Ideal Singh

If you want to see the beauty of a woman then look into her eyes not into her eyebrows...

XP Cool Interface !! I just love it !!

Thanks

A Funny question: Does any body know the origin and logic behind eye brow plucking? I know it sounds stupid, lolz

Indeed !!

I was confronted with question in another forum. Would Sikh women marrying in other religions reduce the Sikh Panth. Because rehat devised in 1920 by SGPC states that it is sin for a Sikh girl to marry outside Sikh Religion but that rehat is quite about the same for boys as there marrying women from other religions would increase Sikh strenght. The person claimed that it was a clear cut discrimination with Sikh women. What do you think about this?

No point in discussing. Sikhs do not believe in Caste System. Everyone is Equal.

REALLY INSPIRATIONAL AND IMPRESSIVE !!

AHAMKAAR : Yesterday while having my lunch with my collegues, I was discussing about a person who had issued a notification in office that everybody should come to office on time or face the consequences but we happend to notice that he himself usually comes late and even after the notification he comes late. Now we were discussing on this. We were sort of mocking at him. At that moment one of my friends told me to stop all this talk beacuse you never know, at what position he may be in future and we may be reporting to him in future as he is gaining higher in ranks at a mcuh faster speed that we are, due to favouritism in offices... you know... So, I felt helpless and my pride was a little hurt. I thought I should share my this feeling with you all. I know its only a materialistic thing but still it hurts.

Reality Bites! :twisted: that's all I have to say about your panicky reactions. Its gr8 to hear your views. Atleast there are few people, who are really pained after reading this post. Actually this post was meant to hit the mindset this way only. And there is not need to get angry at the message it conveys because anger hampers a persons ability to think, act and take decisions optimally. I am as optimistic about Sikhism as you all are. I am not at all looking on the negative side but you can not close your eyes and hid your head in sand like an ostrich does, when faced with trouble. The fact is that most of you people on this forum are putting up in the peaceful streets of England or USA and are not aware of the ground realities faced by Sikhs in India. Dear N30Singh ji, there is no need to open a Fortress again me like this by your barrage of words. It is very easy to preach from such a far off place and order to do this or do that. Come to the party friends!! Come to your Punjab and do something concrete. We have had enough leaders in Amritsar who can speak and preach like you and do nothing besides this. Again no need to get offended with my comment because it is only a discussion and if you can criticize others then you should have the guts to take the criticism as well. Well now letz concentrate on the discussion and not deviate from it by showing off our anger at the negative side of this topic. I am aware very well that nobody of you can do anything when a apparently fully maintained Sikh gets married in a Gurudwara in London and as soon as the Anand Karaj solemnizes he goes to beauty parlor and comes out as a clean shaven "GurSikh" along with his bride with so much glee and no remorse. The running ceremony is being televised on BBC time and again. And it is being depicted, in the running commentary as a gr8 Sikh Tradition. And this kind of world media I am pointing towards. Remember if this is shown over the world media over a period of time which is being watched by our young generation then what kind of affect this would have on our young generation? And if this falsehood is shown like this again and again then that falsehood perceives to be a Truth. And Where were these firm voices sleeping then... that are now so conveniently preaching to do this and do that? Who is sleeping now? No one came forward and slapped that bridegroom on his face, not even from the Gurudwara Management coz they would have thought that this may result in some of these persons not coming to Gurudwara for rest of their lives and that may reduce the number of persons coming to Gurudwara. And you are talking of quality over quantity!! I agree that Waheguru would take definitely take care of us but Waheguru vee unhaan dee hee madad karcee jo apni madad khud kar sakdae nae... I wonder have anyone of you ever bothered to come to Punjab and see all these facts for yourself. My intention was just to make you aware of the facts. You can not deny them. Can you? I again disagree with you when you say that media does not play any less part in promoting Guru Ji's messages than distributing written form of Literature. Then there was no need to form such discussion forums. And what are you people doing on this discussion forum then. We are in this forum to read and understand Gurbani and share our thoughts with fellow forum members. TV Media has a wider audience and has more impact on the human mind because everything is shown live on electronic media. And one thing we have to remember is that if a falsehood (jhooth) is repeatedly depicted as Truth then that falsehood perceives to be Truth to the simple people in villages who have now sufficent access to this TV Media. And this is what I was trying to convey to you. I have heard that SGPC is planning to launch a Channel that would be totally dedicated to Gurbani and its teachings and thatz gr8. For God's sake do not underestimate the power of Media... It is much more effective and fast than distributing literature by going from village to village. And if there is a Channel where at any given time only Gurbani Vichaar is being done then there is so much learn from such a Media. And thanks Amardeep Singh for your informative post on Gurudwara in Iraq, this instant post was possible only with help of a Media, internet in this case. I would like to hear your views on this discussion Bhul chuk maaf karni ji tae dil noon laan vali koyee gall nahi hae.

We are always seeking answers to questions relating to maintainig our distinct sikh identity... questions like maintaing our hair and drinking and wearing caps etc etc. And why not? It is our right to seek answers to the questions in our mind and also we have the right to hear the right answers which unfortunately we seldom get from our patrons... Though the masterkey to unlocking the answers to these questions lies in taking out some of our time reading a authentic encyclopedia on Sikh history and our wonderful glorious past. And for that we need to make a sincere and patient effort ourselves... a sincere effort to understand history and incidents which lead to the creation of Sikh Faith... And only then only we would take pride in being known as Sikhs. And the reason that we are here at this forum indicates that we have alrady initiated our journey to seek answers. So best of luck to all of us. Infact, it is simply not possible to answer these questions in a summarized form because for that we have to read the history of all our of the Gurus from first Nanak to tenth Nanak. Just for example, if we are simply told that Guru Gobind Singh Ji asked us to maintain this Identity then we would not be convinced until we know as to what incidents lead Guru Ji in asking us to maintain such a distinct Identity. The following are some of the extracts from a discourse by Giani Sant Singh Maskin Ji compiled by Dr. Anokh Singh Ji (Tibbi SriGangaNagar) in a book called "Maskin Ji dae Lecture - Part Two". Hope we find it inspiring... So, let us listen to what history says about maintaining our Identity... I have humbly tried to translate it into simple English for the sake of those who are unable to read/understand Punjabi... Kindly guide me where I have been wrong... Quoted from Chapter "pulaavdee puli, pul pul pachotaani" Panna 1111 SGGS "Maskin Ji dae Lecture - Part Two" Page#45 Quote Page # 45 Translation : The day ninth Sikh Guru got martyrdom, it is said that the body of the Guru laid there in wilderness till noon, nobody came forward to pick it up, everybody was afraid... Although there were many Sikhs in Delhi, none had the courage to pick the body and perform the last rites. The reason being that if anybody would pick it, his head also would go like the Guru... the Mughal soldiers went from door to door in Delhi to the houses of Sikhs and asked them to take the body of the their Guru... And you know what Sikhs said? They said we are no Sikhs... Janab!! You are knocking the wrong door... Bhai Santokh Singh ji says "Sikhs just refused to be identified as Guru’s Sikh because they knew that if they had said that they are Sikhs then there head too would go... " Itt marag paer thijae || sirr dijae kann n kijae || Panna 1412 SGGS ...End of the Translation... Unquote Quote Page # 46 Translation : (Maskin Ji further explains the human psychology like this...) A human does Good only where the equation is profitable and also wants to do Bad only where there is profit. And if there is no profit in doing bad then he would not do bad... But we should not think that he is simple because he did not do bad. He has seen that there is a loss in doing bad... So when a Doctor said that if you take intoxicants anymore then it is quite possible that you may get blood pressure or even a heart attack... But when the Guru was saying that taking intoxicants is bad he did not stop himself from drinking... But now a doctor has confirmed the same thing and he has stopped drinking... Now that he has stopped doing a bad thing because he knows that there is loss in the equation... So, we are only interested in own profit, whether we earn it doing good or bad, it does not matter... Its a matter of only profit... not about good or bad... Human mentality has been restricted to this fact only from day one... Self-Profit... ...End of the Translation... Unquote Quote : Page # 46 Translation : So, the Sikhs of Delhi thought that this is not a profitable proposition if we said that we are Sikhs, the Mughal soldiers would martyr them like the Guru. Well... Now it was a matter of life and death... so nobody came forward to pick up the body... Though In the end Lakhi Shah-a gypsy showed courage and performed the last rites of the Gurus body enflaming his home... On the other hand there was Rangretta, who picked up the Head of the Guru and brought it at AnandPur Sahib... (There are two Sees Gunj Gurudwars... One is at Delhi where the Guru was martyred and the where the Head of the Guru was cremated that place is in Anand Pur Sahib...). And as soon as Rangretta came with the Head of the Guru, at that time Guru Gobind Singh Ji was just nine or nine and half... Innocently asked "Rangretta, listen, when Guru Ji was being martyred, emotions would have ran high amongst the Sikhs of the Delhi... They would have agitated..." Listening to all this the face of Rangretta went pale... Guru Ji again asked "Why are you quite? At the time of martyrdom of the Guru, the people of Delhi would have been charged up..." Rangretta said, "At that moment the Sikh started saying that they are not Sikhs at all. Because if this has happened to the Guru, then our fate would be even worse... So the Sikh denied their identity and refused to be called Sikhs..." It’s true that Humans are only seekers of happiness, comforts... Nobody wants to suffer for truth... Even if the Guru is in trouble, a Sikh would say never mind, you may suffer alone, we are not with you... So the Sikh are bold enough to write disclaimers (be-dhavaa) as well. ...End of the Translation... Unquote Quote : Page # 47 Translation : Guru Teg Bahadur Ji has also hinted about this human phenomenon. Sang sakha sab taj gayae, koyu na nibhiyo saaath || Kahu Nanak eh bipat mae take aek raghunaath || panna SGGS 1429 Besides being God by my side, the people who were supposed to be friends and followers have easily relinquished the path of Truthness, because every human being is a seeker of happiness, and so when we are in trouble nobody would be with you... So when Guru is in trouble then most of the us would relinquish him... ...End of the Translation... Unquote COMMENTS.....> After the martyrdom of Guru Teg Bahadur Ji and in the course of his battles with Mughals, Guru Gobind Singh Ji had realized that the Hindu people had become mentally so weak that they were unable to give a decisive blow to the tyrannous rule of the Mughals. The Brahmins, the dominating class in the Hindu religion, had made the people so much involved in rituals and superstitions that they could not even think of gathering a courage to raise a voice again the oppressors, just forget about even thinking of fighting a battle against them. They were hopelessly suffering from an inferiority complex and the reason being that they were subject to continous humiliation and atrocities being committed on them by their own people. The great psychologist, as the Guru was, determined to give a psychological treatment to such weak people and infuse in them the new spirit as to enable them to give a tough fight to their oppressors. <.....COMMENTS Quote : Page # 48 Translation : So Rangretta is saying, Sikhs of Delhi even said that they are not Sikhs at all... At that moment the tenth Guru roared that I will make Sikh Faith such a Faith that the followers of this faith would be easily identified even if there was only a single Sikh amongst a gathering of one lakh people. The rest of the them, whether they were Jaines, the Buddhists, the Christians, the Hindus or the Muslims, could easily mingle with each other and hide in a crisis situation and could not be identified but the portrait of a Sikh would be such that he would not even need to tell anybody that he is a Nanak’s Sikh. His face would tell that he is a Sikh. And even if he himself says that he is not a Sikh even then others would say no way, the stamp of Sikhi is on your face. And now that if we erase this stamp, this Identity from our faces then what is the purpose of Sikhi, and what is the use of our such face...? The Guru said although it is correct that a Swan and a Crane look alike, but still a Swan can not hide in a group Cranes... Likewise a lion can not hide in a group of hare... A horse can not hide in a group of Donkeys... So these examples have been given by the Guru as to what should be the portrait a Sikh. It would be like a lion. It would be like a Swan. If we seek purity in a Sikh then it would like of a Swan and if we seek bravery in a Sikh then it would like a lion... The Guru said "I would make the Identity of a Sikh so wonderous that even if there is only a single Sikh in a gathering of One Lakh everyone would way oh yeah he is a Nanak’s Sikh... ...End of the Translation... Unquote ... And so, it is only upto us to decide what we want our Idenity to be like...? Like a Swan, a Lion, Horse or like a Crane, a hare, a Donkey...? Bhul Chuk Maaf

