Makes a lot of Sense !!!

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa.. Waheguru ji ki Fateh

I haven't been regular in updating my blog and would apologies for that.. I have been extremely busy... work has completely taken me over.. Things are becoming slow now.. so here I'm back on the blog. Past two weeks have been good and Asa di Var also has been going on well. For the next two weeks we would not be doing Asa di var as Amardeep ji is not in the country. I think this is the best time to sit and learn. Every time I make an effort to learn something or read a book about Gurbani vichar..it gets lost somewhere in the way. I have seen that I have to make several efforts before I come back to where I had left. I'm going through the same effort right now while trying to read the book "Ujaro Dipa" by Prof Darshan Singh. Till what I have read.. it makes a lot of sense..No BS.. no own written sakhis. everything from SGGS I think one should be very careful in deciphering Gurbani, especially when have just plunged into it at an age at which I'm right now. I think the best age to get exposed to Gurbani is when you are young ... there aren’t many questions that come in your mind.. and when they start coming you know enough to find the answers yourself. In the last few weeks since I have met everybody.. I remember the discussions/responses that we have all had regarding various topics and they keep repeating in my head. Some of them made a lot of sense and some a little less. The only question that came into my mind time and again is how true was/is our History. Can we blindly believe it.. and before it reached a phase that I strained my brain thinking, I had the answer.Very simple.."Use Guru Granth Sahib as a touch stone to check if what you heard is true". Again made a lot of sense !!! Well, I haven’t read the SGGS completely..but I think it would be a worth an try to see what I have ever heard about(Sakhi's..etc etc) is true or not. The idea is to catch the underlying message and not to look for the sakhi in SGGS. But I think that would happen on phase 2 of my journey. As days go by I'm getting more and more exposed to Gurbani Kirtan .. And the thing that facinates me the most is the enormous amt of raags.. taals and different gayki styles that are mentioned in SGGS. One life is not enough to practice all these. I sit and imagine .. our Guru Sahibs must be amazing musicians.. SO much gyan !!! SO much Kirtan.. SO many rags and they are all so neatly tied together in SGGS. I was completely unaware of all this. Music has been given such a high platform in Sikhism..it is an art of practice and learn all this. Guru sahab has left us an treasure.. treasure that will never end... The only sad part is that some part of that treasure has been lost, some raags and taals are now gone forever....forever...

pootaa maataa kee aasees.

I was never like this before. People lookup and ask me what caused the change in me.

I would only say that it is the blessings of my parents that has brought me here. It is the blessings that is making me walk this path. Blessings that will take me a long way. I know there is no way to pay it all back to them..but I can surely pray for them. For me this is my prayer for them.. this is my way of telling waheguru ji, please take of my parents. Please be with them all the time, as they be with me like my shadow.

We are not born in this world to correct people and that is where we go wrong. Emotions take over our mind. That is the beginning of the end. Something that you dont want to start ever in life. As for me.. I have come very far with this.. I'm rewinding now and going back, to start from Zero.

As far as todays kirtan is concerned.. I would point you to Angads blog. He done a good job of capturing todays Asa di Var.. After the Asa di var we sat down for sometime with Amardeep ji and had some knowledge sharing session. That is also mentioned there.

Hope you all enjoy reading it.. Thankx Angad for posting everything..

Concentration !!

I don't know how people write their blogs..I mean do they prepare a draft or they spend time thinking or something like that, I would just go ahead and pen things down as they come into my mind.

Today was the second time that I played the Asa Di Var..and I think I did much better the first time :) . No special reason over why I think so...

Looking at my pictures playing the tabla gave me the title of this part of the blog "concentration". I never realised this but I could see in the pictures how much concentration goes in playing the taals and making sure you dont do any mistake. It's quite a challenge to keep pace.

Of what I remember Amardeep ji sang 3 shabads in teen taal, 1 in Sulfaq and 1 in Jhaptaal and the toughest of all was the Jhaptal.

Singing Gurbani in the format in which it is supposed to be sung has this magical feel. It is not just beating the tabla or singing the raags with the right sur.. I think is the only way to get closer to God. After all that is the reason why Guruji's wrote all the shabads in raags.

Understanding that format and exploring that, is the motivation for me to learn more. Learning the tabla as a saaz (muscial instrument) is just one thing..putting it in action with the raags that were written couple of hundred years ago.. makes you feel you are there... there where he wants to take you. You all might think that I have gone crazy :)) but I'm perfectly allright.. I'm just telling you what I really feel.

It's truly magical. Atleast I get to the state of Nirvana !!