Sikh Sangeet

Sat Sri Akal,

You are providing a wonderful service to the lovers of Gurbani and it's sangeet version. I have been a regular listener. Thank you.

I am aware that one needs a lot of funds for running this kind of service, but I do not understand where does Horoscopes figure in the values and beliefs of Sikhism. Kindly throw some kight on it.

Raghubir Singh

Dear brother, first of all, sikh means "student". But student of what? The person who studies or learns the teachings of our Gurus. And their teachings are called sikhism, where we come to know the existence,the majesty and the magnificence of Wahiguru Akal Purukh, the one and only true God, or you may call it also Satnam.

They teach us how to love and devote ourselves to Him, through a simple and concrete method to realize Him in this very body and life, and that is through Nam Simran, or nam Abhyas, ample examples of this statement, are given in the Granth Sahib, almost in every paragraph, in every page, you may take the bani of any Guru Sahiban.All of them come from that same level of consciousness of Wahiguru, so naturally all will deliver the same message. Their phisicall body is just a means to make us understand that truth, known as: AAd Sach, Jugad Sach Haebee Sach, Nanak hosee bhee Sach. That truth is everlasting, and neverending and unchangeable. These Gurus are the embodiment, as said before, of that level of Consciousness knownn as God, Wahiguru, satnam, Paree Puran Parmatma, etc.... And the nature of these Gurus is that Shabad or Nam, which permeates through each pore of their pure , noble and saintly body. That is why it is said, Shabad Guru, Dhun chela. Which means, that Shabad manifested in a particular body, in that particular time and space, is the only one worthy to be called then, as a Satguru, not otherwise. And secondly, the drop, the soul,is the Dhun in this case, which gets hold of that Guru, that Shabad, and reaches his Nij Ghar or true home. The bodies are nothing, they are inert and are going to perish and passaway one day, so how come then, the bodies of the Guru and the chella, are going to be supposed as Master and disciple. That is totally wrong. It is the soul, the consciousness(true disciple), which by taking hold of the Shabad(true Guru) and Nam,through love and devotion, through abyaas, through simran and chintan of Akal Purukh, is going to merge in Wahiguru.

Horoscopes or astrology is a science, which through the position of the stars can foretell something about one´s future, that is all, and we must remember that the position of the stars(lifeless by themselves) is conditioned by our karmas. So it is our karmas, which we have to take care, not the stars. We are born with our pralabdh karmas, which nobody can change, and nobody means, no stars, no devis, no devtas, no gods. It is absolutely wrong to believe so, it all agyanta, all maya. We wish it was so easy. But yes one thing we can do to change our karmas...that is to to do, so much of Nam bhakti, that Wahiguru Himself, can not stop Himself to come and secure us.... it is a joke man....The thing is, that when we do that much of Nam Bhakti, there will be no complaints on our side, we shall accept His Divine Will or Bhana, and tune ourselves in it. It is our limited vision, that we think, this or that should be changed, but the fact is, He who has created His Creation, is far more wiser, than we tiny and weak human beings. Or is it, that we know something, that He does not? We are fools if we think in this way, maybe we may not say by words, but surely we unconsciouslly, had thoughts about it. Let us pay a liitle bit more attention to the teachings of our Gurus, and take a sip of each word of theirs, and keep it in our minds and hearts, as a necklace of diamonds, around our souls.

Below is a very beautifull shabad of Guru Arjan Dev, in raag Gauree, where, he clearly says all that, that has been mentioned above, this shabad by itself is an answer to your question of life and horoscopes, but special attention by all of us, to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th lines of Guruji:

1)mil mayray gobind apnaa naam dayh
Meet me, O my Lord of the Universe. Please bless me with Your Name.

