India Trip 2011: Sohang Jaap

Siri Guru Nanak Dev jee came to this world for everyone and all kinds of people. Guru Sahib is Jagat Guru. Guru Sahib surely appeared in Punjab but Guru Sahib did not keep his spiritual message limited to Punjab. Guru Sahib travelled far and wide, throughout this world to spread Sach and connected people to Sach. Even though we don’t have detailed accounts of Guru Sahib’s travels, there is no doubt that Guru Sahib went to every place on Earth that was inhabitated by people. The very fact that Guru Sahib Himself went to people living in all parts of the world to deliver Sach, proves that Guru Sahib is the only Jagat Guru. No other prophet, avtar or founder can be classified as Jagatguru because they stayed limited to the geographical area of their birth.

Unfortunately, now people from different castes have started adopting Bhagats of their castes as their Gurus e.g. people from so called Chamaar jaat consider Bhagat Ravidaas jee as their Guru. All Bhagats who have their Baani registered in Siri Guru Granth Sahib jee were strongly against casteism and to put faith in Bhagats based on their caste goes against their teachings.

While in India I met a person from so called Chamaar caste who believes Bhagat Ravidaas jee to be his Satguru and had taken Naam from some Dehdhaari Guru. I asked him if the Naam he was chanting was helping him spiritually. He did not give any sure answer and my next question was if the Naam he was chanting was “Sohang”. He was surprised that I knew the Naam he recited secretly. I knew this not because of some super-sensory power but because I knew the fact that Dehdhari Gurus belonging to this Samprada give out Sohang Naam as Gurmantr. I asked him if he knew the meaning of this word. He did not know. I explained that basically the meaning of this word is that So (that) I am (hang) i.e. I am that God.

Empowered with the knowledge gained through books of Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee, Daas explained to him that chanting this Naam actually increases Haume because contrary to the Gurmat ideal of Tu Tu, this Naam is about Mai Mai i.e. I am God. The recitation of this Naam is totally contrary to the high ideals of Gurmat Prema-Bhagti which involves deep and profound Sifat Salaah of Vaheguru jee. What kind of sifa Salah is this that involves calling your own self God?

The person was visibly shocked when he found out the above stated meanings of Sohang. We explained to him that in Kaljug it is the kingdom of Siri Guru Nanak Dev jee and it is not wise to adopt anyone else as Guru. Hopefully, this discourse with this genuine gentleman will result in him coming to the fold of true Gurmat of Siri Guru Nanak Dev jee.

Having said that, the disease of casteism is becoming stronger because of adopting of Bhagats of different castes as Satgurus. It is clear from Siri Guru Granth Sahib jee that there is a difference between Guru Sahibaan and Bhagat Sahibaan. In Gurbani Guru Sahibaan have been referred to as Mahallas and Bhagat Sahibaan have been called Bhagats. Maharaj Sumatt Bakhan

Daas,
Kulbir Singh

WaaheGuru.. The title of this thread scared me . At first I thought you have been converted in India, haha.

Yeah casteism is a big problem in India. In my dads village there are many Gurdwaras which are based on
caste. One day their was a nagar kirtan in the village which went through all the Gurdwaras of the village. I went to the "Ravidas Gurdwara", to see how things are. At the time I was not AmritDhari and still learning about Sikhi so I didnt know such places should be avoided. When I went there they had some weird things going on in there. They had pictures of Bhagat Ravidas Ji everywhere which I suppose they worshiped. They also had flags with the word " Har" written on them, and there was a quote with the mentioning of Sohang?


ਅਨਲਹਕ ਅਜ਼ਲਬੇ ਮਨਸੂਰ ਹਮਰੂੰ ਸ਼ੀਸ਼ਾ ਕੁਲਕੁਲ ਕਰਦ।
Bhai Nanal Ji Gazal 4

Bhai Nand Lal Ji mentions how the Iraq sufi poet "Mansur al-Hallaj " lost the wine ( tat/essence) from the sheesha/bottle ( mind)
- meaning that his ego got so big that he started thinking he was God (ਅਨਲਹਕ) and lost the tat ( true essence of God).
Mantra "Ana Al Haq" is no different then "Sohang" as you mentioned without Naam from True Guru all people indulge themselves in self-praise.

I find this very interesting. Before being blessed with amrit, I had no understanding of the concept of true Naam. I didn't know anything about mantirs or anything of the sort. Saying "Waheguru" was just an excersize in remember God, and a way of being pious.
In Western culture, mantirs are a way of "spiritually elevating" one's self, simply by helping us focus on being in the moment. I used to think this was an amazing concept. I didn't realise how spiritually shallow it was. We see now people treating gurbani in this way, repeating Mool Mantir in the style of yogis, for example. People are totally unaware of the true purpose and power of the greatest mantir there, Gurmantir.
The cults that have developed in India resembles a movement which is also occuring in the West. The general public who has been exposed to Sikhi are ignorant to the concept of Naam Drirh, and have treated Sikhi like a yoga cult, with gurmantir being just another mantir used to "elevate one's self".

sk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I find this very interesting. Before being blessed
> with amrit, I had no understanding of the concept
> of true Naam. I didn't know anything about mantirs
> or anything of the sort. Saying "Waheguru" was
> just an excersize in remember God, and a way of
> being pious.
> In Western culture, mantirs are a way of
> "spiritually elevating" one's self, simply by
> helping us focus on being in the moment. I used to
> think this was an amazing concept. I didn't
> realise how spiritually shallow it was. We see now
> people treating gurbani in this way, repeating
> Mool Mantir in the style of yogis, for example.
> People are totally unaware of the true purpose and
> power of the greatest mantir there, Gurmantir.
> The cults that have developed in India resembles a
> movement which is also occuring in the West. The
> general public who has been exposed to Sikhi are
> ignorant to the concept of Naam Drirh, and have
> treated Sikhi like a yoga cult, with gurmantir
> being just another mantir used to "elevate one's
> self".


Personally, from my shallow understanding of Sikhi is that Gurbani is there to build our character and give us the inspiration to jaap naam. Thus you become what you repeat, by repeating bani over and over, it kills all our vikars, and other faults and builds the humble, peaceful, loving etc. spirit that we need for bhagti. Thus repeating a pankti on krodh will make one less angry, same for kaam, krodh, moh etc. Repeating a pankti on naam, will automatically give one more inspiration too jap naam and make it easier for them to do so. Now coming back to "becoming what you repeat" (this is the best phrase i can use to describe this) our ultimate goal is to merge with Vahiguroo. By repeating gurmantir, we eventually become one with Akal purakh.

There is a positive from this western way of thinking of "staying in the moment," that we tend to forget. Many times we read bani without paying any attention to what we're reading. This too has incomprehensible positive effects, but the ultimate goal is to have 100% focus on the Shabad, which many of us at times forget(all the time for me).

Any Naam other than Gurmat Naam is manmat, and there is always something negative about such Naams. It is only this Gurmat Naam, which can help get rid of kaam, krodh, lobh, moh, hankaar, dubhida, what not. Others, since they are not given by The True Guru, can not and will not demolish the mental pillars of the five thieves.

GurmanSingh Wrote:
> Personally, from my shallow understanding of Sikhi
> is that Gurbani is there to build our character
> and give us the inspiration to jaap naam. Thus you
> become what you repeat, by repeating bani over and
> over, it kills all our vikars, and other faults
> and builds the humble, peaceful, loving etc.
> spirit that we need for bhagti. Thus repeating a
> pankti on krodh will make one less angry, same for
> kaam, krodh, moh etc. Repeating a pankti on naam,
> will automatically give one more inspiration too
> jap naam and make it easier for them to do so. Now
> coming back to "becoming what you repeat" (this
> is the best phrase i can use to describe this) our
> ultimate goal is to merge with Vahiguroo. By
> repeating gurmantir, we eventually become one with
> Akal purakh.
>
> There is a positive from this western way of
> thinking of "staying in the moment," that we tend
> to forget. Many times we read bani without paying
> any attention to what we're reading. This too has
> incomprehensible positive effects, but the
> ultimate goal is to have 100% focus on the Shabad,
> which many of us at times forget(all the time for
> me).


Thank you for your post, you're right. I was thinking of some practices, such as when my cousins went for a yoga class they told me how the instructor played a tape with I believe "Ik onkar Satnam" and the class repeated it to help with their breathing during the excersize. While this seemed to me reminiscent of the practice of people who repeat their mantirs and naams for the aim of heightened spiritual experiences (or simply as ritual), you are right that gurbani can be nothing but good for us. Even if individuals repeat gurbani for an aim that is not the one True aim, they will still derive benefit for it.

As for the repetition of gurmantir, however, as we know simply repeating "Waheguru" is not the same as japping naam. Even the repetition of "Waheguru" is often used for yogic purposes. Without naam drirh, can this action be considered much different than the rituals of those who repeat their different naams?

Quote

As for the repetition of gurmantir, however, as we know simply repeating "Waheguru" is not the same as japping naam. Even the repetition of "Waheguru" is often used for yogic purposes. Without naam drirh, can this action be considered much different than the rituals of those who repeat their different naams?

sk ji, there are always benefits to repeating the various Names of God. 'VaaheGuroo' of course being the Gurmantar and way to Japp this Naam according to Gurmat is taught by the Guroo Roop Punj Pyaare. Other chosen Names for VaaheGuroo may not be a Gurmat Naam, but there are stil always some level of spiritual benefits to doing so. The story of Ganika very well proves this. She repeated "Raam Raam" continuously and found it very soothing to do so, and by doing this, she was saved from the wrath of the countless sins she would've been severely tortured for. Same with Ajaamal, who kept repeating "Naraayaan" upon seeing the presence of Jamdoots, really he was calling his son, who's name was "Naraayaan". He was also saved from the Jamdoots, and lived for many years in Heaven. Of course, Raam and Naraayaan and other Names for God are not Gurmat Naam, but there is still some benefit to them. In the end, one has to come under True Guru's Sharan, ie Shiri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Mahaaraaj, receive Gurmat Naam, and by doing intense Kamaai of True Naam, one can get Darshan of VaaheGuroo. It is only through Gurmat Naam, and through the Gurmat Vidhi of Japping Naam, one is allowed in SachKhand.

GurBaani says so:

ਬੋਲਿ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਸਫਲ ਸਾ ਘਰੀ ॥