COMMON
QUESTIONS
Why
do we do bow to touch the ground with
our forehead to the holy Guru Granth Sahib?
Is it not idol worship?
Bowing before Guru Granth Sahib is not
idol worship. It is to make us feel humble
and reduce our ego, the cause of our all
problems. To explain it further, culture
plays a very important role in the rituals
of a religion. We can find such examples
all over the world. There are different
methods of greeting your friend in different
cultures.
i) |
Folding hands in front of your chest
and bending head slightly. |
ii) |
Bending your body at the waist with
your head bending downwards and
hands going backwards, as with the
Japanese. |
iii)
|
Shaking
right hands, the most common international
custom. |
iv) |
Embracing each other, particularly
Punjabi woman. |
v) |
Exchange of kisses, as among the
people of the Middle East. |
In India, bending down so as to touch
the feet of an elderly or a holy person,
is an age-old custom to express respects
to him/her. It is participated even today
as good manners. When the children in
the Punjab go to or come from their school,
they bend to touch the feet of their parents,
particularly their grandparents. In the
same way children in the West wish good
night to their parents before going to
bed.
Respecting your parents by bending before
them is not human worship. It is a ritual
to pay respect. In the West, people taken
off their hats to respect a woman or a
senior person. Similarly, Sikhs, instead
of taking off their hat (with a turban
they cannot do it even if they wanted
to do it just like their Western friends),
do matha tek before the Guru to pay their
respect and regards. Bending before Guru
Granth Sahib is to show one's respect
and regards for the Guru; it is not idol
worship.
Philosophically, this means that the person
who bows before Guru Granth makes a promise
to himself to follow the path suggested
by the Gurbaani. It is something similar
to taking an oath to the constitution
by raising a hand. In this case, we bow
the head instead or raising the hand.
The act of bowing reminds a person of
his or her being a Sikh and a believer
in the teachings of Gurbaani. It strengthens
the faith in Gurbaani, which is essential
to help us to walk on the path of the
Guru.
.
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