No Place For Corruption In Gursikhi Character

After honest deliberation of Gurbani, it is evident that corruption and Sikhi are two mutually opposite entities. Beginning with the era of Bhagats to the era of Gurus, and even after that, there has been Islamic rule in India. During Islamic administration, the judiciary was under the Qazis (head of the Shariā court). Qazis were bound to adjudicate according to the religion Islam, but owing to their greed, they used to do injustice. The opposition to this injustice is recorded in Gurbani, indicating that a Sikh who is an adherent of Gurmat can never do injustice at any cost. Satguru ji is inspiring the Qazis to do justice according to Islam by saying:

Musalmāṇ kahāvaṇ muskal jā hoe ṯā musalmāṇ kahāvai.

Aval aul ḏīn kar miṯẖā maskal mānā māl musāvai.

Hoe muslim ḏīn muhāṇai maraṇ jīvaṇ kā bẖaram cẖukẖāvai.

Rab kī rajāe manne sir upar karṯā manne āp gavāvai.

Ŧao Nānak sarab jīā mihramaṯ hoe ṯa musalmāṇ kahāvai.

(Vaar Maajh, M-1, Page 141)

In the above verses, Satguru ji is shaking the soul of Qazi and saying that O Qazi! You are considering yourself Muslim, but becoming a Muslim is extremely difficult. Calling oneself a Muslim falsely is like deceiving oneself. An extremely righteous person shall only be called a Muslim. It is not proper from any aspect to call just about every other person a Muslim. That alone is a Muslim who is the first to accept truth as sweet, not the one to whom truth tastes bitter. Secondly, a Muslim erases any illusion of birth and death from inside and delivers justice according to ‘Rab kī rajāe’, that is, the voice of his inner self. While adjudicating, he does not let his mind act according to its wishes. At the end, Satguru ji is saying that by adopting the strategy mentioned above, such an impartial Muslim can become compassionate just like God.

It is evident from these verses how strongly Gurmat is against those who take bribe in order to pass on someone’s right to another undeserving person. The following verses make it clear further:

Kājī hoe kai bahai niāe. Fere ṯasbī kare kẖuḏāe.

Vadẖī lai kai hak gavāe. Je ko pucẖẖai ṯā paṛ suṇāe.

Ŧurak manṯar kan riḏai samāhi. Lok muhāvėh cẖāṛī kẖāhi.

­(Vaar Ramkali 3, Salok M-1, Page 951)

In the above verses too, Satguru ji have exposed the character of Qazi, the authority of Islam, who looks like a very religious person from his outward appearance and holds a rosary in his hand and chants Khuda Khuda (or Allah Allah) all the time. But during the time of adjudication concerning the men of the same Khuda, his intentions are ravenous. He gives the judgement in that person’s favor who gives him more bribe. If someone questions the Qazi about this injustice, then he quotes something from the Qoran and shuts the person up telling him some meanings according to his own interpretation. He counsels people with Islamic knowledge, and emphasizes to imbibe that knowledge into the heart, but himself swindles people through bribery.

The Qazis of that time, who never got tired of claiming themselves to be the custodians of the Islamic rule of truth and justice, were engaged in such rampant corruption. Actually, men who stand guard for truth and justice are always rare in this world. That there is nothing to be gained other than misery from worldly hassles is known to the ones who adhere to the principles of truth and justice. That is why Gurbani has given the message to yearn for Godly love to a Gursikh, rather than nurturing other desires like power and salvation.

Rāj na cẖāhao mukaṯ na cẖāhao man parīṯ cẖaran kamlāre.

(Devgandhari, M-5, Page 534)

The above verse talks about something totally distinctive from all other doctrines of the world. Until now, all doctrines that have emerged in the world apart from Gurmat, after having achieved enough number of devotees, began to nurture the desire to grab worldly power. It is another matter that which doctrine was successful in doing so and which one was unsuccessful, but Gurmat has categorically stated that an adherent of Gurmat, a real Gursikh, can only be the one whose desire for worldly power, worldly glory, and worldly pleasures has ended. Although contemporary Sikhs might not agree with this thought, but this commandment has been inscribed in the Gurbani for the Gursikhs by the Guru.

