Maha Singh

Its a video, you should be able to watch it without being a member of facebook.

Nihang Niddar Singh on Loh Mushti http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26608290120&v=wall

My point was not that marksmanship doesnt have higher levels of skill, all forms of arts can be taken to whatever degree you wish, whether it be music, painting, dancing, fighting etc. My point was that after a small amount of training (6 months - 1 yr) a person can become competent in killing with a gun, whereas a sword takes longer to master because of the expression behind the art, body shifting, footwork, balance and co-ordination. Not taking anything away from the top marksmen at all, I can appreciate how much effort they put into their training.

Ive always liked this Singhs artwork, hes very talented and passionate about drawing/painting/photography, and he is capable of doin the style your talking about. He may even be involved in some kind of similar project already. http://www.durhailay.com

Chatanga, my advice would be to pop into each school and check out the teaching before you commit to anything, the art, and the environment and see if it suits you and your son. If you do intend to come to SV, Fridays will be best as there is a large amount of younger children who train in the beginners classes so he will have someone to partner off with.

7 is the ideal age for a child to begin learning Shastarvidiya, normally children are brought in at the age of 3 and left in the akhara to just stay in the environment and witness the training. Over the years they will automatically begin picking up techniques and principles. At the age of 6 their formal training starts by teaching them basic blocks and defence, the teaching is more self defence and techniques such as neck breaks, spinal twists, eye gouging, ripping throats etc are not taught. Instead they are taught techniques which are effective enough to end a fight quickly, but are also told of the consequences of fighting and the principle of avoiding fights if possible so it will keep them safe in school. As they pick up the basics they begin learning each of the Khat Ang year by year and then move onto Jang techniques, sparring against others, and then by the age of 16ish they would have done enough training to begin on the classical side of the art and battlefield strategies. I wont comment on Shin Kin because ive never trained in it, ive trained with some students of Shin Kin however.

Rather then entertain such conversation to stimulate the small minds of such people, its best to actually get them to start training and then show them how little they know. Humbling someone to appreciate the arts is better then conversation, something which most egotistical beginers are experts at.

Bhujangi is a title given to the highest accomplished warriors, it is normally given to children so that they can aspire to become Bhujangis.

Videos of the weekend can also be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26608290120&v=app_2392950137

Convictions definitly help people along the path, it provides them with what you could call the fruits of their bandgi and simran. There are those who may desire an experience and they will never achieve it, but those who do their bangdi with sacha mann and no desire for reward, just the fact that they are doing pooja of something which is essentially a mystery, but a force within them makes them seach for this aatma within, these people will achieve some form of "reward", it is easy to be distracted by them and let them overtake ur bandgi, and make you just stop there, however longer dedication will provide higher concepts of thought and realisation of the manifest world, allowing the person to aim for an infinite rather than a finite. Its when you experience these that you are 100% convinced of a higher inner power, the lord of the world and creation that every day is a new revelation to the leela of akaal purakh.

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The fact that it takes a lifetime of training to become the ultimate swordsman, the finesse and expression, accuracy of movement, appreciation of timing and angles makes it the hardest but highest form of combat, this appreciation made warriors worship their weapons because they would spend so much time with them in order to master them, providing a natural form of pooja where the sword is revered and worshipped. A gun on the other hand is not a high skill to use, training through repetition of aiming and shooting will quickly let you get kills and so it isnt hard to become a competant marksman. Its not so much the industrial age, when people stopped training in swordsmanship, their pooja to their weapons will also stop. Go to any real sword school, and you will find they all do some form of pooja to their weapons.

Thanks for adding your comment Shaheediyan.

Most of the old school Gora FMA Grandmasters are ex military, SAS, Marines and Special Forces who were based in Philipines, Malaisia etc during conflicts. There is shastarpooja within FMA circles also, where they "cleanse" the weapon before making it their own, through ritual worship, training, sharpening and polishing the blades, and also they carry different types of taveets and talismans for protection.

Amardeep, if effective fighting to you means banging swords, jumping and huge movements then that's why you cant appreciate what is being shown on the video. SV is subtle and kills come instantly, rushing in will get you sliced open as every single weapon there is live and razor sharp, if the students are freezing its because they have accepted already that their attempt has been countered and in reality they would have been killed. In short, the angles are being cut so finely that maybe you cant appreciate it, it was a martial arts seminar with other martial artists there who could. I believe the only non-biased member of this board who has a good understanding of martial arts and knife/sword work is Shaheediyan, maybe he would like to provide his comments. The best way for you to see how hard it is to do this art is to have a go yourself at the Akharas.

That stuff isnt very good for the price hes asking. Unless your really rich, save your cash.

I believe the episode will be repeated again on History Channel at 9:00pm tonight.

Have a look at the video on the above channel, or the Shastarvidiya channel and tell us what part is copied from Kung Fu. Also put up other Kung Fu videos and show how Niddar Singh has used the exact same movement, technique, and strikes. If in your belief Niddar Singh is merely doing Kung Fu, Martial Arts experts would see right through his facade, however in the recent demonstrations to the western world, Niddar Singh has astounded and gained high respect amongst Ninjitsu, Philipino and Samurai swordsmen. Or is it that your knowledge of martial arts is much greater then those practitioners who are world renowned masters with over 40 yrs experience in the field of martial arts?

Great example of Gatka http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnRoAhojxQY

Sorry guys, try this link instead http://www.youtube.com/user/dumallawalasingh

Some videos of 2 of the demonstrations from the Sunday Show can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=dumallawalasingh

Here is the full episode http://www.xepisodes.com/southpark/episodes/504/Super-Best-Friends.html

Why not just read it?

The Gobind Gita has translated chapters of the Bhagavat Gita, with commentary at the end of each chapter by Guru Gobind Singh. The Gobind Gita is one of the surviving texts from the Vidiya Sagar Granth.