sitargirl

My sister learns tabla at bebe ki gurdwara, hockley in Birmingham...its near Soho Road gurdwara below the flyover going to the city centre. The Gurdwara looks kinda deserted and has unfinished building work...but I like to think of it as being like the freezing cold Namdhari gurdwara - the building might need more work but there is excellence in music. You didn't say if you were from Birmingham but if you are then this is the best place to learn. Its taught by Narinder and the teaching is all classical. They are actually trying to do gurmat sangeet how it was in the olden days with sarangi and tabla as opposed to harmonium....its very interesting. Anyhoo like you I've had many teachers. Half of them recommended on this thread I would not go to learn off (won't mention which names). This class is an early morning class. You can go on Saturday or Sunday at 6-7am. I know most people are in bed at that time but its worth getting up for! If you want you can test out all the teachers mentionned here too. Actually thats probably the best thing to do

The answer to this is that no two people following the same religion will follow it exactly the same. Also in general its accepted that we incorporate things into our life once they start makin sense to us. Ie just because our faith says do not remove ure hair: this does not mean people follow it. Infact suprisingly the majority of Sikhs actually cut or remove their hair. But we must remember that someone might cut their hair and later on they may start keeping hair. This is cos they understood/had the belief and hence they incorporated it into their life. Likewise someone will keep this rehat when they feel the need to make it part of their life. That's why a Sikh is always a learner. Also I think there is a misconception that once you have taken Amrit you are perfect. Infact taking Amrit is merely an initiation ceremony-you commit yourself to not turn your back to the Guru and you commit to lifelong learning and things like this will fall into that life long learning. Anyways I don't think we should focus on why other people are not doing certain things. Instead we should plan our own learning and try to make ourselves the best we can be.

I don't mind questions and no question is ever naive. I think you people are confused. From what I can gather your thinking its cos non gursikhs are untouchable and so anything nongursikhs touch becomes impure. This is absolutely not the reason. It's not about looking down upon anyone; the people concerned only want their food made a certain way. I have about 8 mins to explain this before I have to go and catch my train home so please excuse me if my explanation is short. So let me begin explaining - This rehat involves the belief that you are what you eat. The society we live in already believes this so many of you will already agree. eg eat chips you get fatty deposits in your artery. However this rehat does not stop there - it actually goes further. It believes in sucham. A lot of Indians already have that belief so you will all understand that. However it does not even stop there – it goes one step further by also believing that the people who prepare the food ie cooking, the environment it is cooked ie whether japping naam or not also has an influence on you. So in this case: you are what you eat is not only the food you eat but also who and where it was made. The best example I can give of this is when we take amrit. Amrit is simply water and pitassa. But it has to be prepared by Panj Pyare Gursikhs and you have to jap naam. I could literally get tap water and throw some pitassa in and say voila amrit but none of u would say its amrit. This rehat is basically the same, the preparation of food is just as important as the food itself. Also in the rehat you are not fussed about the raw materials ie the water, the milk, the apple....just like in the amrit ceremony you don't fuss about the water: its actually the making process or cooking which has to be in a gursikh environment. Your right - those who keep the rehat don't buy ready made meals at the supermarket. Also they don't eat at restaurants unless they are sure of how the food is made. Nearly 100% of the time they always make their own food and take roti and sabji to work. I looked at Singhstah's link. Its a blog so its not an informational site...but the info on there is good..Also nothing is wrong with the quote you wrote out but you missed the context in which it was written. The person is saying something similar to - there is no point in japping naam if you do evil deeds. It doesn't mean there is no point in japping naam cos naam japping is important. Likewise if you can - you should try to keep this rehat but not at the expense of other things ie naam jap. I think I have answered this above. Its the actual cooking as opposed to the raw goods. People who keep the rehat don't eat shop cheese, just like they don’t eat ready meals. I hope thats made it clear. Gonna catch my train now Ji.