When we make this claim in front of the world that the verses of Guru Granth Sahib are true, and that the teaching therein is superior and distinct when compared to other doctrines of the world, then we will have to admit that the biggest virtue contained in Gurbani is that it instructs it’s Sikhs to renounce greed, and to burn (dismiss) any worldly accolades. Any person who cannot do these two things has no right to call himself a Sikh. When we are asking a Muslim to call himself a Muslim only after becoming one in a true sense of the word, then we must also call ourselves Sikhs only after adopting Sikhi in the truest form. But whatever is happening today is contrary to the above.

One thing that needs to be understood is that a ruler needs people of all religions and factions to keep his government stable. In Gurbani, the flaws of various worldly doctrines have been exposed, and their falsehood and deception has been rejected and criticized. If a Sikh ruler is to propagate Gurmat from this throne, then it will be obvious for the adherents of the other doctrines to get displeased. There are only two alternatives in this case. Either the ruler must be extremely powerful and completely acquainted with the understanding of Gurmat, so that he can connect the adherents of the other doctrines to this true doctrine after understanding them in an amicable manner, and thus is able to enhance their complete life style. If that is not the case, then that Gursikh shall keep on spreading the message of Gurmat to the world, but keep himself away from the administrative circles. During spreading of the message of Gurmat, there must be no display of feelings of hostility or disdain. The endeavor of Gurmat is to understand the doctrines that are moving in a wrong direction, and inspire them to tread towards the right direction.

Why it is that all those flaws that were in the other doctrines have creeped in to the contemporary so-called Sikhs, when Gurmat has categorically condemned all such flaws in the Gurbani. The answer is clear that we have neither properly understood nor adopted Gurbani (or Gurmat) in our life.

Several false anecdotes have been implanted into the history of the Gurus, and those have attempted to paint the Sikh and Sanatan doctrine with the same brush. All those basic fundamentals, by the virtue of which Gurmat appeared distinct from the Sanatan doctrine, were modified with great efforts in such a way that Sikhs could not understand it. For instance, according to Gurmat, ‘Jamaṇ marṇā hukam hai’ (i.e. birth and death are natural occurrences, or God’s will) but there are many such anecdotes in our history that contradict this Gurmat principle. Where in Gurmat, ‘Nām’ has been considered to be Ḏukẖ bẖanjan (i.e. invalidator of misery), but in actuality we have a Jujube tree (beri) publicized as an invalidator of misery. Aren’t these two things self-contradictory? The crux is that knowingly or unknowingly, today Sikhs are polluting the message of Gurmat themselves. We have completely forsaken the following message of Gurbani:

Parathme man parboḏẖai apnā pācẖẖai avar rījẖāvai.

Rām nām jap hirḏai jāpai mukẖ ṯe sagal sunāvai.

(Asa, M-5, Page 381)

The above directive is extremely important in the context of propagation of Gurmat. Through these verses, Gursikhs have been instructed that until a Sikh himself does not understand Gurmat completely and is not able to realize Sabad Guru from within his heart, he shall not engage in Gurmat preaching. There are rare Gurmukhs who understand the Gurmat ideology. This is a thinner than hair, that is an extremely acute subject. Engaging in its preaching without understanding it thoroughly, like it is happening today, then owing to it’s sharper than a double-edged sword tendency, it could be suicidal. Our (Sikhs’) condition today is because of the way we are preaching Gurmat. The reason our young generation is becoming nonconformist is that the anecdotes written in our historical texts are in contradiction to Gurmat. Where it was expected from our Gurdwaras to send the message of renunciation of greed, anti-Gurmat prayers for fulfillment of material desires are taking place. Consequently, the vice of greed in Sikhs has become so intense that they can even commit big crimes due to this greed. Meaning thereby that the Gurmat ideology, which is against corruption (or bribery), is being preached with alteration. There can be no place in the character of a Gursikh for greed and corruption. Anyone doing so has no right to call himself a Sikh.

-Dharam Singh Nihang Singh-

Note: This article has already been published in the 07/2002 edition of Gurmat Parkash magazine published by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Sri Amritsar Sahib.

