How Do We Get Rid Of Brahmanwaad From Gurmat

WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH.

Dear Friends,

Appended herewith is an article by Singh Ji Kirpal Singh of USA on how we can get rid of Brahmnawaad/Bipparwaad Practises which ahve crept into Sikhi/Gurmatt.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-sikhi-sikhism/1299-how-do-we-get-rid-brahmanwaad.html

Read on:
Date: Poh 10, 536 NS (Nanakshahi)

Brahminwaad How to kick it out of the Sikh psych???!!!


In response to my letter titled "Brahminvaad" What is it???!!! our respected Bhai Sahib Bhai Kulwant Singh Jee has raised a very valid and appropriate question by saying; No doubt, the answer is that one should not do what you have tabulated (as Brahminvaad), but it is not easy for a common man like me to understand what not to do. I will appreciate for your explaining it as to what one should do.

In the humble opinion of this author the following can be done without too much upsetting of the Sikh apple cart. . As a first step, we need to thoroughly internalize the following Foundational Elements of Sikhism. .. 1) Sikhism is a religion of Gurumat, the understanding of Guru's word through SHABAD WEECHAR. Therefore NO KARAM-KAND (of any kind of meaningless & superstitious Brahminical practices, rituals, or ceremonies) has any place in it. 2) Sikh Gurdwara Sahib is not a place for some meaningless Karam-Kands. Rather, it is a Guru-School, whose main curriculum is Gurumat. .. 3) Shabad Weechar and Karam-Kand cannot co-exist. .. 4) Therefore, the desired Sikh strategy for reform should be the motto; Shabad Weechar in, & Brahminical Karam-Kand out.

With those Core beliefs in place, let us see how can we put the Sikh Train back on the right tracks? . Presented below is the first suggestion for the consideration of the Khalsa Panth. Other suggestions will follow in the subsequent emails.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=1299

1. Straightening out the Paath (recital) Maryada: Fixing this problem is absolutely a piece of cake, if we are bold enough to correct our operation with a desire to move from "Brahminwaad" to "Shabad Weechar". We know that in our present Mode of our Bahamnical ways, whether it is an Akhand Paath, Sehaj Paath, Saptahik Paath or whatever Paath, we are always very serious about making sure that the Guru-Professor, Guru Granth Sahib Jee is definitely brought into the classroom (Gurdwara Hall) with lots of pomp and show, but when it comes to the issue whether the Sikh-Students are going to be present in the class to listen to the Guru-Professor or not, we are never serious to pay any attention. And, thus occasionally we end up imprisoning Guru-Professor in to some Monkey cages Therefore, to fix the problem what we need to do is to reverse the situation, by ensuring that the Students are present in the Guru's class before the Guru-Professor is requested to deliver his lecture. If the students opt not to come to the class, then there should be no lecture. . NO STUDENTS, NO LECTURE.

Now the obvious question; how do we successfully achieve such a feat of dragging the absconding students (lost in their Brahamnical quagmire) back into the classroom? .. The solution is very simple. Put the burden upon the students to be present in the class by making it sacrilegious to request the Guru-Professor to lecture unless a minimum of FIVE STUDENTS are present in the classroom. .. In any Gurdwara situation, no official Paath or Keertan should take place unless a minimum of FIVE SIKHS are present in the room or hall as listner-Students. The person reading Guru Granth Sahib should be directed to stop reading from Guru Granth Sahib the moment the number of listeners present in the room falls below five. The burden for the continuation of Paath or Keertan should be upon the attendee-students rather than the Granthis or Keertanias. If mis behavior of the attendee-students messes up the schedule of the Gurdwara Sahib or any other function, them so be it. Under no circumstances Guru Sahib should be INSULTED by forcing to lecture to an empty class room. . Furthermore, to curb the Bipar Virus (spread by some Ku-Babas, Ku-Sadhs, & Ku-Sants) of multi-Paaths in the same room, it should be made sure that not more than ONE officiating Guru Granth Sahib is present in any particular room.