The rate at which sikhism is losing its integrity that I firmly believe that there would not be even a single sikh who is sabat soorat by the turn of this century. Why are so much ignorant of our religion. Most of the people do it for the sake of fasion . Our punjabi media is one of the main culprit. All non-sence stuff is shown on these channels. There is simply no check on them. What ever comes to their mind is aired. People with trimmed beards and shaven head sing their own written poetry as they are shabad from SGGS. Our administration has simply turned a blind eye to it. Our new generation is growing up seeing all this non sense. They wont even know what a sikh should look like. The level of thinking of people there is so lowly that as soon as a programme on Gurbani ends, without even waiting for a blink of an eye, an adult movie would start or a senseless erotic song would come to screen. What the hell is going on? Are the people at the helm of affiairs so dumb that they cant do nothing about it. We can spend beyond imagination on destroying historical sites including historical Gurudwaras in the name of rebuilding, but we can not have TV channel who is entirely devoted to Gurmat and Gurbani Vichar and shows us the true essence of Sikhism. A TV Channel where a sikh looks like a educated sikh and not a illitrate people speaking and singing non-sense. These so called Punjabi Channels are doing so much damage to the cause Sikhism by way of currepting the minds of the young and upcoming generation that they would not know for sure what is the history of sikhism and what sacrifices our Gurus made for humanity.

