I Miss The Good Ol’ Days

[mahanpaapi]

http://www.sikhnet.c...-good-ol-days-1

[Raaj.Karega.Khalsa]

No offence...but after a lovely start....there was SO much in that article that has actually shocked me!

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"No, we were not vegetarians. Bebe Ji cooked a mean chicken or ‘bakra’ curry and that was in gurdwara premises. There was no fuss about meat eating and becoming vegetarians as a Sikh religious practice until after I left Malaysia – which was in the early 70’s."

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"The conversation went something like this.

Baba Ji: Beta, your Bapu Ji tells me that you feel you are not ready for ‘amrit’

Me: Baba Ji, I will not be able to handle all the expectations of ‘amrit’ just yet.

Baba Ji: Chal beta. Let us go through all your apprehensions.

Me: I will not be able to do all the Nitnem banis expected of me.

Baba Ji: Can you do JapJi in the morning, Rehras at dusk and Sohila at night?

Me: I already do those.

Baba Ji: Well, we have no problem. As time goes by add Jaap Sahib and Sawayiyay as Nitnem. Occasionally do the full Anand Sahib. In fact you will find that doing Sukhmani Sahib occasionally is also very uplifting. It will help you in your studies and even in your sports! Can we agree on that?

Me: yes, Baba Ji.

Baba Ji: You know what is expected of you and let me assure you that you will get supreme bliss and a sense of well-being every time you do all the banis! Next?

Me: Baba Ji, 5 kekar. I cannot keep all 5 kekar on my person all the time. I love my sports and cannot be lugging around a kirpan, a kachhera and even a kanga in my hair. In fact when I play hockey, I am even expected to take my kara off as it can hurt an opponent.

Baba Ji: Beta, I have one important question for you. Do you have intentions of cutting your hair into the future?

Me: (I was shocked at even being asked that). No Baba Ji, I shall always keep my hair. I am proud to be a Sikh!

Baba Ji: (Smiling, seeing the look of shock on my face.) Then Beta, we have no problems. The other kekars are man-made. They can come off and on as required. They are loving gifts from you bapu – Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Treasure them. Keep them. In fact learn how to wield a kirpan for defence and learn self-defence. Treasure your kachhera – do not go chasing after loose women or any woman for that matter. Wear the kara as your ornament from Guru Ji. Does that answer your question?

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"I do not think I could go through today’s amrit because it appears more like a prison sentence instead of making one feel liberated. I have seen amritdharies lining up to partake of amrit again because they had to take their kirpans off and put them into their luggage when they took air flights. I know of amritdharies keeping kangas in their pockets because they have no hair to comb any more, and cannot keep the kanga in their dastaars. I have known of amritdharies not going swimming or learning how to swim because they cannot put on swimming trunks over their oversize kachheras. I have seen amritdharies whose hair had to be shaved partially (from the knees or from the chest for ECG’s etc.) retaking amrit because of this necessary removal of hair. I see ‘amrit-giving’ punj pyaray representatives insisting on intending amritdharies being strict vegetarianism when that was never an issue in the past.

Do not get me wrong! I admire those strict amritdharies who keep a rigid discipline – up to five banis in the morning besides Rehras and Sohila; full 5 kekars on their person; strict vegetarians; some even sit cross-legged on the floor to eat their food; etc. but I honestly cannot see a majority of today’s Sikh youth even partaking of amrit with this degree of rigidity. In my day almost all youth partook of amrit. Today, unfortunately, amrit has taken on a cultish ‘feel’ and less and less Sikh youth partake of it. Those who do, have the tendency of becoming rather cultish themselves – like the Akhand Kirteni Jatha or end up being followers of some ‘sant’. They also have a tendency of holding themselves aloof from other Sikhs who, they perhaps feel, are not up to their mark. I miss the ol’ days."

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"We all dressed in one way. We all wore colourful ‘pointi’ turbans and all wore colourful shirts and trousers, except for the Bhai Sahibs or Giani Jis who wore white dastaars and white kudta-pajamas. Now we have those who belong to one cult or another – wearing round turbans or turbans which look side to side and only in white or blue and wearing medieval looking clothes. There are those to whom the ‘bana’ means bare legs with long cholas. Others have tight pajamas under long ‘cholas’. They only wear dark blue or white. This is all as prescribed by their chosen ‘sant’ or mukhi. Again, let me reiterate, amongst them are some very close friends of mine and some very sincere and humble Sikhs. But, I miss the simpleness of the good ol’ days."

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I am utterly and inexplicably SHOCKED!

[chatanga1]

nice.

[jaikaara]

Excellent ! just excellent ! right from the heart....

[GtLoc]

"I do not think I could go through today’s amrit because it appears more like a prison sentence

So, like when I think that it is also like this, and my dad agrees we actually have some merit to it despite being mone atm.

I always thought beside the obvious like drugs, or cutting hair only you can break your amrit in a sense.

I'm no prisoner, only a slave of god/guru.

[ipledgeblue]

Refreshing!