jasleen k

which one? my husband's pind is Sultanwind, which is now part of Amritsar, but it used to be a pind!

i have read from old rehatnamae to kill a muslman where you see him. interesting reading, to be sure.

i have read the same things, though i also read that after bluestar he returned all of his awards from the government and ended his relationship with indira. however, i have also read that when he decided to do a translation/interpretation of Jaapji Sahib, he did so with a glass of whiskey in hand, while making notes in the margins of his gutka sahib. i actually enjoy his writing. but i disagree with most of his political views, i despise the disrespect he shows to gurbani, and i do NOT consider him a Sikh.

hey, me too, we must be related. :smile-kaur:

the image you showed was created in the 20th century. older drawings of sikhs show a very short bana - to the waist in front and longer in back. the kachhera are large and baggy and to the knees. the shoes are wooden sandles, juti, or no shoes are worn. none of that is reasonable for modern life, especially for women. modern paintings of pooran Singhnia always show a long bana, pajami, dastaar, and chunni over it, while old drawings of singhnia show long skirts (!), a very small keski at the top of the head, and a LONG chunni over the keski. i hope people can see how it might be confusing. our modern interpretation of bana is most likely not the same thing our Guru ji wore. hence my looking for a distinct discription. as it is, i agree with the singhni above. to me, bana is a full dastaar and 5 k's with modest clothing. and she's right, a girl in a dastaar can be seen a mile away.

the fact that some people who call themselves Sikh do not behave as such does not invalidate Guru ji's institution of Amrit, nor should it reflect on amritdhari Sikhs in general. and please let's not argue about SRM or which amrit is "right". thanks.

pind: Meckesheim principality: Kurfürst von der Pfalz (modern day SW Germany)

he's just making excuses. if he's 25 and never been around women before then his hormones are probably running his brain and he's looking for any excuse to mess around with a girl. the turban part is just an excuse. i'm sick to death of this excuse "sikh girls don't like turbanned guys". it's a total lie. the problem is that these guys are looking for bollywood/hollywood actress looking girls, and real Singhnia don't wax/thread/trim/etc so we don't look like that. it's total hipocrasy. if they were willing to go wtih a proper singhni, then i don't think they'd have any problem finding a match. sorry to vent, but i'm so tired of hearing this same old thing. and now using it as an excuse to go with a muslim girl? it's pathetic. tell your friend that when his girlfriend's parents find out, they'll probably send her to pakistan and try to have him killed.

once again i'd like to point out that mainstream sikhs DO believe that when you take amrit your sins are "washed" away and you are born into the khalsa panth. this is exactly what my panj piyare said and i'm not a member of any "jatha". it's part of the panthic rehat maryada (which i know you don't believe in, let's keep that for another thread). to the original poster: Amrit washes your sins in the eyes of Waheguru. it does NOT wash your sins in the eyes of your partner or any other human beings. you still need to be honest and clean with people that trust you. amrit also does NOT absolve you of future sins (like christian baptism), so don't start lying to your partner after taking amrit, you'd just be building up your karmic debt again.

your post made me interested in exactly what is the difference between a jatha and a samparda. according to my handy online punjabi/english dictionary: Translation for "jQw" Corps, company, squad, crew, body, batch or group, band. i don't think there's anything wrong with calling nihangs a "group" of sikhs. however, i also looked up samparda: Translation for "sMprdw" Tradition, schism, sect, creed, denomination. which has more of a religious bent to it. in english, a sect or demonimation is more like a splinter group, a group that broke off from the mainstream. is that accurate? or would "tradition" be the appropriate english translation? anyway, i appreciate the motivation to learn about sikh/punjabi words. conclusion: calling nihangs a "group" (jatha) doesn't seem like it's completely incorrect to me, though it is less accurate than samparda. please do let me know if the translation in the dictionary is wrong (or if my punjabi spelling is wrong!), i'm new to this language, so i'm happy to learn from my mistakes!

there's always one at the yuba city "sikh parade", the first weekend in November. i think there's usually one in LA at the annual smaagam on thanksgiving weekend (last weekend in november)

washington state, incredible soil (thanks to volcanic ash), great mild climate, sikhs to the west, farming to the east. plus, it's gorgeous! there's a lot of farming here in texas too... but all the sikhs live in the big cities, farm towns are a bit sketchy for anyone who wears a turban.

sourceforge.net is my best friend. :D

true, it's great that they reuse everything. it's funny, in the west, we think of recycling as a modern idea... but rural people have been living this way for hundreds of years. it's good to look to the past to find inspiration for the future.

I thought their langar was bibeki? does bibek mean white folks aren't allowed to do langar seva? :o

women are absolutely allowed in mosques, i've visited a couple historic mosques (they're quite beautiful). there is usually a partition or curtain or something between the men and women. or in small mosques maybe the women sit in back and the men in front. the logic is that it keeps their minds on the imam instead of kaam. kind of like why sikhs in the west have a women's side and a men's side in the gurdwara.

birmingham UK? or birmingham USA? i think www.sikhishop.com carries them. also http://www.sikhlink.net/, and http://charhdikalaa.ecrater.com/. alternately, check your local (larger) gurdwara, some carry a small assortment of sikh items.

i have read that the panchyat system was used in maharaja ranjit singh's military, modeled after the panj piyare.

i use Ubuntu as well... i'm running it on a x64 laptop, so it doesn't always work as well as i'd like, but new drivers are coming out all the time, so it's getting better.

are you familiar with the term panchayat?

rumi was a persian poet from the 1300s. we'd probably call him a sufi. certainly a bhagat. he wrote about love- both human and divine. he wrote about mysticism and bhakti in a way that people could understand. he probably inspired most of the famous punjabi sufi poets who came after him (bulleh shah, waris shah, sheik fareed...). his poetry describes transcending religious boundries through love of, and immersion in the divine. (sound familiar?) my words cannot do him justice. A madman who whirled his way to the field beyond duality and died in the love of his supreme prophet in the 13th century. http://www.khamush.com/ http://download.publicradio.org/podcast/sp...071213_rumi.mp3 your description is better than mine... fewer words with more meaning.

i guess it depends on where you live and work. in the western US, there are plenty of companies who would hire someone wearing bana. especially in the high tech sector. i've seen way weirder things at microsoft... depends on where you live. is this in canada or the UK i assume? in the US, laws vary by state. in my part of the US, wearing an exposed kirpan gets more complements than scared looks, while in other parts (california) young sikhs have been arrested or kicked off college campus for wearing exposed kirpan. so really, you'd have to ask the local authorities. thanks veerji. can you give some quote or site where bana is defined? thanks!

Perhaps I should've worded my last sentence in a different way. My intention was not to offend you. Once a rich man brought a present for Bhagat Kabeer ji. It was a scissor which was embroidered with diamond. Kabeer ji aptly refused to accept his gift and said, "My work is not to cut things, I am here to join hearts. If you wish to give me a present then bring me a needle which i can use to sew hearts torn from the beloved". Gifts and offering for a Master require thoughtful motives and they can only be fully known by the person giving and by the one who receives it. i'm not offended, veerji. i actually should thank you for bringing some light into this thread. i really really love your signature, by the way. rumi is a favorite of mine..

what the... you don't tell your own sister your birthday? how am i supposed to bake you a (egg-less) cake on such a short notice? anyway... :PT: happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo. you look like a monkey, and you smell like one too! :HP: (don't beat me up, please! :D )

ok, i'm sorry to have come across as though i were questioning the devotion of a great soul. you can close the thread if you want. i guess all the answers are here.