strongKaur
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When Akbar came to visit Guru Amar Das Ji, he was told Pehle Pangat Pacchey Sangat (or Phir Sangat depending on book I have read), meaning he was to sit with everyone else and eat langar as an equal before meeting Guru Ji. Nowadays we listen to the entire program and sit in the presence of Guru Ji first, then we go downstairs when the program is over to eat langar. In fact now it seems to be somewhat disrespectful to head straight to the langar hall if we have not even matha tekked beforehand. I guess I am wondering whether we are supposed to eat langar beforehand or afterwards or why its different now?

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answered 2017-06-29 10:58:29 -0500

Guruka Singh

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Ideally, Langar should be served all day, just as it is at Harimander Sahib. We feed people equally and unconditionally. It is Guru Ji's langar. In Guru Amar Das' time, he felt it important that all people, regardless of caste, sit together as equals and be served together before having Guru Ji's darshan because people came to see him who had an inflated sense of their own self-importance and came with their own agendas. Sitting together and eating the blessed food helped everyone come as equals by breaking down the caste rituals that created barriers of ego and status. Today we see Gurdwaras that serve langar all day. Everyone can come and do as they wish according to their own conscience, wash dishes, serve food, eat, matha tek, listen to kirtan, meditate, do nitnem, etc. I think it's important to recognize that each person has their own unique relationship with Guru Ji and is walking their their own unique spiritual path. Let us all honor and serve everyone according to their needs and not stand on ceremony or make anyone feel embarrassed or bad about themselves.

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That makes sense! sorry I didn't mean to make it come across as making anyone feel bad. I was just confused. Our Gurdwara Sahib is small/not a lot of sewadars so our langar is really just at lunch-time, so I was really just confused because I had forgotten langar runs all day in other places.

strongKaur ( 2017-06-29 21:34:34 -0500 )edit

so i was uncertain about why we were doing things differently because here no one goes to eat langar first, but i guess it makes sense just based on resources.

strongKaur ( 2017-06-29 21:36:21 -0500 )edit

and i liked the part where you mention we all have our own paths because i think that's key here. Waheguru understands all, whether we are going to eat langar earlier or later!

strongKaur ( 2017-06-29 21:39:23 -0500 )edit

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Do we eat langar first or afterwards?

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