Sunnsamaadh

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Useful tips...
 
I’ve Got One (and Only One) Thing on My Mind
The Power of Concentration
Scattering our attention becomes such a deeply ingrained habit that we hardly know we’re doing it. We barrel down the highway with the tape deck playing, munching on an apple, and carrying on a conversation—and think nothing of it. Yet we’re surprised to find we have trouble keeping the mind focused on one object when we sit for meditation.
Concentration is the prelude to meditation. Unless we cultivate the habit of concentration in other areas of our life, progress in meditation will come slowly or not at all. There’s not much point in sitting in a quiet corner for thirty minutes every morning, trying to make our mind stay in place—focused on the mantra—if we let our mind run amok the rest of the day. It’s like expecting a three-year-old, used to singing and tossing food around at mealtimes, to sit quietly and keep his food on his plate when his parents have guests for dinner. Like a well-behaved child, the mind will calm down and focus at the meditation hour if it has been trained to stay calm and focused at other times.
Simple everyday tasks are a good place to begin. Experiment with focusing on brushing your teeth when you’re brushing your teeth, for example. If you find your mind rehashing an argument with a friend, or jumping ahead to fantasies about the party tomorrow night, gently but firmly bring it back to the task at hand. Focus on the bristles moving against your teeth, the way the toothpaste tastes, how the brush handle contacts your hand.
There are plenty of opportunities to train our concentration in routine tasks—washing the dishes, making the bed, walking up the stairs. Choose several, and each time you find yourself engaged in those particular tasks, form the habit of keeping your mind centered there, taking hold of it as it wanders off and bringing it back to rest here in the present. Buddhists call this mindfulness; yogis call it dharana (concentration). Practice it in more and more areas of your life, and notice its effect on your meditation practice.
The Still Point
“Concentration (dharana) is making the mind stay in one place.”
     —Yoga Sutra 3.1
Countdown to Concentration
Caught in a long line? Instead of feeding your frustration by mentally nudging the line forward, train your concentration by counting backward from 1,000 to 1 as quickly and smoothly as possible. Too easy? Try counting backward in multiples of three.
 

Cultivating Concentration (to Support Meditation)
If you think that the goal of meditation is to make the mind blank, you have created an insurmountable obstacle to developing a rich, nourishing meditation practice. As Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood observe in How to Know God, if making the mind blank were desirable, this condition could be “easily achieved by asking a friend to hit you over the head with a hammer.” It is not the mind’s nature to be blank, and trying to force it into that state is both futile and harmful. A meditative mind is a concentrated mind—a mind that is not blank; it is one which has become stilled by holding an unbroken, one-pointed focus on a single object for an extended period of time. In short, meditation is sustained concentration. (i.e. concentration on WaheGuru Gurmantar)
Concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and spiritual absorption (samadhi) are interwoven. At the beginning of the third chapter, the Yoga Sutra explains how one state merges into the next: “Concentration is focusing attention on one object and holding it there. When awareness flows evenly toward the object of concentration, that is meditation. When in meditation the true nature of the object of concentration shines forth, undistorted by the mind of the perceiver, that is samadhi.”
Multiplying Concentration
Experienced practitioners tell us that concentration is 12 seconds of unbroken attention on one thought wave. Sustain this for 144 seconds (12 x 12) and you have reached a state of meditation. If the mind can maintain that state for another multiple of 12 (12 x 144 seconds, or 28 minutes, 48 seconds), it will have entered the first stage of samadhi.
Trying to meditate without training the mind to concentrate is like trying to write a novel before learning to read—it can’t be done. Until the mind is trained to concentrate, it will never flow into a meditative state. Yet we may avoid training the mind to be one-pointed because we’re accustomed to thinking of concentration as a mental effort, like the effort required to analyze a calculus problem. Concentration seems tension-inducing somehow, and not particularly “spiritual.” But the sustained inward focus that is a prelude to meditation is neither stressful nor unpleasant—it is relaxed, focused awareness, a state of mind that is soothing and calming, once you get the knack of it.
Making a Start
If you doubt this, try the simple breathing practice that follows. It fosters relaxed concentration and is a good way to introduce the mind to the pleasures of one-pointed attention.
Sit comfortably, with the head, neck, and trunk aligned and the body relaxed. Close your eyes and focus on the flow of the breath as it passes through the nostrils. Feel the warm touch of the exhalation and the cool touch of the inhalation. Breathe smoothly and evenly. Pay particular attention to the transition between the exhalation and the inhalation because it is here that the mind has the greatest tendency to wander off.
When your attention has come to rest on the breath, begin to count your inhalations and exhalations from 1 to 5 and 5 back to 1 again in the following pattern: Exhale 1, Inhale 2, Exhale 3, Inhale 4, Exhale 5, Inhale 1, Exhale 2, Inhale 3, Exhale 4, Inhale 5.
Work with this practice over a period of days or weeks—as long as it takes—until you can attend to it for five minutes without getting lost or confused. Notice how relaxed and refreshed you feel. This is the beginning of the one-pointed focus that, with time and practice, merges into meditation.
 