The only exception to the requirement of minimum of five listeners can be a situation where in a residential set up, some individual or family are striving to do "Shabad Weechar" of the entire Guru Granth Sahib by him/her/themselves without any hired help.

Such a change in rule will achieve the following objectives for eternity; 1) Bring the sanctity of the need for "Shabad Weechar" back into our learning psych. . 2) Provide us with the understanding of the importance of listening to the Shabad Weechar.. 3) Due to the presence of the live Students in the class, our Granthis will be forced to do Paath in a more intelligible way, rather than the usual supersonic Brahamnical Gunh, gunh. 4) Kick out the "Brahminwaad" in a big way. Because, under such a mode of operation, neither the nonsense of buying and selling of Monkey-cage Paths/Akhand Paths nor the Brahamnical drama of 2, 3, 5, 10, 20 50, or 101 Paaths in the same room, will be possible. And, also to carry out any "Akhand Paath" in this modified mode, the burden will shift to the Sikh-students to provide an Akhand stream of students for the successful completion of Akhand Paath, instead of the present day INSULT of burdening the Guru to keep an Akhand mode of aimless talking.

The beauty of this reform suggestion is that we do not need anybody's permission to implement it. All that we need is; the WILL to kick Brhaminwaad out from our Sikh psyche. . In Chardi Kalaa.

Kirpal Singh, USA.

Posted By:

Jarnail Singh

 
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__________________
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 !

There's no point in harping on about Brahminvaad unless you can determine what it is exactly. You havent defined it all, if its preaching religion to empty classrooms then you need to go back to basics and read some books, please define what you are attempting to put forward without generalising in a unmeaningful way.

How would you define Brahminvaad?

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji ki fateh.

Bhen Ji,

Brahminwaad/Bipparwaad is just a word to describe some "rituals" that usually have nothing whatsoever to do with Gurmatt/divine message of Gurbani and are just being performed due to "following what others do".

Example Gurbani tells us repeatedly to "read Gurbani with pyaar, slowly and sapashat/shudh, understand , vichaar upon it and try to find ways of using it to follow it in our daily life. Simply put Gurbani is a "formula" or "recipe"...which is to be read, ingredients bought, prepared, and used according to the formula/recipe..and then only will the cake be ready for eating. If we just continue to "repeat" the recipe day in and day out, keeping a Rosary to keep count of how many times we have read the recipe...we will NOT get to taste the cake...ever. If we dont understand what Guru ji is trying to tell us and live our life accordingly, it is wasted effort to read paaths/matha tek/etc which then become empty rituals devoid of any spiritual benefit....doen just becasue we see "others doing it".
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=1299

So what happens in a typical "akhand Paath". The brahminwaad aspect has made it such, that MOST Stress is on "time"..Paath MUST finish in 48 HOURS.. when Gurbani lays NO SUCH RESTRICTION... Paathis read as fast as possible, no one understands aword, most have actually no time to listen and just come for socialiasing/having langgar...and so much "care" is taken that the paathi doesnt "miss a beat of a second when changing raols.." when all this has nothing whatsoever to do with Gurbani/Gurmatt...the Akahdn paath is NOT a havan/pooja/that cannot be "interrupted" fro even a moment ?? five minutes ?? WHY ? Who made this rule ??

Then we have bippar tituals of putting cocnuts/red cloths/diwas/ghee jyots..all of which have absolutley no conncetion with gurbani. Some may not agree but really they have NO EXPLANATION if we ask them to quote Gurbani.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=1299

This is for now. I will continue later with more explanations.

Love for all

jarnail Singh

I dont agree, where in the gurbani does it specifically say that reading it without translations (some people may not have access) is useless. Also, who are you to question the 'rituals' arising out of sharda (devotion) performed by some sikhs.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=1299

Take a scenario, a youngster takes amrit, completely ready to give himself to his Guru. He does not know the meaning of each of the 5 banis, yet he knows its part of his rehit to do them daily, are you going to tell him not to do them until he learns all the translations?
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=1299
Also, I have been to a Nanaksar gurughar and the Akhand Paath is done in a set time, and whenever I have done the raol, or heard the paath being done aloud, I have never heard it read rushed, so please dont generalise. Its just an efficient way of doing this.

