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Tomorrow I am going to a gurdwara for the first time. I would like to know about the etiquette of visiting a gurdwara.

Translated from “Ardas Shakti”, written by Sardar Raghbir Singh Bir. This story is pretty inspiring. ******BEGINNING OF TRANSLATION*********** AUKHI GHAREE NAA DEKHAN DAYEE, APNA BIRAD SAMAALE|| My daughter (S. Raghbir Singh jee's daughter) was expecting a baby. Since this was her first time, it was expected to be a painful delivery. Till nine months, my daughter’s health was normal but at end of the ninth months, her whole body swelled and became sore. Due to some other reasons too, the doctors did not think that this would be a normal delivery case. When I told the senior doctor that for while, everything in my home had been normal and that Vaheguru had never disappointed me, he started laughing, called the other doctors and said, “Look, Mr. Singh is sure that the baby will be delivered normally.” Other doctors too addressed me as Mr. Singh and told me that they too want the baby to be born by normal delivery but all circumstances are leading towards delivery through operation and that they have to be prepared for that. When the time for delivery came, my daughter was taken to the hospital. All day she stayed in great pain and around 11pm the doctor told me that next day around 4am – 5am the baby will be born and that I should go home now. My daughter had become very weak after enduring pain all day. She called me over and said to me that she does not have power to even do ardaas and that I should perform ardaas (prayer) for her. She said that she could sustain pain anymore and asked me to do ardaas to rid her of pain. I myself was in a state of shock and surprise over the events of the whole day. My daughter had been in pain all day and the doctors were suggesting that she would have to sustain pain all night as well. He condition was very serious at that time. After much persuasion by the doctors to leave for home, I came back home around 11pm, so that I may knock the door of Siri Guru Granth Sahib jee and do ardaas. Before going for home, I went to the labour room (where babies are delivered) and I did ardaas and recited the following shabad with full faith: BILAVAL MAHALLA 5 || TAATEE VAAO NAA LAGAYEE, PARBRAHAM SHARNAAYEE|| CHAUGIRD HAMARAI RAMKAAR, DUKH LAGAI NAA BHAAYEE|| 1 || SATGUR POORA BHETIYA, JIN BANAT BANAAYEE|| RAAM NAAM AUKHAD DIYA, EKA LIV LAAYEE|| RAHAO || 1 || RAAKH LIYE TINN RAKHANHAAR, SABH BIYAADH MITAAYEE|| KAHO NANAK KIRPA BHAYEE, PRABH BHAYE SAHAAYEE|| 2 || I came home while my daughter and my wife stayed at the hospital. It took me 10 minutes to come home in my car. At 11:10pm I started doing ardaas with folded hands. My idea was that since I will not be able to sleep, I would spend the whole night doing ardaas and simran. Going through this ardaas what I experienced and what I saw, would be hard to explain but I will try my best to write for the benefit of readers of “Aatam-Science” (A Sikh spiritual magazine) what occurred during my ardaas: WHAT HAPPENED IN THE BEGINNING OF MY ARDAAS In the beginning of my ardaas I had a very scary thought. This thought and vision had been created as a result of my faithlessness or maybe it was created as a test for me. I am not sure of this. I think before every spiritual experience, Maaiya tries its best not to let one escape from its clutches. If the spiritual student stays strong and does not falter during such tests, then illusions like maaiya cannot do anything and the infinite power of Vaheguru protects the Sikh. In the beginning of the ardaas this thought came in my mind that first of all, Vaheguru in front of whom I am doing ardaas probably does not exist and even if he does exist, there is nothing he can do about it as the current situation of my daughter is the result of her bad karma from previous life. The inner voice addressed me saying that my daughter must have done some very bad karma in her previous life and for this she will have to suffer. The thoughts came to my mind along the lines that the condition of my daughter in fact is very serious and that what the doctors are saying is truth. I am not going to get anything positive out of this ardaas. Then the thought came to my mind that it was my duty to stick around my daughter who is at deathbed and instead of sticking around with her, I have run home to do ardaas like a coward. Instead of facing the problem, I am looking for refuge a futile thing like ardaas. After this I saw in my thoughts the dead body of my daughter and the thought came to my mind that it is futile to do ardaas for a dead body. I FIGHT BACK THE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS OF MY MIND I was very surprised to see such attacks of my mind and got worried. After I saw the dead body of my daughter in my thoughts I cried out, “NO NO NO, this cannot happen! My father Vaheguru is all mighty. My Vaheguru will not consider my daughter’s previous karma. I have come under his protection and he always keeps honour of the ones who come to him. The scene and the thoughts that I had seen are all illusion. My Vaheguru is million times powerful than Maaiya the illusion. My eyes can be deceived, as what they see may be wrong. My ears can be deceived, as what they listen to could be wrong. My daughter can be deceived by illusion of maaiya. The doctors can be deceived by maaiya but I am a Sikh of Guru Arjun Dev jee and I am a Khalsa of Guru Gobind Singh jee. I cannot be deceived (dhokha) by maiya. I know that if Vaheguru wants he can survive us without breathing. My daughter will surely get cured”. After saying out all this, I extended my hazooriya towards Vaheguru and said, “Sache Paatshah, please don’t look at my weaknesses. Cure my sweet daughter. Please prove the falsehood of maaiya”. When the above stated thoughts went across my mind, the previous scary thoughts vanished. My anxious and tired mind was filled with peace and fearlessness. In this new state of mind, I was saying: VAHEGURU JEE KAA KHALSA VAHEGURU JEE KEE FATEH|| While sitting in this state of mind, I heard the phone ring. I picked up the phone and found out that my daughter had given birth to a baby at 11:43pm and that the birth was natural and not by operation. Doctors were surprised at this. My daughter and her child were doing just fine. After the phone call, I was filled with gratitude and started reciting the following pankiti of Gurbani: VAARIYA NAA JAAVAAN IKK BAAR|| TU SADA SALAMAT NIRUNKAAR|| ***********END OF THE TRANSLATION************ This is a very good story that tells us a lot about Vaheguru and how to do ardaas. The key to ardaas is to not let negative thoughts come near and to let positive thoughts fill our mind. Faith is the key to the success of ardaas. Vaheguru listens to ardaas from anyone who comes to his sharan. Dropati whose honour Vaheguru kept was no mahapurakh. Gajj who was saved by Vaheguru did not have any bhagtee. What we need to do is submit to Vaheguru. He does not know how to say no to his bhagats. If we lead our lives according to the hukams of Guru Sahib and try to keep his rehit and Naam, we have nothing to worry about. Daas, Kulbir Singh

