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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spnadmin" data-source="post: 179360" data-attributes="member: 35">Ishna jiIn dera culture the connection between baba/guru and sangat is one of dependence on a mortal being external to us; these cultures can be rife with competition and rivalry. A sense of mutual support and learning as equals is not a hallmark. Sikhi is or should be a different experience.Struggling toward a response here on my end. I do think however some of your concerns are understandable. Sikhi is a way of living, not a doctrinal religion. There isn't a checklist coming from scripture against which one can contrast daily deeds and decide if it was a good Sikhi day, or a bad one. And so a big difference from dera/baba culture.Now except in situations where the idea of Sacred Congregation refers specifically to the connection between "me" and "Satguruji, " I understand sacred congregation to mean those who have gone before me seeking a similar pathway to connection, seeing God in all and being a person of character. Without a checklist this is hard to do. Without babas in a dera culture moreover there is no one to say, "Bad job, try again." or "Good job, you can sit with me on the manji today and receive adulation from the sangat."  For Guru Nanak spiritual change happens within, and also within the "sants" who are your equals.  The surprise is that they are also learning from you if they are indeed "sants" in the Nanak tradition. The creation of spirit is always a work in progress, never complete or whole because only the Satugur is pooran, complete and unbroken. That is my understanding. I am not promoting this idea as "gospel according to Guru Nanak." Only the result of discoveries made in my own journey. I think of the connection between sanctuary of saints and the Guru working in concentric circles. There can be no contradiction because the shabad always says that the Guru works continually within, within you and within those who have gone before you. The sanctuary of saints is the place where we support that process together as sangat because it is so hard without a checklist, and we learn by example and by discussion, fall down, pick ourselves up and have another arm to lean on.</blockquote>

Verification