Preparation Of Amrit

[terminator]

It is prepared by the five faithful (Panj Piarae – five beloved of the Guru – those who have taken Amrit). After Ardas (Invocation) sugar cakes (Patasae) are put in an iron bowl, and are dissolved in the water taken preferably from a river or well. Water-taps used to have washers made of hide from cows, and it was generally not acceptable. Now no more hides and plastics are in the forefront.
All the five Amritdhari Gurmukh (God oriented persons who have taken Amrit) place their hands on the edge of the Bata (Bowl) and focus on the tip of the Khanda, double edged sword, dipped in sweetened water. With full concentration, these five Sikhs, turn by turn recite the specific – prescribed, five Gurbanis (Scriptures), and work Khanda to and fro. When recitation of five Gurbani is complete, Amrit is ready. Ardas – supplication is said, and Amrit is administrated to the devotees.
Amrit is given to drink to the person gathered to get inducted into the Sikh faith. They pledge to live a high ethical life according to the Reht (Edicts – dictates) of the Guru prescribed at that time.

Do you like my article, Please reply... :happysingh:

 

[spnadmin]

terminator ji

I like the article and your signature. I love my religion too. Why not develop your article - say more based on what is found in the Sikh Rehat Maryada. It is very interesting reading.

Sikh Reht Maryada, The Definition of Sikh, Sikh Conduct & Conventions, Sikh Religion Living, India

Would like to hear more from you. :welcome:

 

[terminator]

Importance of Amrit in Sikhism

Amrit is the top institution of the Sikh faith. It is “Abae-Hayat” the water bestowing eternal life – eternity and immortality.
They become immortal by drinking Amrit of the Lord (Naam-Jaap), and vices lure them no more. 5-81-1
"ਅਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਹਰਿ ਪੀਵਤੇ ਸਦਾ ਥਿਰੁ ਥੀਵਤੇ ਬਿਖੈ ਬਨੁ ਫੀਕਾ ਜਾਨਿਆ" || ੫-੮੧-੧
Amrit has spiritual as well as, physical aspects. Spiritually speaking, Amrit is the Name of God and its recitation. Physically, it is a special drink, meant for the spiritual growth. The aim o recitation of the Name of God and of taking Amrit, is the same. Amrit is meant to put a fellow to Gurbani and Naam- Jaap (reading Scriptures and reciting His Name) – the path leading to God.
Taking “Amrit” is the cherished desire common both to the Guru and his Sikh. The Guru desires the disciple to take it, and one fully oriented to the faith, becomes keen to do so. Taking Amrit is the Sikh way of getting inducted into this faith. Drinking Amrit is a vow to live an elevated life and to do Naam-Jaap – recite God’s name.

Please post your comments :welcome:

 

[terminator]

Reht or Edicts of Amrit
The institution of Amrit was established, Baisakhi day 1699 by the Tenth Master Guru Gobind Singh, to give his final seal to the perfect man - the Khalsa.

Khalsa is the institution to protect the faith and its edicts for balanced evolution of the spiritual and social obligations of higher order. Things that should be taken care of by an Amritdhari - One Who Takes Amrit, are:

• Naam Jaap and Bani
  Naam Jaap, Gurumantar, Mool Mantar.
• High Class Living
  Ethical living, honest earning, sharing with needy, Seva (Selfless Service), compassion, protection of the weak, selfless universal love with humanity etc.
• Kakkaars
  To observe five Kakkaars (5 Ks) - On accepting Amrit, It is promise of the Sikh to keep these five things on the body and never to discard these - Kesh, Kangha, Kara, Kirpan, Kachha.

 

[terminator]

Narayanjot Ji,
Do you like my Sikhism blog? > www.sikhsikhism.com

I have just created the header, hopefully you like... any comment please reply.

 

[spnadmin]

terminator ji

It has a great design and color scheme. Love the picture of the little children.. You have a lot of work ahead adding more content. But when you do, then it will be a good resource for people who are following up on important concepts like amrit.

Thanks for sharing it with the forum.

 

[Admin]

I think you have got a most brilliant website address!! if you would pay due attention, you can rise up in the search engine rankings in no time... keep adding the new content and keep spreading awareness about the website... if you would like to share a link with SPN, simply let us know. :ice:

 

[terminator]

Thank you very much appreciating my website domain address (with the eye of a googler ).

I will feel lucky to share my link with SPN

how it come?

