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Summary of Question:	Bow To Gurbani On The Tape Recorder?
Category:	Gurbani
Date Posted:	Wednesday, 11/06/2002 9:55 PM MST

SSA

I just want to know that if there is a tape recorder playing the Gurbani from the SGGS continuously as an Akhand Path, Could it be considered an Akhand Path and should a sikh bow to it ?

I shall appreciate if you enlighten. Thanks.

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REPLY
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Sat Siri Akaal. Gurbani is Gurbani, and bowing to it in some form is appropriate. I realize it is not the Siri Guru Granth Sahib as a volume, but it is a form of Siri Guru.
It seems from your question that the recording was being played instead of people taking turns reading in the Akand Paath. While I don't think a recording is the same energy as having people read from Guru directly, I still don't see a problem honoring the Gurbani on the recording. I hope that the tape player was put in a place where otherwise a Guru would be, and that the space was held sacred for the duration of the Gurbani tapes being played.

If one has Guru in one's heart, and then hears Gurbani even as a recording, the impulse is going to be to bow or make some kind of obeisance as the situation calls for.

I have those tapes, and when I play them (not as Akand Paath) I cover my head. I also keep them in a special box that is covered and kept in Babaji's room. The cool thing is that Siri Guru is everywhere: volumes, translations, cyberspace, tapes and CDs. When we use these forms of Siri Guru, Sikhs should still be respectful as possible.
Guru ang sang,
-DKK