ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>THIT&#298</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279<i>THIT&#298</i>, with the variation <i>THITT&#298&#7748</i>, is a title shared by three different compositions, one each by Gur&#363 N&#257nak, Gur&#363 Arjan and Kab&#299r, in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib. According to traditional Indian calendar, <i>thit</i> (Skt. tithi) denotes a day or a date of the lunar cycle of the month. In Br&#257hma&#7751ical ritualism, certain lunar days acquired sanctity for being associated with some deity or incarnation of god or goddess and began to be observed as especially auspicious. The <i>Thit&#299</i> hymns discountenanced the notion of one day being more propitious than the others. All days, they reiterate, are auspicious if devoted to God's remembrance and to good deeds.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Gur&#363 N&#257nak&#8217s <i>Thit&#299</i>, in R&#257ga Bil&#257val, comprises twenty six-line stanzas, each with an additional verse of <i>rah&#257u</i> (pause). Through the days of the waning half of the lunar month, the poem brings spiritual and moral truths home to man. The Supreme Being, unborn and, unfathomable, is the creator of all gods and goddesses, <i>vedas</i> and <i>&#347&#257stras</i>. He is realized through the guidance of the Gur&#363. Fasts and ritual bathing, asceticism and yogic practices are of little avail. One is adjured instead to repeat God's Name and take truthful living. Thus will knowledge be attained and through self-realization duality ended. Says Gur&#363 N&#257nak : <i>mamat&#257 j&#257l te rahai ud&#257s&#257 pra&#7751avati n&#257nak ham t&#257ke d&#257s&#257</i>-- he who is not entangled by attachment, N&#257nak bows to him as a slave (GG, 840).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Gur&#363 Arjan's <i>Thit&#299</i>, in R&#257ga Gau&#7771&#299, consists of seventeen <i>pau&#7771&#299s</i> or stanzas, with a <i>&#347loka</i> added to each. Proceeding from <i>ekam</i>, i.e. the first day of the waning half of the lunar month, the poem goes on to <i>am&#257vas</i>, the last day of the dark half of the month, thereafter referring to <i>p&#363r&#7751im&#257</i>, the full-moon day, it stresses in stanza after stanza the supremacy of the path of devotion. Meditation on the Divine Name eliminates attachment and ego. It banishes ignorance and evil and brings humility, discernment and bliss. Through God's grace, one's heart and body are purified. The Name revealed by the Gur&#363 liberates one from the cycle of births and deaths and one attains union with the Divine. Everyone irrespective of the <i>var&#7751a</i> or caste he belongs to can win liberation by repeating the Name-- <i>khatr&#299 br&#257hma&#7751u s&#363du baisu udharai simari cha&#7751&#7693&#257l</i> (GG, 300).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kab&#299r in his <i>Thit&#299&#7749</i>, employing <i>thits</i> of the waxing half of the month urges the need to know Reality from illusion and sets forth love of the Lord as the way to breaking the circuit of transmigration. The yogic practices are considered futile, for they only beget ego. One must instead devote oneself to remembering the Lord God (verses on the first day of the moon); one must transcend the three states to attain the fourth ultimate state of bliss (third day); and one must control the capricious mind and shun lust and wrath. Blessed is he who drinks the nectar of the Lord's love (fifth day). Discipline the nine doors of the body and keep a check upon your many desires (ninth day)-- <i>naum&#299 navai du&#257r kau s&#257dhi bahat&#299 manas&#257 r&#257khahu b&#257ndhi"</i> (GG, 343-44). On <i>ek&#257das&#299</i>, the eleventh day, take to one single direction and thereby avert the pangs of rebirth. On the full-moon day, you will attain equipoise and see the full moon rise in the sky.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><i>&#346abad&#257rth Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib J&#299</i>. Amritsar, 1964<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">T&#257ran Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>