Mukatnama

[SikhKhoj]

Has anyone read Mukatnama?

I feel it is one of the few Rehatnamas that has almost no anti-Gurmat statements. It doesn't say anything special either, but still.

It has one thing to note, it is one of the few Rehatnamas (if not only) that state that a Sikh should not marry into his fathers or mothers clan.

Edited June 10, 2011 by SikhKhoj

[amardeep]

hmm nope unless it is in mcleod's..is it the one that starts with "in each yug the Guru manifests himself to redeem his followers" ?

[SikhKhoj]

No, it starts with something like 'sun gursikha mukatnama updes'. Sau Sakhi is available on net, if you want I'll mail you the PDF.

[SikhKhoj]

Here is a translation of Muktnama by Macauliffe, but of Suraj Prakash version I think. Sau Sakhi Mukatnama is written in prose and Suraj Prakash one is the versified account.

The Guru upon this repeated for the first time his ' Muktnama ', or means of salvation.

The following are its principal injunctions : ' O Sikhs, borrow not, but, if you are compelled to borrow,

faithfully restore the debt. Speak not falsely and associate not with the untruthful. Associating with holy men, practise truth, love truth, and clasp it to your hearts. Live by honest labour and deceive no one. Let not a Sikh be covetous. Repeat the Japji and the Japji before eating. Look not on a naked woman. Let not your thoughts turn towards that sex. Cohabit not with another's wife. Deem another's property as filth. Keep your bodies clean. Have dealings with every one, but consider yourselves distinct. Your faith and daily duties are different from theirs. Bathe every morning before repast. If your bodies endure not cold water, then heat it. Ever abstain from tobacco. Remember the one immortal God. Repeat the Rahiras in the

evening and the Sohila at bedtime. Receive the baptism and teaching of the Guru, and act according

to the Granth Sahib. Chng to the boat in which thou hast embarked. Wander not in search of another religion. Repeat the Gurus' hymns day and night. Marry only into the house of a Sikh. Preserve thy wife and thy children from evil company. Covet not money offered for religious purposes. Habitually attend a Sikh temple and eat a little sacred food therefrom. He who distribute th sacred food should do so in equal quantities, whether the recipients be high or low, old or young. Eat not food offered to gods or goddesses. Despise not any Sikh, and never address him without the appellation Singh. Eat regardless of caste with all

Sikhs who have been baptized, and deem them your brethren. Abandon at once the company of Brah-

mans and MuUas who cheat men out of their wealth, of ritualists who lead Sikhs astray, and of those who give women in marriage with concealed physical defects, and thus deceive the hopes of offspring.

Let not a Sikh have intercourse with a strange woman unless married to her according to the Sikh rites. Let him contribute a tenth part of his earnings for religious purposes. Let him bow down at the conclusion of prayer. When a Sikh dieth, let sacred food be prepared. After his cremation let the Sohila be read and prayer offered for his soul and for the consolation of his relations. Then sacred food may be distributed. Let not the family of the deceased indulge in much mourning, or bevies of women join in lamentation. On such

occasions let the Gurus' hymns be read and sung, and let all listen to them.

' Worship not an idol, and drink not the water in which it hath been bathed. The rules of caste and of the stages of Hindu life are erroneous. Let my Sikhs take care not to practise them. O Sikhs, listen to me and adopt not the ceremonies of the Hindus for the supposed advantages of the manes of ancestors.

' My face is turned towards him who calleth out to a Sikh '* Wahguru ji ki Fatah ! " my right shoulder

towards him who returneth the salutation with love, my left shoulder towards him who returneth it as

a matter of custom, and my back towards him who returneth it not at all. To him who abide th by

these rules I will grant a position to which no one hath yet been able to attain, and which was beyond

the conception of Shankar Acharya,^ Dattatre, Ramanuj,^ Gorakh, and Muhammad.

' As, when rain falleth on the earth, the fields yield excellent and pleasant fruit, so he who listeneth

to the Guru and attendeth to all these injunctions shall assuredly receive the reward thereof. Whoever

accepteth the Guru's words, and these rules which he hath given, shall have his sins pardoned ; he shall

be saved from transmigration through the eighty-four lakhs of animals, and after death shall enter the Guru's abode. If any very worldly man devoted to pleasure tell you to the contrary, listen not to him,

but ever follow the Guru's instruction.'

NOTE: Macauliffes Mukatnama is slightly different to the one found in Pyara Singh Padams Sau Sakhi. They most probably relied on different manuscripts. Padams version is more anti malech in nature. It is in Padams version that it says to abstain from marrying in mother and fathers surname.

Edited June 10, 2011 by SikhKhoj