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Net pay after taxes. If you don't agree, think about this: If you were a trader and started off in China with silk that cost 100 rupees and came to India, and you had to pay total 800 rupees taxes at every small kingdom along the way, and then sold your goods for 1000 rupees, you'd have 100 rupees left, right? If your daswandh is on the gross, that's 100 rupees, meaning you have nothing left. Obviously, you owe only 10% of 100, not 10% of 1000. No, it's 10% before bills and other expenses. These expenses are not your expenses to earn money. They are consumption. If you are a business owner, you take out all expenses, including rent, shop electricity, cost of goods sold, advertising, and government taxes. Whatever is left is your profit and you owe 10% of that. If you are an employee, you are also entitled to deduct the cost of earning money. That would be government taxes. Everything else is consumption.

No, bro, it's simply not true that no one talks about Simran. Where did you hear that? Swingdon? The entire Sikh world talks about doing Simran, whether it's Maskeen ji, Giani Pinderpal Singh, Giani Kulwant Singh Jawaddi, or Sants. So what are you talking about? Agreed. Agreed. Well, if every bani were exactly the same, then why would Guru ji even write anything after writing Japji Sahib? We should all enjoy all the banis. No, Gurbani tells you to do Simran, but it's not just "the manual". Gurbani itself also has cleansing powers. I'm not saying not to do Simran. Do it. But Gurbani is not merely "the manual". Reading and singing Gurbani is spiritually helpful: ਪ੍ਰਭ ਬਾਣੀ ਸਬਦੁ ਸੁਭਾਖਿਆ ॥ ਗਾਵਹੁ ਸੁਣਹੁ ਪੜਹੁ ਨਿਤ ਭਾਈ ਗੁਰ ਪੂਰੈ ਤੂ ਰਾਖਿਆ ॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥ The Lord's Bani and the words are the best utterances. Ever sing hear and recite them, O brother and the Perfect Guru shall save thee. Pause. p611 Here Guru ji shows the importance of both Bani and Naam: ਆਇਓ ਸੁਨਨ ਪੜਨ ਕਉ ਬਾਣੀ ॥ ਨਾਮੁ ਵਿਸਾਰਿ ਲਗਹਿ ਅਨ ਲਾਲਚਿ ਬਿਰਥਾ ਜਨਮੁ ਪਰਾਣੀ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥ The mortal has come to hear and utter Bani. Forgetting the Name thou attached thyself to other desires. Vain is thy life, O mortal. Pause. p1219 Are there any house manuals that say to read and sing the house manual?

All of these are suppositions, bro. Linguists know that, generally, all the social classes of a physical area speak the same language, though some classes may use more advanced vocabulary. I'm talking about the syntax. That is, unless the King is an invader, which Porus was not. When you say Punjabi wasn't very evolved, what do you mean? The syntax must have been roughly the same. As for vocabulary, do you really think Punjabis at the time did nothing more than grunt to express their thoughts? That they had no shades of meaning? Such as hot/cold, red/yellow/blue, angry/sweet/loving/sad, etc? Why must we always have an inferiority complex?

I still think about that incident now and then, just haven't heard any developments regarding what happened, just like so many other things that have happened in Panjab!

There was a young Singh from abroad who went to Anandpur Sahib Hola and got into a fight with some Punjabis who were playing loud non-religious music. He had bana and a weapon or two. There were more of them than him. He ended up losing his life. Don't be like that. Not worth it to fight manmukhs. @californiasardar1 ਮੂਰਖੈ ਨਾਲਿ ਨ ਲੁਝੀਐ ॥੧੯॥ Argue not with a fool. p473

Bro, if by weapons you mean a rifle, OK. Otherwise, you won't be questioned by police for merely having a full length kirpan or salotar. You can also have airguns and air rifles without license. The "free train travel" is in the lower class of the Indian train system. Not recommended. Also, you can travel on airplanes in India with a small kirpan. Over your clothes or under, it doesn't matter. Keep it a reasonable small size and you can get your bigger kirpan from your luggage when you arrive. No one bothers you and the vast majority of people are respectful. Practically, the places you'll be going to are Punjab, Delhi, Hemkunt Sahib, Patna Sahib, and Hazur Sahib. You simply will not have any problems there.

