Questions For Amritdharis

[Khalasthan86]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

I am planning to take amrit, as soon as possible, but I need to know some stuff.

1. Do you have to wash your kesh when you have a ishnaan in the morning?

2. Can you socialize with friends that are unforunately, druggy, alocholic, smoking (even though my friends don't)?

3. What time is Amrit vela?

4. What time do you go to sleep?

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

[SinghLion]

Hi Singh

To answer your questions:

1) yes you MUST wash your kesh before taking amrit.

2) we are guided by our Guru's to stay away from bad sangat. This may not always be possible, but it should be avoided wherever you can.

3) I have heard it is between 2 and 5. Earlier the better.

4) go to sleep when you're tired

[Shadow]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

I am planning to take amrit, as soon as possible, but I need to know some stuff.

1. Do you have to wash your kesh when you have a ishnaan in the morning?

2. Can you socialize with friends that are unforunately, druggy, alocholic, smoking (even though my friends don't)?

3. What time is Amrit vela?

4. What time do you go to sleep?

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

1. yes

2. You should take good sangat. If you take bad sangat you will end up becoming like them.

3. Amritvela is the fourth pehar of the night which is between 2 - 6. Amritvela finishes at sunrise.

4. Normally I sleep no later than 10.

[AmarjitKaur]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

I am planning to take amrit, as soon as possible, but I need to know some stuff.

1. Do you have to wash your kesh when you have a ishnaan in the morning?

2. Can you socialize with friends that are unforunately, druggy, alocholic, smoking (even though my friends don't)?

3. What time is Amrit vela?

4. What time do you go to sleep?

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

The way I have been told, you wash your kesh twice a week. Yes, u definitely cleanse your whole body including kesh before taking amrit.

Bad sangat goes away itself, if you are taking your Amrit seriously. Slowly slowly, you don't even enjoy the materialistic talk any more. babaji tells you to stay away from gossip, so these things will themselve go away, if you really wanna take laha of each momemt of the day.

[SikhRoots]

Answer to this should be simple - ask the Panj Pyaareh who gift you with Amrit...!!!

[KEERPA]

Singh# I think you need to learn more before you take Amrit, there are a lot of concepts of Khalsa that I dont think you know yet as you ask questions that are too simple to need being asked if you are really following Sikhi.

1)yes you must wash your kaysh every morning (you take a shower by wrapping your Kirpan around your turban, when you wash your hair you tie your keski around your waste and put your kangha in your keski)

2)No sicializing with people that are opposite of what you should be as they will influence you into bad habits or ridicule you beyond your beliefs etc. (my brother in law is a drunk that smokes and I dont even socialize with him because he only slurs blah blahs and or talks nasty words)

3)Amritvela is around 2am to about 5am (Naam japna and pannj bania are important in this time after you have taken full isnaan not the "fool Isnhanaan by not washing your hair etc"

4)Go to sleep(after Sohila paat) what ever time that you can get up at Amritvela Sahib.

Then there are aspects of joot, ardas, kakars, rehat etc that I dont think you are familiar enough with if you are asking the 4 questions you did.

Im not discouraging you to not Amrit Chauk, I am encouraging you to learn the basic qualities and understanding a Sikh must have before chauking Amrit.

[khalsa_raaj]

1) i wash my body and then wash my hair later on as i cant stay in the bathroom 2 long (health reasons)

2) i do have friends who take drugs/drink/go clubbing same with my family, i do talk to them but i dont stay with them too long. harder with family cuz u live with them lol

3) 2am - 5am

4) depends on when u want to get up, but i cant get to sleep before 11pm

[harjsingh2009]

I have two points.

Firstly, as someone who is clearly well disciplined and righteous, don't you think it is part of your duty to socialise with so called 'bad people' and help them see the rightpath. Isolating yourself is an indication that you are a self-centred soul who is religous solely to benefit himself and not society at large. I don't think that is what sikhism is about.

Secondly, why do you have an AK47 as your image? Do you think this is clever? This is a weapon that has been used in the murder of millions of innocent people around the world.

[khalsa_raaj]

I have two points.

Firstly, as someone who is clearly well disciplined and righteous, don't you think it is part of your duty to socialise with so called 'bad people' and help them see the rightpath. Isolating yourself is an indication that you are a self-centred soul who is religous solely to benefit himself and not society at large. I don't think that is what sikhism is about.

