By considering both the quality and quantity of our time spent with Gurbani, we can begin to immerse ourselves more into it. Also by reading more Gurbani, we start to understand Gurbani more and thus strengthen our relationship with Guru Sahib Ji. Along with financial Dasvandh, dedicating at least 10% of our day (2.4 hours) towards Guru Sahib Ji and Gurbani, is just as important. In addition, integrating Rehit (Code of Conduct) into our lives, makes a big difference within our relationship with Gurbani.

Nitnem is an extremely important aspect of every Sikh's day. It’s like a bath in the morning to make you feel strong and prepared for the day. Then, after being influenced by this world all day, we do Rehraas Sahib in the evening to reconnect. Doing Sohila Sahib before bed washes all the filth accumulated throughout the day and reminds us of our purpose in life. Nitnem is prescribed to us in the Rehit (daily code of conduct), meaning it is Guru Sahib Ji's Hukam (order) that we do our Nitnem every day. Doing Nitnem daily is like having a conversation with Guru Sahib Ji every single day. Another important aspect of Sikhi is to earn Naam, through doing Nitnem daily, we do this and receive that indescribable flavour. At the end of the day, through doing our Nitnem we please Guru Sahib and receive their Grace. To learn more about this topic, check out our article on Why Pray Daily/Do Nitnem?

Bhai Gurdas ji states that

ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਗੁਰਮੰਤ੍ਰ ਹੈ ਜਪਿ ਹਉਮੈ ਖੋਈ।

His Guru-manta is Vahiguru, whose recitation erases egotism.

He says that the word “Vaheguru” is the Gurmantar. By doing Naam Japna (chant) or Naam Simran (remember) of this Gurmantar, you will lose your Haumai (ego). Haumai (ego) is the biggest illness inside us that keeps us separate from Vaheguru/Creator. The point of Sikhi is to get you away from the sense of separateness from the divine.

Our true purpose in life is to meet and connect with the one who made us, our Creator, Vaheguru. Before doing this, one must realize some simple truths about the soul. The soul is free from all distinctions, has gone through reincarnations and is a part of God. Understanding this, we see that the soul was once connected with God, but now it is separated. To connect back with God, one should go into the holy company of those who are trying to connect with Vaheguru and meditate upon the Naam. Naam can simply mean to connect with the divine, through chanting this Naam we fulfill our life’s purpose. Until we experience this connection happening, this is all just theory. Guru Sahib Ji came here to connect us to the divine and show us this path of truth. 

Destiny is not something which is set in stone, Vaheguru (wonderous enlightener) doesn't operate at the beginning of time only, but is constantly operating. We cannot entirely control our destiny but our actions can certainly affect our destiny. We should try our best to follow our Guru's Hukam (command), by doing so we will be blessed and many things that were going to happen to us that were from our previous Karma (actions) will get reduced.

One shouldn’t be too young like five or six years. It is better to have it before you start to figure out what life is about like before you get the age of thirteen or fourteen. However, there are rare cases of people getting blessed with Amrit really young. So, it really depends on what kind of a person you are. When you feel ready to give your head to your Guru, that is when you should take Amrit. Try to get it before university or college time because that is a very Dhilla (wavering/undisciplined) time for everybody. Everybody’s Rehit (Spiritual Discipline) suffers at that time because you have too many things to do and too many new people to meet. 

The five thieves are lust, anger, greed, attachment, and pride. You have to keep fighting them your whole life. Honesty is the best policy to fight these five thieves. Most people are not honest about them. They try to hide them behind a fight. You have to face these enemies. If you are a lustful person and you keep saying that you are not, but your mind keeps thinking about it, then you are not honest with yourself. So, you can’t start to fight unless you face it. To solve the problem, you must first admit that it is your problem. Start it by admitting to yourself, and then take a zero-tolerance approach to fight it. For example, if you are a lustful person, you can’t say that you will not touch a woman, but you can keep watching pornography the whole day. That is not going to help you. A superman cannot fly if he has a bit of kryptonite inside him. Poison is poison at all times. You can’t allow a little bit of poison inside you. You need to cut it out completely.      

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Kes - uncut hair

Kanga - wooden comb 

Kirpan - iron dagger 

Kara - iron bangle

Kachera - long cotton shorts worn as underwear