 

[spnadmin]

terminator ji

All you have to do is go to the Section in the menu called Sikhism Sites and you can post a message with your link right there as a new reply.

 

[spnadmin]

Thank you for posting an article about taking Amrit, I was wondering if anyone can enlighten me regarding married women not been allowed to take Amrit? because there husbands are not Amritdaris?

Is the same true for men? Can men be denied the opportunity of taking Amrit because there spouse has not taken Amrit?

Gurmit Kaur ji

This does not appear in the Sikh Rehat Marayada. If it is related to a cultural or social tradition, I would not know. Perhaps others can shed some light. However, there is nothing that prohibits taking amrit if one's wife/husband is not also amritdhari in the maryada. If it were a widespread condition, the converts to Sikhism whose spouses did not convert, would not be permitted to take amrit and I have not ever heard about that situation either.

 

[harbansj24]

Yes in India, there is cultural tradition and to my knowledge is observed uniformly across, that both the spouses have to take Amrit together. If earlier one spouse had taken and the other had not, then the one who has taken will not be recognised as "Amritdhari". He/she will have to again take Amrit along with the spouse to be recognised as Amritdhari.

This is an extension of the requirement that Amritdharis are not supposed to eat out of the same plate as non Amritdharis or have phsysical relationship with a spouse who is not Amritdhari.

 

[Tejwant Singh]

Yes in India, there is cultural tradition and to my knowledge is observed uniformly across, that both the spouses have to take Amrit together. If earlier one spouse had taken and the other had not, then the one who has taken will not be recognised as "Amritdhari". He/she will have to again take Amrit along with the spouse to be recognised as Amritdhari.

This is an extension of the requirement that Amritdharis are not supposed to eat out of the same plate as non Amritdharis or have phsysical relationship with a spouse who is not Amritdhari.

Harbans ji,

Guru Fateh.

Any idea when this tradition started and by whom?

Is this tradition part of some Jathas like AKJ or is it also part of SGPC which allows people to eat meat?

I know many people from AKJ who would not even partake in the langar at someone's house or in a Gurdwara if it is not prepared by the Amirtdhari which defies the concept of Langar as the sign of equality when it was started by Guru Nanak.

Regrading your other comment about an Amritdhari spouse is not allowed to sleep with the non- amritdhari partner is bewildering and seems to go against the teachings of SGGS and breeds and cultivates segregation in an apartheidical manner which is not what Sikhi is based on. It gives the impression that the so called Amritdharis think of themselves as superior to those who are not.

Lastly not sharing the meal from the same plate also shows the dogmatic mentality of Brahaminism than anything to do with Sikhi. In olden days, when the concept of langar was started by our visionary Gurus, banana leaves were used as plates. So one wonders what was the partition line then.

So, to respond to Gurmit Kaur ji's query, I do not think it should make an iota of difference if one of the spouses is Amrtidhari because Sikhi is the journey of the individual and each of us carries our own spiritual torch.

Many people have been trying to add their man made dogmas into the beautiful pragmatic way of life called Sikhi but they will not be successful because SGGS, our only Guru teaches us otherwise.


Regards

Tejwant singh.

 

[spnadmin]

Tejwant ji

Really I can add only a little to this conversation from what I have read on the web. Off the web, any requirement that both spouses be amritdhari came as news to me.

Among AKJ marriages sometimes are arranged by the sangat and within the sangat to keep parties within a marriage both amritdhari. There is a web site that has stories of conversions to Sikhi. Most of the stories are about individuals who were born into Sikh families and overcame personal crises such as drug addiction and the like through a re-conversion into AKJ. From those stories I learned about marriages arranged within the sangat. Most of these stories do not give examples of conversions outside of the AKJ orbit.

All the SRM says is that a Sikh should get his wife baptized. Another interesting note, interesting to me anyway, is that among some sectors of Nihang culture men will marry Hindu women. This is an historical tradition dating back to the times of the Gurus. The woman then converts to Sikhi.