Easier said than done.... well this is the answer of every person and it was expected. Because we tend to shrugg off such issues which have a real impact on ourselves... our lives... If we read the whole text more deligently you would find the clue in there as to how to control Krodh i.e. exjaggerated form of EGOtism. Rather why not try to define it yourself only then you would be able to understand what is Krodh?

Thanks a Lot. Now this makes much more easier for us to distinguish between the each Vikaars. So, We are on our way. Best of luck

Path is a Path whether Akhand Path, Sahaj Path or Smapat Path. Now the point of discussion is that what is the use if we are NOT able to grasp the meaning? There is so much diversity in languages like arabi, farsi, sanskrit, urdu or even Gurumukhi becasue many of the words have ceased to be used in the commom Punjabi being spoken today (aam bol chaal dee bhasha). Just for example: What would happen if a frenchman comes to us says "Good Morning in French", even that we won't be able to understand. I think the right idea would be to learn these languages first and then read SGGS so that we are able grasp the actual meaning of the Gurbani. Now do you know what we do? We just take a simple line from a shabad and start its interpretation rather than getting the meaning of the whole Shabad and unfortunatly we end up making a misinterpretation of the Shabad. This is the real problem

Thanks a lot Lalleshvari , the changes have been affected. and for the conveinance of everyone, would you be kind enough to precisely define each Vikaar. With firm Regards, Humbly, Aman P Singh

CONFESSION : A MIND GAME : ARE WE BRAVE ENOUGH TO TAKE A PERSONAL CHALLENGE? This is not a lecture on bravery or something like that. It is a unique mind game and let us show the Patience to understand the whole Idea... AHAMKAAR, KAAM, KRODH, MAYA & MOH These are the major five Vikaars (Maladies) as stated in Gurbani. You must be aware that most of our acts are influenced by one of these maladies or combination of these but we seldom realize... We commit the same mistakes again and again without actually realizing... and the burden of these sins goes on increasing on our poor souls... Suddenly an idea struck, why not make a forum where we could discuss our day to day incidences where we have been influenced by the above mentioned maladies. This would give us a rough idea as to what type of daily activities we usually do under the influence of these maladies... maladies... Yeah! it sounds crazy and it is very difficult to confess our own follies but what if this gives us an opportunity to instrospect and improvise ourselves and also the others, who can gain a lot from such experiences/incidences. It is really very simple. To start with we have the five anomalies Ego, Anger, Greed, Attachment and Lust. eg. if we want to make a confession about an incidence based on Ego or Anger. Just do it as follows: AHAMKAAR : I have to say about this and that............. KRODH : I let loose my anger.............. MAYA : Today while doing this something etc. Etc. And just post it..... Rest of the Vikaars are dependent on these five only like Worry etc. This list can diversify. But here is one major problem and that is ourselves... Are we brave to enough to make such confessions...? Probably not but still we can try!! Yes we can !! :twisted: Best of Luck Bhul Chuk Maaf Aman P Singh

I am bemused when I see Akhan Path of SGGS being done at our homes with the help of Professional Pathis, doing Path for us continuously for three days, without even taking a break for a second. I wonder whats the logic behind it? Moreover, the Pathis read it so fast that for a ordinary person like me it is impossible to grasp most of it. Neither we take pains to understand what is the meaning of what is being read. What is the purpose of reciting like this? Moreover, it is noticed that the prioirity is set on that the path should finish by say 9.00 am or 10.00 am and so whenever the Pathis realise that they are behind the schedule, they would increase their speed of reciting even more according to their conveniance. Even the persons who have kept the Path in their house would sleep in the night and the Pathis would carry on with the reading. In this what we are achieving... Don't you think it is more of a rituals or anything? We hardly ever bother as to what the SGGS conveys to us... I think this a "bae-adbi" of SGGS. Don't you think it would be much better if we could ourselves recite SGGS... well may be five pages a day and also understanding the meanings with help of translation in simple Punjabi... BHUK CHUK MAAF AMAN P SINGH

