Gurmukh Sikhya Part 1 - Naam is a gift

Naam is a bakhshish {gift or offering, given with love, out of pity for someones misery}

The naam, 'Vahiguroo', is the bakhshish of akaal purkh {timeless being, or the one who is free from death}. If you have been given this gift, you should never take it for granted i.e. always be thankful (even though most of us do take it for granted... its quite hard to realize what you have... the only way to realize its grandeur is to experiment with it and experience it) and if you have this gift then enjoy the pleasure that comes with it, the pleasure of akaal purkhs hazooree {to be ever present}. While doing this, do not forget your worldly responsibilities because our satguru's path is 'ਪਰਵਾਣੁ ਗਿਰਸਤ ਉਦਾਸ' (I don't know if I'm satisfied with the STTM translation of "is celebrated as a householder as well as a renunciate.". To me it makes more sense if, "Says Nanak, the person who offers himself to the true guru and becomes nirmoh {having no attachment to materialistic wealth} while living a normal householder's life, he/she is accepted and welcomed in the house of akaal purkh or it could be that it doesn't matter if the person is a renunciate or a householder as long as he/she offers himself/herself completely to the guru, gives up his/her own mutt {thinking or intellect}).

One should always pay attention to there health, at least 7 hours of sleep and no less. Strive for an active lifestyle.

The second guru (Sree Guru Angad Dev Jee) used to play with kids in the afternoon.

One's body is free from disease, mind is free from disease, and the consciousness is at peace when it remains attached to the remembrance of akaal purkh through naam.

Dehradoon, 26.5.1950

Babaneea Kahaneea Putt Saputt Karayn...

ਬਾਬਾਣੀਆ ਕਹਾਣੀਆ ਪੁਤ ਸਪੁਤ ਕਰੇਨਿ ॥
The stories of one's ancestors make the children good children.

This summer my grandfather visited us for the first time. When I used to be a kid, he was a catalyst for my curiosities, both intellectual and spiritual. He was the one that told me all the saakhees about Guru Sahibaan and other Gursikhs. I hadn't spent as much time with him since I was 12 years old. There was never enough time during my occasional visits to India, he hadn't fully shared his life experiences with me.

During his stay with us, I got to spend quite a bit of time with him, I don't remember most things that we talked about but there was one that stuck with me. He told me that sometimes we as Gursikhs look at Gurbaanee as something that is surreal and unattainable from an everyday perspective. Sometimes we only look at the "deep" meanings of it all and not how it applies to our everyday lives.

He told me the story of a Gursikh from a pind {village} who earned his living honestly and was devoted to his Gursikhi Jeevan. His routine was to get up at 2 am, take an isnaan {shower or bath} and do naam simran {remembrance of god by the repetition of his name given to one by the true guru}. Then he would do his nitname {a minimum of 5 collections of sacred writings from Sree Guru Granth Sahib Jee and Sree Dasam Granth} and set out on a journey through the fields to the pind's gurduara.

Another Gursikh who would get up early to work in his fields would see this Gursikh everyday and wonder where he goes everyday before sunrise. One day the man decided to stop the Gursikh and asked him, "Where are you going, the sun hasn't even risen yet?".

The Gursikh replied with a question, "What are you doing here so early?". The man answered proudly, "I am going to work on my farm so I can have the best crop when the harvesting season comes!".

The Gursikh said, "Well so am I..". Now the man was confused and a little agitated, thinking that this guy's trying to mock me. The Gursikh continued, "I'm just following Guru Arjan Dev Jees command:

I just repeated the guru's name with my tongue:
ਅੰਤਰਿ ਗੁਰੁ ਆਰਾਧਣਾ ਜਿਹਵਾ ਜਪਿ ਗੁਰ ਨਾਉ ॥

I am going to the gurduara to do darshan of the guru with my eyes and listen to baanee with my ears:
ਨੇਤ੍ਰੀ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੁ ਪੇਖਣਾ ਸ੍ਰਵਣੀ ਸੁਨਣਾ ਗੁਰ ਨਾਉ ॥

And by doing this, at the end of my days, I'll have the best crop possible:
ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਸੇਤੀ ਰਤਿਆ ਦਰਗਹ ਪਾਈਐ ਠਾਉ ॥

Shabad

The farmer was in tears and said "I read this everyday too, but it never occurred to me that I could do this everyday." He thanked the Gursikh and both said...

Vaheguroo Jee Ka Khalsaaa Vaheguroo Jee Kee Fatah(i)!!

Ken Hewitt...

Many of you might not have heard of Gurduara Khalsa Mero Roop Hai Khaas (GKMRHK), South Shields, UK. From my experience, the gurduara has "babey dee full kirpa" and is 100% sangat-run. I go whenever Guru Sahib wills. 300 sala celebrations were held last week at the Gurduara. I happened to pop in to have some of there amazing langar.

During the ardaas I heard the Singh say something about "sahaj katha" (sahaj = patience, or taking your time to do something, katha = refers to some kind of gurbaanee vichaar or arth) and congratulate the people who had finished with guru kirpa. Then Bhai Karnail Singh stood up and did some announcements and I got to learn what they were talking about.

In October 2004, 296th anniversary of Gurgaddee divas of Sree Guru Granth Sahib Jee, sangat at GKMRHK posted a memo on the notice board. It asked everyone to take the initiative to learn about the Guru that they bow to every time they come to the Gurduara. The memo invited everyone to participate in an individual sahaj katha of Sree Guru Granth Sahib Jee maharaj. Pothiyan in English, Gurmukhee and Hindee were offerred to whoever wished to partake.

The memo said that if an individual does 3-4 pages of katha a day, they would be finished by the time 300 sala comes in 2008. From what I heard a lot of people took advantage of this opportunity.

After telling us all about this, Bhai Karnail Singh introduced us to Ken Hewitt. Ken Hewitt came to the Gurduara sometime in 2004 and also decided to participate in the sahaj katha. It was very inspiring to see his passion. The recording below is Ken Hewitt himself...

hmmmm...

wow... its been a long time... I'm a lousy blogger.. haha... but one should never give up...

just like rivers have rapids... so does life... and sometimes you encounter one that seems impossible to endure and pass... but with guru kirpa it passes... I found the following links helpful... will start again where I left off with Gurmukh Sikhya... exams are done... They will start again in another month (the "beauty" of med skool) but for now I've got some time and hopefully I will try to make the most of it...

Impermanence

The Ever-unstable mind

Advice from the Guru himself

vaheguroo jee ka khalsa vaheguroo jee kee fath(e)

Gurmukh Sikhya...Part 1...Brief Responses to Letters from Sangat

Vaheguroo jee ka Khalsa Vaheguroo jee kee Fathe...

I have been gone a long time...a lot of stuff kept me busy...hopefully this time Guru Sahib keeps me on track...I will be doing literal translation...If I go off on tangent...Please forgive me...also I will make sure to point what is not actually written in the book and are my views... I will use different parantheses... I will put my worthless views in ( ) and meanings of certain words in { }...

ੴ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕੀ ਫਤਹ॥

Not going into any deep meanings... One omnipresent supreme force... foremost wondrous lord to whom victory belongs...

Gurmukh Sikhya, Part 1

Brief Letters

Worldly Ties

Events in life, negative or positive are the result of karma, will of god and sometimes both, the people who are on the path of supreme truth, use every such event to learn something and move forward (its heightens there understanding of the world and spirituality), because they accept what's happening and surrender to it and that empowers there sidak {sharda = respect, offering...vishvaas = trust...sachhayee = truthfulness...dil dee safayee = a pure heart}, if they offer an ardaas {asha = hope... prarthna = prayer... bayntee = request... muraad mangan dee kiriya = the etiquette of asking or plea} in these circumstances then they come closer to Vaheguroo (The wondrous one, that has the power to bring one from the darkness of life to the light of knowledge).

Sometimes these worldly ties have something good to offer (a lesson), which only presents itself to some. Lovers of the naam (literal meaning being...in Gurbanee...naam is mostly referred to as name of the lord or the will of god... something that offers an understanding...tells you the meaning of something... something that is given to you by Panj Piaray in exchange for offering your head (literally your head and also your own thinking) to the Guru) remains attached to Vaheguroo naam, doesn't let events of his life pull him away from it. Maintaining this continuum between you and God is the cure for everything.

Dehradoon, 28.3.50

Gurmukh Sikhya: Introduction

I felt that it was important to acknowledge the gursikh who actually documented all this, so that the future generations could have something to help there gursikhi jeevan. Therefore, I am actually going to post some of the intro and information about the author.

Page 1-3: Introduction (more like the essence of the intro)

The book is divided into parts; Part 1 contains Dr. Bhai Vir Singhs responses to letters of Sikhs from various parts of India. Part 1 is a verbatim record of his exact writings whereas Part 2 are Bhai Sahibs vichaars from various discussions between Bhai Sahib and the writer for the most part (Bhai Gurditt Singh Malhan). The writer states that Part 2 vichaars are only his recollection of the conversations with Bhai Sahib and he goes on to say that he has done his best to give them the authenticity of Bhai Sahibs 'rachna' (composition) but he says that he cannot match the beauty with which Bhai Sahib delivered his speech.


The author goes on to describe Bhai Sahibs jeevan and I am not going to bother translating and typing that up as you can get the it here: http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Bhai_Vir_Singh


Page 4-5: About the Author (by Maha Singh Giani, publisher of Khalsa Samachaar)

Bhai Maha Singh starts off by informing us that the author was not able to live to see a published version of his work. Guru Sahib da bhana had taken its course and Bhai Gurditt Singh Malhan had to finish his 'sansarak' (worldly) journey on November 24-25, 1965. Bhai Maha Singh appreciates the effort of Bhai Gurditt Singh and says that he was a great gursikh who had the chance to do the sangat of Bhai Vir Singh Jee. After Bhai Vir Singh returned to 'begumpura' (a town where the residents have no regrets and sorrow), Bhai Gurditt Singh decided that just like Bhai Sahib was a positive influence and an inspiration for him, he could do this for all.

Bhai Gurditt Singh was born in Banga, a village close to Hoshiarpur, Punjab on January 21st, 1901. He lost his parents when he was very young and was brought up by his Nana-Nanee (Maternal Grandmother and Grandfather). Bhai Sahib went to school and got a job in the Railway Transport. Later on, he retired from there as a Senior Personal Officer. He was a God-loving and fearing from his younger years. He always used to want to hang around with saadhs, sants, gurmukh, and naam premis. This practice of his brought him in contact with Bhai Vir Singh Jee. With Bhai Vir Singh Jees sangat, Bhai Gurditt Singhs mind came to peace with itself. After retirement, Bhai Gurditt Singh dedicated his life to naam simran and prabhu prem. Whenever he would need spiritual counsel or if he was in a dilemma, he would consult Bhai Vir Singh. And as he mentions in the introduction, Bhai Vir Singh composed his answers so beautifully and intellectually that hit the spot everytime.




Thats all for the intro and about the author. Tomorrow I will attempt to move on to Part 1 of the book, thats of course if I am granted that much time by the master of all.

(Oh and if somebodys actually reading this.. I need a little help with posting gurmukhi on here.. so lemme knw if u knw)

khoj

I've recently started reading again, I used to read a lot as a kid but stopped when I was about 13 years old and got more and more into the teenage buzz. Now being in my 20s, I've realized that reading gave a lot of knowledge and intellect in the past. Although in sikh spiritual path, knowledge and intellect don't hold as much weight as bandgee (meditation) and pyaar (love), it is still beneficial.

I have heard about Bhai Veer Singh Jee since I was very little. My grandfather used to read his books. He used to say that he has yet to see a writer more elegant and beautifying than him. I thought may be I should get a taste of it myself. I went out and bought some books, namely, Gurmukh Sikhya (some letters sent out by Bhai Veer Singh in response to questions put forward by sangat), Baba Naudh Singh, Sundree, Bijay Singh, Sant Bimla Singh, Sat Aukhian Raatan, Guru Nanak Chamatkar, and Guru Kalgidhar Chamatkar.

It is said that its a bad practice to get a lot of books at once when you go book shopping but oh well.

I started with Gurmukh Sikhya, a thin paperback, just to take it slow. Its about 300 page, I am more than half way into it. As I was reading, a lot of the answers of Bhai Veer Singh were answering exisiting questions in my mind that I wasn't able to find any answers for. So I thought about what my high school Chemistry teacher used to say, "Never be shy to put up your hand, because chances are that a lot of people in the class have that same question but are too chicken-shit to ask". So I thought I am blessed with a good intellect of Gurmukhi, so I should go ahead and translate this book as I could not find an English version of it. And since most of the Sikhs in the west are too lazy to learn Gurmukhi, this would be great seva if it helps someone along there sikh path.

Having said that, I am not perfect, I have never done anything even close to this. I have never attempted to translate anything before. Also, I use a lot of slang, so be warned. Oh and I tend to sometimes miss words in my sentences, most of the time you can figure out what I am trying to say but please feel free to ask.

For more information on Bhai Vir Singh:

http://www.bvsssindia.com/founder.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhai_Vir_Singh