Secondly, why do you have an AK47 as your image? Do you think this is clever? This is a weapon that has been used in the murder of millions of innocent people around the world.

i think ur first point it is wicked but damn ur second one isnt.. ak47s also PROTECTED people around the world. and it is also seen as a shastar to some!

[Vahejeo]

I think this article will help:

http://akj.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6288&p=17352&hilit=article#p17352

An article on Before and After Taking Amrit

by Tejinder19 » Tue Jul 28, 2009 3:02 pm

Waheguru Jee Ka Khalsa Waheguru Jee Kee Fateh!

Sangat Jee, here’s an article on Before and After Taking Amrit which I found to be very inspiring and helpful.

Taking Amrit

Monday 18 December 2006

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa Waheguru ji ki fateh

Daas was requested by a Gursikh to upload an article. Daas was going to write an article next week about Amrit but that would of been too late as their is going to be an Amrit Sinchaar this weekend on Saturday at Coventry Smagam. So Daas decided it would be best to either write an article straight away or accept this one. Daas has read the article and feels it is very well composed and answers alot of questions Abhilakhis (candidates of Amrit) have. So here is the article written by an anonymous Gursikh.

Waheguroo ji ka khalsa, waheguroo ji ki fathe!

To all the Abhilakees (ones preparing for Amrit), Amrit sanchar is coming close and the ones preparing to take Amrit are getting more excited which you guys should be. There are a few things that daas would like to share with you, just so that you guys can get a further understanding of what Amrit is and what we need to sacrifice. Please put this in mind that you are going to ask for Amrit it does not mean that we are 100% that you will be taking Amrit that night. It’s a blessing, it’s only when Guru Gobind Singh wants to give it to you not when you want it. Daas will only say some points briefly if one wants to know more then please ask other gursikhs. If daas does any mistakes and if anyone gets offended by this article then please do ardaas for this kookar.

Amritwela

One who calls himself a Sikh of the Guru, the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name.

The Gurbani thuk above by Guru Ram Das ji explains itself, Mahraj ji is saying that a person who wakes up at Amritwela is the only Sikh. An Abhlaikee Sikh should wake up Amritwela before the amritsanchar for at least a few months or even a year etc, so that one does not find much difficulty in waking up after being blessed with Amrit. If one has not woken up amritwela before taking Amrit one will find it very hard, not sayings it’s not possible. Amritwela normally starts around 2am waking up earlier is your own kushi (happiness). To help waking up one should;

• Eat less before going to sleep and eat before 7ish

• Sleep early

• You could also drink a lot of water before sleeping, so when the alarm goes off you will have to go to the toilet

• Put your alarm further away from your bed so that you will have to get out of your bed and walk to switch it off.

Ishnaan

Upon arising early in the morning, he is to bathe, and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar.

Having an ishnaan at amritwela is a MUST; this should be in cold water so that it wakes you up, the feeling after a cold ishnaan can not be described, it can only be experienced. It takes courage to have a cold ishnaan and this is what mahraj is looking for, how much do we sacrifice to our guru. It is VERY IMPORTANT to jaap naam while having an ishnaan other wise there is no use. Naam is the only thing that makes our day to day chores parvaan (accepted).

The food and clothes, and all the worldly possessions of those who are attuned to the Lord's Name are sacred.

When taking an ishnaan it is very important to have all the panj kakars on the body. Also having a keshi ishnaan is a MUST everyday, this can be done by having a pindhe ishnaan and the keski on top of your head, also wrapping the kirpan around the head. When changing the kashera one needs to take the right leg out put it in the clean kashera and then the left leg out and do the same.

IMPORTANT – the kashera must not leave the body doing this is a kurehit (sin) it can be fixed by doing ardaas, by asking for forgiveness. This also goes for the kanga, if the kanga accidentally falls on to the ground, wash it and do ardaas. Doing paths such as jap ji sahibs, chopai sahibs or others should also be recited before asking for forgiveness.

When one has a keshi ishnaan, one should wrap there keski around there waist, putting the kanga inside the keski, or any other way but making sure that the kakars don’t leave your body.

Keski

Believing keski as a kakkar or not, it is very important that both genders wear a keski at all times. The disease of ignorance has crept into the singhs, where singhs have started to wear a patka rather then a beautiful dastar. Imagine a Singh walking into the Amrit sanchar with his hair as a knot on the back of the head or even a plat. If this is not acceptable for a Singh then why is it acceptable for a Singhanee of Guru Gobind Singh. The key point to remember here is that one cannot protect their kesh without a keski/dastar.

