dalsingh101

What do you call an idiot who damages his own faith to make himself feel better about himself - a jut.

Just to reiterate what people already seem to know:

We have big problems with personality worship.Part of this stems of the old Panjabi problem of egotism. People want to be associated with x, y and z more to gain status from the the association than religious reasons.

The root of the problem also lies in the community where people put parcharikhs, kathavachik or gyanis/mahapursh on pedestal and do personality worship...our mentality needs to change, we need to be perceive more what's being said - message, point and follow the message than attaching our selves with pointers/messenger then get disappointed where one should have taken messenger out of equation to begin with.Only rare ones - cares about tat essence of gurmat teaching ,attached themselves with message than messenger.

I am so saddened to see this post. I hope it's another false allegation and there isn't any truth to it. If it's true then it will shatter so many hearts who look up to him and if its false god help these people who do such things.

It just reiterates that fact that one should use the teachings to directly connect with WaheGuru and not the messenger.

Sure but the bani is not changed in a way to show different beliefs/message or not edited to change the beliefs/message of the original poet, as some would suggest.

Okay, I’ve decided to get this stuff down for anyone seriously interested in learning Panjabi - for once and for all.

That way, those people who periodically pop up on forums with questions regarding those first, tentative but monumentally important steps they should take in order to develop their Panjabi reading/writing language skills, will have something to follow. Plus, it’ll mean I wont have to retype this stuff out again and again in future.

First thing: Before anyone undertakes to learn anything that requires patience and persistence, they must first come to a place where the desire, the pure ‘want’ to learn is deep within them. Fall in love with the idea of yourself knowing Panjabi. Let this sustain you throughout your learning.

I, personally, am a BIG advocate of modern teaching approaches which utilise a person’s existing English skills to help them master Panjabi. I used such an approach to teach a nonPanjabi speaker for about 5 weeks over a summer holiday once, and was astounded at the fast progress. I myself was introduced to the basics of reading the language in the more traditional, ‘rote’ manner, where one first learns the alphabet (through ‘parroting’) and then moves on to increasingly complex words (and sentences) from there. Having been exposed to both modern and traditional approaches, I feel the more modern method allows learners to make faster progress – and is more fun!

The strategy the primer below adopts is to get a learner to understand the sounds associated with the various symbols of the Gurmukhi script (commonly used to write Panjabi) using English words. If this sounds confusing to you, don’t worry, it’ll all become obvious once you start the exercises. English readers should note that unlike the English language, in Panjabi the letters or symbols of the Gurmukhi alphabet only ever correspond to one particular sound. In time you will see the advantages of this over English.
Using the following approach, you will be reading and writing words (even possibly basic sentences) – before you have mastered the complete Gurmukhi alphabet. When you do eventually get to memorising the Gurmukhi alphabet by rote, this method makes that task infinitely easier as you will have already become familiar with some of the letters/symbols of alphabet beforehand.
Okay – are you ready!

Step 1: Download this Panjabi Primer. I swear by it.

Work your way through the first lesson. It’s easy. Give yourself a few hours somewhere quiet to do this. If you need to, briefly have a Panjabi reader read a few words with you to help you get started.

What you will cover REALLY helps to gain an understanding of the relationship between the symbols of the Gurmukhi alphabet and the sound they correspond to. By a few hours you will be able to write some basic English words in the Gurmukhi script. Minimal guidance from someone who knows how to read Gurmukhi can help, but isn’t absolutely necessary for lesson 1. Once you’ve done it and feel comfortable with the symbols and sounds that have been covered, try thinking of other English words you can write with the letters/symbols you’ve learned so far.

Work through the Primer steadily. Every time you start a new lesson, briefly go over what was covered in the last one before hand. Your knowledge will develop incrementally this way.

It might help to use a Panjabi knower to clarify the sounds of the symbols used in lesson 2, when you do start it


Remembering what you’ve learned.



Revisit what you have learned regularly, so that it gets reinforced in your memory. This doesn’t mean spending hours repeating material you’ve already covered. But go back to it, so that you retain your learning. REMEMBER, IT IS ONE THING TO LEARN SOMETHING – AND ANOTHER TO RETAIN THAT LEARNING – so practice frequently (in short bursts) because failing to go over what you have learned with some regularity causes it to diminish from your memory. That’s what we want to avoid, that gradual fading.