Waheguru Ji ka Khalsa Waheguru ji ki Fateh.

Gurbani does say:
Bed kateb kaho mat jhootheh..JHOOTHAH JO NA BICHARAE.

The clever Brahman had "silenced" everybody by making it known that ONLY THE BRAHMAN will READ the Vedas..as and when necessary. No one need to know anything. As a means of ensuring this compliance SANSKRIT was made a CLOSED HOLY language..only for the BRAHMANS...any one else trying to learn it was under pain of DEATH and TORTURE. This si not fantasy but historical FACT.

GURU NANAK saw this happening and determined it wouldnt happen to GURBANI... that is why GURU JI shunned Sanskrti and used GURMUKHI/PUNJABI to preach His Gurbani.... the language of the ordinary people. Before Him, Budha Ji also realised this same thing and thertefore dissed sanskrit and used PALI, the people's language to spread his message.

The Modern "bippars" in Sikhi want this privilege for themselves... "we will study, read gurbani as and when necessary.." No one else bother to understand..just repeat your nitnem/ and it is all ok.

Mindless repetitions as a sort of "mantar" is not encouraged..whats the use. A Youngster in your example is just beginner...let him learn to read, then get used to the time involved, then how to read it all correctly..and then MUST coem a time when HE MUST BEGIN VICHAAR/FOLLOW what GURBANI SAYS in his daily Life. Mindless repetition is NOT the END...it is just a means...the END is VICHAAR and USAGE.

Gurbani has an INTRINSIC VALUE ( AMRIT) in that one can begin getting SWAAD/TASTE of AMRIT...just by mindless repetitions alone....but that is NOT our goal... the REAL SWAAD is much greater. Just like keeping a dirty cloth in Soapy water, will get slightly cleaner than before due to the INTRINSIC QUALITY of soap to clean, BUT just imagine how much more cleaner the cloth can get if we put in a bit more effort and RUB the soap on the stain...Moot pleetee kappar hoi..deh saboon lahiyeh oh dhoiyeh...isnt GURU Ji advising us to DHOHIYEH...wash... so GURBANI has to be USED in our daily Life to make an impact...it is a formula of LIFe to be LIVED.

On the "shardha" thing i disagree with you. Some body may have told Guru nanak ji... jsut show some "shardha" and wear the janeau for just a while..go bathe in the ganga jal just for shardha's sake..we all know Guru Ji's answer.... HE REFUSED POINT BLANK even though his father had invited hundreds, even bought a Live GOAT for Food, etc,,GURU JI didnt show any Shardha to HINDU RITUALS...He didnt wear the janeau even to satisfy the guests of his father.

Warm regards and Love to all

jarnail Singh

IAgree 100% with you as this seems to me also as ritual to do it exactly in 48 hours...
Being terrified of interupting Akhand Paath even for a minute


Dear Singing silence kaur ji

I havent ben to nanaksar personnaly but this much I know that they have some difference in maryada as they require Gurudwara staff to be celibate and they consider guru nanak ji as God himself just like jesus in Christianity and as per my present understanding it is not according to the gurmatt what do you think about ot..

The reason the Sewadars are celibate is because having a family life would be distracting for the selfless sewa which is expected there, this doesnt mean nanaksar is against marriage, our Guru's encouraged it, however the people who go there must commit and devote their lives to naam simran and sewa and nothing else, they have a choice of whether to go there and devote their lives to that cause or do something else. As with any institution there are rules.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=1299
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=1299

Your comment about the belief that Baba Nand Singh Ji had about the Guru's being God is not wrong, unless you're saying Babaji was wrong in their realisation and understanding through intense bhagti that you and I cannot even imagine. 'Gur Parmesar Eko Jaan' understand this line and you will understand what I mean.

Waheguru Ji ka Khalsa Waheguru ji Ki fateh.

