Are you studying SGGS ? If not , why ?

[Only five]

What Bhagat Jaswant Singh ji is saying on gursevak.com is being misused here to promote wrongful acts. When we look for teachers in other fields like science do we look for those teachers that just completed a first year course in a science program? It makes sense not to take this teachers advice as his knowledge is limitted.

Today the Guru is not Gurbani, but the mind has become the Guru. People have their own intellect made up of their own environment. When they read Gurbani, they hold on to their intellect and then intrepret what Gurbani says. Satguru says this is wrong because Satguru says, when you come to play this game of love with me, then give me your head and don't pay attention to public opinion. This means to give your intellect up completely. Whatever you knew in the past leave it in the trash bin where it belongs. Come forward on to this path with only Sri Mool Mantar Sahib in your mind. Then dive deep into Gurbani and see the beauty and taste the sweet Amrit of Gurbani.

Those who are misguiding here will never go to a surgenant that got his education at a school where they give out degrees like people give out candy on Halloween. These same people will search for a surgonent that is the best in the country and then get him to help resolve the problem. So why are they telling others to go on what their mind tells them. Because they are here to get votes and tell people what they want to hear instead of what the person needs to here.

[N30S1NGH]

I just simply copy and pasted article from gursevak.com..if people have issues with it..take it up with gursevak.com

[Only five]

Everything needs to be put into context and Bhagat ji's words were being taken out of context for the purpose of getting votes. Many people take Sant ji's words out of context like Dhunda Sahib and Dhunda Sahib also says go ask Sant ji he said them.

[N30S1NGH]

So selective/elitist new age hybird types can quote these gurmukhs- bhagat jaswant singh ji and sant gyani gurbachan singh khalsa bhindranwale and sant jarnail singh khalsa bhindranwale on gurbani matters, rest cannot..last time i checked bhramgyani does not belong to tunnel nor they belong to tribalism, nor jatha nor samparda they are pure light- they belong to everyone...i truly understand inferiority complex, insecurity of those... how frustrated they truly are if someone comes in between as hindrance between their desire of using bramgyanis above as mere tokens..they first start with a witch haunt and then character assassination then they try to intimidate you by throwing insulting/sarcastic remarks regarding your mother and sisters indirectly...!!...they perceived one as threat as they perceive it like- its like outsider came ruin the party for them, put them out of business, take their sheeps with them to make them lions and telling those who herd the sheeps to take a back seat to count how many sheeps left so far for them to herd..!!

[Only five]

[Guest dasguruka]

Its pretty astonishing how heavily Maya has trapped people in the Western world. No one is willing to take even 15 minutes to sit down and give themselves some time.

[humkire]

edited

[humkire]

This is a very beautiful question i.e Whether we study SGGS and if not, why.

I have just read and reflected on this whole thread meticulously. It is a shame that somewhere along the line it ended up as a debate concerning sampradas and who is authentic and who is better than whom. In an ideal world, and for the long term betterment of Sikhi it would be a dream come through if somehow all lines were erased and there were no more subdivisions of Sikhs into different camps, and just a unified and united khalsa panth.

It is amazing when on one hand we can preach so much about the nitty gritty details of how to study SGGS and what it entails, and quote and talk about great personalities and who learnt what from whom, and display such intricate knowledge of how SGGS should be studied, but the nature of our language and arguments sometimes exposes us to be judgemental, stubborn, and filled with rage, anger and hatred. Sometimes I wish the manner in which we talk on a forum like this displays more of the virtues that should start exhibiting in our lifes if we were really constantly reading and reflecting on Gurbani such as patience, more love and more humility and less aggresiveness and anger

Until we become a unified panth, a lot of us are going to exist in the various different camps or sampradayas of Sikhism. This does not limit Gurujee from attracting to Themselves anyone in any subdivision of Sikhi to be a lover and contemplator of Gurbani.However it is important to continually question the relevance and direction of the group you belong to. A caterpillar has to one day shed its cocoon and fly as a butterfly. You may one day decide that you do not need to belong to a particular subgroup but just be a humble Sikh/khalsa doing her/his twopence to bring glory to Sikhi and do not want to be defined to be anything apart from being called a Sikh/Khalsa. Sometimes our die hard affiliation to one group can start preventing us from seeing how we are being misled in certain ways and how it is making us absolutely look down and despise those in other sampradayas, and how elements of manmat are being very saliently normalised in a sampradaya to look like gurmat.It can become habitual to quote other people who were great Sikhs and to wrap our talk with all kinds of technical words in trying to explain Sikhi, and to display profound knowledge about your and others subgroups and the history of Sikhism and the current affairs of Sikhs and overlook the fact that all of this is only very silently and subtly becoming an ego feed. A saint does not try talking too much and does not argue too much and says truth in the simplest and most digestible form possible.

No two persons spiritual journey is the same. Some Sikhs read gurbani years and years without any understanding, and then suddenly God's grace touches them and helps them to start understanding and reading gurbani as a dialogue between man and God. Others are lucky enough to meet a teacher who can give them santheya i.e how to read and understand what is being read. Others pick up meanings and understanding through satsang and sangat. Some read in a foreign language like english and then slowly pick up gurmukhi. Some just read and contemplate in an english translation. It does not happen the same way for any two persons. As a rule of thumb, start humbly by learning how to read in gurmukhi, and attend some sort of gurbani reading class from a local gurdwara gyani or from some gurbani teacher. As you read, add on to this, education into the meanings of gurbani by all means possible. And deep in your heart always pray to Gurujee to bless you with a profound, deep, mystical and spiritual understanding of gurbani and to help translate that into your jeewan. Gurbani is not just intellectual study because SGGS is our living Guru, there to guide and direct us and to bless us. Gurbani penetrates our conscience and consciousness and illuminates and energises us from within and moistens us dew-like from within, with nam and amrit. It is a process starting with reading and understanding, which then moves on to reflection and contemplation which then moves on to heightened spiritual states of ras, amrit and nam. All along we are being transformed from within into saint soldiers.

Why we don't study gurbani is because we start thinking all that is required is to read it as an act of piety that will please God and no understanding is required. This is because we do not realise Sikhi involves the sikhiya or teaching of Guru via Gurbani as well as contemplation of the word of God that should then translate and trickle down into our lifes so from mere mortals we become transformed into angelic beings.

There are also many Sikhs who do not realise the relevance of the instructions of Gurbani in their lifes. They see the reading of gurbani as a religious act that pleases the gods. They do not understand that SGGS is our Living Guide as to how to think, how to talk, how to act and react, how to conduct relationships and friendships, how to live life, how to organise our life, and that SGGS will shape our lifes and attitudes and habits and teaches us the secrets of existence and of God and Guru.

My humble advice is to make it a compulsory daily habit of reading SGGS using a translation. So you have a continous sehaj path involving understanding going on in your life as your daily feed. You could purchase an entire volume like the 8 SGGS volumes by Manmohan Singh which have english and punjabi translations, or as a more younger techie Sikh use computer online resources. You can vary how much you read according to time availability. On very busy days even half an ang(page). Start from the beginning and it may take you two or three years to complete then start again. Do this till you are done on earth! Always good to have other resources in hand too such as a vocab dictionary and a book on gurbani grammar etc. The idea is to become a person who knows what individual words and sentences and entire compositions, mean and translate into from the various composite languages in SGGS. Gurbani expositions by the most blessed of Sikhs who have enjoyed the deepest spiritual ras from gurbani reveal an equally insightful and clear basic understanding of the words and sentences of gurbani, backed by a more general understanding of gurmat/Sikh philosophy and linguistic knowledge of relevant languages such as sanskrit, brij, hindi, farsee, etc.

At the end of the day, there is a difference between the ladle that stirs the dall and the dall itself. The ladle never becomes dall, only the hard dall grains boil and become soft edible dall soup. Likewise all our knowledge and understanding can make us a religious ladle who preaches loud to others but whose words, inner thoughts and actions have not softened up to become a spiritual soup that is being churned continously by Guru's kirpa, ras, amrit and nam to become sweet kheer at Gurujee's feet.

[chatanga]

It is amazing when on one hand we can preach so much about the nitty gritty details of how to study SGGS and what it entails, and quote and talk about great personalities and who learnt what from whom, and display such intricate knowledge of how SGGS should be studied, but the nature of our language and arguments sometimes exposes us to be judgemental, stubborn, and filled with rage, anger and hatred. Sometimes I wish the manner in which we talk on a forum like this displays more of the virtues that should start exhibiting in our lifes if we were really constantly reading and reflecting on Gurbani such as patience, more love and more humility and less aggresiveness and anger

Nice words bhaji, but 2 keys words also, arrogance and narrow-mindedness, are also displayed by some wolves in sheeps clothing here.

[rrss]

waheguru ji ka khalsa waheguru ji ki fateh

It is indeed important to contemplate on shabad, as one progresses, deeper meanings become visible. Where the a study vs contemplate debate is concerned, whilst deeper meanings will become visible with God's grace, understanding the general (simple) meaning of the shabad is nevertheless essential. Gurbani is not always complicated word-play like some people suggest (trying to extract specific meanings to support their view by focussing on specific letter combinations, generally insisting that Guru ji deliberately used that particular combination of words or that spelling for a specific reason etc); it is said often that the most simple and direct meaning is the correct one (metaphors and specific context of historical incidents notwithstanding), and deeper meanings can then be found by contemplation of the simple meaning.

Although sometimes there may indeed be some cleverness in the words also- Gurbani is a treasure trove and unlimited in what it has to offer. I would not be surprised if there were hidden messages built into Gurbani that could be decryped using mathematical techniques, especially given the precise numbering and ordering system (acting as additional checks and balances perhaps, rather than anything occult).

PS. Teekas can be helpful sometimes for at least understanding the basic meaning. Is there an english translation available of prof sahib singh/ fareed kot wala teeka?