Can actually even go around with bana and weapons if you get a licence from dal panth after taking khanda pahul. Even dal panth Nihang Singhs should be able to supply a India certification licence booklet in USA and Canada, the booklet allows free train travel and allows carrying of weapons - so I wouldn't see problems in being sabat soorat!

The simple answer is: where would you "include" it? I mean if Bhagat Kabir ji wrote a shabad and it makes sense to include it in the Raag Gauri section, then Guru Arjan Dev ji "included" it. The shabads of the bhagats and the Gurus after Guru Nanak Dev ji all kind of fit in. But where would Guru Gobind Singh ji's bani be "included"? It wouldn't. It would all have to go in the end, not "into" Guru Granth Sahib ji. Effectively, it would be like binding two different books together. So the real question for your friends is: Why would Guru ji want to bind two different granths together?

You should go to Kartarpur Sahib with devotion and humility. But there's nothing wrong with shopping afterwards. Guru Ram Dass ji invited merchants from all over India to come live and trade at Amritsar. Business is a part of life. You have to earn money to eat, live, and meditate.

So, just to clarify, he's still running Sikhnet, with all of those requests for money, and he doesn't believe in Sikhi anymore?? Crazy.

You wouldn't have been allowed to write that on this forum back when OP posted this in 2013. These groups confused me as well, and the meat thing was really confusing me about when to do my evening paat, just so much of this stuff came from elders' baggage in the pind. Not going to write anything else because the original post is so old.

It's the lack of keski which hurts the head when tying a turban directly on the skin/bone. I reckon the lack of keski/boonga and the resulting pain is why some modern panjabi boys stop wearing turbans and cut their kes!

Head granthi Bangla Sahib, usually does the evening kathas. Often gives examples of his visits and people he met in the uk and USA.

Amritsar needs to become it's own city-state country similar to Vatican City, or an area with it's own government like the City of London region within London. Even during the Misl era, the Misls would come together to defend Amritsar.

Umm, that's totally irrational, bro. There are plenty of prakash-dara Singhs in Punjab (less than we'd like, but still plenty). No one cares that you are sabat soorat. It isn't 1986. You can walk around in chola, kurta-pajama, or jeans. Whatever. If you want the look @dallysingh101 is referring to, just go into a cheap clothing shop (not a Western-style mall) and buy some shirts for 250 rupees or a track suit for 2000 rupees. You'll get the cheap stuff made in some sweatshop in Bombay.

The Mind is Jyot Saroop (Waheguru), but the mind is under the influence of five evils… Through Naam Simran( Rememberance), the mind will begin to detach from evil, and get back to its original form ( MANN TU JYOT SAROOP HEH)… Until the mind breaks free from the five evils, one will go through the cycle of paap and punn….which leads to Karma… Naam Simran destroys past karma, and prevents new karma coming into fruition… I did this, I did that… This non realisation of the Jyot Saroop gives rise to paap and Punn, which in turn gives birth to suffering and misery…

I agree we're not born with sin like the Christians think. Also I agree we have effects of karma. But Gurbani does state that the body contains both sin and charity (goodness): ਕਾਇਆ ਅੰਦਰਿ ਪਾਪੁ ਪੁੰਨੁ ਦੁਇ ਭਾਈ ॥ Within the body are the two brothers sin and virtue. p126 Actually, we do need to be saved. Gurbani calls this "udhaar" (uplift). Without Satguru, souls are liable to spiritual death: ਜਿਨਾ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੁ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨ ਭੇਟਿਓ ਸੇ ਭਾਗਹੀਣ ਵਸਿ ਕਾਲ ॥ p40 Those who have not met Satguru Purakh are unfortunate and liable to death. So, yeah, we do need to be saved, and Guru ji does the saving. The reason Satguru is the one to save is because God has given Satguru the "key" (kunji): ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਹਥਿ ਕੁੰਜੀ ਹੋਰਤੁ ਦਰੁ ਖੁਲੈ ਨਾਹੀ ਗੁਰੁ ਪੂਰੈ ਭਾਗਿ ਮਿਲਾਵਣਿਆ ॥੭॥ In the True Guru's hand is the key. None else can open the door. By perfect good fortune the Guru is met. p124

That's unfortunate to hear. Could you give any more information? Who was this "baba"? He just disappeared with people's money? Obviously, you should donate your money to known institutions or poor people that you can verify the need of through friends and family in Punjab.