Maharaja Ranjit Singh was ensnared by the wiles of a courtesan and fell for her. Her influence over him enabled traitors to enter the raj and reach very high levels. Consequently, at a key period in Sikh history these traitors conspired with the British and betrayed the raj. The raj fell. As a result every single Sikh man, woman, and child was affected, not just for that generation, but for all generations to come. Besides oppressing the people, the British destroyed the Sikh school system which was one of the best in the world and promoted independent though. That school system has never been recovered, as can be seen by the pendu mentality of many of our people. The British also spread propaganda and worked at creating divisions within our panth, including divisions regarding our Guru Granth Sahib ji and other scriptures and historically important writings. The consequences of one man not have read and understood the Charitropakhyan continue to affect the worldwide panth to this day.

Papiman, why so obsessed with satkiran? Let's just ignore her if we cannot agree with her views. It's childish, we all have a different opinion, nor can we change someones. I am a jhatka eating, bhang drinking sikh,  no one will convince me otherwise what I do is wrong. Those who disgree...well let them jump in a ditch. Let's all concentrate on ourselves rather than others. 
 
Bhul chak marf
 
Crystal

The fact that singhs who is doing panj pyares seva from different jatha's, samparda's out in west cannot even sit together in langar hall have langar together let alone do vichar show the absolute travesty in our panth. I aint buying everything is fine and dandy here in our panth. From top to bottom if anything is consistently missing is - actual backbone fearless love for truth-sach and integrity.

Another thing i have noticed singhs in panj pyares  these days for most part consider their job as part time in sikhi for example they come out once an while in nagar kirtan photo-ops, amrit sanchars.. Our panj pyares honor chivalry title of satguru poora of khalsa is been reduced to mere symbolic representation rather than pratical title of puratan times. For example in soraj parkash granth, there is whole episode of bhai dya singh ji - mukhi of panj pyares giving spiritual discourse of atma to sangat for a month, in puratan times panj pyares were more engaged in sangat than being pure symbolic gesture. Now great chivalrous panj pyares is been reduced to individual sants, jathedars who are more concerned about their dera, dal, cult, personality cult than bigger picture.

Isn't this because we've tried to trap Sikhi in a box and not understood the real thing? Haven't we reduced Sikhi to grow hair and Amrit (sanskar)? or may be it's just the effect of Mind/Kaal because it is said in Bhagat Kabir's Anurag Sagar that whenever any Saint/Guru will come to earth for the betterment of mankind, then Kaal will try everything to derail that stream....
 

SGPC rigid interpretation definition of sikh does not help either..sikh is learner so by that definition they should declared everyone who has some faith in sikh dharma and our guru's is a sikh to have unity between all sikhs to include all then slowly gradually present teaching of transformation from part time sikh to full time gursikh/khalsa

​I guess their religious people are given too much flexiblity compared to ours. It really does not help when first thing our gyanis or parcharikhs say to grow hair, take amrit before even they talk about peace of mind, essence of sikhi, or even teach basic meditation too much segragation of monaie brothers by amritdharis.
I cite example how it wasn't like in puratan deras by citing mainstream example of our spiritual saint - sant isher singh ji rara sahib, sant jvala singh harkhowale, harkhowale branch of nirmale who used to give meditation techniques or spiritual discourses to seekers doing jaap of mool mantar/vichar-inquiry for year then take amrit..this helps remove conditioning help people taste sikhi on intimiate spiritual level after a year, people automatically drawn to grow hair take amrit instead of parcharikhs enforcing too grow hair, don't do this or that, too much rheotric, enforce amrit on people's throat. When you are presented too much rheotric not enough substance or experience people tend to put off by it all together.
 
 

Lack of bhramvidya and spirituality in mainstream sikhi to understand true essence of sikhi too much worldly politics in dharam..These days sikhs are more cultural-religious border line stuck in dogma than religious-spiritual. 

1. Post 20th century the Singh Sabha mindset has hurt the 'Sikh' numbers by sidelining and ignoring the Sehajdharis and Nanakpanthis.
For example: There was  a time when nearly all non Muslim Sindhis were Nanakpanthis, but the radicalisation post Singh Sabha made them move away. Ofcourse many of them also venerated Jhule Lal besides Guru Nanak Ji but still.
Years ago I was also shocked at the 2001 census having only 20k Sikhs for Bihar, the birth place of Guru Gobind Singh. But since I have discovered that Bihar once had a quite significant population of Sikhs (Nanakpanthis), which withered due to our own neglect and partly the Udasi sadhus 'reverting' to Hinduism post SGPC to prevent their Dharamshalas from getting under SGPC control.
Even today some indigenous Sikhs of Bihar can be found near Lakhmipur and other areas visited by Guru Tegh Bahadur.
2. I also used to believe that most Sikhs inhabiting foreign countries were of Punjabi descent, but I think a critical reading of the Janamsakhis is needed to ascertain this. The person who gave the elephant to Guru Gobind Singh Ji was a native Assami King, his ancestors having converted at the times of Guru Nanak.  The Raja Shivnabh of Sri Lanka also converted. More than a hundred Nanakpanthi native Arab families existed in 1930, Sikh since Guru Nanaks times (source: Mushtaq Hussain alias Prithpal Singh). Remember Salas Rai Johri the jeweller? His descendants are Nanakpanthis but in dire need of parchaar just like many other tribes and people but our SGPC is doing nothing, in a few generations they will also be back to Hinduism. Bihar used to have above 300 Dharamshalas, all with native Bihari Sikhs, such as Bhai Bhagwan during Guru Har Rais time (ex Buddhist).
While one may not take this statement too seriously but the Dabistan also talks of Sikhs living in most corners of the world. But you could argue that it talked of Punjabi Sikhs, which I doubt but fair enough.
3. So from the above we can assume that lots of non Punjabi Sikhs used to exist. But where did they all go?
a) reverted back over generations due to lack of parchaar, just as we are seeing right now with Johris.
b) many of them were not in Khalsa form and thus were neglected
 
4. We did not forcibly convert others. While forcing is the un Sikh way, I wish more was done to convert non Sikhs during the Misl and Ranjit Singh Kaal, but sadly we are too secular... We are even butt hurt at ex Sikh Christians returning back to Sikhi to avoid political disturbances in Punjab. This explains why we are only 10-20% of the total Punjabi population.
5. Indian census is not reliable, they do not count poor tribal Sikhs as Sikhs, who are atleast 2-3 million in number. Search for Sikligar, Vanjara, Lobana, Johri, etc.
 
 

In this 'Botched Translations of Guru Granth Sahib ji' series, I want to highlight shabads, poems from Guru Granth Sahib, that have been translated incorrectly, which give the reader the wrong impression about the belief system of the author or about the message in Guru Granth Sahib ji.

When I read the English translation of Guru Granth Sahib ji. I notice that there are certain mistakes embedded in these translations that are over-looked by most sikhs, who rely on them to make out the meaning of the shabad. These incorrect beliefs then become internalized and lead to incorrect understanding. The incorrect understanding is then propagated in real life and in online forums, it seeps into discussions and the mindset.
 
One of the oft-quoted shabads of Nam Dev ji has him slowly paint a scholar into a corner, only to give him a lesson.
Each time Nam Dev ji questions him, the scholar changes his religion. Bhagat Namdev ji notices this pattern a lot in native Indians, Hindus. There is a buffet of spiritual religious traditions laid out in front of them, and they take a little here and there. They wander through multiple Indian faiths, without learning anything.
Namdev ji says, that unlike the Muslims who are strict to their faith, the Hindus are not strict on one faith. They keep tasting here and there on the buffet of faiths and this leads to their detriment. 
Nam Dev ji says it is good to stick to one religion and to practice its teachings. However this is only one eye.
He adds that the one who has gyan is better than the one who is simply following a religion. The practical, the experiential knowledge of Atma, pure consciousness, is the second eye and the one who has both eyes is the most exalted in Namdev ji's view.
 
 
He sets a high bar for Hindus and Muslims to strive for gyan and be strict to the faith they have chosen. However this shabad is twisted into something else, as told by Amardeep below. It is used to put down Hindus and Muslims, and it becomes a practice of Ahankar rather than something to strive for.
 
 
There's a lot of misinformation about Bani of Nam Dev ji in Guru Granth Sahib. His words are twisted to mean things that he is simply not saying.
The botched translation we will be looking at today is not itself botched but severely incomplete. So the meaning that is taken from the incomplete translation is often wrong.
In this thread, we will delve into Bhagat Nam Dev ji's words and uncover the correct meaning.
 
ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ ਗੋਂਡ ॥
बिलावलु गोंड ॥
Bilāval gond.
Raag Bilaval Gond

ਆਜੁ ਨਾਮੇ ਬੀਠਲੁ ਦੇਖਿਆ ਮੂਰਖ ਕੋ ਸਮਝਾਊ ਰੇ ॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
आजु नामे बीठलु देखिआ मूरख को समझाऊ रे ॥ रहाउ ॥
Āj nāme bīṯẖal ḏekẖi▫ā mūrakẖ ko samjẖā▫ū re. Rahā▫o.
Today, I, Namay, saw Vitthala, (another name of omni-present pure consciousness), and I will explain to those who haven't seen him.
Bhagat Nam Dev ji converses with an ignorant scholar.
ਪਾਂਡੇ ਤੁਮਰੀ ਗਾਇਤ੍ਰੀ ਲੋਧੇ ਕਾ ਖੇਤੁ ਖਾਤੀ ਥੀ ॥ ਲੈ ਕਰਿ ਠੇਗਾ ਟਗਰੀ ਤੋਰੀ ਲਾਂਗਤ ਲਾਂਗਤ ਜਾਤੀ ਥੀ ॥੧॥
पांडे तुमरी गाइत्री लोधे का खेतु खाती थी ॥ लै करि ठेगा टगरी तोरी लांगत लांगत जाती थी ॥१॥
Pāʼnde ṯumrī gā▫iṯarī loḏẖe kā kẖeṯ kẖāṯī thī. Lai kar ṯẖegā tagrī ṯorī lāʼngaṯ lāʼngaṯ jāṯī thī. ||1||
Panday, I saw your Gayatri (another name of omni-present pure consciousness), grazing in the fields.
Gayatri is a divine mantar that connects the chanter to the pure consciousness, thus it eats up negative actions, like a cow grazes a field.
Since Gayatri took away all suffering, like a mother who cuddles her child, she was later personified as a Mother Goddess.
Gayatri was also associated with the form of a cow, as the cow was a symbol for motherhood.
So the farmer, thinking, Gayatri was a stray cow, beat her and broke her leg until she limped away.
 
The scholar had no experiential knowledge of Gayatri, he did not really understand Gayatri to be able to defend her from Nam Devji criticism. So upon hearing this caricature of Gayatri, the Hindu scholar says he worships Mahadev, the God of Gods.
Surely Namdev ji couldn't caricature Mahadev?


ਪਾਂਡੇ ਤੁਮਰਾ ਮਹਾਦੇਉ ਧਉਲੇ ਬਲਦ ਚੜਿਆ ਆਵਤੁ ਦੇਖਿਆ ਥਾ ॥ ਮੋਦੀ ਕੇ ਘਰ ਖਾਣਾ ਪਾਕਾ ਵਾ ਕਾ ਲੜਕਾ ਮਾਰਿਆ ਥਾ ॥੨॥
पांडे तुमरा महादेउ धउले बलद चड़िआ आवतु देखिआ था ॥ मोदी के घर खाणा पाका वा का लड़का मारिआ था ॥२॥
Pāʼnde ṯumrā mahāḏe▫o ḏẖa▫ule balaḏ cẖaṛi▫ā āvaṯ ḏekẖi▫ā thā. Moḏī ke gẖar kẖāṇā pākā vā kā laṛkā māri▫ā thā. ||2||
Panday, I saw your Mahadev (another name of omni-present pure consciousness), who was riding the bull.
In the Parbati's house, the food was ready. She was going to take a bath. To guard her door, she took the turmeric paste applied on her body, and made a man to guard her.
Meaning - Mother Nature created man out of matter.
Then Mahadev came to the house to meet his wife. However this created man, did not recognize Mahadev and would not let him enter the home.
Meaning - Pure Consciousness as Divine Father Spirit came to meet Mother Nature. Man was ignorant of his Divine Father, he could not recognize the Divine and would not let him enter his mind, due to his ignorance, wandering mind.
Mahadev cut off his head. And later replaced with the head of an elephant, giving birth to Ganesh.
Meaning - so the Diving Father destroyed man's ignorance and gave him enlightenment, transforming him into a transcendent being.
 
The scholar had no knowledge of the deeper meanings to the stories of Mahadev. He had no actual faith in Mahadev. He thought who would kill a person for no reason? So then he says that he worships Ram.
 
