BhagatSingh

Some of them can be witty. During the time when terror was unleashed in Punjab and youth were being rounded up and beaten mercilessly by the police, there was one case of a suspected militant leader who, despite being beaten for one week, wouldn't utter a word. At the end of one week, he announced one day he would talk but first they must treat him well. "I want my body to be massaged with oil, and feed me well if you really want me to talk." They did all that and then said "Now, talk!". "OK, I am ready, you can beat me for another week now, no problem! http://www.sikhchic.com/article-detail.php?id=1823&cat=28

Do you know of any witty Muslim or Santa-banta jokes?

Lol

Pranayam is "extending the breath" ie using the breath to access higher states of consciousness. At the most basic level pranayam is breathing exercise. But eventually with the help of the excerise and spiritual discourse, you can learn to take your breath and pierce it through the chakras. Like the bellows you can pump energy that is in your body to higher and higher levels. It travels up the spine, activating the chakras in teh body, and goes straight up into the crown chakra/dasam duar. But anyways, coming back to the video. Baba Ramdev ji teaches yoga, and pranayam is one aspect of yoga. He teaches kriyas, asanas, pranayam, home remedies, etc. It's amazing. He has had so much influence that nowadays many people in India and abroad have started doing pranayam. This is great because even those who lack flexibility or have joint pain or arthiritis, who cannot exercise or hold asanas, can practice it and stay fit. Pranayam is great because at the basic level it lowers stress thus strengthens immune response, creates healthy blood pressure, etc.

LOL But he seems to be oblivious to the benefits of turmeric, ajwain and pranayam.

Sat It's possible to be in the presence of both Wahguru and loved ones. It is important to spend time with loved ones. If your wife is always complaining that you are not spending time with her then it would be a good idea to spend more time with her. The time you do spend however should be of highest quality and now that you do simran, it should be much easier to pull off. The way you devote full attention to simran when you listen to the mantra, give your full attention to your wife and other loved ones when you are with them. It is very easy to see Waheguru in loved ones (it is also very easy to forget Waheguru amongst them). They will gossip and tell you things, overwhelm you with emotion even, you have to let them do that but not become entangled with it. If they say something about you or your dharam, don't become defensive, instead just listen to what they say. You have to be like Waheguru. ਹਰਿ ਜਨੁ ਐਸਾ ਚਾਹੀਐ ਜੈਸਾ ਹਰਿ ਹੀ ਹੋਇ ॥੧੪੯॥ The servant of Hari should be just like Hari. Imagine all teh qualities of Shri Hari and that's how you should be in the presence of loved ones. He comes when you call Him. He does not become entangled in your thoughts and emotions but always listens attentively. He does not become defensive when someone misunderstands Him. And so on. There's a book that I think will help with grihasti life immensely. http://www.amazon.ca/Way-Superior-Man-Spiritual-Challenges/dp/1591792576/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375365453&sr=8-1&keywords=the+way+of+the+superior+man

The key is the guru and his bani (which are one and the same "bani guru guru hai bani, vich bani amrit sare"), and practice of the bani, which would be done through meditation hence the shabad by Bhagat Kabir: kunjee kulaf praan kar raakhae karathae baar n laaee the breath is the key that pierces and opens the lock, chakras. But only when it is guided by bani. Everyone breathes but they don't become enlightened by just breathing.

Then try to find the source of joy that is not dependent on any external circumstance and bring that into those joyless activities.

Yeah back then they thought that they were going to eventually die from a great flood, that one day the earth would be consumed by water. This is because sea level was rising and Dwarika where Krishan ji was born had drowned. Water now covers the land on which the city was built. After the city drowned, they later built a new one near the old one. Anyways because some places had drowned they thought that this would ultimately happen to every other place on earth as well. So Guru Sahib says water gives birth to everything, it destroys everything and it quenches your thirst when you drink it but even holding such extraordinary power, it cannot purify your consciousness.

ਗੁਰੁ ਕੁੰਜੀ ਪਾਹੂ ਨਿਵਲੁ ਮਨੁ ਕੋਠਾ ਤਨੁ ਛਤਿ ॥ Guru is the key, ignorance is the lock, the mind is the house, the body is the ceiling. ਨਾਨਕ ਗੁਰ ਬਿਨੁ ਮਨ ਕਾ ਤਾਕੁ ਨ ਉਘੜੈ ਅਵਰ ਨ ਕੁੰਜੀ ਹਥਿ ॥੧॥ Guru Angad Dev ji says without the guru (the key to the lock of ignorance) the door to the mind does not open. No one else has the key. It's not talking about a physical location on the body. It's comparing the human to a house, where the room inside (the mind) is enclosed by the body. And this house is locked because the individual is engrossed in maya, is ignorant. Only a guru can enlighten and take away the ignorance, and teach you how to live in maya like a lotus in the mud.