FB Event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/117905901663510/ 1G UK Presents: A national series of talks across the UK university scene. These Talks are open to students and non students alike! The Call of Duty talks will give an insight into rich heritage of the Sikh Nation. 6th Feb: Leeds Met ... 7th Feb: Joint Event: DMU + University of Leicester 8th Feb: Brunel University (London) Contact 1GSeva@gmail.com www.facebook.com/1gseva www.1GUK.com 07576646867 More Details of Individual events Please Contact: Northern Rep (Leeds Met Uni): 07427470482 - lmsikhsoc@live.co.uk Midlands Rep (Lesta Uni): 07728416695 – ulsikh@gmail.com London Rep (Brunel): 07577733740 – brunel_sikhs@hotmail.com

Vjkk vjkf! Chandi di vaar (from Sri dasam Granth sahib ji) was recited by Gursikhs before battle.

VJKKVJKF Before you say directly contact Sangat TV, I have tried, i've sent a few emails and even tried phoning up, some random dude picks up and says the management is not available to talk to. The scrolls are extremely annoying... The text size is quite big, too big infact. If you look at Sky News, BBC News, their scrolls are nice and small, the text is clear... But you look at Sangat TV, it's all bulky... Often spelling mistakes - looks so unprofessional... 90% of the time, extreme grammatical errors. The three sets of scrolls are annoying, confusing, which one are you supposed to read? The one where they say thanks for donating blah blah, or about the events which are taking place, or the big chunky one advertising what programmes coming up next? Don't they know how to use EPG? It's been over a year they've been on Sky. I'm not even going to bother about writing about the repeats... Once in a while they have some good programmes, but they never advertise it, so how do we know when to watch it? If you ever manage to flick on to Sangat TV, you'll proberly missed half of the programme anyways. Lol. Look how failed the channel is... You can not even read the text which is on the original programme... Sangat TV runs like a TV station from 90s... If you watch all professional TV channels, you will see when they have new programmes, they don't put on a scroll on TV, going on and on... They have a 20-30 seconds advert/promo for the programme... AND when they start broadcasting, it's available on the EPG not flipping "NRI Issues" and the programme is something else. LOL. There's a lot of stuff that's stupid... Let's see how they fix up... This is not hatred for the channel, but positive criticism... On a level, how many agree with the above points? If I have said anything wrong, please try and correct me... VJKKVJKF

Vjkk Vjkf! These people are just mayadharis chasing money in any way they can be it scam, con, borrow n deny..all in the name and saroop of Sikhi! So much to that the couple I know..the 'apparent mata bhago' had a dream that she'd win the lottery so was chasing lottery tickets to win her millions yet gambling isn't part of sikhi. When her so called powers failed n she hadn't won the lottery (big big lol) she said she ran around the estate and found out that someone else had won it! Get a job and work like everyone else! Life's not a doddle so these people need to get that thru their heads. U call urself a chardi kala Gursikh who's dasam duar is open yet all u do Is chase money n pleasure.. Fact is its all lies n fake and now she's probably running around like a headless chicken trying to falsely prove her innocence..fact is if u tell people you are mata bhag Kaur ji..u can't deny it four years down the line as ur being questioned. How many doors can u knock on to save urself when u have turned ur back on ur guru by so many lies? They do say the giddhar has to run from door to door when in danger and that's probably exactly what's happening right now to this fake lady....Which all the more shows the world how guilty u are. One who has nothing to hide wudnt be running knocking on people's doors for help as guruji is by their side! Its just a shame such people have so much ego that they keep running rather than accept their mistakes..well no one can run forever.. Fact is,such people end up with nothing n no one by their side when everyone sees the truth.

Just as a idea it might be wise to Facebook this situation (if not done so already) because there might still be sangat out there who are not aware of this couple. As they do look very "chalidkala" when you see them in sangat & as if they wouldn't hurt a fly. Please keep sangat up to date with this situation.

When you go, don't have any alcohol or tobacco on you. Take your shoes off and put them with everyone else's, an cover your head with a cloth. Their should be some near the entrance. Go inside, and you will see Guru Granth Sahib on a platform. Walk towards it, put a dollar infront of it, and kneel down and press your forehead to the floor (matha thek). Then go and sit down with everyone else. When it is time for ardas, you will see everyone stand up, an you should stand up as well. Clasp your hands together, and when other people matha thek, you should as well. After this, you will e offered karah prashad. Take this with two hands and eat it. Now it will be time for langar. Sit on the floor with everyone else, and people will come by with plates and food. If you don't want a certain food, put your hands over your plate. Eat langar, then your done!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g822uRM3YLo&feature=related

http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/ Covert text books into audio and listen to them saving you having to read them on your computer screen. Check it out it has evolved very well since i used a similar thing a couple of years ago.

This guy Satyendra Singh Hujra has been elected mayor of Charlottsville, Virgina. Kesdhari Sikh with a beard and turban, he used to be a city planner. Heres an article from TOI WASHINGTON: Satyendra Singh Huja, a Sikh American, has been unanimously elected as the mayor of Charlottesville, a historic city in Virginia. Huja, who originally comes from Nainital in Uttarakhand, was elected Mayor of Charlottesville early this month. Incidentally, Huja is the only Sikh resident of Charlottesville, nearly 120 miles south west of Washington, having a population of 43,000. The other Sikhs in this city are students of the Virginia University. Notably, Charlottesville is home to three American Presidents - Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe. "It says a great deal about our community that someone like me can become mayor. Our community appreciates diversity," Huja was quoted as saying by the local The Daily Progress. "As the mayor, I will work with City Council for a future agenda for the community," said Huja who has been elected for the two-year term. "I will listen to the desires and concerns of the citizens, residents and businesses. I'm accessible 24/7 to hear your concerns and ideas. As mayor, I will work my very best to protect the interests of our community. I will work to enhance the quality of life and the environment, so that Charlottesville can be a great city, a great community for all of its residents," he said. According to his campaign website, Huja came to the US in 1960 and has been a resident of this city for the past 38 years. He was city's director of planning and strategic from 1973 to 2004. In 2007, he was elected as the City Council member. Huja, who holds Masters in Urban Planning, also teaches at the University of Virginia.

I received my copy from Akashdeep. Just started reading it and it looks interesting so far. Unfortunately the title of this post is a bit misleading. The book is not a graphic novel but just a novel with a small picture every few pages (14 in total). A graphic novel is supposed to be a story told in sequential art like in a comic book. Anyway, I will post more comments after I finish reading.

This is the logic that Kaala-Afghaani's use. Where in Gurbani of Guru Granth Sahib Ji does it say one should take Khande-Batte Di Pahul? Our historical traditions tell us that Khande-Batte Di Pahul is the Guru's instruction. Our historical traditions (see the posts of AK-47 above for referenced Sakhiaan from Sikh history) also tell us of katha being done "with the meaning of a lecture by an individual", as you term it.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh "The Glimpse Of Hope" - the next CoreProject event: When: Saturday 21st Jan Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm Where: Guru Nanak Parkash Gurdwara, 71-81 Harnall Lane cv1 4fb hall 3 SOPW (Sikh Organisation of Prisoners Welfare) will be coming to discuss and talk about how we can get involve in Seva in our community and also back in Punjab. This event is held in the hope of all those people that can benefit from your help so please attend. Please see attached poster for details For more event information, please contact us on Facebook - "CoreProject Coventry" Thanks

http://gurmatbibek.com/forum/read.php?3,13777,13777#msg-13777

Don't hope to become a Voldemort (or even a Dumbledore) through Gurbani. Do it for the benefit of your soul. That's all that matters.

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa….Waheguru ji ki Fateh With GURU’s grace Sangat of Mumbai is organizing its Annual Akhand Keertan Samagam in the last week of JANUARY (Details Below) Guru Ke keertanee’s attending the Samagam:- Bhai Kulwant Singh (Kaki Pind) Bhai Jagpal Singh (UK) Bhai Charanjit Singh (UK) Bhai Ravinder Singh (Delhi) Bibi Baljinder Kaur (Phagwara) And many more will be part of the Samagam. Sangat Ji please bless us with your darshan… Waheguru ji ka Khalsa….Waheguru ji ki Fateh

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/l3E2Mp1f3xo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Waheguru ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh, SNA Gurmat Camp and a extra special event has been organised “The Spiritual Awakening Gurmat Camp” will be Developing skills towards a spiritual life style. Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual, Behavioural and Interpersonal development. This is open to anyone who is interested but has to be 16+ years old. 1) Spiritual Awakening SNA Gurmat Camp Date: 29th – 30th Dec 2011 Age: 16+ yrs Time: 8am – 6pm At: C.E.D.F 46 Hockley Hill, Birmingham, B18 5AQ (near Soho rd Gurdwara) 2) One Day SNA Gurmat Camp Date: 2nd Jan 2012 Age: 5 - 18 Time: 8 am - 6pm At: Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara 221 Mary Street, Balsall Heath, Birmingham B12 9RN Further info: Giani Sukha Singh 07956 938737 Sikh Helpline 0845 644 0704 Sikh Naujawan Academy www.sna.org.uk and Sikh Helpline www.sikhhelpline.com

Annual Akhand Paath in the loving memory of Sant Baba Harnam Singh Jee Rampur Khera Sahib. Akhand Paath Arambh Friday 6th January 2012 at 9am Akhand Paath Bhog is Sunday 8th January 2012 at 9am KIRTAN DARBAR FRIDAY 6TH 19:00 – 20:30 Karandeep Singh 20:30 – 22:00 Nirvair Khalsa Jatha 22:00 – 22:45 – Bibi Surinder Kaur and Jasleen Kaur 22:45 – 23:30 Baljinder Singh 23:30 – 00:00 Sukhasan Seva If you require any more information or would like to take part please contact HS Rai on 07944105799

FaceBook Event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/289982804377276/ With the Grace of Siree Guroo Gobind Singh Jee Maharaaj, The Youth of London have organised a Smagam in the loving memory of Siree Guroo Gobind Singh Jee Maharaaj's Prakash Divas and the great sacrifices of Baba Ajeet Singh Jee, Baba Jujhaar Singh Jee, Baba Zoravar Singh Jee and Baba Fateh Singh Jee and Mata Gujhar Kaur Jee. The Smagam will take place at: Guru Amardas Hall - Opposite Guru Amardas Gurdwara 1A CLIFTON ROAD SOUTHALL UB2 5QP There will Talks/Katha in English by various national youth speakers, and a special final diwan by Nirvair Khalsa Jatha on Bhog. The LONDON PREMIER of the newly relesed animated film; 'Singh Soorme' will be shown on the 27th Dec, 6.30pm. Langar Seva by Rockys Youth Keertan Darbaar on the 28th Dec, Keertan Seva by; Bibi Gurbinder Kaur of Acapella Jatha, Bibi Darshan Kaur and Bhai Hari Singh and other Youth. Also Katha in English on Guru Gobind Singh Jee's Prakash. During the day their will also be an Antiques Workshop, showing some rare images and pothee sahibs as well as shastars. Pizzas will be included in the Langar The Final Day we will have Bhai Harinder Singh and Nirvair Khalsa Jatha UK for a special Divan, Sangat TV will be recording the Bhog Divan There will be numerous stalls throughout the Smagam, Boss Stall - Selling 84 hoodies/T-shirts and various books/literature Khalsa Aid Sikh Organisation of Prisoner Welfare Sikh Antiques 1G Stall - Free Literature and CD's. For more information and Seva opportunities please contact: 07958112975 be-1@live.co.uk Facebook: BeYouth Youth-Project Facebook Event:http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/289982804377276/ Full Smagam Timetable: 27th Dec 2011: 5pm - Arambta Sri Akhandh Paath Sahib 6.30pm Premier London Showing of "Singh Soorme" Animated Film! 28th Dec 2011: Seva of the whole Gurdwara sahib. 4-5pm - Antiques Workshop 5pm - Rehraas Sahib 5.30pm - Keertan and English Katha Divan Keertan - Bhai Hari Singh, Bibi Darshan Kaur, Bibi Gurbinder Kaur (Acapella Jatha) 29th Dec 2011- (Sangat TV will be recording the Divaan) Question and Answer Session. 5pm - Siree Akhand Path Sahib Bhog, Aarti and Kirtan by Bhai Hari Singh. 7-9pm - Nirvair Khalsa Jatha - *Special English Katha and Keertan Diwan* Seva opportunities available throughout the whole smagam, please contact us. POSTERS ATTACHED!

thanks sangath jeee.. i got kamarkassa&gathra in the end.... the little sengh looked amazing....guruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu kirpaaa.. vaheguruuuu