SSA When we look around the globe we would find that most of the people of this Earth are fighting in the name of Religion. Whether it is WTC episode, Afganistan, Iraq, Israel, Phelisitine or our own Kashmir. Is Religion so important for a human that he should fight over it all his life? Is religion due to people or people are due to Religion? We use Religion as a path to True Knowledge. So why we always fight over it? Religion was supposed to breed tolerance and patience instead it has given more suffering to human beings than any other thing in this World... Sikhism, which was supposed to be for everyone, has one of the least number of followers around the Globe. People just don't want to believe in it because it is so open in its conception. Why humans tend to follow fundamentalism? Why can't we let someone practice religion of his own choice? How do we decide the religion of a newly born child who had been abondoned? If we can not decide what is the Religion of child then I think religion is not that much important part of life as we have made it. Everyone has his own way of attaining the True Knowledge and who are we to downgrade his or her beliefs? A Religion should be way of life rather that the only way of living... What do you think friends... Can anybody provide anwers to all of these questions? BHUL CHUK MAAF AMAN P SINGH

PATIENCE... SEHAJTA... DO WE EVER STRIVE FOR IT? Controlling our AHAMKAAR, KAAM, KRODH, MAYA & MOH ... perhaps are the five most difficult things to do in a life. The solution to controlling these lies with ourselves only. Self-control comes from Self-realization And Self-realization comes from Self-introspection And Self-introspection comes from Patience And Patience comes from practice when we say that we are fighting these continuously means that we are already aware of these problems and are on our way. But, this should not be for mere saying or for impressing upon others. Patience comes from our deep inner-self and needs Practice... Practice... Practice... And others would automatically judge the difference in you... Actually, the thing is that as soon as we are confronted with a situation, we just forget to practice Patience and are easily/conveniently overtaken by any of the above mentioned Vikaars. eg. as soon as somebody offends us, our ego comes forward, we conveniently forget about practicing Patience. Let me initialize the discussion by concentrating on AHAMKAAR as our first issue... Have we ever analyzed that for how much period do we actaully remember a incidence that gave us the feeling of hurt or insult, whatever may be the magnitude of the dispute...? well... not more that two to three days at the most... After that whatever we recollect is just a hazy picture of what had actually happened... But the hurt/insult of whatever derogatory s/he said to us always remains in our mind... The same applies to the other person as well. And those derogatory remarks play in our minds for a lifetime, in some cases. We hardly remember the cause for which we had argued and tend to remember only the hurt/insult, and hurt or insult is caused by our false AHAMKAAR only. And this is the reason we are unhappy for most of our lives... How dare s/he had passed these remarks on me...? (we can’t even recollect the remarks). But we forget that whatever s/he said was restricted her/his level of thinking... We feel hurt/insult only because we take whatever is said to us and that is where all the problems arise... And what if we do not take the insult at all, s/he can do nothing about it... Patience is a rare state of mind Where we are neither too much happy on the happening of favorable event nor too much depressed on the happening of a unfavourable event. The state of mind in which we are constantly in Anand all the time. But my friends this needs practicing Restrain... Patience... Sahijtaa... Very difficult!! Very difficult!! Some would simply argue... But Is it really that difficult... Have we ever tried it? Never Ever !! So, One derogatory remark from s/he would induce another derogatory remark from us and so, this vicious circle would continue to a point where there would be no looking back... And in 100% of the cases we earn nothing from AHAMKAAR based arguments rather might loose the blessings of our elders or a true friend for a lifetime. And by dragging his/her thinking (derogatory words) in our mind again and again, we are not only corrupting our minds but also not allowing good thoughts to come to mind... But now if we could just practice patience and just listen to what the other person has to say and not simply blast him/her out of his/her AHAMKAAR. We would solve a lot of problems about AHAMKAAR. We need to practice Patience with our minds... So, whenever we feel bothered with such feelings of hurt/insult, just go to quieter places and try to empty our mind from such thoughts by giving our mind a feed of positive thoughts or even think about the positive sides of that individual which had hurt us at first place. And maybe we would reconcile with him/her. But, again this comes from Patience. When ever there is a situation when we feel that one of the five vikaars are overtaking out thinking... Just take cool breath and hold back ourselves... We will certainly cool down... You would say that the other person would claim that he has proved his point because we have stopped responding to the argument but we should remember that nobody has ever won in an argument and this would be his false ego only. Let him/her feel happy. Remember: We can’t be right each time and the other can not be wrong each time. So, if we can gain something from others, we should feel grateful. We can give Sahijta... Patience... atleast a try. Patience breeds Spiritualism (Bhakti). Patience breeds peace of mind... (Anand) Give it a try... BHUL CHUK MAAF AMAN P SINGH