singhstation

1 Submission to the Will of God (WAHEGURU) Guru Nanak Dev ji gave the message of “Hukam Rajayee Chalna Nanak Likheya Naal“. Guru Nanak Dev ji says that everything happens by God’s Grace, so Rest assured that God knows better what is right or wrong for us. We should, therefore, accept His decisions without any grudge or question. 2. There is One God Guru Nanak Dev ji said, ” I am neither Hindu Nor Muslim, I am a follower of god”, which actually spoke about his belief in one god. In Sikhism, the god is omnipresent, shapeless, timeless, and sightless. ( Nirankar, akar, alakh). Sikhism stress that, before creation there was God, and because of His will ( Hukam), the Illusion ( maya of attachment and enticement) came into being. The God in Sikhism is not male/female, and can only be seen through inward eye. Guru Nanak Dev ji explained one thing clearly that there is only One who gives to Everyone and we should not forget to Him. The Guru stressed that full knowledge of god is impossible in human form. 3. Goodwill for all – SARBAT DAA BHALAA Guru Nanak dev ji passed the message of Universal brotherhood. He said that religion is not mere consistence of words but actually looks all men and women equally. Universal brotherhood is a strong theme in Gurbani written by Guru Nanak Dev ji. In our prayer, we say this line towards the end of daily Ardaas – “Nanak Naam Chardi Kala Tere Bhane Sarbat da bhala”, which can be translated as “Nanak asks for ‘Naam’ (name of God) with which comes well being, happiness and positive spirit and with your blessings, Lord may everyone in the world prosper and be in peace“ or can be broken down as: Nanak, With Naam comes Chardi Kala and with your blessings, may there be peace for all We request Him for the welfare of the whole humanity and not just of our community or our family alone. 4. SACH SUNAISI SACH KEE BELA – (to speak the truth) Guru Nanak Dev Ji told in front of King Babar “You are not Babar but JABAR”. We should always speak the truth without any fear. According to the Guru’s doctrine, the victory of truth is not dependent on ending or suppressing falsehood but in standing firmly by truth. That is why Guru Nanak Dev ji exhorts that to stick to truth and to remain on the side of truth when it is necessary is very essential – Sach ki bani Nanak aakhai sach sunaisi sach ki bela I have related the true Word of the True Lord as per His Will. 5. SEWA AND SIMRAN Guru Nanak says that no one can save anybody else. It is only Guru who guides us to safety, and to be saved, one have to follow the right path of SEWA and SIMRAN told by him. Further the Guru is not to be found in big palaces, he lives with poor. Let us love the poor, God will bless us. If we recite Gurbani with love, we will find the Guru is speaking to us. We have been reminded of his observations many times in our life. When we barely make both ends meet, we are usually sincerely devoted to GURBANI and the Sikh way of life. But when we have excess money to spend on worldly pleasures we follow vices and ignore the real mission of human life. DHARAM is usually the first casualty when we become rich. About SEWA Gurbani explains: (In the midst of this world, do SEWA and you shall be given a place of honour in the Court of the Lord) 6 The three Principals Vand Chako: Sharing with others, helping those with less who are in need Kirat Karo: Earning/making a living honestly, without exploitation or fraud Naam Japna: Chanting the Holy Name and thus remembering God at all times (ceaseless devotion to God) 7 Shun five Evils GuruNanak Dev Ji asked his followers to shun five evils which leads to illusion ( maya) which eventually acts as roadblock towards attainment of salvation. The five evils are Ego, Anger, Greed, Attachment and Lust. 8 Importance of Guru Guru Nanak Dev ji lay great emphasis on having the importance of Guru in one’s life. He put forward the thought that salvation occurs not from pilgrimage or rites etc, but through heart, spirit and soul. For this to happen continuous seeking of knowledge must take place which is dependent on one’s guru. Guru according to him is the voice of the god, the true source of knowledge and salvation. 9. No Discrimination Guru Nanak Dev ji was strongly against all artificially created divisions and all discrimination, both in word and deed. He said that the caste of a person is based on what he does. His idea of a caste-free society transpired also in his concepts of Sangat and Pangat. 10. Against Rituals/Superstitions Guru Nanak Dev Ji preached against superstitions, false rituals, worship of demi-gods and goddesses. He stressed that only One God, the Formless, is to be glorified. In this way, he showed the path of truth and enlightenment. Source: http://singhstation.net/2014/11/top-10-key-lessons-teachings-from-guru-nanak-dev-ji-life/