The GURUS all married and had a householder's life because this was according to the GURMATT PHILOSOPHY advocated by GURU NANAK Ji . The Only GURU who didnt marry was the Child-Guru HarKrishan Ji. The GURUS not only had happy married lives, some like Guru Hargobind Ji had more children than normal...and I dont think this interefered in any way with their Bhagtee/sewa/saving of humanity.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=1299

Guru nanak ji knew that He would be Travelling the WORLD, leaving his Family to fend for themsleves during His LONG Absences....YET GURU Ji also MARRIED and had a Family. Guru Ji ddint for a moment think: my family will interefer in my sewa/bhagtee.

Gurbani at any place DOES NOT SAY or even "encourage" CELIBACY. On the Contrary.....CELIBACY as a means of Bhagtee /sewa is CONDEMNED in many places by Bhagats as well as GURU Sahibaans. IF any one can Quote me a Single Line of Gurbani that advocates/encourages/promotes CELIBACY as a means of sewa/bhagtee/ etc I will be thankful. Guru Gobind Sinmgh ji in His bani also concurs with gurbani that Celibacy is a Complete waste of Time.

For an "institution" like nanaksar that Places so much "importance on GURU NANAK" to the exclusion of other GURUS. a policy that CONTRAVENES GURMATT like CELIBACY !!! is beyond me. And secondly for an institution that "loves" GURU NANAK ji "so much"..its leaders should FOLLOW GURU NANAK JI as a Role Model...and that includes MARRIED LIFE.

Regarding the "speed" of Akhand Paaths..this is not a genaralisation..anybody who "knows" even a little bit or has seen an akhand paath going on will tell you that SPEED is of the essence, the Paathi taking over MUST NOT MISS a SINGLE ALPHABET...and FAST and SUPER FAST Pathis are the NORM. NO MARYADA says that the path MUST not take LONGER or SHORTER than 48 hours, that a paathi cannot miss a single alphabet when taking over from another, etc etc which are making the paath Brahminical more than gurmatt. In fact in our local context the "nanaksaris" are well known to be "speed demons" - some hold records of 200 pannas per raol ( norm 60)..these are called upon in "emergencies" when the paath is "delayed" due to many women paathis in the day time doing paath too slow !!( 10 pannas per raol) Many of these "champions" are in UK. Akhand Paaths done and completed in "small rooms" where the paathi/Guru ji are the only ones present and then SOLD overseas through Email/Internet/ etc is another BRAHMINICAL Practise. The person PAYING for and BUYNG the completed akhand paath has not heard a single line/seen the paathis/attended any arambhak ardass/??? just an email notification that he can BHOG/antam ardass his paath. And 50/501 SIMULTANEOUS akhand paaths at one place is another DHONG/RITUAL/Brahminical practise....such happen at SANT deras in India.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=1299

2. Side stepping slightly. In GURU SAHIBAANS TIME.... that is from GURU ANGAD JI onwards, there is NOT a Singler Recorded incident, whereby in GURU ANGAD Ji's PRESENCE, somebody would claim to have "PARTAKH DARSHAN" of GURU NANAK JI !!! or in GURU Amardass Ji's Presence somebody claiming to have Partakh darshan of GURU Nanak ji /Guru Angad Ji...and SO ON. NO BODY in GURU GOBIND SINGH ji's PRESENCE claimed he was getting Partakh Darshan of the NINE preceeding Gurus or GURU TEG BAHADUR JI.

NOW in the AUGUST PRESENCE of GURU GRANTH JI.... there is NO SHORTAGE of People CLAIMING to Have PARTAKH DARSHAN..of.... Guru nanak Ji, Guru Gobind Singh ji, and ????? In the Presence of GURU GRANTH JI which is OUR LIVING ETERNAL JYOT SHABAD GURU...why would anyone claim to be having "partakh darshan" of a HUMAN BODY that LEFT this EARTH centuries ago?? Does this mean this SHABAD GURU is somehow LACKING in some way that we MUST have partakh darshan of .....- THAT the NANAK JYOT is NOT in our PRESENCE ?? that this jyot has to take human form in the prsence of Shabad guru jyot ?? If someone from nanaksar can explain this phenomenon i would be grateful.

Jarnail Singh