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Summary of Question:	Prayers To Ancestors?
Category:	Other
Date Posted:	Friday, 8/17/2001 2:08 PM MDT

Hello, How are you? I have a question about the "jagga" in our pend. LIke i guess it's where they go to pray for our long lost ancestors. You see, I live in Canada, and my grandparents make us do ardas and make parshad for the picture of the Jagga and stuff. To me, it seems so pointless praying to a picture. I even discussed this with my grandparents, and they said if they stop praying for the ancestors they may get bad luck. I guess its kind of like a guardian angel??

But you see, I just went to a camp, and I have learned that anytime you worship sumthin, the only thing u worship is Guru Granth sahib. So instead of doin ardus to the picture, i want to rather bow my head to guru and ask for my ancestors rakhi.
But then again, there is another Question tht comes up. DO we love waheguru? Do we trust waheguru? Of course we do right,, we do love and trust waheguru. So if we love waheguru soo much, if our ancestors are with waheguru, we should not be waisting our time praying for our ansestors cuz they with god, we should be praying to god instead with our time. Right?
And, if our ansestors are not with god, tht means they are in the cycle of 8.4 million lifes going around, then we should not worship if they have not done good in there life?

My Q simply is What do u think of this jagga place business, and what do you think if i instead of worshiping with my family, just pray ta gurdwara to guru ji.??

Tahnks for reading this, i really appreciate it,
Paul

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REPLY
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Sat Siri Akal, Paul.

(Forgive me, I do not know what 'pend' or 'jagga' means, but I understand your question.)
You are right. It is not Sikh to pray to or worship one's ancestors. Either your ancestors are merged with Waheguru or perhaps they are incarnated again because they still have things to learn. (Being incarnated again does not necessarily mean that one was bad in a previous life. It just means that the soul isn't finished learning the lessons Waheguru has assigned.) It is foolish for a Sikh, who has Siri Guru, to pray to anyone or anything else. The 10th Master made this clear when he gave the Guruship to Siri Guru.

Your grandparents somewhere along the line came to believe that by 'looking after' their ancestors, they will have good luck. It is not even like a guardian angel (for angels are/were not human), and it is nonsense in Sikh thinking.

The teachings you learned at camp are correct: the Gursikh bows ONLY to Siri Guru and to nothing and no one else. Let your grandparents do as they wish, do not spend your energy trying to change them. But do follow your heart and the Guru and bow and do ardas ONLY to Siri Guru.
Guru rakha,
-DKK