2)naam binaa Dharig Dharig asnayhu. ||1|| rahaa-o.
Without the Naam, the Name of the Lord, cursed, cursed is love and intimacy. ||1||Pause||
3)naam binaa jo pahirai khaa-ay.
Without the Naam, one who dresses and eats well

4)ji-o kookar joothan meh paa-ay. ||1||
is like a dog, who falls in and eats impure foods. ||1||
5)naam binaa jaytaa bi-uhaar. ji-o mirtak mithi-aa seegaar. ||2||
Without the Naam, all occupations are useless, like decorations on a dead body. ||2||
6)naam bisaar karay ras bhog.
One who forgets the Naam and indulges in pleasures,

7)sukh supnai nahee tan meh rog. ||3||
shall find no peace, even in dreams; his body shall become diseased. ||3||
naam ti-aag karay an kaaj.
One who renounces the Naam and engages in other occupations,
9)binas jaa-ay jhoothay sabh paaj. ||4||
shall see all of his false pretenses fall away. ||4||

10)naam sang man pareet na laavai.
One whose mind does not embrace love for the Naam
11)kot karam karto narak jaavai. ||5||
shall go to hell, even though he may perform millions of ceremonial rituals. ||5||

12)har kaa naam jin man na aaraaDhaa.
One whose mind does not contemplate the Name of the Lord
13)chor kee ni-aa-ee jam pur baaDhaa. ||6||
is bound like a thief, in the City of Death. ||6||

14)laakh adambar bahut bisthaaraa.
Hundreds of thousands of ostentatious shows and great expanses
15)naam binaa jhoothay paasaaraa. ||7||
- without the Naam, all these displays are false. ||7||

16)har kaa naam so-ee jan lay-ay.
That humble being repeats the Name of the Lord,

17)kar kirpaa naanak jis day-ay. ||8||10||
O Nanak, whom the Lord blesses with His Mercy. ||8||10||


May Wahiguru, bless us with clear understanding and love for His lotus feet.

As seen in the shabad of the last post, it is Nam bhakti or abyaas, which is most important for us, because that is the real job which is going to cut our bondages with this material creation and at the same time, make us clean and purer to be able to merge in Wahiguru, our origin. No other methods, or pilgrimages, or bathing in sacred waters, or rituals...etc... The real Amritsar of the Nectar which gives us life of eternity, is within us flowing the 24 hours non stop...that is why it is said in the Bani:Amrit varse jhim jhim dhara. Which means, that Shabad, that Nam is always blowing and flowing within us, in which we can really bathe and drink it and clean our sins, not otherwise. No matter whatever else one may do...it is all putting more chains binding us to this material creation. All these outer forms are just like watering the leaves of the tree. But with devotion and bhakti with our soul consciousness, we water the roots of our soul, thus one day we shall grow and bear the fruit of God realization. If we are spirit or soul, and Wahiguru is same in essences as us, and it is the soul which has to merge in Him... then why bound ouselves with heavy chains of rites, ritulals, attachement or "moh" with our piece of land, with our ways of lives, etc. We forget what we really are, we forget what Wahiguru really is, and just becasue we have a phisicall body and coverings, we somehow think Akal Purukh is something like us, because we can neither percieve our souls nor the Lord, so we just think we are going to stay here forever, and we are the body, making our lives, as we are going to live here forever, forgetting that whatsoever we do with this body, and the body itself are going to be left behind, as any thing made from the 5 tattwas, is but surely perishable, then why to give it so much importance?
Our Gurus, have taught us to only love and devote ourselves to none other than Wahiguru, they have made us understand, that we have to establish a relation with Him, like of a mother and child, like a father and son, like a master and slave, like a husband and wife...and that relation is of unconditional love, pure love and everlasting love.
And to keep that flame of love always alive, we have to have, a certain type of fear in our hearts. Not worldly fear, which is a sin, but fear out of love, that let me not do something, which may annoy my beloved. Having these 2 qualities of love and fear for Him in us, nothing more matters, as these are the fountain of endless virtues, and a fence around the crop of our soul, so that kam, krodh, lobh moh and haume or ahankar may not attack our souls, becasue we are now under are the protection or "sharan" of Wahiguru. The teachings of our Gurus are very simple, clear and direct to the point, it is only that our chit is dirty, and we are tightly bound by : mind"man", maya, karmas, "indriya ke bhogan" or sensual pleasures... we have lost all sense of our origin and identity. It is a pity, that inspite of all the unvaluable treasure, that our Gurus give us, but we remain the same donkeys(spiritually speaking) as ever, by closing our eyes to the only reality, which is: Wahiguru.