Lol thanks. I'm glad you got something out of it veeray.

Dally It's great that you noticed the Bhagat Dhanna ji's sakhi as that is very much part of Bhagti Marg. As you say the Bhagti marg is not a free for all in terms of the traditions involved. It is quite specific, it includes the following: 1 sarvan - listening to stories of Hari 2 kirtan- singing praises 3 simran - remembering 4 pad seva - seva of Hari's feet 5 archa - worship Hari's image 6 vandana - to bow to Hari 7 dasya - to become His servant 8 sakhya - to become His friend 9 atam nivedan - to offer prayers from the soul and the hidden 10th is prem, which underlies the previous 9 and is entirely internal, the expression of which is 1-9. Prem is also the alignment of the internal and external spriritual practice of 1-9. It is not the action that makes one spiritual ie pilgrimages and using idols as the focus of worship <--" these don't make anyone more or less spiritual" was the teaching of Bhagti Marg. Bhagti Marg teaches that it is Bhagti that holds spiritual value, not specific practices. Gurus and Bhagats always bringing us back to the basics, to the real purpose of spiritual practice. Janeu is a different topic, it is not a spiritual practice, it is a passport to education. Since you mentioned it in a different thread as well, let me discuss it here. Here's what Guru Nanak Dev ji says on several occasions about the janeu: ਪਤਿ ਵਿਣੁ ਪੂਜਾ ਸਤ ਵਿਣੁ ਸੰਜਮੁ ਜਤ ਵਿਣੁ ਕਾਹੇ ਜਨੇਊ ॥ ਨਾਵਹੁ ਧੋਵਹੁ ਤਿਲਕੁ ਚੜਾਵਹੁ ਸੁਚ ਵਿਣੁ ਸੋਚ ਨ ਹੋਈ ॥੬॥ There is no worship without honour (of good deeds), no control over senses without truthfulness, and what is the janeu for without control over senses. Bathing, washing and wearing the tilak, but purity does not come without introspection. In reply to Pandit Hardyal: ਦਇਆ ਕਪਾਹ ਸੰਤੋਖੁ ਸੂਤੁ ਜਤੁ ਗੰਢੀ ਸਤੁ ਵਟੁ ॥ ਏਹੁ ਜਨੇਊ ਜੀਅ ਕਾ ਹਈ ਤ ਪਾਡੇ ਘਤੁ ॥ Kindness the cotton, Patience the thread, control over senses the knots and truthfulness the twists of the janeu. If you have this janeu then put it on me, ie, practice kindness, patience, control and truthfulness Pandjit Hardyal ji! What this is, is a reframing of the janeu to bring it back to the basics, to connect it back to what it originally means, and not a rejection of it. What the janeu was for was an initiation into a school for a child but not like modern day schools because this tradition dates back when education involved spiritual education and mostly spiritual education. (The education for making a living was learnt and inherited from the father ie Guru Nanak Dev ji learned to trade, which became his livelihood, from Mehta Kalu ji. This also gave him an opportunity to travel but anyways.) Thus going under the mentorship of a guru was largely spiritual in nature and all young kids went through this process. The children would undergo a ceremony where they would be given a janeu and would go through a series of other steps that were part of the ceremony. At the end of which they would go under the mentorship of a guru to learn about how to be a better person (be kind, patient, aware, etc) and to be a spiritual person (learn to control the senses, etc). They would be taught about morals and spiritual practices and this is what Guru Nanak Dev ji lays out as the underlying meaning of janeu in those panktis. So believe it or not our gurus would have gone through this ceremony. ----- The fact that Devi Chandi is being praised is what I am talking about. When starting Chandi (Bhagauti) Di Vaar he says "Prithm Bhagauti Simar kai/ First I remember Sri Bhagauti". When starting Krishn Avatar does he remember Krishan ji or Sri Hari? No he maintains his allegiance to Devi Chandi and says "ਅਥ ਦੇਵੀ ਜੂ ਕੀ ਉਸਤਤ ਕਥਨੰ ॥ " and goes onto praise Devi before describing Krishna's story. PS the purpose of Dhadhis was to inspire people largely towards following Dharam. To know what they were inspiring people to do exactly would depend on what they are saying. And since we do not have their ballads from that period, we cannot really take them into consideration. Now we only have the beliefs of Guru 1-5, 9 in Guru Granth Sahib thus I would assume that 6-8 also held those beliefs. And if they did, Guru Hargobind Sahib then fought his battles and was motivated to do so without knowing any vaar of Devi Chandi. If you are a kshatriya it is your Dharam to fight. PSS Lmao "Chadhi's vaar" Eulogy of the underwear.

He doesn't look black though?