Holy Bath

It is a common belief that a bath taken at religious places is holy, and the word 'Ishnaan' in Gurbani means bathing. This notion is false, because Ishnaan is the cleansing of the mind, not the physical body. The word used for cleaning of physical body is 'Pinda dhona' as used in the following verse,

Sooche se na aakhiye behn je pinda dhoye॥

Sooche seyi Nankaa jin man vasya soye॥

(Sri Aad Granth, Page 472)

The verse says that those who take a bath for their bodies shall not be called pure. Only those are pure whose mind is attuned to the Lord (or their inner voice).
                            However, physical bath is a good thing to have for health and to be fresh, but it has no holiness attached to it. Holiness can only come from cleansing of the mind, i.e. Ishnaan. The following Gurbani verse,

Gurmukh naam daan ishnaan॥

(Sri Aad Granth, Page 942)

clearly states that Ishnaan of a Gurmukh is done through Naam, which is the knowledge about our own self. This knowledge makes us aware about the temporal nature of the physical body and desires associated with it.

Human Rights In The Sikh Religion

Human Rights In The Sikh Religion

The Creator - The Voice of Human Rights

If human rights are not violated, contributions would be redundant as the present. But human rights violations determine the lives of many people. What are the reasons? In the following, starting from the central insights of the Sikh religion first Answers are found. It is in the nature of things, that the article reflects the current level of understanding of the authors.
Or the A, one may by the Creator, God speaking, Yahweh, Allah, Ram or Waheguru, embodies the voice of human rights par excellence. Because the One combines all the virtues that are necessary to lead a dignified, free, natural and peaceable life. This is the quintessence of the Sikh religion. To approach the issue of human rights, a basic understanding of the Sikh religion, it is therefore necessary necessary.

