Sikh Guruship Transfer

[Hackiesacker007]

Hi, I posted this question in the youth forum as well, as I am so anxious to get a response to this question. Sorry if that violates any forum rules.

Wahegur Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh,

I am confused(very confused) as to how and why Gurugadhi or Guruship is passed down from one Guru to another. I just don't understand it.

I know that Guru Nanak Dev Ji did not choose his owns sons to take "Guruship.", but someone who later became Guru Angad Dev Ji.

How did this work? How do you transfer one level of consciousness to another simply by a test?

 

[Embers]

Hi
It is a good question and the answers from members of the forum I hope will reveal deeper insight into Sikh Philosophy, which I would enjoy to read too.

My personal understanding is that it is possible to know a self-realised person through his/her words and conduct as it is to know someone still under the grips of desire, fear and negative qualities. Guruship is not based on maya: name and form. The message we receive from reading history, directly or indirectly, is that it is not always our son/daughter or our closest friend who is likely to have received God's grace and reached a state of enlightenment, although that makes them no less loved and respected.

From this then, one is not tested nor is consciousness transferred, but rather there exists someone in consciousness who has realised the self and the state of self-realisation contains the quality that permits others to recognise that state, even intuitively. That state is the state of Truth. Truth permeates and cuts through maya and duality. Truth is not limited to caste or creed. Neither is Truth limited to language or time, as it is without a beginning nor an end.

Perhaps on a more mundane level there was a lot of communication and inspection, but what I feel was being watched was not a one off exam, but rather a way of being: that of being self-realised. What may have been transfered was wisdom, but yet it is still the capacity to be ready for that wisdom, like a seed falling on fertile soil rather than the road side, which is ultimately the Lords grace.

Here is a beautiful explanation from Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

 

[Hackiesacker007]

Thanks for the response, that gave me a better understanding of how it works.

But, why is that so many Gurus belonged to the same bloodline?

Guru Tegbahadar Ji was the father or Guru Gobind Singh Ji, and Guru Hargobind Rai was the grandfather of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

I just don't understand why family lineage is so prominent in the line of Sikh Gurus.

 

[curious seeker]

Thanks for the response, that gave me a better understanding of how it works.

But, why is that so many Gurus belonged to the same bloodline?

Guru Tegbahadar Ji was the father or Guru Gobind Singh Ji, and Guru Hargobind Rai was the grandfather of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

I just don't understand why family lineage is so prominent in the line of Sikh Gurus.

Hi Hackiesacker ji

My opinion of this , is that the Gurus{s families were usually trained on he Gurbani from the cradle and they had the example of the Guru 's life intimately in front of them. Thus it was easier for one of them to be enlightened. But notice, that only the reigning Guru made the choice of his successor and often it was not in his family tree. Then you have, what I believe is a historical fact, that the tenth Guru, transfered the Guruship to the SGGS, its like the Pope transferring the Papacy to the Bible, or Mohammed transferring the Caliphate to the Kuran! If there is one thing that should speak to us Non-Sikhs as to the authenticity of the Guru's faith in God, this act alone is more than enough to convince any one of that fact.

Seek the Naam

Curious

 

[Hackiesacker007]

Right, that makes a lot of sense and did clear up a lot of confusion!

Now that i think about it - Sikhism is the only religion where Guruship was transferred from a human form to a text form - but nonetheless, its still the guru.

regardless of what form its in, regardless of what language its in, the truth is the truth, and that's what the SGSS preaches.

I also think Sikhism is the only religion in which power was transferred this way. I mean Mohammad didn't transfer his level of consciousness to the Quran and we still have a lineage of Popes.

I am a Sikh btw lol - idk I'm not sure if you were implying that I was a non-Sikh.

thanks for your reply - that really cleared things up - if you or anyone has any further input, please feel free to reply.

:thx: