ENHANCE YOUR LEARNING FROM GURBANI BY LISTENING TO GURBANI AND DOING JAP
SAT NAAM SAT NAAM SAT NAAM SAT NAAM SAT NAAM SADA SADA SAT NAAM
One of the common problem the Sangat faces is the stability of mind while listening to the Kirtan, reading Gurbani or listening Gurbani. The mind flies everywhere in the world while you are trying to concentrate on such activities. It is never stable, it is constantly thinking, good or bad thoughts don’t stop at all, except when you are in sound sleep. In other words mind is never quiet, it is constantly making all kind of stupid noises, it is not peaceful at all. And unless your mind is stable and peaceful you will not be able to learn anything by listening or reading Gurbani.
Again the PANJ DOOT will always try to distract you while you will be struggling to concentrate on the Gurbani, as described in the previous article sent by this sevak (Maximize Benefits Of Simran), the mind is being controlled by the PANJ DOOT, all of the running thoughts in your mind can be attributed to one of these five enemy of yours.
In order to maximize your learning from Gurbani please believe in it 100%, whatever it says is nothing but complete and absolute truth, it came directly from Akal Purakh, it is HIS GYAN SAROOP. That is why it is called Primal Word (TURKI BAANI). It is a COMPLETE BRAHAM GYAN, it lays down all the divine laws for you to follow very honestly and with utmost devotion and faith (SHRADHA AND VISHVAAS). There is no limit to VISHVAAS AND SHRADHA, the more it is the better it is. Bhagti is nothing but VISHVAAS AND SHRADHA on your GURU AND GOD. Gurbani is not just for reading or listening only, you have to learn the divine laws and practice them in your daily life then only you will be able to advance in spirituality.
JIS KE HIRDEY VISHVAAS PRABH AYEA TAT GYAN TIS MAN PARGATYEA (Sukhmani)
The question is how will you be able to increase your concentration while reading or listening to Gurbani?
Here are a few very effective ways to do it:
There are nine doors to your body that are open and there is a tenth door that is closed – DASSAM DWAAR.
NAU DWARE PARGAT KIEY DASWAN GUPT RAKHAYEA (Anand Sahib)
These nine doors are: eyes, ears, nose, skin, ears, mouth, gupt organs. A lot of the distractions or the thoughts in the mind travels through these doors, like seeing something which is very distracting, hearing something that is very distracting, smelling something that can distract your attention in the wrong direction, tasting something that is not very conducive with the path you want to follow, or saying something that will divert your and the listener’s attention in a wrong way, touching something that can distract you and so on. So you can eliminate a lot of distractions by keeping some of these doors closed while listening to the Gurbani. Infect the best way is to sit down in a very calm and quite place, early morning hours will be best, and listen to the Gurbani with eyes closed:
MOONDH LIYE DARWAJE (Sant Kabir)
While listening to the Gurbani, whenever, there is a pause, or the sentence finishes, or the music goes on, say SAT NAAM WAHE GURU IN YOUR MIND. If it is still wavering too much then say:
MAN TU JYOT SAROOP HAI APNA MOOL PEHCHAAN
This will do wonders to your mind, it will be listening to the Gurbani, as well as doing Simran, dual benefits, also this way since you will really start listening Gurbani, you will also start to understand what it means. This will really enhance your Gurbani listening skills, and you will start enjoying it more and more since you will start learning it more and more.
AMRIT BAANI HAR HAR TERI SUN SUN HOWE PARAM GAT MERI
In the olden days when the tapes and CDs were not available it was O.K. to read Gurbani, but now with the availability of these things it has become very easy to listen to the Gurbani with closed eyes. Always keep in mind to CLOSE YOUR EYES when in SANGAT, DOING SIMRAN, LISTENING TO GURBANI, OR KIRTAN. THIS WAY YOU WILL KEEP YOUR EARS ONLY OPEN AND ALL THE OTHER DOORS WILL BE CLOSED. THIS WILL MAXIMIZE THE LISTENING EFFECT BECAUSE YOU ARE FOLLOWING SANT KABIR’S GYAN.
In order to create more and more interest in Gurbani, get a steek – translation of Jap Ji, Sukhmani, Rehraas, Anand Sahib, Chopayee Sahib, and read it slowly, like if you are reading Sukhmani, read and understand one Ashtpadi at a time. This will increase your learning of Gurbani.