ਪਾਂਡੇ ਤੁਮਰਾ ਰਾਮ ਚੰਦੁ ਸੋ ਭੀ ਆਵਤੁ ਦੇਖਿਆ ਥਾ ॥ ਰਾਵਨ ਸੇਤੀ ਸਰਬਰ ਹੋਈ ਘਰ ਕੀ ਜੋਇ ਗਵਾਈ ਥੀ ॥੩॥
पांडे तुमरा रामचंदु सो भी आवतु देखिआ था ॥ रावन सेती सरबर होई घर की जोइ गवाई थी ॥३॥
Pāʼnde ṯumrā rāmcẖanḏ so bẖī āvaṯ ḏekẖi▫ā thā. Rāvan seṯī sarbar ho▫ī gẖar kī jo▫e gavā▫ī thī. ||3||
Panday, I saw your Ram Chandra (another name of omni-present pure consciousness). His wife was kidnapped by Ravan.
The scholar had no faith in Ram either; he could respond to this. So upon hearing this, the scholar realizes he doesn't worship any of them. He never had faith to begin with. He had no experiential knowledge, no deeper knowledge about the stories he read and analyzed.
 
Bhagat Nam Dev ji then says
ਹਿੰਦੂ ਅੰਨ੍ਹ੍ਹਾ ਤੁਰਕੂ ਕਾਣਾ ॥ਦੁਹਾਂ ਤੇ ਗਿਆਨੀ ਸਿਆਣਾ ॥
हिंदू अंन्हा तुरकू काणा ॥ दुहां ते गिआनी सिआणा ॥
Hinḏū anĥā ṯurkū kāṇā. Ḏuhāʼn ṯe gi▫ānī si▫āṇā.
Hindu has no eyes but Muslim has at least one. However Enlightened being is the most intelligent.
This use of the word ਸਿਆਣਾ  and previous discussion gives context to what ਹਿੰਦੂ ਅੰਨ੍ਹ੍ਹਾ ਤੁਰਕੂ ਕਾਣਾ really means
 
What eyes, or lack thereof, is Bhagat NamDev ji talking about?

The Hindu does not have a religion, and he does not understand the deeper meaning. So the Hindu has 0 eyes.
The Muslim at least has his religion however he does not have deeper knowledge. So the Muslim as 1 eye.
However the Enlightened being, also practices religion and has deeper knowledge, that he has acquired through spiritual practice. So the enlightened one has both eyes.
 
ਦੁਹਾਂ ਤੇ ਗਿਆਨੀ ਸਿਆਣਾ ॥ Within Hindus and Muslims, those who develop deep knowledge are the most exalted.


ਹਿੰਦੂ ਪੂਜੈ ਦੇਹੁਰਾ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਣੁ ਮਸੀਤਿ ॥ ਨਾਮੇ ਸੋਈ ਸੇਵਿਆ ਜਹ ਦੇਹੁਰਾ ਨ ਮਸੀਤਿ ॥੪॥੩॥੭॥
हिंदू पूजै देहुरा मुसलमाणु मसीति ॥ नामे सोई सेविआ जह देहुरा न मसीति ॥४॥३॥७॥
Hinḏū pūjai ḏehurā musalmāṇ masīṯ. Nāme so▫ī sevi▫ā jah ḏehurā na masīṯ. ||4||3||7||
The Hindu worships the temple and the Muslim worships the mosque. Namay worships that where there is no temple nor mosque, meaning turiya avastha, state of pure consciousness.
 
Isn't Nam Dev ji criticizing Hindus? Isn't he slandering their religions?
Remember Namdev ji is criticizing his own people, Hindus are his own people. He has fought for them and he has represented them in front of kings. He wants to see them improve. He wants Hindus to follow a particular faith and stick to it. He wants his own followers to stick to the path that he has given them. In the previous shabad, he tells his followers to worship Ram, as instructed by the Bhagwad Gita. ਗੁਰਮਤਿ ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮ ਗਹੁ ਮੀਤਾ ॥ ਪ੍ਰਣਵੈ ਨਾਮਾ ਇਉ ਕਹੈ ਗੀਤਾ ॥੫॥੨॥੬॥

So Namdev ji is not trying to slander any religions here. He is not putting down the Gaytri, Mahadev, Ram, etc, as it is often interpreted by so-called "scholars". Instead, he is trying to paint the ignorant scholar into a corner and get him to admit that he is not really worshiping anybody so that by recognizing what he lacks, he may improve himself in that area. Nam Dev ji is trying to get him to adopt a certain path and do spiritual practice to gain deeper insight.
 
Criticizing his own people? Where has Namdev ji represented Hindus?
http://www.sikhawareness.com/topic/17024-muslim-sultan-tries-to-kill-namdev-ji-for-worshipping-vishnu-ji-translation/