Shasterkovich

... is in my view summed up nicely by Bob Dylan in this song: Go 'way from my window, Leave at your own chosen speed. I'm not the one you want, babe, I'm not the one you need. You say you're lookin' for someone Never weak but always strong, To protect you an' defend you Whether you are right or wrong, Someone to open each and every door, But it ain't me, babe, No, no, no, it ain't me, babe, It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe. Go lightly from the ledge, babe, Go lightly on the ground. I'm not the one you want, babe, I will only let you down. You say you're lookin' for someone Who will promise never to part, Someone to close his eyes for you, Someone to close his heart, Someone who will die for you an' more, But it ain't me, babe, No, no, no, it ain't me, babe, It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe. Go melt back into the night, babe, Everything inside is made of stone. There's nothing in here moving An' anyway I'm not alone. You say you're looking for someone Who'll pick you up each time you fall, To gather flowers constantly An' to come each time you call, A lover for your life an' nothing more, But it ain't me, babe, No, no, no, it ain't me, babe, It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe.

Sorry if I kept you hanging on. Let me get it together first, before I do this. May take a bit longer than I thought.

The fact that religious tolerance exists in the UK has absolutely nothing to do with the Blair regime. The nice-ish relationship between Sikhs and Brits is widely unheard of among lefties. EXAMPLE: Fiona Mactaggart is the MP for Slough of all places, and was the first one to call for kirpans to be taken from Sikh airport employees (who were all security-cleared) after 9/11. Sikhs are always very easily undermined and defused with the good old Ranjit technique: inflate their ego and inviting them to pop their balloon themselves. Example: former head of the Commission for Racial Equality Gurbux Singh. We all know what happened. Then they replaced him with a mindless Blair crony with zero integrity: Trevor Phillips. Trevor Phillips wants to DO AWAY WITH MULTICULTURALISM, and says that that CRE will not support any scheme that is not underpinned by the indoctrination of a "core of Britishness". UNTHINKABLE under Gurbux Singh. No accident that Gurbux Singh (a brave fellow who had integrity) went the way he did. He was led into a textbook Ranjit trap. Blair is a fool and a 21st-century IMPERIALIST and COLONIALIST. No Asian should be supporting his government.

All in good time. Please be patient.

This is the struggle between good and evil. You are evil, and you will lose.

You (you and I know who you are) think you can do any good or any harm messing about with aliases on this forum? Are you on crack? I've always known.

Ayatollah PN, that's a terrible story. Stop telling depressing stories. At least you're not a mullah. Or are you? Don't become a Muslim just because you're lonely. You should make decisions like that only if you're absolutely sure it's the way forward for you personally. I don't believe you're just smoking flavoured tobacco. If you're losing 4 or 5 hours every time you hit that thing, it's probably tobacco flavoured with liberal quantities of Nepalese hash.

... is this real? On SikhAwareness? Do dead members really come back to life with new avatars and aliases? Why don't they escape the cycle of samsara?

Whatever it is it can't be holier than thou.

OK, PN. I enjoyed reading your posts. If anyone wants to contact you (by phone, email or PM), your first instinct should be to ask yourself WHY. If you don't know why, ask them why. If they don't tell you the truth, tell them (in no uncertain terms, in Anglo-Saxon if necessary) to go away. Common sense, really. Think about it over your shisha. All the best, Shasterkovich

I'm not saying that I disagree or agree with the content of your articles, but in case your request was aimed at me, I must tell you that the truth is that I am not in any position to publish your Punjabi articles. I know a guy who has the capacity to publish them, but he will simply refuse to do it (because of the controversial content). You've already published your articles anyway, on the Internet, and I'm sure that the people you want to read them are aware of them. With respect, though, I think you ought to leave the judging of individuals and "tribes" or races in the hands of God.

Drawrof, you are very kind to give me this compliment. But excessive pride is my main weakness, and I cannot accept it (though it is tempting). Thanks

I understand your point of view. There is far too much hatred between Sikhs. However, more important than brushing things under the table is to be always aware of the possibility that by accepting one doctrine that is palatable and rejecting another doctrine that makes us uncomfortable, we may be deliberately closing our eyes to reality. For instance, stuff like this (note the reference to Kashmir) is a partial truth: "Such satanic Khatris, especially of Kashmir, after becoming Mullahs have today spread their wings in the surrounding countries such as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, etc causing sectarian riots and killing." (from http://www.nijjhar.freeserve.co.uk/harvisit.htm) The curious thing is that you could'nt say that Nijjhar's allegations about the corruption of khatris are fair, given his own experience. According to Nijjhar, his own sister (a Jatt) conned him out of his estate in Punjab by having her son give (allegedly) false evidence to the effect that Nijjhar had expressed a wish to pass his lands over to him. Nijjhar's sister then used that evidence to have Nijjhar's land assigned to her son. According to Nijjhar, the sister's son's allegedly false witness was adduced as evidence before a court of law. If his allegations about being swindled are true, it sounds like he trusted the wrong person or persons to administer his estate. I suspect that Nijjhar's writings are a direct attack upon his sister. He states that people who "conceal their tribal identities" are satanic, and that Jesus referred to them as "mustard seeds", etc. In fact, the common underlying theme is that the concealers of their tribal identities (whatever that's supposed to mean) are responsible for all manner of mischief and evil-doing all over the world. Undoubtedly, his articles are nothing more than a strong message to his sister saying something like this: "You screwed over your own brother, you silly [use your imagination]". Probably, they contain a lot of other messages to his sister and nephew as well, but these would only be recognised by family insiders. I suspect that the insider messages are tied up with the weird references to Christianity and Gnosticism, but I don't know for sure that that's where they are. If you think about it, his articles are quite a clever attack, if his sister is in the habit of disparaging khatris. The evidence suggests that the references to Christianity are a result of 2 things: 1) The family link - Nijjhar's army cousin married an Irish woman, and the family (obviously proud of the cousin because he was an army officer) found arguments (over time) to reconcile their Sikhness with their new (Irish) entrant. To their credit, they would'nt have done this unless they had welcomed the Irish woman into their family with proper respect. 2) An attack on his sister, who in all probability (looking at the articles) is attracted the Gnosticism. The evidence also reveals an attack on his sister's son - the alleged fraudulent beneficiary of Nijjhar's estate. Look at the article "Four Wills of Allah": http://www.nijjhar.freeserve.co.uk/wilallah.htm Nijjhar has spent a considerable length of time in the UK, and is (was?) an intelligent man. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that he is not the Punjabi peasant his occasional lapses in English grammar tend to suggest, but that he is capable of making use of plays on words and double-entendres. Obviously, a man normally inherits property through a will, and does not normally take possession of it from the living without paying for it. Hence the use of the word "will" (the subject of the article) 4 times. For instance: "the sonship of Man leads you to the threshold of Al-Islam in that Al-Islam of Allah is for INSAAN DAE PUTTRAN WASTAE"; "the second Will of Allah is that one should speak the "truth" and not tell lies. Whatever you "see" with your two naked eyes, you should describe that without any hesitation in plain language without doing any polishing up that may alter the facts"; "if people give false evidence in courts, you will not have Justice but injustice that tempts people to take law and order into their own hands resulting in disturbances". It also seems plausible that Nijjhar is casting frequent aspersions upon the ancestry of his nephew (the one who he alleges conspired to con him out of his estate), and in doing so trying to cast doubt upon the moral conduct of his sister. Note the references to the Hajj as an affirmation of tribal identity, and to rabbis and pundits. All in all, he's not trying to proselytise his weird views (many of them he does'nt really believe). He justs want to make as public an attack on his sister and her son as possible, without getting into trouble with the law.

I believe his line is that the khatri "tribe" has evil proclivities due to nature and nurture, but that every now and then someone of saintly disposition is born into it - as a sort of medicine to balance out the evils the others are allegedly inclined to carry out. While his articles are undoubtedly inflammatory and bigoted and little weight should be attached to them, Nijjhar's own shortcomings should not blind us to the possibility that there may be a grain of truth (not nearly as much as his articles try to persuade us) in his allegations about khatris.

