1kaur Wrote:
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> so what did singhs of guru sahib's time do during
> the summer time? the sarovars at gurdwaras are
> not cold in summer, neither are the rivers in
> punjab. and they certainly weren't refrigerating
> their bath water...
>
> i don't think the instruction for cold water means
> we must have ice cold water. i think the
> instruction is so that we don't waste time and
> resources making warm water, which is a luxury.
> think about this. in guru sahib's time, if you
> wanted a hot bath, you'd have to get up, build a
> fire, heat the water in vessels, then transfer
> them to your bath. during this time your mind
> would be focused on the luxury of maya, instead of
> being focused on naam. on the other hand, to take
> a "cold" bath, one simply wakes up and jumps into
> the water, whatever temperature it may be, and
> focuses on naam. in other words, i don't think
> the "cold" part is what we should be obsessing
> about. the idea is to live a simple life, free of
> excess luxuries, focused on naam.
>
> even bhai sahib randhir singh marveled at how cold
> the water was in the himalayas. if he'd been
> refrigerating his bath water, he wouldn't have
> found it so different, right?
I have suggested Leafy to refrigerate the water because she said she cant take a shower like the rest of us. Im not suggesting this was the method during Guru Sahibs time. I would also like to mention using a bucket of water that has been placed over night was not the method as well.
According to Gurmat Maryada the water must be cold and fresh ( refer to Bhai Nand Lal Ji and Prem Sumarg rehanama). By sealing cold water in a bottle the water stays cold and fresh. This does not happen with a non-concealed bucket of cold water that is placed in room temperature. In the old days it would not be so hard to get warm water. All they would have to do is store some water in a room and eventually it will get warm. But this would make the water stale and wont have the effect of making the person more alert during Ishnaan. Purpose of cold water has nothing to do with luxury it has more to do with waking the person up and getting the persons attention on Naam during Amrit Vela.
Your comment about cold water for the purpose of not indulging in luxury reminds me of a funny story. I was once talking to a Singh about cold Ishnaan and I referred to Bhai Nand Lal Jis rehatnama, and he replied" I dont think that rehatnama is authentic. Most likely it was written during the British Raj when the Sikhs were indulging in too much luxuries and straying from a simple life" lol. People will find any excuse to deny Guru Sahibs hukum.
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥
