With the Agami Anant Apaar and Beant Kirpa of the Guru and Paar Braham Parmeshwar we have been trying to disseminate Guru’s divine knowledge needed for realizing our spiritual dreams. The purpose of this effort is to give Puran Gyan needed for Puran Bhagtee, and until there is a lack of Puran Gyan and the effort to adopt the Puran Gyan in our daily lives we can’t move on this path to Sach Khand. This is not just theory, it has been followed very meticulously by our Sangat and is being followed on a daily basis with tremendous success.
There is no place for demands pertaining to the worldly things in the Puran Bhagtee –
When You, O Lord, restrain someone from asking for wealth,
then, O Nanak, he comes to love the Name. ||1||
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He sees, He hears,
and without our asking,
without our begging,
He gives His gifts.
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When we combine Bhagtee with material demands, then we are not performing Bhagtee with an intention to enhance our spirituality, but we remain selfish to satisfy our worldly needs. This is a common practice among the Sangat to restore to such Ardaas for fulfilling personal material and family needs. This is a serious road block in the way of our spiritual progress. This is yet another evil practice that we are following on a daily basis, it has become a part of our society and our daily lives, it is eating away our spiritual values and pushing us backwards on a daily basis, it is another evil present in our society that is responsible for our spiritual degradation.
Like "Selling and Buying Gurbani" this is another illusion that we all are living with in the society. In a way this evil is connected with the "Selling and Buying of Gurbani" – if we look back each one of us will find a lot of instances when we have prayed to the Almighty conditionally for achieving material and worldly gains, infact we are doing this on a daily basis, and this is like paying bribe to the Akal Purakh for getting a particular job done the way we want it to happen.
Every time we do something religious our actions are attached with the strings of worldly demands and personal gains. All our (so called) religious actions are connected with the selfishness and greed, they are hardly selfless and pure. The places of worship and the religious actions of the individuals and society have become a business in our modern day lifestyle. This is the “Loonharami and Pakhand” – hypocritical part of the religion – Dharam, and is the biggest illusion we all are living in. This is one of the prime reasons for our spiritual degradation and that of our families and the society and Panth. The management of such religious places has become a big political game in modern day society, and we as individuals and families are responsible for this state of today’s affair.
The word Ardaas has been used over one hundred times in Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, and not even one of these verse’s are telling us to do Ardaas for worldly things. We should look into these verses for
learning what should be praying the Akal Purakh for, what should we be asking Him to give to us. However, it is hard to explain each one of these verses, but on Page 1420 Guru Ram Dass Ji has made an extremely beautiful conclusion:
He knows everything, without being told;
unto whom should we offer our prayers?
SGGS 1420
Ask yourself the following questions:
If we truly believe that God is omnipresent and knows everything then where is the question to ask Him for anything?
When He ALREADY knows all our needs and problems then why do we pray for worldy things before Him?
When He is a “Dana Dina” – very kind to all His creations, and He is taking care of all His creations, then why do we worry about asking anything from Him?
When everything we get in life is according to our past actions (our Karam Kand) then how will paying priests to do “ARDAS” and pray for our material wants change anything?
People obtain that which they are pre-ordained to receive.
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When we are responsible for our deeds and we will have to pay for them then why do we ask for anything from Him?
When our fate is already cast in stone by Him before He sent us in this life, when everything is precisely predestined and pre determined by Him for us then what Ardaas will work?
By praying for worldly demands, He is not going to change our fate.
By doing Ardaas for worldly things we are completely ignoring the Braham Gyan of Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. None of these verses pertaining to the Ardaas as described in Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji are connected to demanding the worldly things.
All the verses containing the word “Ardaas” are connected to praying for Naam, Bhagtee, Seva and Sangat of enlightened souls. That is what matters and that is what :-
- helps in the spiritual uplift of our soul and mind,
- helps us in controlling the five thieves,
- what will kill our ego, hopes, desires and wishes.
Do “ardas” for the Sangat of Sant, Satguru, Sadh and Braham Gyanis. Because only these enlightened souls can
- change our fate
- enlighten our Hirda
- open our receptors – our spiritual doorways (Bajjar Kapaats)
- show us the light,
- calm down our mind
- clean us from inside,
- aid us in winning over our mind and to become a Sant Hirda.
Only such souls who are Puran Sant and Puran Braham Gyani are capable of changing our fate – “Lekh”. Only they can put us on the path to salvation and give us salvation, because only the Ardaas of such a soul who is a Puran Braham Gyani and a Puran Sant, who is absorbed – Abhed – in Akal Purakh will be honored by the Almighty –
The prayer of the Lord’s humble servant is never offered in vain.
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the word “Jan” means the Puran Sant Satguu, Puran Braham Gyani because –
There is no difference between the Lord and the humble servant of the Lord;
O Nanak, know this as true. ||29||
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“Jan” is that level of spirituality where there remains no difference between the Akal Purakh and the Bhagat, so the Ardaas of such a highly enlightened soul, who is one on one with God will be heard, and the God will honor His words only because –
(God says : ) “The devotee can release anyone from my bondage,
but I cannot release anyone from his.”
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Only such an enlightened soul can change the Hukam of Akal Purakh and therefore, only such a soul can
change our fate as well.
Let us look at some more verses of Gurbani.
You are our Lord and Master; to You, I offer this prayer (ARDAS).
This body and soul are all Your property.
You are our mother and father; we are Your children.
In Your Grace, there are so many joys!
No one knows Your limits.
O Highest of the High, Most Generous God,
the whole creation is strung on Your thread.
That which has come from You is under Your Command.
You alone know Your state and extent.
Nanak, Your slave, is forever a sacrifice. ||8||4||
SGGS 268
This verse is telling us that we should be praying for being grateful to the Akal Purakh, because He has done an unlimited kindness on us by giving us this human life. This human life is the only way we can reach and realize Him, because only in human life can we merge with Him –
This human body has been given to you.
This is your chance to meet the Lord of the Universe.
Nothing else will work.
Join the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy;
vibrate and meditate on the Jewel of the Naam. ||1||
SGGS 12
In such a human life all our mind, soul and body belong to Him. This means that we should be using our mind, soul and body for His service. We should be serving Him because He is our mother and father, so we should be serving Him and obey Him like His obedient and most humble children. By doing so we will be able to enjoy the unlimited blessings from Him and will always be happy and peaceful from inside.
Almighty is unlimited and infinite. There is nothing higher than Him. There is nothing which is more powerful and better than Him. Everything is happening according to His order – Hukam. Only He knows His limits and boundaries, nobody else knows His limits and boundaries. Only He knows completely about Himself, and we should always sacrifice our life for the sake of serving Him. We should all be very thankful to Him with every breath, every second for being so kind to us for giving this precious human life where we can try and merge in Him.
Your servant offers this prayer, O Beloved:
I live by meditating on Your Feet, God. ||1||
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There is no material element in this one too. The real life and enjoyment is in the Charans of Akal Purakh Paar Braham Parmeshwar, so that is what we should be praying for.
Let us make it clear over here that there is nothing bigger and better than God Himself, so why are we engaging ourselves in asking for small and worldly things? Why don’t we ask for Him Himself? When His Naam is His biggest gift, then why ask anything smaller than that? We know He is very kind and will definitely one day bless us with His Gurparsadi Naam, when we know that –
The nine treasures are in the Amrit Name of God.
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when Naam is the priceless eternal treasure –
The Naam is a Priceless Jewel; it is with the Perfect True Guru.
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then why ask for anything less than that? When Naam is the highest level of comfort and enjoyment, complete silence and Param Jyot Puran Parkash –
Sukhmani: Peace of Mind( is obtained from), the Amrit of the Name of God.
SGGS 262
then why ask for trivial things? We should pray for Gurparsadi Naam, Seva and Bhagtee, because that is what is the biggest and highest eternal treasure.
God is power, intellect, understanding, the breath of life,
wealth, and everything for the Saints.
May I never forget Him from my mind, even for an instant –
this is Nanak’s prayer (ARDAS). ||8||2||
SGGS 1017
This another example of the prayer for eternal happiness and such eternal treasure of happiness is in the Sangat of a Puran Sant, and that is what we should be praying for.
Please take pity on me, and hear my prayer,
that Your servant may behold the Blessed Vision of Your Darshan.
SGGS 896
This is what we should be asking for – His Darshan – one on one dialogue with Him, merger with Him, become like Him, always feel Him inside us. This is the real Ardaas, and imagine if this happens then
is there anything else left for asking.
People are suffering,
so do ardas for ‘Liv Laaye’.
SGGS 1281
We should be praying for Smadhee – “Liv Laaye” – because that is where the real Bhagtee starts. That is when we are recognized as a Suhagan of Akal Purakh and get a chance to become a Sada Suhagan. This is when our Bhagtee account opens in the Dargah. This is when we go in deep meditation – Sun Smadhee and see divine things, because this is when our Gyan Netter and Dassam Duaar will open, and divine intelligence will start to flow inside us. This is the stage when the body becomes pure like gold. All the mental sicknesses are cured and mind becomes stable, it wins over the Five thieves. This is when the body is filled with Naam Amrit.
Instead of material things, we ought to be praying for
- Naam, Bhagtee, Seva, Simran and Parupkaar(living for others).
- controlling our five thieves,
- killing our ego
- killing our desires, because they are the root cause of all the sorrows,
- restraining from slander, gossip and jealousy,
- helping the poor,
- a complete surrender to the Guru,
- our “Chad Di Kala” – remember only Sada Suhagans remain in Chad Di Kala for ever, and that is what we should be praying for,
- the Sangat of a Puran Sant Satgur, Puan Braham Gyani,
- becoming a completely truthful person and be capable of serving the truth.
These are the kinds of prayers we should be offering to the Almighty.
When we do Ardaas for worldly things, which are a part of the Maya and is the “Loonharami” portion of the so called religion, or when such an Ardaas is performed in any religious place then the entire Sangat present there is effected negatively by such an Ardaas.
When we eat Langar at such functions where there is a demand for Maya and worldly comforts by the party donating for Langar Ki Seva, then that Ardaas goes through all the Sangat present at such a place. This forms a part of the deeds of each person and eventually gets paid back by us in some form or the other, because this Ardaas is not the true Ardaas. (Even by participating in an ardas for worldy things we share the negativity generated).
In this process we all suffer in the longer run, but always stay under the illusion that we participated in an Ardaas for a good cause. There is no place for the Ardaas (connected with worldly demands) for Parshaad or Langar anywhere in Gurbani, infact there should be no such Ardaas at all.
Whatever Sangat donates to religious places should not be made public. There should be no receipts for donations. Nobody should know what has been donated by whom, because these kinds of practices don’t represent any kind of Gurmat, and rather become a source of ego for the donators.
Such donations which are publicly applauded and given recognition among the Sangat are never fruitful, but generate a lot of ego for the donors. Again if we all switch to giving Daswand to the Guru then this evil in the society will be automatically uprooted.
In the end let us take a few minutes and analyze our behavior, let us look at what kind of Ardaas do we do. Are we engaged in the Ardaas for Maya and worldly things, or is our Ardaas is truthful and pious and connected only with Naam, Bhagti and Seva?
This self analysis will put you on the right track right away.
Servant Of Truth
Dassan Das (Slave Of God’s Slaves)