A good tip is to have a vocabulary list handy in a small note book, or as an image or file on your mobile phone/laptop. When you have five or ten spare minutes in a day – go over them. Do this on the train to work for example. Or use your ipod/mobile and headphones to play some of videos that are linked to below. This helps firmly establish the material in your mind in a way that doesn’t require too much effort. If you leave revisiting what you have covered for too long, you could easily end up in cycles of having to relearn parts of what you had previously grasped – simply because it has escaped from your memory because of time.

Another good tip is to use a mixture of reading AND writing when you re-cover material. So on one day, simply read the words/symbols you have covered on a prior occasion and on another write them down. This will reinforce the material both visually and kinesthetically, creating more pathways for retrieval from your memory.

Step 2: Once you’ve become comfortable with a few of the lessons in the Primer, it’s time to start learning the alphabet. About the third week after you have started the Primer would be a good time to introduce this into your learning. Start with this video.
 
 

I advise learning one line of the alphabet per week (alongside the material you are covering in the Primer). Note that the video will also help you to build up your Panjabi vocabulary.

Read a line of the alphabet to yourself at least five times, and then write the letters out on a piece of paper. Learning five letters a week, shouldn’t be too taxing. Plus you will already be familar with many of the letters from the exercises you’ve done from the Primer.
You can download a Powerpoint version of the above video which allows you to go through the letters at your own pace using mouse clicks, from here. It's called the 'Panjabi alphabet tutorial' in the presentation section.

Tip: The Gurmukhi alphabet is organised in a very scientific way. I found the video below very handy in highlighting this. It also helped to clarify the otherwise subtle distinctions between different sounds. I strongly advise learners to go through as many times as is neccesary after they have started learning the alphabet. English readers should note how proper tongue placement and aspiration are essential to correct enunciation in Panjabi – and if you don’t understand what this means or if it seems confusing to you, don’t worry, it was the same for me before I watched the video a few times!
 
 
 
 



FAQs.

How often should I study?


As a guide, in a week, I suggest having at least one long session (covering a complete, single lesson from the Primer) and then two subsequent fifteen minute ‘recap sessions’ later in the same week. In these ‘recap’ sessions revisit a representative selection of the example words from the Primer exercises and, later, when you start learning the alphabet, go over some of the lines of the alphabet in each ‘recap session’. Keep these sessions short and focused. In an ideal situation you could have 4 ‘recap’ sessions in addition to your main one, in a week. If you are really keen and inclined to study everyday, I would strongly advise giving yourself at least one day of nonstudy. The brain seems to process certain things in quite a mystical and unconscious way when learning, I’ve found giving yourself short breaks helps with this. But in the final analysis, learn to identify and adopt the strategies that help you to learn in the most efficiently way. Different people find different things helpful.



Where will this get me in terms of language acquisition?


By following the above you will cover the absolute essentials of the written language. By this I mean reading words, and basic sentences.



Where do I go from here?


The answer to the above question will differ according to your grasp of the spoken language. I imagine those wanting to learn the language will broadly come from three types of backgrounds.
 
In the first will be those who have no, or very little previous knowledge of the language, written or spoken (prior to starting the above). I think the next logical step for such people would be to learn to construct longer sentences in Panjabi. So we’re talking about ‘syntax’ here (or more simply put, the order of words in a sentence). To do this you need to steadily build up your Panjabi vocabulary. As a tip, when you start to do this - making it a habit to pay careful attention to the gender of nouns at the outset will be of great advantage later. Make the effort to do this! The second type would have had previous exposure to the spoken language to some degree, say via family circumstances but are not particularly fluent in speaking (a third generation Panjabi in the diaspora for example). Such a person may possess knowledge of at least some of the more rudimentary aspects of the language (like grammar and syntax), even if this understanding is implicit as opposed to explicit. For them I suggest focusing on learning to write what you already know how to speak, or at least hear around you. Take interesting words, phrases and/or sentences you hear around you and learn to write them down. Write down lines from Panjabi songs you like. Supplement this by reading basic books. Translate basic English sentences into Panjabi and vice versa. Make it your goal to know how to read/spell all the Panjabi words you already know, and then add to this vocabulary. For those who already had a good command of the spoken language but were previously unable to read and write it, once your reading speed picks up, I would suggest translating brief Panjabi newspaper or Internet articles that interest you, or small sections of books. Free Panjabi newspapers available from Gurdwaras may be of use to you in this. Websites such as Scribd, Siikhbookclun.com, panjabdigitalbrary and apnaorg also carry a wide selection of freely available Gurmukhi Panjabi books. Don’t be overambitious with translation exercises but at the same time make sure you stretch yourself. As a rule each translation exercise should bring a number of previously unknown words to your attention. Write these downs with their definitions in a notebook. This will help expand your Panjabi vocabulary. Start translating one page, then go onto two, and so forth.  
 
