Puratan Ragi- Bhai Bakshish Singh ji

 
Do share your immediate thoughts or reactions on this issue? We value your views! Login Now! or Sign Up Today! to share your views with us.. Gurfateh!

__________________
We hear with our ears but we listen with our minds.
Hearing the sound of a mantra is one thing - listening to it is another !

I have this question regarding singing:
Is it more important to have correct sihari/ bihari/ wording or is it more important to have people/ Sangat sing along or after.
In my view, singing/ prticipation is more important. fear of being 100% correct takes people away from the enjoyment of singing Gurbani. We should promote singing by all sangat.

Sangat participation is a two way street. To ensure a worthwhile session of snagat sing along participation a HARD COPY or a Computer screen image of the Shabad is VITAL.
Normally what happens is the "sangat" is restricted to just..Boloh Ji Waheguru..boloh ji waheguru (repeated when the ragi feels he didnt get a loud enough response ).
the dhadrianwallah types..just make everyone repeat their two liner jingle..presumably so they can get a breather..becasue seated right behidn them are professional repeaters with mikes placed before them so their voices carry clout as compared to the snagat without mikes.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/kirtan/34755-puratan-ragi-bhai-bakshish-singh-ji.html
I spent almost all my life living among sikhs and close to ragis and all such...i have seen how ladies have been repeating wrong words all their lives...most common was the ardass shabad Tum Thakur tum peh ardass..UCHEH TE..was repeated as Uche SE..ready made answer..oh ji MOOHN Charr Giyah..naaleh Guru Ji jannee jaan han..i am NOT intentionally saying by mistake..everyone is doing it..blah blah.. If the snagat depends on "audio" to repeat...its sure fire way of making mistakes because different people hear differently !! its a FACT. The WRITTEN must be right in front of each person.

But really all this is "technical"...each person in the sangat has his/her own private One on One with the GURU JI..I have long stopped agonisisng/flinching inwardly when the nice sikh man sitting next to me "murders" what the Ragi is saying..without a clue of what the words mean and what he is repeating is opposite !! Computerised projection sof shabds has improved a lot..Ragis also very careful they dont make a mistake..Paathi also reads bhog shbads at reasonable speed and clarity...all for the BEST JIOS...Main THING is to attend SANGAT.

Projector display makes a LOT of difference. I am going to a Gurudwara where display is made when possible and this is the first time in my life that I did sing after the Raagi Saahib. It felt so great. And the translation provides meaning for new generation. I guess the researcha nd study efforts on Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji will focus on this aspect and make effort to make everyone realise God within.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34755
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34755
More efforts are needed to make the software more easy and more Gurudwaras must have it.

WAY to go Ballym jio....spread the message...and please make an effort to learn up the software/laptop/projector set up at your local Gurdwara so YOU can run it when required...Most times the equipment is left IDLE and not used simply becasue no one knows HOW..and the regualr person is absent...each person in the snagat should learn this and treat it as SEWA...and IF possible Install MORE Screens so each person can get a clear view of the shabads..

And BallyM ji..sihareean bihareena and BISRAAMS are VITAL to MEANING.
After a reasonable time...make an effort to learn the correct pronounciation...wrong bisraam can "destroy/distort"... the real meaning...and THAT would be a real pity.
An example from English.." Woman, without her, man is worthless." ..."Woman, without her man, is worthless...two entirley differnet meanings conveyed just by changing the comma Bisraam !! GURBANI has countless such Bisraams...
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34755
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34755
But I agree with you that we should take things in our stride..learning, un-learning and RELEARNING as a continous process makes a good SIKH.

I also strongly protest a NOVEL WAY OF KILLING KIRTAN " The continuous chanting of WAHEGURU-WAHEGURU . A long hour of kirtan is consumed by 30-40 minutes of Waheguru chanting . This disease is spreading like a wild fire as if whole of Raagis are getting paid to KILL KIRTAN .

This trend may be growing because we do not have easy access to actual wording on display so that each one can sing along. Waheguru chanting is easy/ well known and promotes participation.
We can have similar lines, like.... Sagal bẖavan ke nā▫ikā ik cẖẖin ḏaras ḏikẖā▫e jī.....
There are all great wording in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji but only a few are known/ understood by people.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34755
By the way, I did a mistake first when I was writing the shabad line above! and how do we know that we are correct?
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34755
My point is that we should get participation first and then just try to correct them. If we insist on correctness first then we will not have any student and these students, in search of some religiosity, would turn to hinduism or elsewhere.
You may say that we do not want to compete and compromise just to have more people..... usual quality vs. quantity argument!
When you have less and less people, it turns out to be a cult because lesser number of people will dictate terms and benefit of more brains helping to find the best is lost.

I agree that it is not a marketing... it is religion but you can not say that I do not like this person because he is not singing it correctly. He is a follower in his own sense. He is singing it with full devotion and that is a qualifying degree he has. How he does it... is a matter of opinion. Religion is inclusive.
A controversial example: Harbhajan singh Yogi.... No one outside India/sikhs would have known sikhism otherwise. Even now not many come to Gurudwara except born sikhs.
We do not force/ we do not have a mission to marry girls of other religion to make them sikhs. We welcome voluntary visitors .. in such a situation we have to invent ways to spread our message in easy language with less restrictive rules.
Each brain is different and responds in different way. We can not have only one CORRECT way for all.
Sorry for my language..... I should be more polite. I feel that it is ok but many feel it other way..... each one is different. Correct way seems to be what society ACCEPTS as right at this time.
Another example: in 1897, the committee agreed that a particular form of Dasam Granth is authentic but now we have different view.
Nothing is wrong... it is just different! ( as long as it is not causing deaths physical or mental)