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Summary of Question:	Doubt & Confusion
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Saturday, 6/25/2005 9:34 PM MDT

waheguru ji ka khalsa, waheguru ji ki fateh

hello! i am 16 and have recently started reciting gurbani everyday. I make attempts to read/understand the english translation after reciting japji sahib, but this has led to an odd problem. in japji sahib, as you probably know, guru nanak (or whoever wrote japji sahib paath, as it is anonymous) is meant to describe waheguru and how we should live. now, i must tell you that i am an adamant pursuer of the knowledge & truth, so after reading the translation i began to ponder on what guru nanak (or whoever wrote japji sahib) was feeling/thinking when he/she wrote it, and what his/her muse was. the muse i have figure to be waheugur, but just what is waheguru?

ik-oNkaar sat naam kartaa purakh nirbha-o nirvair akaal moorat ajoonee saibhaN gur parsaad.
One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent. By Guru's Grace ~


thaapi-aa na jaa-ay keetaa na ho-ay.
He cannot be established, He cannot be created.

Awpy Awip inrMjnu soie ] (2-7, jpu, mÚ 1)
aapay aap niranjan so-ay.
He Himself is Immaculate and Pure.

And there are many other passages, in Japji and Jaap Sahib. So, from these, for some reason i have begun to feel the Waheuguru is Nothing. Nothing is so great that all pain,disease and suffering can be removed. Nothing is so great, so pure that by reciting its name one can fuse with it. I know it is wrong to believe that Guru Nanak/writer was thinking about Waheguru as Nothing (nonexistant) but for some reason it makes so much sense to me personally. Also, the fact the Guru Nanak/writer has died, how can i know that these illusions (if thats what they are) are really false? How can i prove them wrong when from the translations of paath i gather these conclusions? i believe in waheguru, but it has become so difficult because my mind keeps asking "what is waheguru?" as humans we pursue knowledge everyday, learn something everyday. we are supposed to keep from being lost, we find medicines to cure sicknesses. i feel wrong in pursuing Satnam when my mind believes He is nothing more than a phantom, a vision that someONE felt. i want to take away this doubt, but at the same time this is the first feeling that came to me. Guru is meant to mean the dispeller of darkness, of ignorance, of false illusions, but then why would Guru Nanak leave us with such an odd description of God? If He is beyond description, mustn't he be Nothing? Is there any way that some light can be shed on this? I don't believe in something else, but it is difficult to wholeheartedly recite bani when it gives me this type of feeling. please respond.

(The Gurus were born with the realization of Satnam. What did they realize? That there is no Waheguru?)

waheguru ji ka khalsa waheguru ji ki fateh

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Sat Siri Akaa. Waheguru translates as "indescribable is Guru". Bani is Guru and Guru is God. You are thinking far too much. Guru Nanak wrote Japji after a long meditation in a river. Really. HE learned by meditation on the Divine Word and Name one becomes liberated and self-realized. His teachings are very simple, really. You are complicating them and trying to stroke your mind. What Sikhi is and has always been about is meditation on the Divine, recitation of the Naam. The Gurbani is nothing but the experience of those who did this, recorded as best as words could say.
Go into the experience of gurbani recitation by reciting it correctly and perfectly as a meditation. Ignore the translations for such practice. Just recite. Take a pauri or two lines from Japji, and Recite recite. Listen to hukums live from Harimandir Sahib (www.sgpc.net) and how the sound current of gurbani penetrates your being. Stop thinking. Come out of your mind and experience. Guru ang sang,
-DKK