Again daas apologises if daas has said anything wrong. Believing keski as a kakar or not, it is very important that one keeps keski rehit.

Jaaping Naam

5]

The One Name is the Lord's Command; O Nanak, the True Guru has given me this understanding. ||5||

It is very important to jaap a lot of naam, as Guru Granth Sahib Ji tells us to jaap naam, jaap naam and jaap naam, this is the hukam of our Guru. At amritwela one should jaap naam for at least 2 hours sitting, as 2 hours will lead to12 hours of naam abhiyaas throughout the day. It is also important to do some sitting of naam abhiyaas in the afternoon, maybe an hour or so. Doing naam abhiyaas before going to sleep is a must as it will carry on unconsciously throughout the night, which will make it easier for one to wake up again. One can go into a lot of depth on the subject of naam, it’s the key thing in sikhi. Without naam one will find sikhi very hard and one may even begin to question the concept of naam.

Talking less

To speak too much and babble is useless.

One needs to stop wasting time and speak less, eat less and sleep less. Doing these three things will increase one jeevans and also our naam abhiyaas. A lot of us talk about things that we don’t need to talk about which will take us away from naam, a second with out naam is like years of separation. We spend hours talking about useless things, how much kirpa would it be to jaap naam for those hours in the sangat. Gurrrrrrrrooooo

Sangat

One who meditates on the Lord obtains all pleasures and comforts; let us go each and every day, to sit in the Saints' Society.

It is very important to stay in the sangat and visit the sangat every single day, to obtain true peace of mind. Doing amritwela with the sangat has a lot of benefits, one will find that they can do more naam abhiyaas, find it easier to wake up amritwela, doing more sangat will have an increased effect on ones naam abhiyaas, for example if there are 5 gursikhs doing naam abhiyaas for an hour then that would equal to one gursikh doing naam abhiyaas for 5 hours. Some get into hankar (ego) and think that they can be ok with out the support of the sangat, daas can say that the people who have commited such a foolish mistake have always fallen. So stay in the true sangat, where there is naam and bani there is true sangat.

Sarbloh / Bebik

O Baba, the pleasures of other foods are false.

1] rhwau ]

Eating them, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. ||1||Pause||

Ideally there is no such thing as being a bebiki, sarbloh is the only bebik. This is the time of kuljug so many will find it hard, but whatever the rehit may be it is a must for every gursikh. If sarbloh is what we take Amrit from, why is it that we are allowed to eat from glass or other metals after the Amrit sanchar? This means that we did not sacrifice our body, mind and wealth to the Guru. Some question sarbloh but all one needs to say is, from what metal they took Amrit from. If they say something other than sarbloh then walk away that person has not took Amrit and is not a gursikh of the guru. Don’t get in to these petty arguments and just concentrate on your own jeevan, getting into arguments is a threat to your jeevan and naam abhiyaas. Just walk away!

One can work up to being a sarblohi, one could start from eating only from gursikhs. Not eating things like chocolate, crisps or pizza etc. Eating from a manmukh is a kurehit and one will need to do ardaas for forgiveness. One should eat less and only in the sangat of gursikhs.

Jaap naam while eating is a must talking over Langar can lead to the increase of the 5 vices (kaam, krodh, lob, moh and hankar).

Watching TV

One who wants to know the evil of TV should read Baba Harnaam Singhs book, Sai Kinayhi-aa, it has a chapter where it shows the reader the effect that television can have on one’s jeevan. It will only lead to the 5 vices attacking us from inside. It will take us away from naam and it will be much harder to concentrate on naam abhiyaas. watching television till late will prevent one from waking up at amritwela. By staying away from television, ones jeevan will greatly increase and the love for our Guru, so why do we challenge elder gursikhs about this issue. If watching television helps you to jaap naam then carry on watching it, BUT it won’t, so don’t bother!! Whatever you do, if anything stops you from jaaping naam then stay away from it. It’s simple! Goes for chatting on the net, msn etc.

Amrit Sanchar

Amrit Sanchar is the example of how you need to live your life. You are going to sacrifice your mind, body and wealth:

Worldly bonds fall into categories.

Body - sleeping, eating and talking; Guru jee has advised us to reduce these.

