guv

point taken about the humour in the scene... but where did u get the fact that kanbei shaved his head to retire to a monastery? other than saying he is tired of fighting, he makes no mention of a monastery. whereas shaving his head to look like a priest to save the child makes sense as he also borrows the priest's clothes to complete the transformation.

that's not what the commentary on the dvd said... also if there was no dishonour, why where the onlookers so horrified?

all this hoo haa over the allegation that a person from the uk may or may not have been slapped by persons unknown?! & the rest just hearsay.

some ppl need to get a life! :roll:

i thought of a better way of putting what i'd written in my previous post...

i wouldn't cut my kesh out of fear... but i might out of compassion.

may waheguru never put us in an awkward situation like that

amen

well seeing as others are unwilling to answer until i do... i'll give it a go...

as with most things in life, it all depends on the circumstances... so i cannot give a hard & fast answer... but generally, if someone was trying to force me to cut my hair, my answer would most likely be no. if on the other hand i was in a similar situation to kambei, my answer would most likely be yes.

in certain circumstances it may be better to cut ur hair to save someone else's life (unless the reason their life is in danger is to make u cut ur hair)... if that makes sense.

in case anyone's interested... this is where the allegations were made:

http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?showtopic=10323&st=0

the above questions are (obviously) directed towards keshdharis! :roll:

i just watched seven samurai... quite possibly the greatest film i've ever seen. akira kurosawa's directing is amazing, & it's full of memorable characters, gripping tension, comedy & amazing action scenes. the musical score compliments the film perfectly.

anyways... something that happened in the film got me thinking. towards the beginning of the film... the main samurai, kambei, is introduced. he is having his hair shaved at the horror of the onlookers. for a samurai, their topknot is a sign of their warrior status, & having it removed is the greatest disgrace. in another of kurosawa's films, a single samurai defeats a band of opponents, but instead of killing them he cuts their topknots off in the knowledge that they will now commit suicide by performing harakiri because of their disgrace. yet kambei voluntarily disgraces himself in the most extreme way by willingly having his head shaved. he does this because a thief has taken a peasant's baby hostage inside a house... & the only way kambei can get close enough to rescue the baby is by dressing up as a priest (including a shaved head) under the pretence of delivering food to the thief. he does manage to save the baby & slay the thief... at the cost of his own honour.

now my question is... would any of u cut off ur hair to save the life of a baby (or anyone else)?

if yes, what else would u be willing to cut ur hair for?

if no, why not?

they look like someone's used pics of he-man & edited them... look cool tho!

duh... maybe some of the 'sevadars' were pocketing some of the money... ?

i'm not saying having machines do the work is a good thing... but to say that there's no good effects is wrong.

i use bittorrent & get fast d/l speeds with it... haven't used azureus, but i've heard it eats up system resources.

^ ditto

really interesting discussion

There is no good effects

well have u thought about why they might have put such a system in place?... there is an obvious reason, seeing the high cost that would've gone into it.

that mite be tru.. but it doesnt matter which way u look at it.. u'd still be a donkey!

u should get ur eyes checked... i said...

... i was like a donkey...

nahheeeeeeeeee!!!! :shock:

IS THIS PAAP, WILL I END UP IN POVERTY AND SICKNESS??

i'll save u a seat in paap khand! :wink:

heard/read somewhere quite a while ago a sakhi telling how guru gobind singh ji's arms were very long... & how his hands could touch his knees when standing straight. i can't remember the source. anyone else remember anything similar?

But in conclusion, i dont really know...

that's very good of u to admit that... a lot of the posts on this topic are written by ppl who 'know' they are right... no evidence or lack of required!!

i've seen dervishes at a programme in birmingham... absolutely stunning... amazing sight & beautiful atmosphere.

haven't tried it myself.

i told u... give me some damn webspace!!

i burnt the photos onto cd for the organiser last week, so he should be putting them up soon.

u wanna get massive... or fit... or a bit of both?

interesting analogy. see if someone had told me from the beginning that i was like a donkey tied up with an imaginary rope i might have turned out so differently...

...in india and parts of england.

:?:

so rest of the world not important eh?... nice to see u're being truthful now n30! :wink:

blame canada!

Although there are strong philosophical precepts between sikh ideology and Vedanta that have enabled Sikh sadhus from the past and to this day to use extra texts like Saruktavali and Sri Vichaar Saagar (e.g. Sant Attar Singh ji), there are subtle modifications also that have root more in the Bhakta movement. There are also such affinities between Sikhi and Tasuwwuf mat. For some Sufi shaykhs, the only logical explanation for this is that Guru ji studied with the best sufis of the day while in Baghdad, an important centre of Tasuwwuf. I find all this interesting, but not threatening. Bickering over conceptual negation for boundaries bores me as a dialogue. In this post-modernist milleau, things are less objective. Truth is truth, and I should bloody well hope it arises everywhere in everything. That is gurmat-affirming, not the existential threat that others more sour percieve it as. Just some observations that might add mirch to the masala!

....bring on the backlash

well said ts! in this modern day, with the formation of diasporas... the 'estranged' communities have a huge self identity crisis... & each one will see commonalities as an infringement on their own identity. but as u said... truth is universal.