Sikhi - Living with wisdom
The Sikh religion is a holistic, spiritually-rooted way of life that respects pluralism and promotes the unity of the people. The religion - called in the original Sikhi - emphasizes the is equity of all people, regardless of gender, age and social background. The Sikh religion today feel about 20 million people belong. This makes it the world's fifth largest religion.Practicing Sikh men are usually detects light in a flowing beard and a turban bound elaborately. Also, some Sikh women wear turbans. This is a graceful and natural lifestyle.Sikh men traditionally wear the common name Singh (lion) and women Kaur's last name (princess).
The Sikh religion was born in the Punjab, in present-day North India. It is largely due to the 1469 born Nanak and his nine successors and direct more Pious (Bhatt and Bhagat) back.The former came from from mainly Hindu, the latter also Muslim parents houses. From the perspective of the Sikhs is with the pious to people who are already recognized in his lifetime to the original meaning of life and lived in harmony with the Creator. This they succeeded in their own words only through the overcoming of the mind (man) and the illusion of the ego using inherent timeless spiritual wisdom (gian, naam) and just not by the observance of religious dogmas and Behave conduct or the exercise of rituals, chanting, mantras , fasts, pilgrimages, meditation techniques and yoga exercises - so all soul healing promising practices of the dominant religious traditions of India.
The pious went with her work do not primarily aim to establish a new religion or even to gather a following behind him, they worshiped as Guru. Rather, they wanted the people based on their matching experience a location-independent and time - give religious and ethnienübergreifende support for a holistic life, which is always spiritually oriented, without neglecting the need worldly responsibilities. Thus the pious then described as the only true and eternal guru for her immeasurable, positive and Nameless One and his wisdom. The pious call themselves throughout as faulty student and servant (daas, jan, garib) of the Creator, who speaks through the immaculate wisdom of the unit. Guru stands for the light of the inner knowledge that is truly and effectively both in this and in the non-material world.The Illuminator is always close to the creatures (Bani, Biej mantar). He is able, as good / bad as convert the dualities (dubida) perceived attributes in relatively aufzufassende phenomena. The darkness of ignorance, which reduces the life of the material (maya) and the physical and sensual short-term self-interest, can now be gradually overcome in the course of progressive insight. Put simply, is the guru, in certain contexts also rightly called conscience, the inner voice of the Creator. It is like the lotus flower, despite the surrounding mud of vile thoughts, always pure. This voice leads the people towards all the virtues which the Creator Himself bears in itself. Anyone who assimilates these virtues with the help of wisdom, can live in harmony with creation. Among the virtues that are always interwoven with each other, including the pious among other truthfulness, anxiety and Feindlosigkeit.
The collected insights of more than 35 saints, these largely self-written, considered today the Sikhs, that the students of the Guru, as a central source of spiritual and ethical inspiration. Sikhs refer to the 1430-page standard edition of this anthology, which was completed in stages to 1708, respectfully when Adi Guru Granth Sahib (AGGS). The word guru expresses that only timeless spiritual wisdom were taken. The truthfulness of a statement is always linked in AGGS to the condition that it is valid at all times, so beyond this world. The following work-based melodies combines a metaphor decorated linguistic diversity that is indicative of an exceptionally high poetry. The insights are based on intensive and critical study of the various religious traditions. Among other things, you will find references to the Vedas, the Simritian and Shastar to Islam and the yogi.
Man - crown and bottom of creation
From the perspective of the Sikh religion are rights and obligations in a responsible life to each other as the day turns to night. The Creator of all, even the highest and unermesslichste form of virtue, is responsible for everything that exists. It represents the critters, whether virtuous or vile, all Vital unconditionally available: beginning of planets, suns and moons, which ordered the midst of apparent chaos around their orbits, oxygen-producing forests, rivers, fruits and processed earth materials that a world like we only allow up to a developed over many stages of evolution twill, with a brain that allows the language and other complex forms of interaction. All creation follows this insight to a non-detectable material omnipotence and wisdom. The creatures who humbly recognize this - and it was metaphorically the wind or the sun - understand that they are part of a larger cosmic context and are able to have no effect alone.
But it is the man who is the last stage of evolution of its potential here, tends to become estranged from its original responsibility of spiritual self-knowledge. He abused his position and act self-righteous. While people should be humbled as last kind incurred a back seat, it is as if he would have always been at the forefront of creation. Instead careful to protect the rights of the resulting creature before him, the man lives largely inconsiderate and thus becomes a burden of creation.
The problem here especially that man is the only living being systematically individual or collective self-interest limits the rights of parts of its own species. These include the undignified treatment, exploitation, prejudice and exclusion based on gender, race or religion, as well as torture, psychological violence, the abuse of freedom of expression or the right to education.
Also with regard to the creation of man enjoys domination. Symptomatic appears, therefore, that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights contains neither the word nor natural environment. So it is no surprise that the man hardly content with a simple, healthy lifestyle, who exemplified the influential religious founders like Jesus, Bhudda or the pious of the Sikh tradition. Rather, the man always strives for more and therefore must continually damage the environment for the fulfillment of his insatiable needs. Here, the man not only his mind but also his ingenuity served. The development of national states, together with a money-based economy plays a decisive role here. The use of million salaried workers in production processes creates the possibility of over-production and thus the accumulation.As a result, people more and more entangled individually and collectively in the complexity of material progress and live increasingly hostile nature. Phenomena such as global ascertainable environmental destruction, factory farming, preservatives and chemically or biologically engineered ingredients embossed food industry, the production of weapons of mass destruction, an unhealthy and stress-ridden life, depression, burn-out, but also economic and financial crises lay, impressive testimony from . In short it can be said that nature violates the rights of the people is the fundamental evil of suffering from the perspective of the Sikh religion. It precedes all other such disrespect of human rights violations. The nature of infringement is therefore the worst form of disrespectful handling of the Creator and His gifts.
Condition lot of natural law versus conditioned self-righteousness
Rights are always granted. And by the powerful to the less powerful solid. The Creator gives people the freedoms and rights. The man in turn gives plants and animals rights. It determines where plants and animals live and grow which should be bred for food. But man alone is the only one who denies others their own rights to or. He created the privilege of the conditioned self right for themselves.
The creation, however, is a conditional loose natural law. While the creation without counterclaim and demarcations light, sun, oxygen, soil and water provides for all living creatures, but also renewal can act recklessly through natural forces like earthquakes on Fromme and exploiters alike, it appears the people now take for granted, water, gas, oil to possess, to accumulate and resell with corresponding non-cash compensation and other natural occurrences. This is possible, among other things by maintaining national borders.
For the fiction of the border, creates real possibilities of possession and exclusion. The now often one-sided calibrated to maximize profit company policy especially for listed multinationals means that they break down as inexpensively as possible raw materials such as copper in technologically less developed countries and save a refined network of subsidiaries immense control totals and thus make huge profits. The majority of the local population but rarely benefited from the company and has to live with the lengthy environmental damage. Often such grievances are not being uncovered by authorities, but of small civil society organizations, which are held by dedicated people with difficulty above water.
Completely absurd the law of nature is fed to the main elixir of life, when the local population has to buy their own water of an international corporation expensive. The general population feels in such cases usually left alone and experiencing their own state as a guardian of human rights protection, but as Protegier international companies. It is no wonder this is that it is now often rehearsed a mechanism that obedience is secured by local elites to protect their privileges. However stirs resistance in the general population, it always comes back to violence, which also attracts human rights violations themselves.
So it seems that it is mainly people in powerful positions in the sense to collect revenue from worldly goods, and general self-interest to violate the rights and dignity of others. It would be advisable that it is the rulers of this world to perceive their role as servants of the people with special care. Because if the political representatives deceive their population, for example, in which they even cover up human rights abuses, then an exemplary behavior of the general population hardly be expected.
It is the responsibility of the innate religion in such situations to remind each government and others about what it means to live in harmony with the natural and human rights. It also holds that religion can remind to not exhaust the human rights, but they weigh ethical manner. Statements or media products that can be a small gain in knowledge but fear the potential damage that could be restricted accordingly. Particularly if they have deliberately provocative goal.
An important function also encouragement for reflection - especially for officials and the military and the police. There is hardly any area is so prone to abuse of power and human rights violations as the institutions that hold the state monopoly. A company benefits from state employees who place a reflected loyalty to the day. This is guided by obedience, but questioned vigilant if the required is not contrary to human rights.
Advice on the part of religion, but can only be heard when those who regard themselves as religious act consistent and talk. Ideally you will be so virtuous that they multiply unit in their area and reduce segregation and violence. If religionists or religious institutions themselves violate human rights and cause pain, especially in the name of religion, then they carry the meaning of religion ad asurdum.
The Spirit - primal ground of nature and human rights violation
The source of a selfish and ultimately self-destructive lifestyle is, according to the AGGS inside the man. This man is in a dialectical relationship to the structures created by him.This predestined to act selfishly. The basic problem is that man tends primarily to identify himself with his body and his social identity.
The perceptible by the senses life is then consequently regarded as the only true world and thus as a home. Consequently, the desire to create more and more amenities for the fleeting worldly I created. From a natural need for food, sexuality and protection gradually emerging desire (itsha, Lobh). An example below indicates the process of example: It does not mean that the body needs to eat something, say that you are hungry, but that they "would like to eat something."
, Fame, power and wealth to expand the desire for physical and homelike amenities, and above all the desire to subjugate others to his ideas as well as validity steadily, represents one of the main causes of natural and hence dar. human rights violations, because the satisfaction of insatiable desire can be satisfied only at the expense of others - be it the environment, animals or even people.
The term "spirit" (you) is centrally located and in need of explanation in this context. It is a conceptual metaphor. The mind is created according to the AGGS whenever worldly desire and identification superimposed on the mental consciousness (chit bebek bhudi). This is always possible if the mind (bhudi, akal) to accomplish his instrument, the brain uses for something vile - for example, the complex plan to circumvent environmental policies to maximize profits. Conversely, the mind of a surgeon uses to the brain, using a scalpel to help a people. In the first case, the mind follows the spirit and thus acts against the wisdom of the soul (apnnaa bhaannaa). In the second case follows the mind of wisdom and brings the people something good (gur ka bhaannaa).
The final effect of the mind is always that the really strange land of the material world is considered as putative homeland. The person is no longer able to deconstruct his worldly identification and to provide the necessary space to the inner voice of the Creator. The mind is figuratively the shaft to the surface, seduced by the powerful winds erupting from the deep harmony of the ocean and becomes a tsunami. The emergence of mind is thus always the primary source of the violation of the natural and human-rights. Is the most powerful spirit once awakened, the man is hardly able to transcend his own being and acting. This can go so far that at the expense of human rights violations ruthlessly own worldly objectives.
The first step to overcoming such attitudes is AGGS According to the fact that the man should always endeavor not to frighten others, nor to allow themselves to scare the supposed power of the other. This is where all the required tolerance, one indifferent cultural or religious relativism viewed critically. Especially when the limits are exceeded humanity or truthfulness.
As a final resort, the dedication of inherent spiritual wisdom is seen. This can help the person to gradually see through his identification with the mortal world. If this succeeds, it is possible to live a selfless, simple, conscious and virtuous life in harmony with yourself, the environment and others (Hukam). In the further course of development of the rocky and tedious path of self-knowledge (param gati) is capable of the feat of mental return to the source of all being (properly khand) to accomplish.
The path of humility, reflection and transcendence
Spoken summary, the highest human rights is the ability to live life with dignity and in accordance with the natural law of creation. Anyone who tries to go with the flow of the river of wisdom and inspired others to do the acting from the perspective of the Sikh religion truly religious. The necessary condition for this is a virtuous life. The sufficient condition is that the man extended his horizons beyond the earthly life beyond. This is accompanied by an intuitive recollection goes on a modest life. Without an appreciation of simplicity, the excessive growth and thus urge the exploitation of people and the environment can not be reduced.
As long as it's mainly only for worldly concerns in change projects, the cycle of system development and overthrow, revolution and counter-revolution, reform and counter-reform, violence and counter-violence will continue. Is necessary to talk with Dorothee Solle, ensuring access to piety, which produces a sustained resistance to natural and human rights violations.
Those who set us this form of piety, to inspire us today. The recent increase in awareness of the global environment in parts of the world population and the realization that more wealth does not lead to peace of mind, from the perspective of Sikhi is an important step in the right direction.

Further Reading:
Dahram Singh Nihang Singh Samadhi Sahj vers. Sunn Samadhi, Patiala in 1999.
http://www.sachkhojacademy.net/Articles/SehagSamadhBanaamSunnSamadh-SidhGoshtSateek.pdf

~: SKA Team :~

Markat musti anaaj ki

markat musti anaaj ki

                   man baura re leeni haath pasaar ||

   chhootan ko sehsa parya

                          man baura re nachyo ghar ghar baar || 

         (Sri Aad Granth, Page 336)

A typical monkey trap consists of a long necked vessel that is filled with grains. In order to reach for the grains, the monkey puts his hand into the vessel and grabs a handful. Due to his filled fist, he is then unable to take his hand out of the vessel. Only if he loosens his grip on the grains he can then get his hand out of the vessel. But he doesn't, and due to this irresistible temptation he is then made to dance from door to door (by his owner) throughout his life, to earn grains for the owner’s children.

Similar is the situation with most of us. Due to our irresistible temptations for materialistic pleasures, which can only be obtained via our physical body, we find it tremendously hard to loosen out grip on our body. We are always worried and tense about the body. The result of which is that we are then made to dance (work) throughout our life, to earn physical pleasures for the owner’s (God’s) children. Be it in the form of a human, a tree, or any other species, all we become is just a medium by which God’s other children are nurtured. Until the time we are bound by this temptation, and maintain grip (or focus) on our body, we remain moved away from our primal goal of self-awareness.

Theist and Atheist - Gurmat Perspective

Gur-mat is the name for the eternal (not human) Guru’s wisdom. No other school of wisdom other than Gurmat has the potential to reach the truth. That is why various such schools, which enslave people into the web of illusion have been collectively termed as Manmat. On the other hand, the proponents of these Manmat schools have tagged the true seekers of the truth as atheists (or Naastik, ill-guided etc). The preachers of such Manmat schools consider those people as theists who agree with their philosophy, while those who disagree have been equated to atheists.

Theists (Aastik) and Atheists (Naastik) are antonyms according to the Brahminical school of thought. Consequently, all those who displayed disagreement with the philosophy of the Brahmin and disproved the falsehood within Shastras through logical arguments were defamed by naming them as atheists. On the contrary, Gurmat, which has the potential to bring truth into light, considers both of these words (theist and atheist) to be on a similar standing. That is because, neither of these words have any relation to the truth. Thus, two newer words, Gurmukh and Manmukh were carved to exhibit the sentiment behind the previous two words. Gurmukh are considered those who are in union with the Guru, while the word Manmukh is used to represent both the sets of people for whom Brahmin has used theist and atheist. While a Manmukh lives life according to the wishes of his mind, aGurmukh lives life according to the will of his Satgur (i.e. his inner voice).

