glories of gurmat!

[drawrof]

I love sikhi from a 'psychological' perspective because the root of all my problems are broken down to

kaam=lust

krodh=anger

lobh=greed

moh=attachment

ahankar=ego

what pulls you guys into sikhi?

[challenge_everything]

pyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar

[Iron-Singh]

Since literate and illiterate are both capable of obtaining Vaheguru. Makes me less stressed about not understanding some of the finer details incorporated from Vedant.

[Guest]

Great post iron singh

To reinforce iron singh comment here,

I was talking to my freind once, he said there are two ways to get to Paratama according to Gurmat Advait Sikh Sidhant, both require unconditional love and grace of Guru. However margs are different.

1st Marg is do simran with bairaag and love, that's all. Forget about the technicalities of sitting down, body inner knowledge etc. Go to the extend in prem marg, where Vahiguroo itself comes to you, and embrace you. Eg- baba nand singh maharaj getting darshan of sri guru nanak dev nirankar.

Second Marg is to find Vahiguroo within yourself.. learn gyan and vigyan of atma, energy exist within our body..do shabad surat jog by taking jogti(technique) from a mahapursh.

Without any question, both margs(roads) are hard, but it depends on the individual if one is literate or illeterate both have every right and capable of attaining Vahiguroo.

One should never look down upon those who are illiterate in Sikhi in terms of gurbani knowledge, adhyatamic knowledge. They might not be knowledgable but they might have biggest thing which we might lack- innocent love, humility and faith in Vahiguroo. Paratama cannot be found by our intellect only but innocent unconditonal love and faith towards Vahiguroo.

[Dynamic_Banda]

And adding to Neos post, the 3rd Marg..

Degho.. Tegho.. Fateh..

[Guest Javanmard]

Vâhigurûjîkâkhâlsâ Vâhigurûjîkîfateh

I would to add a few comments to what what iron singh said.

1. There is absolutely no doubt in theory that both the literate and iliterate have access to the divine through nâm simran, devotion and meditation. Some of the great bhagats were iliterate in the sense that they could not read and write BUT in a culture where oral tradition was more important culture was transmitted differently. Their compositions show knowledge of literary rules and music. So please let us not confuse being iliterate and non-cultured.

2. I would nevertheless like to give a serious warning regarding the dangers implied by the statement that "one can be iliterate and stil attain the Divine". We all live now in societies where education is an absolute necessity not only in order to get jobs but also and most importantly in order to understand the world around and inside us. Culture is precisely what distinguishes humans from animals. Yet I am shocked to see that especially in the Anglo-Saxon Sikh diaspora there is a merely utilitarian view of education i.e. education is only there to enable one to get a job. The result of this is dentists, lawyers, accountants etc... who can be very good at what they do BUT who are unable to sustain a conversation on histort, art, culture or religion. Instead these very same people are either totally ignorant of religion or rely on pseudo-scholarship (i.e. your 2 pound book on "Sikhi and Science' written by Dr. XYZ Singh Sandhu/Kalsi/Dhillon who is a retired accountant). Or they join sheepish cults. The cause of this isn't just to be found in the dislike for high culture among certain sections of the diaspora (not just Sikh) but also because Anglo-Saxon education in general itself does NOT provide the tools for critical thinking and does NOT encourage general culture. It specialises student way too early.

Guru Gobind Singh very clearly commanded his Sikhs to learn how to read and write as is confirmed in many rahitnamas. Not only that but a correct understanding of gurbani requires knowledge of languages but also an understanding of ragas. Contrarily to today, pre-colonial villages in Panjab were highly educated. Leitner, a scholar who observed the educationa system of Panjab, clearly states that due to to the combined effort of madrasas, dharamsalas and the Nirmala, Sevapanthi and Udasi schools, the Panjabi villagers had achieved an outstanding level of education and culture in subjects such as music, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Braj, medicine etc... This is due to the endeavour of our Gurus to export high urban culture to the villages and make it accessible to all. Our Gurus were also civilisational heroes in the sense that they wanted to uplift humanity to a high level of culture.

The present praise of ignorance in Anglo-saxon trash culture and a certain pendu thinking in the Panjabi community is totally opposed to Sikhi. Faith is like a piece of paper, anyone can blow it away with some arguments. But if you put the stone of knowledge on it then it remains firm. It is precisely because of this 'it's ok to be iliterate" that Nirankaris, Protestants and Wahabis are able to convert Sikhs.

The iliterate bhagats were exceptions, the norm and aim for us Sikhs is to attain the highest levels of knowledge.Thank God some young Sikhs are waking up!!!

"If ignorance is bliss, then knock the smile off my face." ~ Zack de la Rocha.

"Intellect is invisible to the man who has none." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

[SAadmin]

This is good thread, please post your view on what you think glories of gurmat are? and hows that relate to your daily life? and hows that helping in our transformation?