Waheguru Ji ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki fateh.
The story of the bucket and strainer....parrotting gurbani...mindless repettition of waheguru waheguru etc...lots of concerns.
The reality that I have learnt from my years of simran and paaths is that GURBANI has an intrinsic "gunn"... what is this gunn ?
Lets consider soap/washing powder/etc. These have an intrinsic gunn of CLEANING POWER...clothes "just soaked" in washing powder, without any effort at rubbing etc will still LOSE some DIRT. Soap rubbed on gently will regardeless of "force used" will CLEAN off Dirt....the More stubborn the stain..the more effort required in rubbing with soap..
Guur Nanak Ji also uses the exaple of SOAP in japji Sahib...MOOT paleetee kappar hoiyeh deh sabun lehiyeh oh thoiyeh...BHAREAH MATT PAPAANNKE SANG...thopeh NAVEH KE RAANG.. Beautiful isnt it. Now do we see why the example of SOAP is used ?? A dirty cloth can be "cleansed" by just lying next to soap....but if effort is put in and the cloth is rubbed....then it becomes spotless..
Just by being in contact with Gurbani/Naam/Waheguru...chanting, parrotting, jsut reppeating on the tongue without paying attention, listening from a cd player in the car/home stereo....etc STILL has SOME BENEFIT of cleaning our Dirty mann/paaps...BUT if we pout in MORE EFFORT - take the time to READ/VICHAAR Gurbani, repeat waheguru with Love/Devotion...the END RESULTS are GREATER...our Mann becomes spotless.....sooner than later !!!
So when my young and adult students of Gurbani approach me and put this question to me my reply is: JUST be in "contact" with gurbani naam...the rest will come by itself.....the END RESULT is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to the amount of effort you put in. Those who swaas swaas naam japp...are the ones who have "rubbed" the bar of soap relentlessly day and night....and so their "chola" is near spotless.....thats what we should aim for. Rubbing a bar of soap on a dirty cloth is NO JOKE - just ask the "laundry man" ( or your mum !!)....BUT then a spotless cloth is also a sight to behold !!!
Jarnail Singh
