amardeep

The Akal Thakht jathedar has made a proclamation yesterday that it’s the religious duty of Sikhs to protect Kashmiri girls from rape and violence all over India.

Robin rinehard alludes to it briefly in her Dasam Granth analysis along the panchtantra, hitupdesha. I was reading pyara singh padam’a analysis of CP yesterday and he is the first author I’ve seen who says some of the charitars have their basis in the Arabian nights (as we’ve discussed here on the forum years ago). He doesn’t mention which charitars unfortunately.

Fantastic, thanks for sharing !

Thank you very much for sharing these on the forum.

True. It seems so embedded within many Sikhs in the west to use western concepts that one rarely thinks about the long term damage. Basics of Sikhi is quite keen to introduce Sikh vocabulary to the English language such that people stop saying Sikh temple, free food institution, baptism, holy book, ceremonial dagger and whatever else is used. Words create reality, and language is power

Thanks for sharing this article. To reflect upon and try to understand the word dharma is a key aspect of implementing sikhi as it provides you a natural role in the world surrounding us. Dharma is that which grounds us.

Yes I did a few weeks ago

A fantastic book. A collectors item

Also It’s a puzzling charitar since it doesn’t contain much of a plot. Maybe the purpose is different here. In general there haven’t been that many charitars on or references to Brahmins so far. Even though the frame story has a Brahmin involved (Hunuwant’s teacher). Maybe it’s slowly by slowly alerting the king to be conscious of the teacher. Let’s see if there is a greater presence of Brahmins onwards, this might get really interesting.

Deen also means poor/downtrodden in Sanskrit. You see a lot of hindu braj Bhasha poets playing with that word when describing the Mughal-Maratha wars ie. Shivaji was fighting for deen (downtrodden Hindus) by destroying deen (Islamic religion).

Has any serious study been made of this Granth - year of Origin, authorship etc.

Good find Chatanga. A new book has been published on the history of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, maybe it contains some info also. I’ve recieved my copy and will post if there is any interesting info from Afghan sources on their rule over Afghan sikhs in Pashto areas and Punjab. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Afghan-Hindus-Sikhs-Inderjeet-Singh/dp/9385854380

The 5 khands are the most fascinating topic in Sikhi

Let’s see- is your silence due to there not being any evidence ?

A bond man is a slave, not an employee. But fair enough keep justifying slavery all you want.

Lol you are indeed a great ambassador for Christ. Slamming people for being obsessed by Satan and the devil and then say come accept Christ. Lol. Thanks for the experience of Christian missionary types. It’s always odd

Yeah I was a talking about yes and no questions - not whether there are right and wrongs answers. These are two different things, stop attributing words to me that I didn say. What kind Of weird way of debating is that? The devil inside me? Dude this is too weird for me. I’m out. Maybe someone else wants to continue.

When did I say there is no right and wrong answer? You jump all over the place, this is getting weirder and weirder.

I made a post on Jesus - feel free to answer Therein when you have time

Hi Letssee With a Christian on the forum I would like to hear more about the crucifixion of Jesus. If salvation is based on the belief of a historical event - the crucifixion and the resurrection - are there then any contemporary sources outside the bible that actually confirm that this event ever took place ? If not, why do Christians put so much emphasis on this event if it cannot be proven that it ever happened ?

Did you even read those passages you copy pasted. The verse begins by saying “Those who receive His Mercy obtain the True One”. This is the aspect of grace. Yes people are esentually good in nature. No such thing as original sin. Whether the individual Sikh believes he is good or not differs, but thinking that you’re good is not a nice trait to have. It makes you proud, boosts your ego and probably limits you from trying to do further voluntary work (I’m good hence I don’t need to do more) stop saying according to Sikhism - it’s only according to your reading of things. I haven’t been struggling with anything in the above. Surely sikhi makes sense but if you’re looking for yes and no answers to all questions then you will have a hard time understanding Sikhi.

If you want to think in binary terms of black and white then Sikhi doesn’t fit into that and you will have a very hard time grasping what Sikhi is about. Sikhi often takes a position of the middle path - it combines body and soul, the secular with the spiritual, intention with action, faith with action, politics with devotion etc etc. It’s never “either this or that” as you say So no, someone who thinks they’re a good person and boasts about it will not receive any good for his deed. Gurbani compares this to an elephant that has just bathed in a river and then goes rolling in the mud. You just did something good and now you’re defiling yourself with pride. Keeping the pride in check and empowering humility is another aspect of Sikhi. This is not about me not wanting to admit anything. Why would I want to hide anything under the carpet ? It’s not a competition (not that I cheat in competitions lol) As a Sikh you should strive to do good at all times. Does this mean that the individual Sikh do good 24/7 ? No of course not. But trying to implement a lifestyle of doing good, worship, sharing your food, sharing your wealth, spending time with voluntary work is the ideal lifestyle of a Sikh And what they are to strive for.

Yes that’s the essence of it but there is also the aspect of Gods grace. There are more nuances. Like I said - it’s not a mathematical formula where you do X amounts of deeds and then you’re granted liberation. Gurprasaad (grace) is also an aspect - a person doing all the good deeds will not automatically get liberation if his intentions were that of a merchant or he got arrogant and kept posting selfies whenever he did a good deed - then Gods grace is not on that person. And that’s why I agreed with your quote.

“It's been my experience, that people will be more humble, when they know it's all down to the Saviour, than when they think they themselves are good people and, eg, helped the old lady on to the bus (and etc).“ exactly. This is also the position of Sikhi. Can you tell more about paradise. There are some traditions/interpretations within sikhi and Sufism where people will say “actions and what’s on the outside doesn’t matter. It’s what’s inside of the heart that matters”. I have friends like this and often wonder about those interpretations. I’m not saying they’re bad peope, but it’s a fun way of diverting away from the scriptural principles.

But what is the correlation between genuinely believing that Jesus was your savour and died on the cross - and living a moral life? And why should a Christian live without sin if he is already saved? For the masses of people wont that just create a situation where they at some point will relapse to sin ? you mention a deficit of rewards in paradise. What do you get in paradise? And what is the difference between what people get ?