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Originally Posted by findingmyway  To understand the message historical knowledge is helpful. However, we live in a very different world so to apply the message to our lives we need to have a modern understanding of that mesagge. I don't think the 2 perspectives are mutually exclusive as without applying what we learn in our lives, we are not following Sikhi.
My additional question is how do we tell when Guru Ji is being literal and when is he using analogies? |
jasleen ji
Strange is it not that we make distinctions between past present and future. The Present is born from the Past, and the past is the crucible from which the problems and realities of the present are formed.
Just as the mix of a new compound retains its connection with its original ingredients, so the past transforms into the present and the present becomes the future. We can't understand our present without understanding how past threads continue from past eras, just as we cannot understand the life forms of today without understanding the forms from which they evolved.
And I think that is why we are reminded aad sach, jugaad sach, hai bi sach in Jap ji Sahib. There is no easy way to cut through and say this is past and this is present and this is future and still have a moral truth. A moral truth is not true if it is contingent on this or that time-bound reality. So we have an eternal and everlasting Guru, for all times, and for all humanity.
Unless of course we chose a materialistic understanding of truth.
So in my opinion knowledge of history aids our understanding of the conditions and context under which our Gurus pondered the human conditions. It enriches us in that way. Nonetheless their truth is here for all of us and in each generation to grasp, even 100 years from now. Thanks for motivating my thinking along.