i thought i’d share this with ya’ll, its the lavaan, other wise known as the four rounds around the Guru 
let see
oh i went to Wordle and just got a translation of
the Lavaan, and just created one of these cool designs. perhaps it could make an awesome
wall paper, here is the Original Size
So one of the most coolest ceremonies with in Sikh Dharma is the Lavaan, other wise known as the Wedding Ceremony. the other day i was listening to a katha by Giani Thakur Singh Ji (http://gurbaniupdesh.org) and the katha was dealing with the Lavaan. I only listened to the first 15 minutes, how ever there was still so much gyan. =)
anyways Giani ji states that the whole ceremony is rather amazing, and there is nothing coincidental about it. Now alot of this i may be mixing up with another Katha, Giani Ji stated about Guru Ram Daas But still it makes it even more awesome, also there may be stuff i heard from Siri Singh Sahib and Baba Iqbal Singh Ji. But then after listening to the Katha and also my experience with women and men, other thoughts came in my mind…. so heres something to think about….
The Lavaan was written by Guru Ram Daas Ji, Sodhi Sultan. I also believe he created the ceremony as well, now with in Sikhi (and other dharms as well) we believe in Micro- and Macro- cosm. Which is the belief that whatever is made in the universe, is also made in side of every single living beings. Being the Five Tatvaas (primal elements: Earth, Air, Water, Fire, and Ether). so if you look at the “Lavaa” part, the walking around the Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji four times, there are alot of meanings to it. Firstly
regardless of how crazy the world may get i realize that the my center is always Guru Ji. But also look at the planets, and how with in Bhaee (Fear/Love of God) they follow the hukam of God. As the Earth goes around the Sun, in orbit; the Moon follows and goes around the Earth, the same way as the Groom goes around the Guru, and the Bride goes behind the Groom. now i know this sounds really sexist, and why is that the bride has be behind the groom.
Yet if you think about it, even Siri Singh Sahib states “That the Bride gives “Thakay” pushes to the Groom, to make him go forward, kind of like the way that a farmer whips the mule to go forward” inthe same way the Bride has to push her husband forward, and ask him the two questions all wives have to ask their husband, “WHY, are you doing this?” and “IF you had listened to me, this would not have happened” also the Bride is like the moon, she waxes and wanes, but the Earth feels the pull of the Moon, BUT NEVER LOOSES Its OrBit around the sun. the Same way the Husband must never be so affected by his wife that he looses his orbit/sadhana/commitment to the Guru being the center of his life.
Also if the Husband looses his devotion to God, the wife will leave him. b/c if the Earth stopped its orbit around the Sun, then the moon will leave. but so long as the earth stays strong and constant with his orbit its good.
Ok so i’ll continue on this later, but below is a recording of Lavaan of my good friends “Mandeep Singh and Charanpreet Kaur Jupiter Vale” from their ceremony it was about 20 months back, it was soooo amazing! Baba Iqbal Singh Ji and the Akal Academy Jatha did the keertan and led the service. waheguru
[audio:http://gurvinderpal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Laavan-baru-sahib.mp3]
Download Audio
Download Lavaan Text Shabd Gurmukhi & Transliteration & Translation
Thanks again to Gurbanifiles.org for hosting the file, and for their seva.
So it occurred to me that after my interview with the CIA i need improve upon my punjabi reading skills to “natural fluency”. right now, with Rabh Di Mehar di naal I need improve my general punjabi reading skills, such as picking up the paper and just reading the article. so that’s what i did, i went to ajitweekly.com and went to this article.
I was not too sure, but when i saw the words “New York” in Punjabi it intrigued me.
Now i wasn’t too sure if i was reading the paper properly, however my mom, who came to visit me for my birthday, which is tomorrow by the way =). read it with me.
It was such a disturbing article, and it reminded me to Sukha Singh Ji’s Katha about the common Punjabi/Indian belief that a “Wife is the Shoe to her Husband” so sad…
anyways then i found the article at the NY times here it is Parents held responsible for Child’s DeathThe whole gist of the article, which is so disturbing to read with in punjabi, is about an inter-faith love marriage, Muslim Male and Sikh Female had a love marriage and gave birth to a female. Mother’s parent take the child, in their custody… then kill the baby girl, in a unimaginable way.
This just disturbs me in many ways…. i know i can not judge this but wow the amount of karma which is going here is definitely intense, also there are so many things with in this case that occur with in Punjabi culture, with in Punjabi Hindu, Punjabi Sikh, and Punjabi Muslim households, that no one talks about or confronts.
It is defiantly something we need to address and speak about. So many issues, such as gender roles, gender equality, inter-faith, cultural stereotypes, domestic abuse when will we start acknowledging these problems, or will we just ignore them and let someone else figure it out.
