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Summary of Question:	What Is The Precise Method Of Taking The Hukamnama?
Category:	Sikh Practices
Date Posted:	Monday, 11/08/2004 10:37 PM MST

What is the precise method of taking the HUKAMNAMA? Actually, I have seen some people taking the hukamnama from the left hand top corner of the opened Ang(page) of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and some after Shuffling the pages and after that what they feel good.

So, this is the questionof Rehat Maryada, So please advice to adopt the proper way of taking Hukamnama.

As, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the ocean of knowledge and divine and each and every word has certain Ocean of knowledge envisaged in it, but it becomes our moral responsibility to guide others also to be in rehat.

Should we change the page after taking the hukamnama so that the other person may not receive the same hukamnama?

Please guide me.
Thanks.

Parampreet Singh.

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reply
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Sat Siri AKaal. I am told by a Punjabi Sikh scholar of Sikhi that the practice of taking hukum from the top of the left page is something that granthis have evolved and not necessarily required. He said that it is just as legitimate to read the full shabd from where you eyes first fall after opening to a page. It is, however, correct, to open SGGS at a random page (the way you see granthis do it at gurdwara and at Darbar Sahib). It does not have to be the middle of the SGGS (this happens with very large birs because there are too many pages to hold up or the bindings are weak when turned to the very first or last pages of SGGS).

It is OK to shuffle the pages after taking hukum. At home, since I have a large bir with a weak binding, I return my SGGS to the approximate middle to keep the weight on the binding balanced. More information is in the post "Taking Vaak and Gurdwara Etiquette" of 1/27/2002.
Guru ang sang,
-DKK