I think we should respect people's lifestyle. As people may or may not know there are group of Gursikhs who only eat food cooked by Gursikh people. This is actually part of their rehat. Shopping for raw things like potatoes, vegetables from shops such as Sainsburys is okay as its not cooked food. As is being served by people at Sainsburys for these raw goods....but you see the actual cooking has to done by fellow Gursikhs. Since it is part of their Amritdhari Rehat then I think we should stop trying to force them to break it. Anyways to bring the thread back to topic: sher_punjabi did u find a shop? EDIT: Sorry it seems Singhstah said it before me. lol

This problem came about due to huge public scrutiny of superbugs like MRSA. The hospitals in essence responded by introducing all these policies however no one knows if they make a signnificant difference ie do we actually know whether wearing kara increases infection rates? In my opinion they need to conduct more studies before writing everything off as being infectious. Also as msckan said I too refuse to take my kara off when people are allowed to wear wedding rings. Anyways enough of my opinion: I think msckan you should google for the sikh doctors medical association and see if they help with this sort of thing. Otherwise all the best and let us know the outcome.

In the olden days it was mother, father, then mummy, daddy, then mum and dad. Likewise language is always changing. Veer actually means warrior. In the olden days girls would call their brothers warriors ie veerji.....then people started calling brothers bhai ji....and from BHAI JI people shortened it to PAJI. Likewise people shortened the word BHEN JI to PENJI for girls. Personally I prefer to say Veer Ji rather than Paji since the word Veer has heritage and a deeper meaning. But each to their own.

My mum is a Gursikh and she works in catering - she can make Barfi and Samosa. Let me know number needed or give me a call

ooooo HaPpY BiRtHdaY Veerji...I hope all ure wishes come tru and u continue to have a blessed Gursikhi jeevan.

ah thats really interesting. I'm gonna ask u more questions but later on!

I find this really interesting. Would you be able to list all 36 please??

ooOOoo I see a new game forming... Amritsaar Singh btw I am not going to post anymore!!!!!

This doesn't sound gd...anyone wanna answer my question???

Cool post....this stuck out for me....anyone know what this refers to??

aww thanx. Slight problemo - I don't have my punjabi to english dictionary with me and thats gonna take me half an hour to read one line! If I were to guess 5 chor and 10 gates....but what are the three whirl winds? I wud guess thats in reference to the realms...but there are 4 realms not 3.... If u can explain please cos I am feeling lazy today.

By reading this and the inconvenience caused I don't think we should allow bollywood filming at all. I don't understand how this article leads to the conclusion that the golden temple had no control over what scenes were to be shooted. Normally you have a contract and its within ure right to know what is going to be filmed and how etc so if something goes wrong u can ask for it to be deleted. When I was little I had a film made of me and in my contract it had notes about my rights. It covered everything from how I can change the editing if I did not like it down to little details like storage of the filmreel. I really don't like the sound of this. For instance in rang de basanti the way she did her matha tek was not the sikh style of bowing and then that stupid thread scene in the sarowar. My friend was like awww u wear threads too. I was like erm erm no....also in provoked the scene where she takes her kara off is overshadowed by the mangla sutra...I find so many incaccurate associations and the trouble begins when people who don't know about the sikh faith pick upon it. For instance I bet there will be people who will think aww we shud go golden temple and feed each other like that....when actually we believe in joot.... Also its not a romance spot. Darbar is a place to meet ure Guru...I wud be so annoyed if I was there - have these film people come to meet the Guru or me? The way I see it - bollywood is there to make their film appeal to a large audience range. Lots of sikh people will watch the film cos Harminder Sahib is in it. In rang de basanti and other films they could have easily conveyed the same message without having a golden temple scene. Also there is a hindu mandir which looks similar to golden temple so they can film there. Sorry for the rant. I just find whenever bollywood films the golden temple they never do it properly and now I don't want them to film there.

I just came across this thread. This is going to be offtopic but in this hukamnamma it talks about 5 tigers and 10 wolves....does anyone know what this is in reference too, I've never come across this before.

I dunno if its me but I think sikh names are easy to work out. Most people have one of these in their name - deep/dip - jot/jyot - preet/prit - jit/jeet - vir/bir - inder/vinder - sharan/charan - there are more but cannot remember them! Anyways I wanna see real pics.