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Summary of Question:Cutting Of Bani
Category:Gurbani
Date Posted:Sunday, 2/27/2011 8:13 AM MST

Although I respect the work you do here, I do have a query;

When people ask you for advice and you tell them to sing Gurbani,
why do you only tell them to do certain lines and hence cut up the Bani?
Why do you not, instead, instruct them to do the full Nitnem?
Throughout history, people who have distorted Gurbani have been punished;
Ram Rai the son of the Guru was ex-communicated for changing Bani to please the Mughal emperor, the Damdami Taksal was established to ensure the full and proper recitation of Gurbani and that establishment was set up by Guru ji also.

Why then do you instruct people to only recite certain lines and not the full Bani? You also only instruct them to recite, like a parrot, and place no emphasis on the very important aspect of Santhiya, or understanding what is being said so you may reflect on it.

If what you were doing was correct, that is, asking people to sing certain lines of Gurbani for a certain number of days and a certain number of times, was the correct practise of Sikh Dharma, then each of those lines would be their own distinguished Bani, which they are not, and Guru ji would not have felt the need to create a University to establish the proper understanding as well as pronunciation of Gurbani.

Guru ji said every time you cut Gurbani, it is like you are cutting my own limbs.

I think you should stop telling people to simply recite some words from Gurbani in order to solve their problems, and instead tell them to live more Gurmat Rehit, which includes the keeping of the Full Nitnem daily. Meditation and mere thinking on Gurbani are not enough, we need to get people to act on it and be Gurmat in both their private and public lives. Singing a select abridged version of Bani is not only sacrilege as Ram Rai did, but it is also completely unhelpful to bring someone into a situation where their problems are eradicated, which is the reason people seek your advice in the first place.

Your advice should be firmly to keep the full Nitmem as part of changing their lifestyle to conform to Gurmat Rehit.

If you make the response that cutting of Gurbani is done to create Mantras which will elevate some kind of mental frequency, then I do not accept that answer as it does not have a root in Gurbani. Nowhere in Gurbani does Guru ji or the Bhagats mention the need to recite certain words that will then somehow got you closer to Waheguru. On the contrary, Guru Nanak writes in Japji Sahib;

"Sochay soch na hovaiyi
Jav sochey lakh vaar
Chuppae chup na hovaiyi
Jay laye raha liv taar
Bhukhiya bhukh na utri
Jay banna puriya bhaar
Sahas sianpa lakh hoe
Ta ik na chalae naal
Kiv sachiyara hoiye
Kiv koorae tutae paal
Hukam razai chalna
Nanak likiya naal"

Which by my meagre understanding translates into English as
Not by though alone
Can he be known,
Though one may think
A hundred thousand times;
Not in solemn silence
Nor in deep meditation.
Though fasting yields an abundance of virtue
It cannot appease the hunger for Truth.
No, by none of these,
Nor a hundred thousand other devices,
Can Waheguru be reached.
How then shall the Truth be known?
How the veil of false illusion torn?
So Says Nanak, thus runs the written divine,
The righteous path - let it be thine.

And based upon that Gurbani I conclude that through simple repetition of certain lines from Gurbani instead of reading all of the Bani and endeavouring for the meaning, you are not helping the people looking for your advice as you are not bringing them closer to Waheguru. The only service you have done to these people is given them a few words to repeat as a new Gurmantar in a false hope that this will erase their physical issues, when in fact, Sikhi teaches that the only Gurmantar, the Mantar that should be constantly meditated and contemplated upon is Gods name ie WAHEGURU.

This is my humble benti or request to the responders to peoples problems on this Forum; please tell people to live Gurmat Rehit and search Gurbani for the answers to their problems. If you think you know a certain quote from Gurbani which applies to their situation then please tell them that you interpret the following quote to apply to your situation and make sure you give them a translation into english as many of my fellow youth do not know the immediate meanings of Gurbani. Then you may refer to Rehit Maryada as to how, as well as performing full Nitnem, they can solve the problems in their lives by telling them to read the Maryada and also if you find a relevant clause then please tell them about it, but always tell them to read it for themselves also. Please do this instead of your current practise of getting people to recite certain Gurbani lines without understanding the meaning in hope that the problems in their lives will resolve themselves, as this is a Bhramin tactic used to make the lower classes be deluded into thinking that the problems in the world will solve themselves if they recite their priests mantra and thus the lower class were kept subservient. This is the kind of thing Guru Ji stands against. I have tried your method of repeating mantras in a certain scenario to bring my consciousness to a higher level and it does not work. In the same scenario, reciting the full Bani with good understanding of the meaning and then applying the meaning to your life, this helps resolve your situations by clear revolutionary thinking and not parrot sound repeating.

Thank you for reading my request, I do not mean to offend your beliefs or disrespect Bhajan's beliefs about mantras and frequencies etc but I'm afraid they do not have a root in Gurbani, they contradict Gurbani, do not help people in problematic scenarios where Gurbani helps them, and therefore, do not have any place being called advice on a Sikhi based forum. Indeed they belong on a Yoga based forum and I have no problem with that, that is the beliefs of Yogis and I will defend their right to freedom of belief, however it is not concurrent with Gurbani and Sikhi and so should be avoided on this forum.
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reply
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Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa,
Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

Relax and stop living in criticism and limitation. Our Gurus gave us the entire Siri Guru Granth Sahib to help us, guide us, befriend us. We were given 10 human gurus, Shabd Guru and bani of Guru Gobind Singh to uplift us and empower human soul to Wahe Guru. Not everyone is Amritdhari Sikh and most people choosing one CHANDh of GGS or one pauri of Jaap Ji will be their first of many practical experiences of how to use bani to master life situations and problems. And by Gurus Grace many of these people will live to be blessed by Wahe Guru with MORE!!! SK



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