to those who want to amrit shak --
the following is the full rehit an amritdhari must keep. it is very important to start keeping these rehits before shakking amrit. preparetion is key.
khalsa rehit marayda (code of conduct) particularly akhand kirtani jatha marayda:
there are 2 terms you should be familiar with:
the 1st is PATIT (or bemukh). you become patit when you INTENTIONALY commit one of the 4 bujjer kurehits (4 cardinal sins). when you become patit the guru will never save you, you will automatically be kicked out of the panth. becoming patit means you have turned your back on satguru. after death you will most definately be severly punished and wont be able to escape narak (hell). the only option is to retake amrit, but even then you have to do serious naam kmayee just to clear your sinful debt. sikhi gets very difficult once you become patit. the following are the 4 bujjer kurehits by which commiting you become patit/bemukh:
1) cutting or any type of removal of hair on your body
2) eating halal, meat, eggs etc
3) taking any intoxicants/drugs such us tobacco, alchohol etc
4) having sex before or outside marriage. (sex is only allowed to your amritdhari wife, if your wife is not amritdhari then you cannot have a physical relationship with her)
the 2nd term is TANKAIYAA. tankaiyaa means punishable. if you do any of the following you become punishable. you can still consider yourself amritdhari, however you will be considered a very dhilla (weak) amritdhari. a tankaiyaa can never get full kirpa of guru sahib, unless you have great kmayee from previous lives, but this kirpa would be short lived. the following are some ways you become tankayiaa:
- if you have intentionally have jhoot from a non amritdhari.
- don't keep basic rehit (especially full nitnem)
- overstep a friendship with a girl by full hugging, kissing etc
- gambling, stealing
if you become tannkaiyaa you first have to sort yourself out then go for peshi infront of the punj pyare. they will then give you a suitable tankah (punishment). the punj pyare may also give you choole, or if you commit serious mistakes maybe full amrit again.
punj kakar:
1) kara (must be sarbloh, no exception unless you have a medical skin condition)
2) kirpan (must be sarbloh, no compromise)
3) kacheraa (suitable lenght recommended)
4) kanga
5) kes/keski (there is debate whether this kakar is kes or keski but in akj marada you must follow keski rehit)
you must keep these punj kakars on at ALL times. you can only take off kirpan for flights and kara for a short time when airport security are checking you. rehit states that before you take off your kirpan you have to do an ardaas for forgiveness. then when you are off your flight and reach your holiday put your kirpan on again asap. then you must do a 2nd ardaas for forgiveness.
as mentioned kakars must be kept on at all times, if a kakar is removed then do ardaas for forgivness. when having ishnaan tie the gatra around on your head so that the kirpan is on your head. you cannot take your kirpan off and put it on the side.
when having a kesi ishnaan (hair bath) do not take off your keski and kanga and put to one side. you must tie the keski around your waist (like a kmakassa) and put the kanga inside. remember kakars are your angs (limbs) you cannot take them off. when sleeping you cannot take your keski off, must sleep with keski on.
when changing your kasheraa you cannot take one off completely and put a new one on. ater ishnaan take one foot out of the kacheraa and with that free foot put on the new kachera, then you can take the other foot out and put the 2nd foot in the new kachera. the nala of the kachera must be tucked in and not hanging out. you cannot wear your kacheraa inside out! this is important in rehit...make sure your kachera is always worn the right way in. if you r not sure which way is right, ask. you must wash your old kachera with water and scrub with soap after ishnaan.
DAILY ROUTINE
must wake up amritvelaa. amritvela is between midnight and 5am (some ppl say until 6am). if you stop waking up amritvelaa you will quickly lose the boost of naam that punj pyare gave you. in the amritvela it is extremely vital you jap naam as much as possible (hours if you can!) in the early stages of your new spirtual life you should jap naam very loud. when you get tired then quiten down and when you regain your strength start japping loud again. try not to completly stop it is important that your tounge is vibrating on the gurmantar waheguru. continue your saas giraas quitely if you are tired, then once your strength is regained then you need to start japping loudly again. without daily naam abhiyaas we are fake amritdhairs. hukum is that a minmum of 2.5 hours be spent only on naam abyiaas. (you can start off with 2hours then work your way up to 2.5 then 3hours). if you can't do these hours in one go then split it up during the day. remember it is very important to aim for a couple of hours naam abhiyaas during amritvelaa and roughly 30mins before you go to sleep. when japping naam do not let thoughts enter your mind otherwise it doesnt count. listen VERY carefully to the sound of your own voice. when you say waheguru listen concentrate 100% on the sound. it takes time to perfect this.
so when you have woken up at amritvela you must comb you hair and have FULL ishnaan (wash face, brush teeth, body bath, hair bath). you have to comb your hair atleast twice a day; when you wake up and before you sleep.
kesi (hair) ishnaan rehit:
as explained above when having kesi ishnaan tie your keski and kanga around your waist. if you wake up abit late and have to go to work/school early you may not have enough time to have a proper hair bath. some ppl have a short cut for kesi ishnaan. what you do is you run the tap and put 5 small splashes of water on top of your head (like at the amrit sanchar). remember this is a short cut and the very minimum. if you want to be a rehitvaan gursikh then you need to have a proper hair bath.
after your full ishnaan sit down to do your naam abiyaas. (some gursikhs do nitnem then naam simran, but most do naam simran then nitnem). when doing simran/nitnem leave you hair open to dry but it is imporant to cover you head with your keski. you can tie your keski on your head like bandana and leave the keski hanging behind.
you must do the following 5 baniyaa in the morning: japji, jaap, tavprasad, chaupi, full anand sahib. you cannot eat or drink anything before nitnem (unless you are ill or have some other important reason). drinking pure water only before nitnem is allowed if you're thirsty. you should recite your nitnem either off by heart or use a gutka in punjabi. since you can read punjabi you must read your baniyaa in punjabi, even if it takes you 2hours. practice now eventually you will become used to it. if you are unpar (uneducated cannot read punjabi) then you can listen to nitnem from someone or from cd. since you can read punjabi slowly you need to overcome laziness and sit down and do your paath slowly. it will become fast within a few weeks, dont worry. when doing nitnem or other paath listen to the sound of your own voice very intently as you do with naam simran.
it is rehit that you do FULL ardaas atleast twice. once in the morning for your nitnem and in the evening for your rehraas.
you cannot eat or drink without your head being covered with your keski. you can only eat after you have combed and dried your hair from a hair bath. you should shampoo your hair atleast once a week. when using shampoo you cannot comb your hair without first oiling your hair, otherwise you will become tankiyaa. this is an important point to remember.
back to the daily routine...after you have finished your simran and nitnem you have the rest of the day up ahead. you should not let your mind waver, do not let your mind think random thoughts, this is all maya and the punj chor wasting your swaas (precious breaths). in your mind keep concentrating on the gurmantar. after some time of hard work in naam abiyaas you will become aat pehari (24 hour naam abhiyaasi). so even when working/studying or talking waheguru waheguru will automatically go on in your mind. you must aim to atleast reach this stage as an amritdhari. when walking, sitting and so on just keeping thinking waheguru waheguru in your mind. do not let your mind waver! practice this now even before shakking amrit.
in the evening do rehraas and then full ardaas. before going to sleep recite sohila bani. as you are falling alseep keeping japping naam silently in your mind, do not think of anything else, do not let maya distract, maya is clever, she will use her evil ways to stop you doing simran!
doing naam and bani is the sant side. amritdhari is sant siphai. you sould also eat healthly and work out. there are many things you can do to keep fit and strong: strength excercises such as press ups, weight lifting, martial arts... eating healthy is important for a sant siphai. if you eat bad foods this will have a bad effect on you mind and body preventing you from concentrating on simran. eating bad will destroy the sant AND siphai side of your sikhi.
as an amritdhari you should never eat out for e.g. pizza hut. mcdonalds and etc. as kaljug is getting worse amritdharis cannot control their tatse buds and falling into the trap of maya. do not follow their lead, eating out will 100% have some negative effect on your mind without you realising it. you will end up getting more random thoughts and your concentration in naam abyiaas will decrease. do not eat out it will slowly ruin your state of mind.
if you watch movies/series/soaps you need to start decreasing your tv time. it is a fact tv is pure maya, if you watch tv your mind will not be able to get rid of the punj chor and random thoughts. this will lead you to narak and punishments from jamdhoot. only news or some important documentry is acceptable. it is upto you if you want keep watching tv, but one thing is definate you cannot get partakh darshan of waheguroo if you watch maya tv. slowly start decreasing tv (slowly being the key word). by the time you go to shak amrit you should have zero tv time.
how to improve your jeevan:
the above is the mininum rehit for amritdharis. you should always look to improve your sikhi. dont overload yourself though as you will fall down quickly. slowly improve yourself. some things to improve yourself once you get the above rehit pukka:
- as 2-2.5hours naam simran is minimum you could try sleeping less and increase naam simran to 3 or 4 hours.
- your nitnem baniyaa are the minimum, you could eventually add to this by doing sukhmani sahib and asa di war every day.
- try sleeping less slowly slowly. if you jap naam loud saas giraas you will fill up with divine energy that you wont need much sleep anyway.
- start learning your nitnem baniyaa off by heart. all praatan gursikhs knew their nitnem and atleast sukhamni sahib and asa di war off by heart.
OPTIONAL REHITS:
now that you know the minimum rehits here are some optional rehits you can add after a few months/years in your sikhi life. rehit provides protection to your naam kmayee. remember naam kmayee is the most important thing, you can only see waheguru and drink the cold delicious amrit on the inside with strong naam kmayee. reading nitnem and extra baniyaa will fuel your naam simran. rehit acts as a protection of your naam kmayee.
here are the optional rehits:
- cold ishnaan. having a body and hair bath with 100% cold water.
- dietry bibek. eating only from amtidharis and the food must be made from scratch (single ingredients) so no processed or packaged foods allowed.
- sarbloh bibek. same as dietry bibek however the food must be cooked and served in sarbloh only, and while making food japp naam or recite bani.
Sikhi is not an easy path it is a path of love. make sure you prepare yourself, become solid in the above outlined rehit marayda and then only when you're 100% sure and ready go to amrit sanchar!!! there is no going back after taking amrit. no point taking amrit and not doing much kmayee after. be a good standing sant-siphai naam abhyaasi amritdhari singh...
note - after taking amrit and after listening to the rest of the rhensbhai do NOT sleep when you get home. spend all day doing many hours of naam abyiaas. this is very important.
you may forward to anyone you know who is thinking of shakking amrit, or to those amritdharis who wish to go for pesh to receive naam drir.
Vaheguroo Ji Kaa Khaalsaa! Vaheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥
