Harps

unless you need ASP or .NET linux will almost always be a better solution

hmmmmmmmmmm i dunno gut feeling says its wrong to call anybody vaheguru but vaheguru him/her self. but i dont know if theres anyything actually "against Sikhi" about her name.

Th world is growing less spiritual - its a problem happening in every religion u can name - but we need to be pro active rather than reactive in our stance as u said. I hope summat can be done to make life better for our children but im afraid it looks like it will become worse before it becomes better

Theres no point blasting ppl for not "looking the part" the bigger issue is getting ppl to "be the part". Concentrate on the external after u have looked after the internal.

If ppl confude the message with the messenger then there is a problem. Believe the message if it speaks to u but belief IN a particular person and expecting them to be ur intermidiary to God is wrong. I dunno i havent seen an y so called "saints" let anybody touch ther feet or anything if I saw a "saint" allowing ppl to do that then yes i woul;d have issue with it. Respect them for the knowledge they have and the knowledge they impart and the message they give - but like i said at the top - its all about the message not the messenger/interpreter.

I look forwad to them

We are going to have to learn to live with the fact that there is going to be many more ppl calling themselves Sikhs than there are living the Sikh lifestyle. All we can do is educate the youth - starting as young as possible as to the beuty and wonder of their own fathj and ask them to embrace it. At the moment most ppl talking to the youth have there heads so far up there own asses its a wonder they can see anything at all. They usually rant on about ppl betraying there guru and the evils of cutting there hair and blah blah blah. We have to learn to preach without patronising and showing compassion to our audience - u want them to feel good about going to talks and lectures not make them feel guilty cos they had a beverley the night before or have cut hair. U need to inspire them intio Sikhi not scare them into it and lead by example. To many ego's and way to much hypocrisy in our current crop of "bible bashing" preachers. I would advise anybody to go to any talk where "Bhai Roop Singh" is attending - he has to be the best inspiration to the Sikh youth ive ever seen - ive seen hioma couple of times and everytime i come back feeling glad i went witha few things to think about in my head - in one word hes a DUDE !!! we need more ppl willing to inspire the youth rather than piss them off by preaching AT them thats my opinion anyway :$

Cos like it or not we live in a patriarchical society and the world is full of hypocrites

I think that from what i have seen of ghatkha displays and what i have seen of the stuff on there site they rightly look down on ghathka as opposed to shatervidya. Its the same as a trained sniper looking down at a dude in a circus shooting at baloons that are tied to some scantily clad birds writss or summat equally inane. Shastarvidya (I know ii always spell it wrong) is a lethal art - its about f*cking up th other guy in the shortestt possible time so u go onto the next one - it dont always look as beutifull and awe inspring as sword twirling - but if i was in a battle I know whod id prefer to have on my side - the dude who knows how to kill the enemy in a few well executed manouvers rather than the dude who looks pretty twirling his ornate blunt sword. but i share ur concerns as to how they are fighting and the validity of the techniques today. Back in the day soldiers were taught how to use rapiers and broadswords etc - because it was teh main hand to hand weapon of the time. Nowadays u have a short course with a bayonet and the rest of the training with fire arms becasue that is what is used today. Yes i know a dude screaming akal akal sat sri akal with a sword in each hand cutting a swathe through the unrighteous is a better image than the same dude pulling out a glock and putting some bullets in the x ring. but if they truly are soldiers shouldnt they move with the times ??? Like i say i have more questions than i have knowledge on this stuff so id love to hear the opinions of a nihang who knows his/her stuff - but at the mo all i got is doubts in my head and respect in my heart.

I wonder the exact same things Steel bangle. Also if u take a drug regularly u start to build up a tolerance to this - wouldnt this then negate the point of using it ina battle ???? e.g. just say a soldier is hooked on morphine as a drug - and then needs itt on the battle field after being injured - the amount of morphione that would normally give him pain relief for say 5 hours - what if that only lasted 3 cos hes built up a tolerance to it ???? hmmmm - makes u wonder why u should take a drug like that at all recreationally.

I agree a lot with u sikh_fauge the info on the site is certainly an eye opener and may contain a lot of truth - but the style of writting to me is unnecassarily confrontational and is more divisive than inclusive. I think ur confusing there belief structure here - sikhs dont believe in any particular god we beleive in a primal force/being creator of the universe and guiding hand for it etc etc etc - the name of the god matters not - if i decided to call god "super duper awsome fabulous being who rules eternity" its the same as u saying god or a muslim saying "Allah" it is belief in the one god - u cant believe in a "different god" cos there arent any "different gods" just different facets ofthe same god. After talking to Hindus and doing a bit of reading i found that Hindu's dont believe in multiple seperate gods but that all the "gods" are different facets of a one god - just put into manageable portions for there minds to try and comprehend. I hate it when sikhs bang on about "idol worshipping hindu's and millions of gods" cos they dont realise where these beliefs stem from and how they are part of the Hindu way of life.

I agree with the article writer 100 % - Gurdwara's shouldnt be grim austere places where all we do is pray - it should be a social hub where we meet friends shoot the breeze and in general make connections with our fellow man. I remeber half the reason y i wanted to go gurdwara as a kid was to hook up with my friends there and to socialise - and along the way a great deal of knowledge about my faith rubbed off on me. A gurdwara should IMHO be the social hub of the sikh community and serve the community as well as being served by it.

Ur wrong there are african singhs and every other colour under the son singhs - the only Singhs i aint seen a re oriental singhs - but just cos i havent seen them doesnt mean they dont exist. Sikhi isnt a missionary faith - we have no concept of other religions being in anyway inferior to our own and we dont believe in any sort of hell that unbelievers will be sent to - Also we gain no "browny points" In beinging other ppl to our faith - all we can do is show ppl our path they are welcome to take it if they wish to do so or welcome to pass by if they wish to do so - its a religion without compulsion. I see the future of Sikhi being like christianity - an awfull lot of "in name only" sikhs and a core of stromg devout Sikhs. as to what will happen in the future or how big this core group will be all depends on one thing - our ability to educate our children and teach them the beuty of there own faith so they embrace it. as Tony Blair (an A grade tosser) once said ...... EDUCATION EDUCATION EDUCATION

Cheers Kaal - very enlightening

Yes there is a word for said men when it comes to fighting battles they are called "beserkers" and are almost always put in the vanguard in historic battles - cos they are killingmachines - they dont feel register pain they dont think they are killing machines - but as anybody who has studied history and battles will know they ALWAYS fall before a tight well disciplined military force - it is how some of the most feared fighters of ther times - the goths and the celts were defeated by the romans. A soldier who is well trained well provided for and thinking clearly is almost always more use to an army than a besrker. Ur post smacks of somebody who has read a few to many fairy stories and hasnt dosed up on reality recently. Although i in no way condone the recreational use of any drug it is obvious to anybody living in the real world the use of said drugs in a bttle field scenario. Sikhi is based on the real world and is a religion for this real world so we shouldnt loud our heads with mysticism or ur gonna have a bloody rude awakening of u ever fight on that type of batlle field. Feeling pain and dealing with pain is built into us and when we let it go we lose part of our humanity. Real men recognise there weaknesses lad and seek to overcome them. welcome to the real world

Nice to see u warrior and Loony Im gonna be the coconut i am and say - i just blast wotever music suits my mood at the time - thast what gets me through it :$ I find it really hard sitting and concentrating hearing a shabad.

OK - maybe a bit off topic but i think it relates - wot is the difference between a kachera and apair of white cotton boxers witha nala ????

Hair is living tissues - the end of ur nails are dead tissue. The same justification that says u use soap and have a bath to get rid of the dead skin and dirt on ur body is used to trim ur nails.