According to Gurmat, Satgur is inside every person and no one is bereft of Satgur, 

ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਤੇ ਖਾਲੀ ਕੋ ਨਹੀ ਮੇਰੈ ਪ੍ਰਭਿ ਮੇਲਿ ਮਿਲਾਏ ॥

Satgur te khaali ko nahi mere prabh mel milaye|| (Page 850)

But until the time one is capable to attune to one’s Satgur (or the inner voice), one has to gain understanding through the word of the Guru (or Gurbani). Therefore, in the initial stageGurbani acts as the eternal command for us. Living life according to this command, one can get attuned directly to the eternal Guru from within oneself. 

The words Gurmukh and Manmukh have appeared at various places in Gurbani. Theist (Aastik) and Atheist (Naastik) are used rarely and wherever they have been, carry interchangeable meanings, for instance, 

ਆਸਤਿ ਨਾਸਤਿ ਏਕੋ ਨਾਉ ॥

Aasti Naasti Eko Naao || (Page 953)

In the Brahminical school of thought, Aasti (theist) has been referred to someone who has blind faith on this school. But in reality, a school of thought that has nurtured greed in its followers and whose proclaimed target has been self-aggrandizement can only be equated to Naasti (or Naashvant, i.e. mortal). That is why according to Gurmat, both these words,Aasti and Naasti are synonyms.

The language (not to be confused with script) of Gurbani (i.e. Gurmukhi) is different from worldly languages. Many words that appear in Gurbani (Aad Granth) have come from various other schools of thought, but they have been given newer meanings (based onGurmat) and those meanings are explained in Gurbani itself. Gurbani has redefined many words from the Hindu schools of thought, for example Swarga (Heaven), Punn-Paap (Virtue-Sin), Jamman-Maran (Birth-death), Brahm, four Eons/Yugs, and four Padarath(Substances) etc. Here we will talk about only one of them, for instance: Swarga (Heaven) is conceived to be a place somewhere in the sky according to the Hindu school of thought. If one were to look at the etymology for this word, Swa+Ghar = Own+House. In order to maintain the distinction of the newer meaning and to keep it safe from confusions, Gurmatuses Nij instead of Swa which also means ‘own’, hence the word Nij+Ghar (also calledHirda). Each person’s Nij+ghar is in his inside, while Swarga is believed to be somewhere in the sky. There are relevant references in Gurbani that testify to this fact, such as the following

ਸਭਿ ਸਖੀਆ ਪੰਚੇ ਮਿਲੇ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਨਿਜ ਘਰਿ ਵਾਸੁ ॥

ਸਬਦੁ ਖੋਜਿ ਇਹੁ ਘਰੁ ਲਹੈ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਤਾ ਕਾ ਦਾਸੁ ॥੧॥

Sab sakhiya panche mile Gurmukh nij ghar vaas ||

Sabad khoj eh ghar lahe nanak ta ka daas || (Page 1291)

ਸਭ ਕਿਛੁ ਘਰ ਮਹਿ ਬਾਹਰਿ ਨਾਹੀ ॥

ਬਾਹਰਿ ਟੋਲੈ ਸੋ ਭਰਮਿ ਭੁਲਾਹੀ ॥

ਗੁਰ ਪਰਸਾਦੀ ਜਿਨੀ ਅੰਤਰਿ ਪਾਇਆ

ਸੋ ਅੰਤਰਿ ਬਾਹਰਿ ਸੁਹੇਲਾ ਜੀਉ ॥

Sabh kichh ghar meh baahar naahi ||

Baahar tolai so bharam bhulahi ||

Gur parsaadi jinni antar payeya ||

So antar baahar suhela jeeo || (Page 102)

Third Eye

Everybody is familiar with the two eyes we have, which are the organs that help us to see the physical world. Actually it is our intellectual prowess that makes us see things by processing the signals brought in from the physical world by these two eye-organs.

On the other hand, for our intellectual prowess to be able to ‘see’, that is, to realize the spiritual world (or the aatma, or our own self) it must grow to attain ‘spiritual wisdom’. This spiritual wisdom (or bibek budh) is also known as the ‘third eye’.

Being engrossed in the materialistic pleasures of the physical world, our third eye is clouded with ignorance. Its prowess only goes as far as seeing the physical world (jaat) and not our real self (jot), while latter should be our major concern as mentioned in the following Gurbani verse,

ਜਾਣਹੁ ਜੋਤਿ ਨ ਪੂਛਹੁ ਜਾਤੀ ਆਗੈ ਜਾਤਿ ਨ ਹੇ ॥

Jano jot na poochho jaati aage jaat na he || (Page 349)

How can one then remove the cloudiness from the third eye? Gurbani tells,

ਗਿਆਨ ਅੰਜਨੁ ਗੁਰਿ ਦੀਆ ਅਗਿਆਨ ਅੰਧੇਰ ਬਿਨਾਸੁ ॥

Gyan anjan gur diya agyaan andher binaas || (Page 293)

which means that the knowledge from Guru acts like an anjan (eye ointment) that needs to be put into the third eye, thus dispelling cloudiness (or darkness) caused by ignorance. Other verses suggesting the same fact are,

ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਗਿਆਨੁ ਬਿਬੇਕ ਬੁਧਿ ਹੋਇ ॥

Gurmukhi gyan bibek budhi hoye || (Page 317)

ਸਤਸੰਗਤਿ ਮਿਲਿ ਬਿਬੇਕ ਬੁਧਿ ਹੋਈ ॥

Satsangati mil bibek budh hoyi || (Page 481)

Kachi and Pakki Baani

In conventional sense, it is believed that Aad Granth is Pakki Baani, while all other text of the world is Kachi Baani. Here, Pakki refers to something true and Kachhi refers to something false.

This premise is inherently incorrect. Truth had been, has, and will be written by Bhagats as and when they exist. In the following verse, Gurbani says that Bhagats have existed at all times.

ਹਰਿ ਜੁਗੁ ਜੁਗੁ ਭਗਤ ਉਪਾਇਆ

ਪੈਜ ਰਖਦਾ ਆਇਆ ਰਾਮ ਰਾਜੇ ॥

Har jug jug Bhagat upaya

                        paij rakhda aya Raam rajey || (Page 451)

It is the capability of a Bhagat (or Gurmukh) to discern between truth and false. For instance, writings of the Bhatts were included into the Aad Granth because what they wrote already constituted of Pakki Baani. It proves therefore, that Pakki Baani can exist outside the ambit of Aad Granth, and it is up to the capability of the examiner (Bhagat, Gurmukh) to make the distinction.

Consequently, the word Kachi Baani does not stand for a text outside Aad Granth, but in reality, it means something that expresses only 'worldly truth' as opposed to 'spiritual truth' presented through Pakki Baani. For that matter, even in Aad Granth, there are verses that present worldly truth as an analogy, and therefore shall be deemed as Kachi Baani, for instance,

ਸਗਲ ਬਨਸਪਤਿ ਮਹਿ ਬੈਸੰਤਰੁ

ਸਗਲ ਦੂਧ ਮਹਿ ਘੀਆ ॥

Sagal banaspat meh baisantar

sagal doodh meh gheeya ||

ਊਚ ਨੀਚ ਮਹਿ ਜੋਤਿ ਸਮਾਣੀ 

ਘਟਿ ਘਟਿ ਮਾਧਉ ਜੀਆ ॥੧॥

Ooch neech meh jot samani

               ghat ghat madho jeeya ||1|| (Page 617)

In the above verses, the first one, as an analogy, says that fire is present in all the vegetative matter and butter is present in all the milk there is, and so it is an example of worldly truth (Kachhi Baani). While the second verse which says that in every one deemed high or low, the divine light manifests equally in all hearts is an example of spiritual truth (Pakki Baani).

A thorough understanding of Gurbani upon investigation can provide one with this capability of making the distinction between Kachi and Pakki Baani.