Importance Of Raag

[Akaali]

Agree with hardeep singh, don't look at how gurbani is played or sung, but what is being played and sung.

[Tanu Kaur]

I'm not saying that pyaar doesnt' matter in kirtan. In fact, without pyaar, there is no kirtan! How can you praise Vaheguru if you don't feel anything for Vaheguru?

But remember - dasam Patshah Guru Gobind Singh had the utmost pyar for Akal Purakh as well. Along with that, he also trained himself in who knows how many languages, poetry, weaponry, etc.

If you have the pyaar, great - half the battle is already won. Now its time to develop the skill as well.

[Charandhoor Singh]

yes its all very good that keertan should be sung from the heart. However saying that raag doesnt matter is blasphemy, the funamental fact and the crux of the matter is that our Gurus wrote the shabads in raags for a reason.

[KhalistanZindabad]

raag is hukam....its in the guru granth sahib, its the first thing before evey shabdad...example

Majh Mahala 5

"revealed to guru arjan dev ji in raag majh"

[Gurbar Akaal]

Why must Sikhs compromise everything? Why cannot there be Raag Kirtan AND Pyar? Everyone makes the assumption that people who sing Raag Kirtan don’t really have pyaar for Gurbani, this is far from the truth, if anything the Raagis can appreciate the Gurbani more because they understand the mood and feeling which it should be sung in.

Raag has its purpose, without it allot of the expression is lost. To truly understand bani you must go further then just the words and the arth. To appreciate it you must understand the feelings of the Guru when they wrote the particular shabad, put yourself in the Gurus place and simulate the mood they were feeling at that particular time, how do you find out what mood? RAAG!!

Imagine reading a novel, in there the author explains an incident in their life, a time or hardship or pain, the person missed a particular member of their family. If you yourself don’t try to emulate that feeling of longing and separation then you cannot really appreciate what the person is writing about. In this same way, without understanding raag you are missing a big element of what the Guru is trying to say to you.

Pyar counts, there is no doubt about that, someone who doesn’t love Gurbani will never be able to join with it, but ontop of that there must be the ability to express it. Probably the best example would be Singhs going to war, one person can have pyaar for shastar, he matha teks to them every day, does seva of cleaning them and sharpening them, but he cannot use them, he doesn’t understand vaars, penthreh, or strategies, come the time of battle his life is on the line and he regrets not learning the art of war. Through his laziness and excuse of using the “pyar and sharda” card, he is certain to die in war.

It is these compromises and “pyar and sharda” cards which have destroyed many arts which were blessed to the Sikhs by the Guru. There was a time when people would come to Sri Harmandir Sahib to learn Raag Kirtan, people would come to the Sikhs to train in the art of war, and now, it’s the complete opposite, Sikhs have resorted to going to Hindu and Muslim ustaads to learn kirtan, and are going to goreh and chinneh to learn martial arts. When something existed no one did kadhar of it, now when its extinct we make excuses.

[Khalsa Fauji]

Gurfateh!!

Just remember Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaaj is split up into Raags, not by which Guru/Bhagat compiled what bani or not by the length of the shabad, but by RAAG.

Guru Ji has told us how to get the most out of Gurbani, we are told when to sing it, how to sing it, what beat to sing it to just to make the most out of it.

Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaaj has classed Raag with utmost importance.

I once read that Nihang Singh gave the following analogy to emphasize the importance of Raag:

Imagine Amrit being prepared in something other than a Sarabloh bata, is it still Amrit?

Raag is the same vessel, the same bata for which Bani is prepared.

Bhul Chuk Maaf!

Gurfateh!!

[Tarrandeep Kaur]

I dont get it, someone posts about the importance of raag. and everyone starts to mention 'AKJ'.

Are akj the only people who dont use raag??

Just keep to the topic, teekhya promote the importance of raag, but dont start bringing jathebandis init.

Seems like most of us agree on the importance of raag, well teekhya do kirtan in raag, mahraj has dun alot of kirpaa on you. Yes i agree raag is very important, but for the poeple who are just starting out and have no means of learning raag, and simply sing mahrajs praises without any knowledge of raag, it would be wrong to say they are doing manmat.

Sorry if ive sed nefink rong.

vahigurujikakhalsa vahigurujikifateh

[nWo]

wot about raagi keertans they dont do raag keertan either.

[Guest Papi]

wot about raagi keertans they dont do raag keertan either.

most raagi's i've meet have atleast some knowledge of raags. i always tell them to do kirtan in raag. and every single time i get this response "what can we do!!! sangat doesn't want to listen to raags" that came as a big surprise to me.

we were given a lot of things by guru sahib, much has been lost in a very short period. music is one of those things guru sahib gave to his sikhs. we must preserve it as well, as we should perserve, the warrior aspect, as we should preserve larivaar saroop of maharaj, as we must perserve all historical places (which btw are being destroyed in india :sady: ) etc......

i think every sikh house should have a vajaa/tabla

[nWo]

wot bout punj granthi nitnem that was mandtory back in the days, now we have people just barely doing there 7 bania lol actually 3 baniya