Possessions and relatives - house, wealth, wife, sons, daughters etc

Mind - five vices, jealousy, hatred, deception etc

It is the beginning of your new life that the Guru has given you. At the Amrit Sanchar you will be there through out the Amritwela meaning from now on you have to wake up at Amritwela, you will be wearing the 5 kakkars and banna which one will need to keep; you will take Amrit from a Sarbloh Bata the Hukam that the Panj Piyareh will give you. All these things are the start of your new life we need to sacrifice them. Make the most of your Amrit sanchar and go in there with full nimrta, the more nimrta (humility) the more you will get from your guru! Take care and all the best, hope mahraj blesses the abhliakis with Amrit di dat, pakha amritwela and naam rasiya wala jeevan.

Please forgive daas for any mistakes and if daas has offended any one. Daas just wants to help other gursikhs so that we get more jeevan wale gursikhs in the panth who can help others and bring back the Khalsa panth that Guru Gobind Singh ji gave us. There must be a lot of things that daas has forgotten to write, deepest apologies for any wrong doings.

Waheguroo ji ka khalsa, waheguroo ji ki fathe!

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After taking Amrit

Monday 25 December 2006

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa Waheguru ji ki fateh

Sorry if some of the points below are the same as the previous article.

Amrit is not a ritual nor is it ceremony. Amrit is a spiritual re-birth. Realising this is important as you need to know now that you are born into the house Guru Nanak-Dasmesh. Without this realisation you will carry on with your old bad habits and won’t take your spirituality to a further level.

Amrit is the first rehit we adopt as Rehitnama Bhai Desa Singh says:

soeI isMG pRDwn Avr n pwhul jo ley ]

To drink the Ambrosial Nectar of the Khanda (Amrit) is the primary instruction for the Sikh. He who abandons all other initiations is truly a great Sikh.

Amritvela

Listen Sikh of the Guru, to the code of discipline. Awake at the Ambrosial hours and focus your attention on the Lord.

After taking Amrit one must realise that only they can call them selves Sikh if they follow Guru Sahibs hukams. One of these hukams is to wake up Amritvela every single day to attune ones mind to the Gurmantar (Guru’s mantra) they received from the Panj Piyare.

Only one who wakes up Amritvela can call themselves Gursikhs of the Guru according to the Gurbani Tuk above. To start off with it will be hard to wake up Amritvela but once you have a good routine and your chah (desire) to do Simran increases, waking up at the early hours will get easy. When this Chah increases and one misses Amritvela for any particular reason, the Gursikh feels very ashamed and feels like a leg or an arm is missing. Daas knows of a Gursikh who is at a very high spiritual avustha. After doing Amritvela for many years he missed one day out. This Gursikh was so ashamed and felt so much separation from Waheguru that he done seated meditation (abhiyaas) for many hours, until he thought that was equal to his Amritvela.

Amritvela becomes a sehaj or a ras and without it a Gursikh feels they have missed out on great profit. So after taking Amrit one should keep Pukka Smaal of Amritvela and do at least the minimum the Panj Piyare have told the Gursikh. This is 2 hours of seated Abhiyaas of Gurmantar and Nitnem of Panj Baniya.

One should follow Amritvela Rehit properly. At this time ishnaan is done before Abhiyaas or Nitnem. One should do keshee Ishnaan (wash hair) as well as Sankesh (body) ishnaan. Daas will talk more about this in a future article.

Spiritual Wealth

Some say after during the Amrit Sinchaar when the Panj Piyare install Naam inside you and give you Amrit their kamai (spiritual wealth) also goes with it and the Abhilakhee gets the spiritual wealth of his Panj Piyare. Some say this lasts with you for some days or weeks. Daas can say that he doesn’t agree that the spiritual wealth stays with you for a couple of days or weeks. This wealth stays with you as long as you stay Nimana and follow what Guru Sahib tells you. Where can this wealth go? Why would this wealth go? The truth is that this wealth can only be spent or wasted. This is if we indulge our selves with the five thieves of the body who steal the Amrit.

The five thieves join together and plunder the body-village, stealing the wealth of the Lord's Name.

So as long as you stay away from these five thieves the wealth of Naam will stay with you. This includes the Panj Piyare Kamai. But if we don’t focus on Naam and after taking Amrit remain how we were before we took it i.e. carry on doing paap karam (sinful action) then we get our wealth stolen from within.

The only way we can control these five thieves is through our gaurd of Naam. If we are Japna Naam all day long then it gets harder for these thieves to get you. But they get you when your guard is down. Talking little, eating little, sleeping little. These are the 3 main factors which help against the five thieves.

Some say that you are under watch for 40 days after taking Amrit so you can’t do anything bad in these 40 days, after this you can do as you wish. This is complete nonsense

My Guru is always with me, near at hand..

