Sunday, June 11, 2006
Akhand Paath
Just had Akhand Paath to celebrate my 18th Birthday. It was awesome! No, not just the bhog which had Jagowalle (WOW!).. but everything.
A Khalsa Ji came to the Akhand Path..wow he was so humble! His humility had amazed me. When he told me of his past, it made me realise; Most of the Khalsa Jis I've met have had a bad past. It was THESE experiences of life that caused them to suddenly turn around - Guru Ji does kirpa even on paapis like me..
ਪਤਿਤ ਉਧਾਰਣ ਹਰਿ ਬਿਰਦੁ ਤੁਮਾਰਾ ਰਾਮ ॥
It is Your Nature, Lord, to save the sinners.
..We are nothing..
Anyways, moving back onto the Akhand Paath. It was an unforgettable experience. Staying there for 2 days and a night made me feel Gurdwara as a home rather than an "outside" place. I was free to do whatever I liked; Listen to Baani, Do seva, or even Practice Gatka.
Me and Singh Ji had our laughs, and many Sikhi-related discussions. His humility both inspired me and ashamed me; At How hankari I really am. We went to sleep next to the Gatka teachers; After talking about Nihangs til 12.. And their room felt like Punjab! It was awesome.. the way they managed to bring Punjab with them instead off leaving it behind.
In the morning, with parji, we did Nitnem at Sachkhand. The experience was undescribale (is that a word?!) - As the sunlight peirced through the large windows onto us, as we faced Guru Granth Sahib Ji and did Nitnem. When I look back, I dont wonder why I never got this chance before.. I still wonder how can Guru Ji do So much Kirpa on us to HAVE this chance in the first place!!
On the second day veerji had to leave.. He did amazing Seva. By the end of the second day, I was both physically and mentally tired; Especially after a gatka lesson. So i decided to sleep at home for the second night.
Since relatives came round to stay on the second night, sleeping arrangements were quite difficult, and so there wasn't much space to do my nitnem. So in early morning I thought - Why not do it at GuruGhar again! Even the walk to GuruGhar was nice and cool - Early morning breeze, awaiting for yet another hot,humid day.
I never noticed how early I really was there. It was 7am and I felt as if it was noon because of the bright sunshine outside. There were onlyy bibya there doing Langar dee seva adn some Singhs who are the dedicated regular comers. Being in Guru Ji's darbar felt as if time became unimportant. I was no longer worried about time, nor did I take any account of it. As the Bhog ceremony commenced Sangat started to build up, until the hall was packed by the time it was completed.
The kathakaar strongly and bluntly reminded us, of how Guru Arjun Dev Ji sat on Hot Plate for us. Hot Sand was poured onto him - Actually the sand wasn't just hot, it was MELTING. As it BURNED Guru Ji's skin, Guru Ji didn't even give a sigh. Dhan Guru Arjun Dev ji.. We as Sikhs should do the same. We should give shaheedi too. Shaheedi of our minds - to sacrifice the thinking of bad about others. Shaheedi of our body - to comforts to serve humanity. Shaheedi of our Eyes - to sacrifice the way we jelously look at others.
Then came Jagowalle Jatha. WAHEGURU!! The way they praised Guru Ji! It was enough to create a feeling of rushing energy inside everyone of us in the Sangat. They kept singing and explained a Sakhi of Guru Gobind Singh Ji (will be revealed in next post) before refering to 1984 in the last few minutes and singing couple of lines about it before finishing the Diwaan. The poor sound system kept giving up on us and kept overloading; The Jagowalle's voice were too loud for them! lol
Guru Ji has helped us, and the Akhand Paath turned out to be so.. wow!
Luckily, we were protected from most of the heat the weekend sent us, being in the Gurdwara all day, but even then we were all knackered and sweaty.
A Khalsa Ji came to the Akhand Path..wow he was so humble! His humility had amazed me. When he told me of his past, it made me realise; Most of the Khalsa Jis I've met have had a bad past. It was THESE experiences of life that caused them to suddenly turn around - Guru Ji does kirpa even on paapis like me..
ਪਤਿਤ ਉਧਾਰਣ ਹਰਿ ਬਿਰਦੁ ਤੁਮਾਰਾ ਰਾਮ ॥
It is Your Nature, Lord, to save the sinners.
..We are nothing..
Anyways, moving back onto the Akhand Paath. It was an unforgettable experience. Staying there for 2 days and a night made me feel Gurdwara as a home rather than an "outside" place. I was free to do whatever I liked; Listen to Baani, Do seva, or even Practice Gatka.
Me and Singh Ji had our laughs, and many Sikhi-related discussions. His humility both inspired me and ashamed me; At How hankari I really am. We went to sleep next to the Gatka teachers; After talking about Nihangs til 12.. And their room felt like Punjab! It was awesome.. the way they managed to bring Punjab with them instead off leaving it behind.
In the morning, with parji, we did Nitnem at Sachkhand. The experience was undescribale (is that a word?!) - As the sunlight peirced through the large windows onto us, as we faced Guru Granth Sahib Ji and did Nitnem. When I look back, I dont wonder why I never got this chance before.. I still wonder how can Guru Ji do So much Kirpa on us to HAVE this chance in the first place!!
On the second day veerji had to leave.. He did amazing Seva. By the end of the second day, I was both physically and mentally tired; Especially after a gatka lesson. So i decided to sleep at home for the second night.
Since relatives came round to stay on the second night, sleeping arrangements were quite difficult, and so there wasn't much space to do my nitnem. So in early morning I thought - Why not do it at GuruGhar again! Even the walk to GuruGhar was nice and cool - Early morning breeze, awaiting for yet another hot,humid day.
I never noticed how early I really was there. It was 7am and I felt as if it was noon because of the bright sunshine outside. There were onlyy bibya there doing Langar dee seva adn some Singhs who are the dedicated regular comers. Being in Guru Ji's darbar felt as if time became unimportant. I was no longer worried about time, nor did I take any account of it. As the Bhog ceremony commenced Sangat started to build up, until the hall was packed by the time it was completed.
The kathakaar strongly and bluntly reminded us, of how Guru Arjun Dev Ji sat on Hot Plate for us. Hot Sand was poured onto him - Actually the sand wasn't just hot, it was MELTING. As it BURNED Guru Ji's skin, Guru Ji didn't even give a sigh. Dhan Guru Arjun Dev ji.. We as Sikhs should do the same. We should give shaheedi too. Shaheedi of our minds - to sacrifice the thinking of bad about others. Shaheedi of our body - to comforts to serve humanity. Shaheedi of our Eyes - to sacrifice the way we jelously look at others.
Then came Jagowalle Jatha. WAHEGURU!! The way they praised Guru Ji! It was enough to create a feeling of rushing energy inside everyone of us in the Sangat. They kept singing and explained a Sakhi of Guru Gobind Singh Ji (will be revealed in next post) before refering to 1984 in the last few minutes and singing couple of lines about it before finishing the Diwaan. The poor sound system kept giving up on us and kept overloading; The Jagowalle's voice were too loud for them! lol
Guru Ji has helped us, and the Akhand Paath turned out to be so.. wow!
Luckily, we were protected from most of the heat the weekend sent us, being in the Gurdwara all day, but even then we were all knackered and sweaty.
it's indescribable.