Jooth

Vaheguroo jee kaa Khaalsa, Vahegurooo jee kee fateh

I am having trouble with the concept of jooth. Firstly, I have been told that Guru Sahib's hukam which talks about jooth is in fact only referring to tobacco - duniya da tobacco nehi khana - and that there is no such thing as "jooth". How do Gurmukh pyaarey on this forum refute this?

Also, what IS jooth? Like everyone else, I have always taken it to mean germs, but in keeping sarbloh rehit, the concept of jooth gets complicated. Food inside of bhandey become joothey once the bhandey have been touched because of a "transference of jooth". By this logic, jooth cannot mean germs, because germs do not get into food once the outside of the dish they are in are touched. I've come to accept the sucham-aspect of keeping sarbloh bibek, but I realise I have not yet found a clear answer to this dilemma.

Please help this moorakh understand.

Vaheguroo jee kaa Khaalsaa, Vaheguroo jee kee fateh

There is no English word for Jooth, perhaps because this concept is not present in the Western culture. The idea is that one’s Karma and nature gets transferred to deeds one does, including cooking food. The Avastha of a person gets affected by the food one eats. When we analyse the Saakhi of Malik Bhago and Bhai Laalo, we clearly see that the affect of one’s good or bad Karma passes on to the food one cooks or even buys.

In Malik Bhago’s case, the food may not have been touched directly by him but still his bad Karma got transferred to his food and Guru Sahib demonstrated to the world by squeezing blood out of his Roti. This proves that even if certain food is not directly touched by a person, it can still be Jootha i.e. if dishonest earnings are used to buy ingredients for food, such food too is Jootha, as far as Gursikhs are concerned.

There is certain protocol that is followed when preparing Guru ka Langar and this includes one doing full Ishnaan, wearing clean Gurmukhi Baana and keeping hands clean. How Jooth travels or affects is not too much of our concern. All we know is that food for Guru ka Langar should be cooked by Tyaar bar Tyaar Gursikhs and in a way that is in accordance to Gurmat Maryada.

The concept of Jooth is not explained in detail in any Gurmat literature but the details of doing Sewa are learned in the Sangat of Gursikhs. When we do Sewa with senior Sewadaars, we learn the details of how to prepare Langar, how to keep clean, what to do and what not to do etc. In Sikhi is not important or imperative to first understand everything about a certain principle, before adopting it. We are all supposed to wear Kakaars all the time but Guru Sahib jee has give us no clear reason as to why we must wear the Kakaars all the time. Same holds true for many other Rehits. At initial stages we just need to do what we are told to do by Guru Sahib and Sangat and with time, concepts become clear.

Kulbir Singh

VaheguruJiKaKhalsa
VaheguruJiKiFateh

Giani Takhur Singh ji mentions in his Katha about Anandh Sahib, that 'jooth' is similar to hygeine in english. Im a trainee dentist, and its immense the level of suchamta they keep in clinics, in terms of not allowing any cross contamination of saliva or any other fluids. All the equipment used is sterilised after each patient, the whole clinic is wiped down after each patient and theres personal protective precautions in place where the staff have to change their apron, gloves and mask between each patient. I think when explaining to someone not of a punjabi origin about jooth you could use this example; atleast to explain the physical aspect.


Karamvir Singh

Thank you Bhai Sahib. I don't want to do any dhills ... that's why I ask. For example, I wrap bhandey that I store food in in kapra, and put them in the fridge shared by everyone else, but others would not use that fridge at all. I've been told its due to "transference of jooth", which is why the question arose. I'd like to know if I should be doing this or not... I would use my own judgement if I had any faith in it, but I'd rather ask those with greater bibek budh...

Thank you Veerji!

This looks like an opportunity for Veer Kulbir Singh Ji to translate section of Jooth entailed in Bhai Sahibs book " Gurmat Bibek"?

Daas was also confused with the concept of Jooth, sometimes keeping suchum is impossible. For example, when I clean my clothes in the morning, I will try my best to avoid touching or allow anyone else to touch my clothes with dirty hands, but then when i get in the van they are going to get jotha again.

In terms of food, sugar, attah, anything natural that comes in a package, wouldn't those foods be jootha as well? Foods like butter, milk, can become purified through heating, but what do i do with sugar, salt, attah etc? I usually add sugar straight to my fruit drinks, and this feels improper. I guess with attah water is usually added with it, so its becomes clean but what about with sugar?

I have began to see everything as jootha now with regards to food unless it has been purified, or mixed with water (in the case of attah). Thus, if I touch anything that hasen't been purified or mixed with water, I will wash my hands again before touching any other of my food.

There were other things that aren't coming to my mind right now, I've learned to make new rules as I go along.

Jooth has also been discussed here

I've been told that certain things, such as sugar, atta, gheyo, water, are pavitar, as they are raw ingredients, or because they are mentioned as being pavitar in gurbani. It makes sense that raw ingredients are pavitar, because they come straight from Guru Sahib (like everything, except they've had minimal alterations to them). I'm not sure exactly what we use to judge that certain raw ingredients can stay jooth-free (like atta) and others have to be washed (like fruits), but it just seems to make sense. You can eat raw sugar without getting sick, but you can't guaranteed eat raw, un-washed vegetables without getting sick. I guess my question should have been what level of sucham should one keep, and what constitutes food that is "sucha" and food that is "jootha". Perhaps this thread can be used to further discuss this.

Gurman Singh jeeo,

There is no need to get too worried about ingredients such as gheo, sugar, flour etc because Gurmukhs like Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee have written that taking such raw ingredients for cooking are fine for Bibekis. Just follow what Gurmukhs have been doing all along. If we just follow what Rehitvaan Gursikhs have been doing and are doing, we would be just fine. No need to think too deep. We just need to keep Rehit that Bibeki Gursikhs (e.g. Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee) kept and then focus 100% on Naam and Gurbani.

Kulbir Singh

ਬਸੰਤੁ ਹਿੰਡੋਲੁ ਘਰੁ ੨
Basant Hindol, Second House:

ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:

ਮਾਤਾ ਜੂਠੀ ਪਿਤਾ ਭੀ ਜੂਠਾ ਜੂਠੇ ਹੀ ਫਲ ਲਾਗੇ ॥
The mother is impure, and the father is impure. The fruit they produce is impure.

ਆਵਹਿ ਜੂਠੇ ਜਾਹਿ ਭੀ ਜੂਠੇ ਜੂਠੇ ਮਰਹਿ ਅਭਾਗੇ ॥੧॥
Impure they come, and impure they go. The unfortunate ones die in impurity. ||1||

ਕਹੁ ਪੰਡਿਤ ਸੂਚਾ ਕਵਨੁ ਠਾਉ ॥
Tell me, O Pandit, O religious scholar, which place is uncontaminated?

ਜਹਾਂ ਬੈਸਿ ਹਉ ਭੋਜਨੁ ਖਾਉ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
Where should I sit to eat my meal? ||1||Pause||

ਜਿਹਬਾ ਜੂਠੀ ਬੋਲਤ ਜੂਠਾ ਕਰਨ ਨੇਤ੍ਰ ਸਭਿ ਜੂਠੇ ॥
The tongue is impure, and its speech is impure. The eyes and ears are totally impure.

ਇੰਦ੍ਰੀ ਕੀ ਜੂਠਿ ਉਤਰਸਿ ਨਾਹੀ ਬ੍ਰਹਮ ਅਗਨਿ ਕੇ ਲੂਠੇ ॥੨॥
The impurity of the sexual organs does not depart; the Brahmin is burnt by the fire. ||2||

ਅਗਨਿ ਭੀ ਜੂਠੀ ਪਾਨੀ ਜੂਠਾ ਜੂਠੀ ਬੈਸਿ ਪਕਾਇਆ ॥
The fire is impure, and the water is impure. The place where you sit and cook is impure.

ਜੂਠੀ ਕਰਛੀ ਪਰੋਸਨ ਲਾਗਾ ਜੂਠੇ ਹੀ ਬੈਠਿ ਖਾਇਆ ॥੩॥
Impure is the ladle which serves the food. Impure is the one who sits down to eat it. ||3||

ਗੋਬਰੁ ਜੂਠਾ ਚਉਕਾ ਜੂਠਾ ਜੂਠੀ ਦੀਨੀ ਕਾਰਾ ॥
Impure is the cow dung, and impure is the kitchen square. Impure are the lines that mark it off.

ਕਹਿ ਕਬੀਰ ਤੇਈ ਨਰ ਸੂਚੇ ਸਾਚੀ ਪਰੀ ਬਿਚਾਰਾ ॥੪॥੧॥੭॥
Says Kabeer, they alone are pure, who have obtained pure understanding. ||4||1||7||

Thank you 1Kaur bhenjee. That shabad is always a good reminder of the importance of staying away from Brahmanical behaviour and thinking. While I completely believe that mainting strict discipline in every aspect of our living, including diet, is important in enhancing our naam abhiyaas, as Bh. Kulbir Singh mentions, we shouldn't get too caught up in it. It is just hard not to when you are trying to emulate the rehit of high-avastha Gursikhs who have a much better understanding of what they are doing!
I will just continue to focus on simran when I deal with making food, and let that focus guide me. Guru Sahib will eventually give me the answers.

Vaheguru, Daas wasen't sure about the rules, so took as much precaution as possible! Thanks for clarification