Sangat ji, I know a family who went Sevewal to do seva sometimes end of 2019. They returned last year in great dismay and heart broken. To repent for their mistakes they approached panj pyaare. The Panj gave them their punishment / order to how t make it up which, with Kirpa, they fulfilled. They were listening to a fake Baba who, in the end, took all the "Donations " and fled sometime over a year ago. For nearly 4 years this family (who are great Gursikhs once u get to know them) wasted time and effort for this fake Baba. NOT ONLY this one fam. But many, many did worldwide and they took their fam to do seva, in village Sevewal, city Jaitho in Punjab. In the end many families lost money in thousands being behind this Baba. The family, on return, had to get in touch with all the participants and told them to stop. I am stating this here to create awareness and we need to learn from whom we follow and believe. It's no easy but if we follow the 3 S (Sangat, Simran and Seva) we will be shown the light. As I am writing this the family in question have been doing the same since 2008 onwards and they fell for this Baba... it is unbelievable and shocking. This am writing in a nutshell as am at work on my break so not lengthy but it deserves a great length. Especially the family in question, who shed light on youngsters about Sikhi 20 plus years!!

Giani Kulwant Singh Jawaddi Kalan uses simple Punjabi.

Leaving aside Guru ji, the general question of taking afeem (opium) in limited quantities for war/medical wounds is simply unproblematic. When you go to the hospital, they give you morphine. What do you think morphine is? It's an opiate. Even codeine (cough syrup) is an opiate! Ever had a cough? Granted, it is against Gurmat to take opium or other drugs for the fun of it.

Whatever problems the Afghan Sikhs have or Punjabi Sikhs have, it's much better to support them than the Muslims.

So, are you saying Guru ji isn't God? Or are you saying the British encouraged this belief?

Part of the problem is the hostilities between India and Pakistan. If the border were open, Amritsar would easily become a huge trading city. Secondly, the National Highways Authority of India is constructing a new 6-lane expressway from Kashmir, through Amritsar/Jalandhar/Ludhiana to Dehli which will be part of the Ludhiana-Delhi-Kolkatta Industrial Corridor. Maps of the New Silk Road show Kolkata as a key part of the "road". The Punjab to Kolkata expressway and rail connections will fulfill the ability to hook up to the New Silk Road. In addition, while crossing to Pakistan via AH1 (Asian Highway 1) is difficult, India does connect to AH1 on the other side, towards the East. Finally, Punjab can trade with the world via Mundra port in Gujurat. Rail to Mundra, then sea onwards. Dubai is very close with a free port. If you send products to Iran, there are ground links onward to Europe.

Yeah, that's one possibility. Another I initially thought is that it's a Muslim trying to gather info. But then, you might ask, how does he know about Sikh textual sources. Well, you'd be surprised at their resourcefulness. A final possibility is he's a weak Sikh who was asked a question by a non-Sikh and now he's suddenly feverishly wondering where it's "written" that you can't marry a young child. To the latter, I would say, you're looking in the wrong spot. Gurbani isn't a 1428 page rulebook, like Leviticus or the Vedas: ਸਿਮ੍ਰਿਤਿ ਸਾਸਤ੍ਰ ਪੁੰਨ ਪਾਪ ਬੀਚਾਰਦੇ ਤਤੈ ਸਾਰ ਨ ਜਾਣੀ ॥ ਤਤੈ ਸਾਰ ਨ ਜਾਣੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਬਾਝਹੁ ਤਤੈ ਸਾਰ ਨ ਜਾਣੀ ॥ The Simritis and Shastras discriminate between charity and sin, but know not the essence of the Real Thing. Without the Guru, they know not the essence of the Reality, know not the essence of the Reality. Anand Sahib.