:?: :?: Yeah

You know, what you're saying makes perfect sense. Although, I have a lot of trouble making the distinction that most people do: between the songfulness of non-vocals and the instrumentality of the human voice. To me, the human voice, whether in song or not, is just another type of musical instrument - a sort of blown organ. I would extend that to non-kirtan musical situations, or even situations where no music at all of any sort is intended. With my pen I can draft a poem, and with my voice I can vibrate it by reading out the words. A conscious person could in theory sense where the most powerful vibrations in the poem are, and exclude all the other words from the poem. The result will be in the universal language. Then (in theory) I can take these vibrations and process them further, giving them life. When these take on a life of their own, perhaps you could recall their power by distilling the vibrations into a bij (seed) sound. Amplify that frequency with whatever technology you have - whether Cubase or subwoofer or didgeridoo, and the result (in theory again) would be incredibly powerful. I can see your perspective though. You've taken the (correct) premise that the world is similar to some kind of hallucination, and the "negative" sounds are not negative because they are sounds, and the sound current is the root source of all existence and life. So what you're saying is that while a trained nose would respond with revulsion to skunk and its owner would be repelled by it, the skunk itself is harmless, hence the repellent quality is illusory. Brilliant insight. Thanks Kaur.

Your question does'nt make any sense. You need to define a couple of parameters. Where is the point when your words end and the tune begins, or where the tune ends and the words begin?

Thanks for that. While I find your statement reassuring, there remains some doubt because I recall the story of the guy who recited Chandi di Var in inappropriate circumstances, and was taught a lesson by the ghosts of some shaheedi Singhs. Presumably, their spirits were called to the spot by the sound vibrations set up by Chandi di Var being vocalised incorrectly. Given that the whole of existence is simply a lot of sound vibration, and that creation is being enacted by sound vibration, it stands to reason that equipped with potent strains of music, we are all responsible for planting good seeds in the right places. This applies particularly in these modern times, when many of us have access to devices that can loop a melody an infinite number of times (like a mantar), at a much higher level of amplitude than any acoustic musical instrument, accentuating particular frequencies in a way that would be impossible with a group of musicians with their strings and winds. Especially as the singing and playing of raag Bilaaval in particular was expressly advocated by Satguru Nanak Dev ji. That would seem to suggest an attempt to absorb and reflect a specific frequency of sound vibration in a beneficial communal setting (the sangat) which would also multiply its power. Therefore, I put it to you again: are there religious restrictions on the music that a Sikh is allowed to play and compose?

If there are competing interests manifesting in the assistant consciousness, are Sikhs restricted in giving musical expression to one or to the other? (For instance, ominous foreboding i.e. dread versus uplifting soulfulness). Perhaps the ragis or budding musicians/musicologists can shine some light on this (darkness?). Are there forbidden notes/melodies? Why? Thanks

Hmm.

When will there be an English translation? When it's published, will it be sold to nutters or will copies be given to the worthy as gifts? Will I have to buy it online using eBay? Is there any proof that the Muger really wrote it, or was it the court recorder (slip of the tongue - I meant court poet)?

Looking forward to reading your stuff. But please give plenty of detail and explanation - give reasons and sources and don't just state strange things. http://ph10.electropolis.com/drop_box/today.mp3

Lalleshvari, thanks for your comments. Absolutely right. Bunbu ichi. You're right! I think the crux is in beauty being the door to the divine. Kakuzo Okakura's book of Tea ("Teaism was Taoism in disguise") equates divinity with whatever is pleasing aesthetically. With regard to calligraphy, I was thinking deeply about the place it occupies as the whole, or part of, a way of life. Tea has given me an alternative perspective on what the model ought to be, to compare against the way of life of a traditional khalsa sort of person. Japanese samurai may be an apt example, but may not be the most apt. I may be a bit biased, though. More than happy to discuss this with you in private, but not in public on this forum. Anyway, thanks for your anwers and all the best. Shasterkovich

The Hagakure states that learning arts not directly connected with acts of war and aggression (such as poetry, calligraphy and painting) is "ruinous" to a true bushi. It states that learning them brings weakness and shame. Why? Are you sure that that's the reason? If so, the reason would differ substantially from the Oriental reasons.

Oh I see. I've learned something new. I would advise against using tobacco, even flavoured pipe tobacco though. That stuff is less natural than you might believe. There are very potent cannabis strains around these days. Powerful enough to throw open the doors of perception. Conscious use of cannabis is something not to be discounted by throwing it in the same category as intoxicants. It's a very special and precious plant. I believe it's very foolish and idiotic to use it as a toy (as most people tend to regard it).