Dally I understood your point. Actually yeah you are right it fits right into Bhagti Marg. But I must say that the quoted text is not a rejection/denegration of the things mentioned in there because here the emphasis is on having love, ਪ੍ਰੇਮ (having ਸ੍ਰੀ ਭਗਵਾਨ in your awareness). ਜਿਨ ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਕੀਓ ਤਿਨ ਹੀ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਪਾਇਓ. ਪ੍ਰੇਮ always has a language, an expression, and that may well be things like murti pooja, bathing at sacred places, wearing religious necklaces etc. In other words, the ਕ੍ਰਿਆ, spiritual practice, is ਕੂਰ, false, because there is no ਪ੍ਰੇਮ, love. So murti pooja is a pooja of stones if love is not there. Bathing in sacred places is bathing in garbage dump if love is not there.... and so on. You and I are entangled in the patterns of daily life and even spiritual practice without having ਸ੍ਰੀ ਭਗਵਾਨ in our awareness. Hence, ਕੂਰ ਕ੍ਰਿਆ ਉਰਿਝਓ ਸਭ ਹੀ ਜਗ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਭਗਵਾਨ ਕੋ ਭੇਦੁ ਨ ਪਾਇਓ. Yeah havans aside the Mehelas 1-9 (1-5,9), Bhagats and Bhatts of SGGS would definitely not have written a vaar of Devi Chandi. It's out of the question.

Dally That quote from DG is irrelevant as it does not mention havan. (Btw you forgot to provide the page number and include the Gurmukhi original.) IF you believe that Guru Gobind Singh ji wrote Chandi di Vaar, Akal Ustat etc then the idea that he performed a havan for Devi Chandi is very plausible.

Jaikaara Practice of havan may have come later as there is no mention of the need to perform havan in Guru Granth Sahib. It is not important to the Bhagti Marg as the 9 ingredients of Bhagti (originally laid out by Bhagat Prehlaad) does not include it. Dally Does Sainapati not mention that Guru Gobind Singh ji did a havan to Devi Chandi the day before Vaisakhi at Nani Devi (located on a hill near the Anandpur fort)? That's a common belief in India. Check this out there is a pankti in Panth Prakash by Giani Gian Singh that mentions havan: http://www.sikhawareness.com/index.php/topic/14336-did-baba-deep-singh-ji-do-havan/ ਸੁਨਿ ਸਿੰਘ ਪਾਠ ਅਖੰਡ ਕਰਾਯੋ । ਹਮਨ ਕਰਯੋ ਕੰਗਨਾ ਬੰਧਵਾਯੋ ।

Veeray those present now (when the data was collected) were given birth to by people of the 70s-80s etc, the older generations.

bhrava gal 70s di hai jaroor par jinna karke hun asi a statistics bare sunnde han, jinna ne es ratio nu janam ditta, oh vee te 70s de hi hun. oh kehda aj paida hoye hun.

Dally I'd stay away from that argument lol.

I don't know about that veeray people in India, even those who are better off, are just looking to survive. If you ask your parents what their goals are in life, it is to survive and keep enough money coming in for roti, kapra and makaan. Preference does not come into play here. They don't have the luxury of preference. Granted they are not in poverty per se but it is a subjective feeling of being poor.

True but those statistics are explained more by poverty than preference.

I don't know why you would think that about our people. Baba Buddha ji did not merely predict the birth of Guru Hargobind Sahib, he brought it about. For 6 years after marriage Mata Ganga ji could not have a child. Only after she went to Baba Buddha ji for his blessing could the birth of 6th guru was made possible. Of course Baba ji was gona give all the credit to Guru Arjan Dev ji, He is the avtaar of Shri Hari. Precisely

Guru Arjan Dev ji's wife Mata Ganga ji went to Baba Buddha ji for a son. After years of childlessness, she expressed her desire to have a baby to Guru Arjan Dev ji, who told her that since it could not come about with their efforts that now their last resort is Baba Buddha ji's blessings. So Mata Ganga ji left to meet Baba Buddha ji. At first she rode to his house on a horse cart, with lots of delicious food. Baba Buddha ji did not welcome her and rejected her request. She went back to Guru Sahib disheartened. Guru ji told her that Baba ji is a simple man, and that she should approach him in a humble way. He told him that his favourite food is not the various dishes she brought for him but two simple missi rotiyan and a ganda (a type of roti and onion). So the second time, she went barefoot, simple clothing and with missiyan rotiyan and gandey. Baba ji welcomed her and after crushing the ganda between his hands said that she would have a son who would crush tyrants and their rule. And that's how Guru Hargobind Sahib was born! So nowadays after a couple gets married they go to Baba Buddha ji's place and pray for one as well. Yeah it seems like it works!

When you were growing up, what was your experience with your parents ?

What the narrator didn't tell you was that the spider, after receiving LSD, had seen the spirit world and had started to meditate. He created a minimalist structure because he had renounced all worldly possessions. This structure came to be known as him ashram, where he talked to students about his experiences and taught them to meditate.