When one gets born into the house of the Guru, the Guru is always near that Gursikh and helps the Gursikh in all situations. This bondage isn’t 40 days or how many days’ people say it is. This bondage is forever. When taking Amrit one joins the Khalsa Panth and forever he is of the Guru. Guru Gobind Singh Jee says KhalsaMeriJaanKeeJaan. The Khalsa is the life of Guru Sahib. This is how close Guru Sahib treats his Khalsa.

Rehit

It is important for one to keep as much rehit as possible but should do so sehaj naal (slowly). Sikhi isn’t about running around a running track and observing who gets their the quickest it is about doing things properly and making sure you have enough energy to run around the running track. Ones who go the fastest to start off with are really tired by the end of the race and sometimes loose but the ones who go with a good pace have enough energy to complete the race. What Daas means here is that we should keep rehit not so we want to get to the highest Spiritual avustha in a short period of time because this only happens to the rarest of the rarest. The rest of us need to start off on this race and realise we have a long way to go before we will get any Ras (taste) out of Guru’s Shabad. This is what Bhai Gurdaas Jee says:

To be disciple of the Guru is very subtle activity and it is like licking of the tasteless stone.

To start off Sikhi will be like licking a stone, sometimes you may get Ras but other times you will get nothing. This is the start of the race. But as soon as you carry on keeping Rehit, Naam Japna, Keep Amritvela Smaal, Do Sadh Sangat, Be Nimana to Guru Sahib and all other beings, stay away from 4 cardinal sins, stay away from 5 thiesv of the body then this will happen:

From the Sky of the Tenth Gate, the Ambrosial Nectar trickles down.

One will then feel Sehaj and will be able to take the life breath to the highest place in the Crown Chakra, the Dasuam Duaar (tenth gate). Daas will talk more about the tenth gate in a future article.

Four Cardinal Sins

gWjw topI qwVI KwkU ] ien kI Er n kbhU dykY ] rihqvMq so isMG ivsyKY ]

Meat, opium, drugs and tobacco. Ganja, wearing hats, another's woman and alcohol. He who never even gazes at these evils. Recognise them as my disciplined Singh.

When one recives Amrit from Panj Piyare, one of the hukams the Panj Piyare give is to stay away from the four Bujjer Kurrehits (four cardinal sins). Doing any one of these sins will result in excommunication from the Khalsa Panth and that once Sikh will no longer be Sikh until they go in front of the Panj Piyare and ask for forgiveness. These four cardinal sins are:

1. Halal - Eating of any meat is not allowed. (The word Halal is used because this was the only meat available in Guru Gobind Singh jee’s time so any meat eaten was classed as halal. Even eating Chatka meat is a cardinal sin). One will not make any spiritual progress by eating meat. One virtue a bhagat (devotee) has is compassion. How can one have compassion from killing animals and eating their carcass bodies?

2. Haram – One should not commit adultery with another’s wife.

Abandoning his own wife, he is engrossed in sexual desire; his thoughts are on the wives of others.

1. Hujamat – Removing or changing any one the hairs on the body is a cardinal sin and requires one to go back to the panj piyare to ask for forgiveness.

byeImwn ny BMn gvweI ]

God made the human form perfect, but the treacherous has altered it and made it lose it's natural beauty.

1. Hukka – Taking of any intoxicants is prohibited and requires one to go to the panj piyare again.

If one stays away from these four cardinal sins one can progress in their spiritual life. If one indulges them selves in these sins then there is going to be a block on there spiritual life and will not get any where.

Sat Sangat

It is important that when one takes Amrit from Panj Piyare that they do as much sangat as possible. If we want to build a good jeevan we need to do sangat everyday. This can be done at Amritvela or during the day. But for some it may be hard so you must make Naam your sangat. Sangat at Amritvela is amazing because the only ones who are awake are the Guru’s Saints whilst the world is asleep.

The night is wet with dew, and the stars twinkle in the heavens.

The Saints remain wakeful; they are the Beloveds of my Lord.

If one cannot find sangat at this time then one should do Abhiyaas at home and make Naam Sangat and never think one is alone as Guru Sahib is always with His Gursikhs. It is harder to make a jeevan this way but once one gets use to it their minds will be much stronger.

With Sangat the Kajzana (treaure) of Naam is found easily.

In the Company of the Holy, one obtains the treasure of the Naam.

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa Waheguru ji ki fateh