 

[spnadmin]

Thank you very much for the addition information, I still fail to see the reasoning behind denying someone the opportunity to take Amrit, other than 'tradition' as if 'tradition' is an institute that should be honored. As if Baba Guru Nanak did not fight against some Indian 'traditions' himself. Narayonjot is right that it is not widespread in the West, but is and will be an humilating experience if one does prepare for years to take Amrit and without real knowledge of the reason why is denied. the reason why there are so many denominations of Sikhi cropping up is because certain groups, are denied basic rights by the mainstream. Surprisingly, many turned to Sikhi in the first place because of the strict Hindu caste system, an endless system of creating more groups of the Khalsa panth, I do not know, maybe it is good thing, How about we start another group, Sikhi without weird traditions, Sikhi united, Sikhi for equality, Sikhi for learning and supporting, Sikhi for uplifting and caring about everybody::crazy:

This is a really great statement Gurmit Kaur ji - and the last sentence especially rang a bell for me. You are basically saying - let's start a new group, and the group we should start is the one that Guru Nanak started to begin with. Sikhi without weird traditions, united, equal, learners, supporters, uplifting, and caring. I think I will join

 

[kds1980]

All the SRM says is that a Sikh should get his wife baptized. Another interesting note, interesting to me anyway, is that among some sectors of Nihang culture men will marry Hindu women. This is an historical tradition dating back to the times of the Gurus. The woman then converts to Sikhi.

Some Nihang sects beleive that women cannot take Amrit along with their husband because after taking Amrit they will become their sisters.They also beleive that for women there is kirpan da amrit

 

[harbansj24]

Tejwant ji,

I have just pointed out the requirement of both the spouses taking Amrit together without going into the merits or practicality of it.
Regarding everybody taking langar together, of co{censored} there is objection to that. The only requirement being that Amritdharis should not take langar fron the same thali or leaf.
Ofco{censored} an Amritdhari can get married to a non amritdhari and have conjugal relationship but to be considered as amridhari, he/she must retake amrit along with the spouse. if he does not, then he can continue to be Sikh without being considered as Amritdhari.

Regards

Harbans Singh

 

[kds1980]

Harbans ji

Don't you think this type of condition will stop thousands and thousands of sikhs in becoming Amritdhari.Thousands of Girls may not take Amrit because they may not find
Amritdhari partners On the other hand thousands of Sikh men before or after marriage may not take Amrit because there wives may not agree with them becoming Amritdhari.

 

[spnadmin]

Some Nihang sects beleive that women cannot take Amrit along with their husband because after taking Amrit they will become their sisters.They also beleive that for women there is kirpan da amrit

Kanwardeep Singh ji

This is fascinating information. Thanks

 

[Tejwant Singh]

Tejwant ji,

I have just pointed out the requirement of both the spouses taking Amrit together without going into the merits or practicality of it.
Regarding everybody taking langar together, of co{censored} there is objection to that. The only requirement being that Amritdharis should not take langar fron the same thali or leaf.
Ofco{censored} an Amritdhari can get married to a non amritdhari and have conjugal relationship but to be considered as amridhari, he/she must retake amrit along with the spouse. if he does not, then he can continue to be Sikh without being considered as Amritdhari.

Regards

Harbans Singh

Harbans ji,

Guru fateh.

Thanks for the response. If this is a requirement, either by the oral traditions or by SRM, then these requirements should be abolished because they are against the Gurmat ideals given to us in SGGS, our only Guru.

The concept of Langer is being abused to breed segregation and separation rather than unity of all humankind irrespective of caste, hue, faith or social status for which it was established by our Gurus.

Amritdhari just becomes a title non- grata then, if he/she marries a person who is not an Amritdhari. May be a person who is not an Amirtdhari may learn through living with such a person who has taken Amrit which will instill in her/him to become one and perhaps this person may become a better person due to this than the Amritdhari he/she had married. Doesn't this show the true meaning of the word Sikh?

If not then this title dictates superiority and apartheidic mentality rather than the Gurmat ideals of inclusiveness of "Sabh Gobind hein, Gobind bin nahin koi".

We should all fight to get rid of these window dressings in Sikhi, so that Sikhi can be looked straight through and hence can be practiced the way our Gurus showed us how to through our only Guru, SGGS.

Regards

Tejwant Singh

 

[harbansj24]

Tejwant ji and Kanwardeep ji

I agree with both of you fully. Yes SRM should be suitably modified. Because these conditions flow logically from SRM which clearly states that both the spouses should be Amritdharis and that an Amritdhari should not eat from the same plate, thali or leaf of a non Amritdhari. These conditions might have been relevant when SRM was first enunciated between 1933 to 1945. But now things have changed and Sikhism being a living religion should adapt to changed situations.
Not only the above, but SRM requires a relook in other aspects also. But for that we need a creditable SGPC which is sadly not upto it right now, though we have top of class scholars who are absolutely capable of taking up this task.

Regards

Harbans Singh