Although I disagree with the way Grewal worded his posting, I dont really disagree with the message. Our gurdwaras now seem to have become temples of Ego with ppl vying to see whose Ego is biggest while the quiet sevadars who get on and do the job are forgotten - there is however an exeption i have seen to this growing trend which is the nishkam sevak jatha Gurdwara in birmingham where all the sevadars theer seem to be doing what they do out of love - however u can still c lackeys and ass lickers (excuse the language) saying a lot and doing a little around the place. Being a comittee member is doing seva and these "pardhaans" should be humble and do there seva with humility rather than bigging themselves up 24/7. As i keep saying Sikhi seems to be awash with ppl thinking that wearring a badge makes u suddenly a better person who lack the spirit of Sikhi but make up for it with copious amounts of hot air. The more inviting and stimulating we make a gurdwara the more eager kids and youngsters will be to join in and learn about there heritage - half the sermos u see nopwadays are ppl with there own agendas kicking off regarding some cause or another. The gurdwara should like the gurdwara comittee serve the sikh sangat who in tern serve the gurdwara and the comitee - its is a relaitionship of trust and communal spirit. I dont see things changing quickly tho - and that saddens me deeply

hmmm u may find the bhaterrey serving meat disrespectfull but I think the main reason the Sikh langar is vegetarian if to make sure ANYBODY can partake of it. I did read somewhere that the original Langars didnt have onions or carrots as part of the langar as these root vegetables arent allowed to be consummed by the Jain faith (Feel free to correct me on that i aint 100 % sure thast true) As for the caste system we all know its bukwaas but as long as we keep perpertrating its ills and teaching it to our children it will remian,

Ive been told it was the battle standard for bhandha bahadhur - I dont know the definitive truth.

I think ppl are arguing over semantics here - I think what Sikh_Soulja meant is that ppl break there amrit vows rather than breaking the concept and institution of "amrit" itself. *agrees with kaur @ gurus feet*

Sikhi is ur personal path to the guru and god it is more a way of life than just a religion. at the mo Sikhs seem obsessed with "rules" which is the "west" in us thinking. sikhi isnt a basis of rules and stipulations that u live by or u cant get into a heaven its a way of life showing us how to be better human beings for ourselves and our fellow man. With this obsession with rules has come an obsession with those being slightly different and in our eyes breaking those said rules. All religions and ways of life will evolve over time and we must change with them without shedding the core of our faith. Instead of baging on about how bad our neighbours are we should start looking at we can do for ourselves to make us better ppl. Personally i think some of the expenditure going into Gurdwara's borders on the obscene - The queen recently visited a gurdwara here in leicester and was presented with a ceremonial sword that cost an arm and a leg to have made. I thought this andother superficial improvements to the gurdwara to be a complete waste of money - its all about style over content now which IMHO is the complete opposite of what Sikhi is all about. I reckon god and the Guru would have been much happier if this money was spent on feeding the homeless and educating ourselves rather than uneccesarry extravagance. I could not agree more with that statement. As for divisions in the panth in particular i agaian believe we should educate ppl and allow them to make there own choices as far as i am aware there is no "penalty" for apostasy in the Sikh faith so why should we be concerend what somebody else says or does to achieve one ness with the almighty ??? I say if ur a Sikh be a good Sikh - but if u aint then be the best in wotever spiritual path u care to follow. Much to much emphasis is put on labels and badges nowadays that we are remebering the letter of Sikh law and heritage but not its spirit - and without that spirit Sikhi is dead in the water

The pictures were all done in hindsite = as far as i am aware there were no portraits done of any of the gurus ever - and everything we see now is an "artists impression".

Ive had a quick skim read of that thread - will save heftier delibberations for when im less sleepy *LOL* but personally speaking i take all such preictions with a grain of salt and no offence meant but i take everything the Yogi says with a pich of salt to. Sikhi to me aint about mistics and miracles its earthy and real worldly. I beleive sikhi is really in a place where it is in a crisis if faith due to the large amount of ppl calling themselves sikhs but knowing nothing of sikhi. If we can save Sikhi from this precipice then with Gods grace we may end up gaining temporal power etc. But like i said im a hardcore sceptic