Panjabi dictionaries and typing in Gurmukhi

You can type in Gurmukhi with this site.


Here are two great Panjabi dictionaries you may find useful:

1) Punjabi University, Patiala dictionary

2) Srigranth dictionary


I hope this is of use to some of you. All the best to you and your learning experience. My last piece of advice is to simply get stuck in and enjoy the experience!
 
 

I would imagine some of the causes would be:

They find it boring?

Don't understand? (language barrier)

Feel that katha doesn't apply to their everyday lives?

Alienation due to conservative, restrictive environment.

Sick of the hypocrisy commonly shown by community there?

Prefer doing other things?

Feel they can fulfill spiritual aspect of their lives at home?

I think what you are talking about there is exceptional.

I've probably got a more modern perception of what a yoga guru is about. I think that they are about teaching practices which are conducive to a healthy body and deep psychological relaxation/calmness. Probably like what Deepak Chopra is on?



Sometimes I take these types of 'witness accounts' with a pinch of salt. I know over piousness and adulation can sometimes have people exaggerating or pretty much imagining things. That's not to say that such things aren't possible though.

No offense towards your beliefs intended btw.

: )

What about the people who hide behind the teachings but make no effort whatsoever to be physically capable like a Singh is supposed to be?

Like all those pot bellied granthis.

You know yourself, as per Giani Gian SIngh's observations, it was a norm for Sikhs to be physically training in martial arts before annexation. This was a continuation of practice put in place by dasmesh pita - the tyaar bar tyaar thing people talk about. How comes so many people excuse away laziness and cowardliness by hiding behind the 'teachings'?

The consequences are obvious - Sikhs regularly getting their arses kicked and their girls being abused under their noses.

That being said - I think the message has started to get through to keshdhari Sikhs in London, these days I see a fair few that look like they seriously train it out on the tube. It's about time too....

Too many 'Singhs' have been like the lion in The wizard of Oz

What about if you don't?

Are you going to wait until problems land on your doorstep before you start to train? Isn't that lack of foresight in a obviously volatile world?

What about training so you can also help other people in your community instead of leaving them to the wolves when they get outnumbered?

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/20/bks-iyengar-guru-global-yoga-dies

Don't worry... I have been studying Sikhi for about 18 years... Not exactly new at it. I am not leaving... And don't get me wrong... Please I am not a man hater... I just think we all should be treated equally, even with our biological differences. I mean equal opportunity. I have been pulled to Sikhi from when I was young and have never deviated. I treat everyone equally whether man or woman. They get the same respect .., I consider neither one an authority over the other. It's an equal partnership in this life. Is that so bad? I have never had an issue. Now I have met a Sikh man and we are doing Amrit together actually as we feel that will solidify our journey together in life and in Sikhi. And he considers me his absolute equal... He would never think of ordering me around etc. it's a bit late for marriage as we are both late 30's and I have been alone nearly my whole adult life (not even dating) but I know this path is the right one... I can't explain, it's like I have been before.
I guess my unique position gives me insight into the faith without the cultural influence which may not be part of the actual Sikh teachings. My hopefully soon to be husband is punjabi btw.

With much respect chatanga Ji I am not looking to make enemies... Just don't want to be seen or respected as less than men because I happened to be born with two X chromosomes this time.

I don't know about any of you, but when I first came across ''Pythagoras'' whilst being taught a2+b2=c2................I thought that my teacher said ''pai'' Thagoras as in 'Bhai Thagoras',.......so I assumed that he was a Bhai saab called 'Thagoras' !!!!

Come to London. See how many Hindu girls are essentially 'brown white girls' shagging white men. Why have they rebelled?

SGPC is a completely corrupt institute - nothing less than modern day masands exactly the same as the type dasmesh pita excommunicated from the panth. Sikh institutes today are more of a political body for a certain caste and their money grabbing.

If they truly represented Sarbat Khalsa I'd convert to another religion...

Yes, the almighty devta Armitage Shanks