKK

VJKF

[Mehtab Singh]

Its fine man. Your mom has shardha and pictures remind us and give us a glimpse in the greatness of the Guru's image. As long as she doesn't bow down or pray to the photo its fine.

She has been doing it since she was young, my grandma also does it, your mom probably knows that Guru sahib says not to bow to any pictures, statues, artifacts. If it gives them assurance and peace, there's nothing wrong with it.

gur kee moorat mun mein dhyaan, gur ka shabd mantr mun maan ||

136094[/snapback]

:TH: :lol:

[ParwinderSingh]

' date='Nov 26 2005, 05:52 PM']

In the gurbani it says The Gurus are equal to Waheguru.

(ppl who dont believe that go search)

And, although its not completley "good" to do what she is doing, you must tell her, She doesnt need the picture if she has waheguru and Guru Nanak in her thoughts.

136118[/snapback]

[/quote

WAheGuru is above everything, we cant begin to imagine how great.

The Guru Jis were sent here by God, they merged back into od but were not equal to God

alot of ppl do this with the pictures, and they mite deny they are not praying to it , but they cant help it, its hard to change a habit

[SSM]

i dont know if a habit is what it should be called and not sharda or pyar instead.

i dont deny that i tekk matha to pictures but i get so much inspiration from them.

and so what if they are only the physical appearance of Guru Ji cos aint that so much as well?????

and everything to do with Guru Ji is worthy of being shown pyar to hunna?

[mann_kaum_layee_qurbaan]

The gurus were one jot but we divde them up into different 'images' the reason sikhs have such a hard time seeing that shabad guru is our guru is because of these pictures. I have yet to see a picture of bhagat ravidas ji in a sikh's house and yet to see a pic of sheikh Farid, Bhagat tarlochan, etc. Why the hypocrisy? Becuase all of these pictures are hypocrisy. If it wasn't for Sobha sio we wouldn't have this problem. How many sikhs can tell the pictures of Guru Arjun Dev ji from Guru Teg bahadur ji? The ony two pictures we keep are Guru nanak Dev Ji and Guru Gobind Singh ji....Guru Arjun DEv JI the fifth Nanak has more baani than any other nanak in SGGS so how come that picture isn't painted? Also, if you knew your father and then someone paints your father's pic centuries later who never even saw your father, would you be amazed at that pic? Nobody knows what guru sahib looked like, so let's not give these painters that much respect where we bow to their work...

the next step is naturally statues....i mean it's all about sharda right? Sharda sharda sharda, whatever happened to sharda to shabad guru? I mean even nirankaris have sharda, even naamdharis have sharda...

sharda=faith, so won't be long before someone erects a statue of guru nanak dev ji and people will bow and our people will say, "hey, they got sharda man..."

My parents do the same thing and it makes no sense to me and i don't say anything because it's their life and i have my own life...the only reason i am ranting now is because that is what this forum is for...

peace.

P.S. I think it also is the fact that sikhs try to make their faith like everybody elses, i mean you have the christians with their mary and jesus pics, hindus with their deity pics, so naturally sikhs gotta stick a pic of Guru Nanak dev ji in the wallet for good luck right? Same goes with our religion not having a priesthood, but every gurughar has a full-time sikh "priest" women are equal in sikhi but of course we have our sewa issues going on...everybody is equal but then an amritdhari won't eat with a non-amritdhari...the list goes on and on...our religion has taken on so many different forms that it won't be long before we have more denominations that christianity....

[humble_kaur]

Fateh Untitled Singh Veer Ji,

A Sikh is not to worship any heavenly body, such as the sun or moon, or pictures, images, paintings of gods, not even our Gurus. The Gurus never permitted paintings, busts, or sculptures of themselves to be prepared. They only emphasized the philosophy of 'Shabad Guru'. According to Guru Ji, Gurbani is the 'Shabad Guru'

bwxI gurU gurU hY bwxI ivic bwxI AMimRqu swry ]

The Word, the Bani is Guru, and Guru is the Bani. Within the Bani, the Ambrosial Nectar is contained.

guru bwxI khY syvku jnu mwnY prqiK gurU insqwry ]5]

If His humble servant believes, and acts according to the Words of the Guru's Bani, then the Guru, in person, emancipates him. ||5||

Worshiping the pictures is none other than a Brahmanical ritual that people have implemented in their lives by putting them up in the Gurdwaras and in their homes. When I visited India, and went to many Gurdwaras, I noticed pictures of the Gurus. So how are we to convince someone that they shouldn't be there? It would be difficult cuz it has been engraved in the Sikh psyche. Alot of people have the pictures in their homes to show a sign of respect, some even have garlands around them.

To know why people worship the Guru's picture, we should take a look at history, as Dr Gurbakhsh Singh stated:

"When Keshdhari Sikhs during the 18th century were forced to leave the villages and live in the forests, the nonKeshdhari disciples took care of the Sikh Gurdwaras and the historical places. These disciples did not board the ship of Sikh Faith; they only held it in their hands but kept their feet stuck in the Hindu Boat. The Brahmanical influence, which was still holding their mind, obliged them to depict popular mythological scenes on the walls of the Gurdwaras as they were traditionally depicted on the walls of the Hindu temples. When the pictures of the Hindu gods and their consorts appeared on the Gurdwara walls, the pictures of the Gurus had also to appear as a natural sequence. All pictures, of course, differed and were subject to the imagination of the painters. The pictures from the walls moved on to the paper and were printed in large numbers to reach every Sikh house and every Gurdwara. Only a few vigilant managers did not permit any kind of pictures, howsoever 'genuine' or 'superior' they were claimed to be, to come even near the boundary of the Gurdwaras. Once the pictures of the Gurus were accepted as 'true' and 'good' by the masses, how could anyone stop them from taking the forms of idols and statues? Unfortunately, it appears that they are here to stay at least for the time being.

During the 18th century, not only the nonSikh but antiSikh rituals were praticed in Gurdwaras without any objection because the Khalsa had moved to the forests. The sacred places were managed by the Sanatni (Brahmanical) Sikhs or by those Mahants who still believed in Hindu rituals even after associating themselves with the Sikh faith.

When the Sikhs lost their Raj in Punjab in 1849, they had time to turn their thoughts towards their faith. They were surprised to find Sikhism already pushed out of the Gurdwaras by Brahmanical rituals. The worship of idols, whether of the Hindu gods or of the Sikh Gurus, is prohibited for the Sikhs. However, both were worshiped by the Sikhs in the precincts of the Golden Temple."

So if these pictures were made by the imagination of painters, and all differed, which is the true picture of our Guru? As stated before, no Guru allowed for their pictures, images to be painted. Therefore, we shouldn't have pictures in the Gurdwaras or our houses, instead the Gurus should reside in our hearts, our mind, our soul. The gyan, the Jot, is what our Guru is, so how can we possible take a picture of it?

I am a hypocrite, I know. As I am writing this, I know I, myself, personally do not own or have even a single 'picture of our Guru', but my house is full of them. Like yourself Veer Ji, I also tried to reason with my parents that these pictures are not of the Guru themselves, and told them of all the points I have stated in this post, but because of their lack of awareness, and because of this notion being engraved in their psyche, it can get difficult. But I do have talks with my parents, and what I am learning (hopefully correctly), I am discussing topics with them. I find if you can discuss a topic with passion, with love, and not try to force them, then they do listen. They start to realize not all of these so called 'Sikh rituals' are correct.

Good Luck!

Bhul Chuk Maaf

[UntitledSingh]

Thanks for the replies, I am glad to see that I am not alone.

VJKK

VJKF