Yoddha is the latest Punjabi movie with a huge star-cast. The Sadda Haq famed Kuljinder Singh Sidhu is back again with one fine Punjabi film. Yoddha is a fast paced movie packed with action sequences and some very good with huge appeal dialogues. Kuljinder Singh Sidhu is really the man to watch in the movie he packs a punch with every dialogue and Rahul Dev is impeccable in the movie and other just stars have lend a great job with the film. The action director Mahendra Verma have done a great job with film. The Movie no doubt is a great Pollywood movie but the way its getting popularity as a Sikh Movie, Lets see how far the movie have gone with that. For some though it MIGHT NOT be a BIG or Small issue, but as a Sikh the movie cant be rated as a family movie. There have been so many scenes shown in this Punjabi movie where the movie characters have been smoking. The movie industry [should] treat smoking like it treats profanity and sex and violence. It was sad to see Dinesh Soodh (even though he is not a Sikh but producing Sikh Movies) smoking in his small Guest appearance role in the movie. There has already been going a lot to even ban smoking in Bollywood movies, so in that instance screening Smoking scenes in a Pollywood movie (with some touch on Sikhi Corner) is really a big question mark on this movie? Moving further, the movie is basically shown as a revenge movie where an ordinary NRI person Ronnie turns to Ranjodh Singh after meeting with Singhs of Damdami Taksal Jatha. The movie portrays how the character playing Shingara Singh, the chief of Damdami Taksal Jatha in the movie motivates and teaches Ronnie to take Amrit di daat and become Ranjodh Singh. However when Ranjodh Singh alias Ronnie goes back to him saying that “Baba ji mein badla lena chahunda han (Baba ji, I want to take revenge)”, there are no concerns raised by the Shingara Singh and instead encourages him further. The fight of Ranjodh Singh has purely been shown up as a personal revenge rather than a fight against Tyranny. As par Sikhism, To raise the sword after all peaceful means have been exhausted also speak to the ideal of justice, in which a stepwise process is taken up to attempt to exact justice by all available means possible. Guru Gobind Singh Ji dispatched Bhai Gurbaksh Singh (Banda Singh Bahadur) when he knew that no punishment would ever be meted out to the perpetrators of the war crime against the Chhote Sahibzadae – the crime was the mercilessly torture and killing of children, which is a violation of any religious ethic. So in that context this is a question if such a person can be called “Yoddha” in Sikhi? The Last fight scene of the movie was the most disturbing. The movie shows that before taking on Rahul Dev, Kuljinder Sidhu removes his Vest and also take off Gatra and keeps it aside after Matha Tek. This was really disturbing as why the Gatra needed to be removed off? For an Amritdhari Sikh, his kakars goes with him till the end of his life. To summarize, Yoddha is a much better attempt to show turbaned Sikhs on the Big Screen , however the movie and the characters especially Kuljinder Sidhu should not be taken as Sikh Models. They are simply Movie characters and are playing their characters only. They might be doing a great job at screen to better portray as Sikhi characters but Remember Sikhi is “khaneo tikhi walo nikki“. Source: http://singhstation.net/2014/11/review-yodha-warrior-punjabi-film-sikhi-perspective/

AMRITSAR: AISSF President Karnail Singh Peermohammad, 1984 Genocide victim and witness Bibi Jagdish Kaur, Bibi Manjit Kaur, head sewadar of Bhai Fauja Singh Trust along with 50 people have been rounded up by the police here today from the city Bus Stand when they were attempting to prevent State Transport buses to hit on roads. All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) and Sikh Students Federation Mehta (SSF) gave a call for ‘Punjab Bandh” on November 1st. Decrying the move, Bibi Jagdish Kaur said “We wanted to observe this day as a Black Day today after 30 years in a peaceful manner to give the message that we haven’t got justice. But what kind of justice is this that they picked up people and put them in police vans and arrested them. We wanted all religions and the political parties to support our silent protest.” “The government is really the culprit and is to be blamed. They have kept our hopes alive with fake promises. And today we were protesting in a peaceful manner but were arrested for which the government is also to be blamed,” she added. Taking a strong exception to the arrests of AISSF President Karnail Singh Peermohammad and Bibi Jagdish Kaur by the Badal government, “Sikhs For Justice” (SFJ) a US based human rights group gave a call to boycott the members of the SAD (Badal) during their planned visits to North America and European Union. “The arbitrary arrests of victims who planned to highlight the denial of justice and impunity to those who organized 1984 killing of Sikhs has exposed the SAD (Badal) which have been just using the issue of Sikh genocide to garner votes during elections. The Badal government’s action on 30th year of Sikh Genocide clearly defines why justice has eluded the 1984 victims for the last thirty years” stated attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Legal Advisor, SFJ. It is notable that despite arrests of prominent leaders, Amritsar city witnessed complete shut down today. According to areport by Hindustan Times, rail traffic remained normal till afternoon, however the city witnessed total bandh as educational institutions, shops and most of commercial establishments remained closed. http://singhstation.net/2014/11/punjab-bandh-call-aissf-president-karnail-singh-peermohammad-bibi-jagdish-kaur-arrested/

Halloween and All Saints day are poignant reminders to Sikhs of the 1984 Delhi Massacre. Many thousands of Sikhs lost their lives in the Delhi riots following the assassination of Indira Ghandi in retaliation for her 1984 June attack on the Sikhs in the Golden Temple. On October 31, 1984, marauding mobs bent on mayhem and murder caroused through the streets carrying clubs, knives, and kerosene randomly killing Sikhs. On November 1, 1984, the rioting spread like flames being fanned by a hot wind. The carnage lasted four days before efforts were made to bring the bloodshed under control. Police looked the other way or stood by watching innocent families butchered. No one has ever been held accountable. On this day, Indira Gandhi was executed by Shaheed Beant Singh and Shaheed Satwant Singh. Since Indira Gandhi died on Halloween Day, 1984, as a punishment for all the terrible things she did, we believe she was turned by the gods and goddesses of India into Indiro, the Wicked Witch of the East. She now forever roams around in the dark of the night, riding her broom, looking for Sikhs to apologize to. But on Halloween night, she specially comes up to the surface from the hell below, and she can be seen and heard hiding and cackling in the trees, if you look very close. We now commemorate the victory of good over evil in celebrating Indiro’s annual journey from hell and back to hell every Halloween by making Indro masks and dressing up like her – the Wicked Witch of the East – and haunting the neighbourhood. On this day, we should remember the sacrifice of our Shaheeds for the Sikh nation and perhaps celebrate the fact that such people have existed (and We believe still exist) among those in Guru Khalsa Panth. Happy Halloween Day to all Sikhs http://singhstation.net/2014/10/halloween-day-sikh-genocide-1984/