Friday, 31 March 2017
Sunday, 26 March 2017
Tuesday, 14 February 2017
Monday, 13 February 2017
Monday, 6 February 2017
Shri Guru Amar Das Ji
Shri Guru Amar Das Ji; 5 May 1479 – 1 September 1574) was the third of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and became Sikh Guru on 26 March 1552 at age 73.
Shri Guru Amar Das Ji adhered to the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism for much of his life. One day he heard his nephew's wife, Bibi Amro, reciting a hymn by Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, and was deeply moved by it. He persuaded her to introduce him to her father, Shri Guru Angad Dev Ji. Shri Guru Amar Das Ji at the age of sixty met and devoted himself to Shri Guru Angad Dev Ji and became a Sikh. In 1552, after Shri Guru Angad Dev Ji, he became Shri Guru Amar Das Ji, the third Guru of Sikhism.
Shri Guru Amar Das Ji was an important innovator in Sikhism, who introduced a religious organization called the Manji system by appointing trained clergy, a system that expanded and survives into the contemporary era. He wrote and compiled hymns into a Pothi (book) that ultimately helped create the Adi Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Shri Guru Amar Das Ji helped establish the Sikh rituals relating to baby naming, wedding (Anand Karaj), and funeral, as well as the practice of congregation and celebrations of festivals such as Diwali, Maghi and Vaisakhi. He founded centres of Sikh pilgrimage, and picked the site for the Golden Temple.
Shri Guru Amar Das Ji remained the leader of the Sikhs till age 95, and named his son-in-law Bhai Jetha later remembered by the name Shri Guru Ram Das Ji as his successor.
Sunday, 5 February 2017
Shri Guru Angad Dev Ji
Shri Guru Angad Dev Ji was the second of the ten Sikh Gurus. He was born in a Hindu family, with the birth name as lehna, in the village of Harike in northwest Indian subcontinent. Bhai Lehna Ji grew up in a khatri family his father was a small scale trader, he himself worked as a pujari (priest) and religious teacher centered around goddess Durga. He met Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism, and became a Sikh. He served and worked with Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji for many years. Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji gave Bhai Lehna Ji the name Shri Guru Angad Dev Ji, chose Shri Guru Angad Dev Ji as the second Sikh Guru instead of his own sons.
After Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Shri Guru Angad Dev Ji led the Sikh tradition.
Shri Guru Angad Dev Ji invented the present form of the Gurmukhi script. It became the medium of writing the Punjabi language in which the hymns of the Gurus are expressed. This step had a far-reaching purpose and impact. First, it gave the people who spoke this language an identity of their own, enabling them to express their thought directly and without any difficulty and transliteration. The measure had the effect of establishing the independence of the mission and the followers of the Guru.
Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji
Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji was born in 1469 in Talwandi, a village in the Sheikhupura district, 65 kms, west of Lahore. His father was a village official in the local revenue administration. As a boy, Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji learnt, besides the regional languages, Persian and Arabic.
He was married in 1487 and was blessed with two sons, one in 1491 and the second in 1496. Then he came into contact with Mardana, a Muslim minstrel who was senior in age.
By all accounts, 1496 was the year of his enlightenment when he started on his mission. His first statement after his prophetic communion with God was " There is no Hindu, nor any Mussalman. " This is an announcement of supreme significance it declared not only the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God, but also his clear and primary interest not in any metaphysical doctrine but only in man and his fate. It means love your neighbour as yourself in addition, it emphasised, simultaneously the inalienable spirituo-moral combination of his message.
Accompanied by Mardana, he began his missionary fours, Apart from conveying his message and rendering help to the weak, he forcefully preached, both by precept and practise, against caste distinctions ritualism, idol worship and the pseudo-religious beliefs that had no spiritual content. He chose to mix with all. He dined and lived with men of the lowest castes and classes.
When Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji were 12 years old his father gave him twenty rupees and asked him to do a business, apparently to teach him business. Guru Nanak Dev Ji bought food from all the money and distributed among saints, and poor. when his father asked him what happened to business? He replied that he had done a "True business" at the place where Guru Nanak Dev Ji had fed the poor, this gurdwara was made and named Sacha Sauda.
Despite the hazards of travel in those times, he performed five long tours all over the country and even outside it. He visited most of known religious places and centers of worship. At one time he preferred to dine at the place of low caste artisan, Bhai Lallo, instead of accepting the invitation of high caste rich landlord, Malik Bhago, because the latter lived by exploitation of the poor and the former earned his bread by the sweet of his brow. This incident has been depicted by a symbolic representation of the reason for his preference.
Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji pressed in one hand the coarse loaf of bread from Lallo's hut and in the other the food from Bhago's house. Milk gushed forth from the loaf of Lallo's and blood from the delicacies of Bhago. This prescription for honest work and living and the condemnation of exploitation, coupled with the Guru's dictum that "riches cannot be gathered without sin and evil means," have, from the very beginning, continued to be the basic moral tenet with the Sikh mystics and Sikh society.
All these facts indicate that Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji had a clear plan and vision that his mission was to be continued as an independent and distinct spiritual system on the lines laid down by him, and that, in the context of the country, there was a clear need of the organisation of such a spiritual mission and society. In his own lifetime, he distinctly determined its direction and laid the foundations of some of the new religious institutions. In addition, he created the basis for the extension and organisation of his community and religion.
Sunday, 22 January 2017
The Eternal Father willed and I raised the Panth. All my Sikhs are hereby
ordered to accept the Granth as their Preceptor. Have faith in the holy Granth,
as your master and consider it the visible manifestation of the Gurus.
He who has a pure heart will seek guidance from its holy words."
........These are the words uttered by Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, before he left for his heavenly abode (Parlok Gaman) along with his horse Dilbag on October 7, 1708 at Nanded in Maharashtra.
A few days before Parlok Gaman,Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji ended the line of personal Guruship by appointing the “Granth Sahib” (Gur-Ta-Gaddi) as his official successor with the status of ‘Eternal Guru’. His objective was great and laudable. He fully realized that human beings are perishable, but noble ideas live forever – they are eternal. For this reason he made the Granth Sahib Ji a repository of sublime ideals, a spiritual and secular Guru that contains hymns of Muslim, Hindu, and Harijan saints in addition to the compositions of Sikh Gurus. He thus entrusted the destiny of the Khalsa not to a charismatic personality but to the collective wisdom of the community. His sole mission was to restore mankind to a single brotherhood.
It was here that in the first week of Sept 1708, that a Bairagi Sadhu Madho Dass was baptized to Sikhism by Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and was given a new name – Banda Singh Bahadur. It was this great hero who in the next seven years (1709-1715) gave a sharp turn to the history of Sikhs by shaking the foundation of Mughal Empire in the North-west and paved the way for the liberation of the Punjab in 1764-65.
His another disciple Bhai Santokh Singh was advised to continue to stay at Nanded and to start “Guru ka Langar”for the devotees.
Bhai Daya Singh Ji and Bhai Dharam Singh Ji, two of the Panj Piare (Five beloved Ones) who had offered their heads at the Guru’s call when the Khalsa was created in Kesgarh Fort of Anandpur Sahib on the Baisakhi Day of 1699, and had survived the battle of Chamkaur, subsequently died here.
A Gurudwara was constructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh ji at the site where Guru Gobind Singh ji breathed his last. It took 5 years to complete (1832-1837). It is referred as "Takhat Sachkhand Shri Hazur AbchalNagar Sahib Ji". This historical shrine, which is one of the five Takhts (thrones) of the Sikhs is situated near Godavari river and is much respected by them. It is visited by lakhs of devotees throughout the year. It is a two-storey building. Its interior is artistically ornamented in the style of Harmandir Sahib Ji, Amritsar. The walls of the inner room called Angitha Sahib have been covered with golden plates. The dome is polished and on the pinnacle is the kalash made of gold plated.
Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is seated in the room in front of the sanctum during the day time only and at night it is brought inside and placed on a marbled platform. During the day there are some old weapons and other relics such as a golden dagger, a matchlock gun, a quiver with 35 arrows, two bows, a steel shield studded with precious stones and five golden swords. The building complex of the Takhat Sahib Ji is spread over several hectares. It also includes two other shrines, Bunga Mai Bhago ji (comprising a large room where Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is seated) and Angitha Sahib (place of cremation).
Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, while conferring Guruship on the holy Book, had named Nanded region as AbchalNagar (steadfast city). The word Sachkhand (region of Truth) was used to mean the abode of God.
Dashmesh Pita Ji Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji directed Babaji to start the age old traditional ‘Langar’ at this place by uttering these words HATH TERA KHISA MERA which means you should do the work of preparation and distribution that is serving Langar among the devotees whereas I will take care of expenses. This is the main reason why lakhs and lakhs of devotees visit everyday and eat the langar as Prasad of Gurudwara, still there is no shortage in Gurudwara Langar Sahib Ji. This is magic of the words said by Kalgidhar Sache Patshah
Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
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