Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Clarification From an Earlier Comment 'Suntay Puneet, Kehtay Pavit'

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh,

A while back someone on the blog made a comment that 'Suntay Puneet, Kehtay Pavit' from Anand Sahib means that we can just listen to bani inside of reciting it.

I had posted the opposite. I have done some research on 'Suntay Puneet, Kehtay Pavit', and I disagree with the person that says we can just listen to bani.

Let me first start of with a katha I heard. Limited knowledge is a very dangerous thing. If we just look at bani with our limited scop it is very easy to take the wrong arth (meaning) from it. For example, someone is told to dig a hole at a certain spot in order to get water. The person digs and digs, he digs 4 feet under the earth and gives up. He returns angry to the person who told him to dig, and says why did you tell me to dig there, there is no water. But little does this person know, the water is not 4 feet under the earth, it is 15 feet under the earth, he just didn't go deep enough. In the same way most of us don't go deep enough into gurbani, to get the proper arth, we just take watever first comes into our mind, in order to make bani fit our preconvieved notions.

Now back to 'Suntay Puneet, Kahtey Pavit'. 'Suntay Puneet' does not mean that you become 'puneet' by listening to an mp3 recording of your nitnem. 'Suntay Puneet' means that you become 'puneet' by listening, meaning applying to yourself what you recite each morning in your nitnem.

Another example I was given while trying to look deeper into this tuk was, 'pavitar pavitar pavitar puneet' from Sukhmani Sahib. One arth of this could be, 3 times Pavitar is 1 time Puneet. So from 'Suntay Puneet, Kehtay Pavit' ... When you recite bani with you mouth you are 1 time pavit, but when you recite bani with your mouth, and than you listen to it, you apply it to yourself and act on it, than you are 3 times pavit.

In conclusion, listening to a mp3 recording of bani is good. But there is nothing like reciting bani with your mouth, and than listening to what you have said with your own ears, and than acting upon it in your daily life.

If I have made any mistakes in this translation, I ask for forgiveness, as I am not perfect, nor am I someone worthy of asking arths of bani from.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh