Why do Sikhs have Naam Japo?

Answer 1

Naam Japo or Naam Japna - Is the rememberance of God by repeating and focussing the mind on His name. The names given to God primarily refer to the attributes of the Almighty and His various qualities. The guideline in the Rehit Mariyada of Guru Gobind Singh demands that the Sikh engages in Naam Simran as part of his or her everyday routine.

This concept is also permeated in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib as the way in which humans can conquer ego, greed, attachment, anger and lust, together commonly called the Five Evils or Five Thieves and to bring peace and tranquillity into ones mind. The Sikhs practise both the quiet individual recitation of Naam in ones mind and this is commonly called Naam Simran while the loud and communal recitation of Naam is called Naam Jaap. However, this is not a strict definition of these phases and variations are found among the different Sikh communities.

The term Naam refers to the various names given to God as used by the Sikhs. Naam Japo refers to the meditation, vocal singing of Shabads or hymns, from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib or the chanting of the various Names of God, specially the chanting of the word Waheguru, which means Wonderful Lord. Singing of hymns with musical accompaniment is generally referred to as Kitrtan.

This act of meditation, singing and chanting is a one of three main pillars of Sikhism and is the term used to refer to this very important activity in the everyday life of a Sikh - the singing, quite meditation, listening of sacred text or sacred words. . The other two pillars are Kirat Karni (earn an honest living) and Wand kay Shako (sharing with others)