How a great amritdhari became a bit mayadhari in his last years

[shastarSingh]

Our panth is full of groups and people in a group feel that the baba/jathedaar/leader of their group is perfect and cannot make mistake.

Only Guru Sahib is perfect. Secondly anyone alive can make mistake and can come under the influence of Maya.

So we shud listen carefully to all panthic groups and shud be willing to change ourselves as well.

There was a great amritdhari in Ludhiana who was doing 5-6 hours of amritvela for about 50 years.

But to the surprise of the Sangat, in the last 10 years of his life, he wasted his time in buying and selling plots. May be he was caught in moh(attachment) of his grand children. He was already rich but he wanted to make more assets for his grand children

[ipledgeblue]

20 minutes ago, shastarSingh said:

But to the surprise of the Sangat, in the last 10 years of his life, he wasted his time in buying and selling plots. May be he was caught in moh(attachment) of his grand children. He was already rich but he wanted to make more assets for his grand children

if he was doing the buying and selling part of his time, then I don't see the problem as long as he kept amritvela etc

 

But this is not true right?

[shastarSingh]

11 minutes ago, ipledgeblue said:

if he was doing the buying and selling part of his time, then I don't see the problem as long as he kept amritvela etc

 

But this is not true right?

Actually the sangat which included nice bazurg Singhs were surprised to see him become so interested in Maya. 

They told him that he has more than enough money and he shud do as much bhagti as possible in his last years.

[dallysingh101]

6 hours ago, shastarSingh said:

Actually the sangat which included nice bazurg Singhs were surprised to see him become so interested in Maya. 

They told him that he has more than enough money and he shud do as much bhagti as possible in his last years.

How can we tell if someone's bhagti is genuine and not 'social bhagti' i.e done to impress their social circles? 

Some people often go to extreme lengths to keep a perception of respect up, especially in a  community like ours. 

I've heard that some mahapursh say that one should keep their bhagti gupt.

The other issue is (as we've discussed umpteen times on numerous forums now) apnay are real quick to exalt people and put them on a pedestal. This encourages pakhaand. Then there is the inevitable deflation when these people's human nature comes out, Moosewala being a good contemporary example and I'm sure you probably know even more.  So the problem is two ways but apnay putting people on pedestals is central to it. They set themselves up for disappointment in this way I reckon?  Why can't they be more grounded? It's like they get over excited easily?  

[shastarSingh]

45 minutes ago, dallysingh101 said:

How can we tell if someone's bhagti is genuine and not 'social bhagti' i.e done to impress their social circles? 

Some people often go to extreme lengths to keep a perception of respect up, especially in a  community like ours. 

I've heard that some mahapursh say that one should keep their bhagti gupt.

The other issue is (as we've discussed umpteen times on numerous forums now) apnay are real quick to exalt people and put them on a pedestal. This encourages pakhaand. Then there is the inevitable deflation when these people's human nature comes out, Moosewala being a good contemporary example and I'm sure you probably know even more.  So the problem is two ways but apnay putting people on pedestals is central to it. They set themselves up for disappointment in this way I reckon?  Why can't they be more grounded? It's like they get over excited easily?  

Very good points.

One of the reasons we don't hv unity in the panth is that every person is busy doing ustat of the leader or baba or jathedaar of their group. 

 

[ipledgeblue]

7 minutes ago, shastarSingh said:

Very good points.

One of the reasons we don't hv unity in the panth is that every person is busy doing ustat of the leader or baba or jathedaar of their group. 

 

yeh, it's the worst when they take their group leaders' words before the Guru. When they start getting shanka of bani because of these baba or bhais, as well as shanka of Khalsa maryada and Gurus' jeevans.

[dallysingh101]

11 minutes ago, ipledgeblue said:

yeh, it's the worst when they take their group leaders' words before the Guru. When they start getting shanka of bani because of these baba or bhais, as well as shanka of Khalsa maryada and Gurus' jeevans.

It's obvious now, some people had different practices/maryadas. Just because your jatha/samapdaya doesn't do certain things, doesn't mean that all Sikhs in the past were doing the same as yours. It's like jhatka and shaheedi degh, just because your jatha doesn't do it (which is fair enough) it doesn't mean no respectable puratan Sikhs in the past did it. You can even maybe say the same to explain slight differences in nitnem banis even?

 

[ipledgeblue]

40 minutes ago, dallysingh101 said:

It's obvious now, some people had different practices/maryadas. Just because your jatha/samapdaya doesn't do certain things, doesn't mean that all Sikhs in the past were doing the same as yours. It's like jhatka and shaheedi degh, just because your jatha doesn't do it (which is fair enough) it doesn't mean no respectable puratan Sikhs in the past did it. You can even maybe say the same to explain slight differences in nitnem banis even?

 

yes, except when group leaders start cutting out parts of kabyo baach benti chaupai, that is when the disrespect goes too too far. Luckily, puraatan sikhs never did any of this nonsense, regardless of differences in nitnem.

[dallysingh101]

4 minutes ago, ipledgeblue said:

yes, except when group leaders start cutting out parts of kabyo baach benti chaupai, that is when the disrespect goes too too far. Luckily, puraatan sikhs never did any of this nonsense, regardless of differences in nitnem.

By the looks of it, the impulse was to add to nitnem banis according to their jathas, not delete or decrease. 

Notice when the deletion thing took place - colonial period.   

[S1ngh]

I buy/sell properties and do investments in real estate here and there. I took Amrit close to 20 years ago when i was a student and was active in SSA and sikh camps. In my life,  i recently had a realization that i am leading my life wrong way (i still do) and now gradually getting rid of unnecessary Moh/Maya stuff to lead a more modest and simple life. It is not overnight thinking but takes time. Now, don't get me wrong, i am not selling my properties and other to become a sadhu. Our guru jee didn't taught that. He taught us to do well but also vand shakna. I will continue to expand but controlling the urges of other stuff and more focusing on helping others as much as i can. Not boosting but my experience when i read this topic.