The very answer to the question "What is Simran?" depends on the answer to the question "What is Mukti?", for the destination and path are correlated.
If Mukti is an internal mystical union with God, then the path of repetition should help. Jewish mystics are known to succeed with their experiences of Throne Mysticism, Christian mystics have sucessfully made internal journeys through The Dark Night of the Soul, the Indian Jogis have their internal experiences as can be found in Patanjili's Yog Sutras and Gorakh Bodh. But this is not GN's[GN=Guru Nanak or the Sabad Guru SGGS] path to Mukti.
To GURU NANAK an internal mystical experience is just another pleasure of the Mind, it is "Avra Saad".
He has recommended Vichar and Keertan, and both are enemies of meditation---Vichar requires a thinking Mind, a fresh Mind that should ask questions. But meditation requires a Mind that doesnot talk; meditation requires a Mind that concentrates on a particular word only. And is Keertan not a disturbance to meditation? It is! There is a Gurudwara in Mohali where Keertan was replaced by "Satnam Waheguru". To my surprise it was a big success, and to my expectations all Keertan addicts stopped participating in it. However, good sense prevailed and after one year the Keertan was restored because the initial craze for "Satnam Waheguru" could not be "sustained".
Keertan is taboo in Jog. Bodhis also donot have a tradition of Keertan.
Mohammed banned all music because it is a hindrance to counting the 99 names of Allah.
But when it comes to Sikhism, Keertan is central.
OUR MUKTI IS NOT A MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE "COSMIC". Our Mukti is through Naam and "Waheguru" is an expression of thankfulness to GN.
"Waheguru" is spontaneous, an Anhad Naad.
Naam is not an activity. It is another word for a sustainable way of life[the Gurmukh's]. It is not that a Gurmukh is not close to God, and it is not that he doesnot remember God. Only the path is different, and emotions are different. A guiltless Gurmukh listens the Keertan, does social work and the[resultant] pleasure maketh him utter WAH-E-GURU.
A Gurmukh is a Sewadar who works for others, who socializes. A Gurmukh is concerned with making this world a better place. He is a person with a mission. He sees God in His creation, in the poor, in the needy. It is all Vismaad for him, and he sings Keertan to express that Vismaad and ecstatic love. His God is somewhere there. He loves Him like a mother who loves and yet never uses the artifices of rosary, idol or repetition to love her child. A lover uses Waris Shah's "Heer" to experience the bond with her NRI husband, and not a rosary or cassette to repeat his name!
The SGGS passages on Naam are to be understood in this light. GN has redefined the duo of "Ram" and "Naam" to Omnipresence and an ethical way of living respectively.
Leading the life of a Gurmukh is Mukti, but that is not easy, it requires a constant Vichaar, and yet Gurmukhta is not for all, because most stray.
AMARDEEP SINGH
If Mukti is an internal mystical union with God, then the path of repetition should help. Jewish mystics are known to succeed with their experiences of Throne Mysticism, Christian mystics have sucessfully made internal journeys through The Dark Night of the Soul, the Indian Jogis have their internal experiences as can be found in Patanjili's Yog Sutras and Gorakh Bodh. But this is not GN's[GN=Guru Nanak or the Sabad Guru SGGS] path to Mukti.
To GURU NANAK an internal mystical experience is just another pleasure of the Mind, it is "Avra Saad".
He has recommended Vichar and Keertan, and both are enemies of meditation---Vichar requires a thinking Mind, a fresh Mind that should ask questions. But meditation requires a Mind that doesnot talk; meditation requires a Mind that concentrates on a particular word only. And is Keertan not a disturbance to meditation? It is! There is a Gurudwara in Mohali where Keertan was replaced by "Satnam Waheguru". To my surprise it was a big success, and to my expectations all Keertan addicts stopped participating in it. However, good sense prevailed and after one year the Keertan was restored because the initial craze for "Satnam Waheguru" could not be "sustained".
Keertan is taboo in Jog. Bodhis also donot have a tradition of Keertan.
Mohammed banned all music because it is a hindrance to counting the 99 names of Allah.
But when it comes to Sikhism, Keertan is central.
OUR MUKTI IS NOT A MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE "COSMIC". Our Mukti is through Naam and "Waheguru" is an expression of thankfulness to GN.
"Waheguru" is spontaneous, an Anhad Naad.
Naam is not an activity. It is another word for a sustainable way of life[the Gurmukh's]. It is not that a Gurmukh is not close to God, and it is not that he doesnot remember God. Only the path is different, and emotions are different. A guiltless Gurmukh listens the Keertan, does social work and the[resultant] pleasure maketh him utter WAH-E-GURU.
A Gurmukh is a Sewadar who works for others, who socializes. A Gurmukh is concerned with making this world a better place. He is a person with a mission. He sees God in His creation, in the poor, in the needy. It is all Vismaad for him, and he sings Keertan to express that Vismaad and ecstatic love. His God is somewhere there. He loves Him like a mother who loves and yet never uses the artifices of rosary, idol or repetition to love her child. A lover uses Waris Shah's "Heer" to experience the bond with her NRI husband, and not a rosary or cassette to repeat his name!
The SGGS passages on Naam are to be understood in this light. GN has redefined the duo of "Ram" and "Naam" to Omnipresence and an ethical way of living respectively.
Leading the life of a Gurmukh is Mukti, but that is not easy, it requires a constant Vichaar, and yet Gurmukhta is not for all, because most stray.
AMARDEEP SINGH
