AmarjitKaur

Vaise there is difference in the 5 year old kid and 17 yr old teen. Their minds work differently. One is cute innocent kid and another is mischievious making fun mind. Not that I am defending if singhs beat him up rightly or wrongly. I don't know the whole situation. But I can expect that 17yr old would think to make fun of traditions/marayada etc. but 5 yr old won't. He would be curious and feel good that he looks differently and jump in happiness. Understand the adult/teen/kid mind before you generalize situations. I think better topic to spend time on would be, how can be realize that this manakhua janam is given to get out of this birth-death cylce. How can we achieve that? How can be stay attuned with GOD always? How can we successfully see GOD/waheguru in us and in others? How can we not only listen, read Gurbani, but also understand and see that how Guru Sahib are painting picture of our daily life infront of us in the form of Shabads. How can we relate to what Gurbani said and use it to lift ourselves up? The mantra is right infront of us (in SGGSji), how can we learn to appropriately make use of the mantra in our daily life to get the the destination. We are augaNhar, bhulaNhar, papi, gareeb, maskeen, andhale, kookar, mangte, vista ke keeRe, sookar and a lot more (as outlined in Gurbani and I see that is the truth), how can be become the kind of humans guru sahib want us to be. Guru de singh, Guru de laal, Gursikh, Gurmukh, Bhagat. I really think that is sometihng to ponder on. But we do waster hours and hours of the day, days after days, weeks after weeks, months after months discussing, arguing over things which don't really matter that much. Now instead if we spend these hours reciting some Bani, starting Sahej path and reading 5 ang atleast everyday and if possible read the meaning with it too. Wouldnt' we achieve something?? I am 100% sure, we would.

This Shabad is by Guru Arjan Dev Ji in Raag Gauree on Ang 258 pauVI ] pourree || Pauree: PPw iPrq iPrq qU AwieAw ] fafaa firath firath thoo aaeiaa || FAFFA: After wandering and wandering for so long, you have come; dRülB dyh kiljug mih pwieAw ] dhraalabh dhaeh kalijug mehi paaeiaa || in this Dark Age of Kali Yuga, you have obtained this human body, so very difficult to obtain. iPir ieAw Aausru crY n hwQw ] fir eiaa aousar charai n haathhaa || This opportunity shall not come into your hands again. nwmu jphu qau ktIAih Pwsw ] naam japahu tho katteeahi faasaa || So chant the Naam, the Name of the Lord, and the noose of Death shall be cut away. iPir iPir Awvn jwnu n hoeI ] fir fir aavan jaan n hoee || You shall not have to come and go in reincarnation over and over again, eykih eyk jphu jpu soeI ] eaekehi eaek japahu jap soee || if you chant and meditate on the One and Only Lord. krhu ik®pw pRB krnYhwry ] karahu kirapaa prabh karanaihaarae || Shower Your Mercy, O God, Creator Lord, myil lyhu nwnk bycwry ]38] mael laehu naanak baechaarae ||38|| and unite poor Nanak with Yourself. ||38|| This Shabad is by Guru Arjan Dev Ji in Raag Gauree on ang 261 pauVI ] pourree || Pauree: lUx hrwmI gunhgwr bygwnw Alp miq ] loon haraamee gunehagaar baegaanaa alap math || The sinner is unfaithful to himself; he is ignorant, with shallow understanding. jIau ipMfu ijin suK dIey qwih n jwnq qq ] jeeo pi(n)dd jin sukh dheeeae thaahi n jaanath thath || He does not know the essence of all, the One who gave him body, soul and peace. lwhw mwieAw kwrny dh idis FUFn jwie ] laahaa maaeiaa kaaranae dheh dhis dtoodtan jaae || For the sake of personal profit and Maya, he goes out, searching in the ten directions. dyvnhwr dwqwr pRB inmK n mnih bswie ] dhaevanehaar dhaathaar prabh nimakh n manehi basaae || He does not enshrine the Generous Lord God, the Great Giver, in his mind, even for an instant. lwlc JUT ibkwr moh ieAw sMpY mn mwih ] laalach jhoot(h) bikaar moh eiaa sa(n)pai man maahi || Greed, falsehood, corruption and emotional attachment - these are what he collects within his mind. lµpt cor inMdk mhw iqnhU sMig ibhwie ] la(n)patt chor ni(n)dhak mehaa thinehoo sa(n)g bihaae || The worst perverts, thieves and slanderers - he passes his time with them. quDu BwvY qw bKis lYih Koty sMig Kry ] thudhh bhaavai thaa bakhas laihi khottae sa(n)g kharae || But if it pleases You, Lord, then You forgive the counterfeit along with the genuine. nwnk BwvY pwrbRhm pwhn nIir qry ]52] naanak bhaavai paarabreham paahan neer tharae ||52|| O Nanak, if it pleases the Supreme Lord God, then even a stone will float on water. ||52||

To the OP, Now that you have realized and admitted your problem, it will be uphill from now on. You were going downhill since you started taking shortcuts etc etc. Here is what I recommend (see if it makes sense to you). First, do ardas from your heart, that babaji, main koi vadhiyaa sikhi vaala kam nahi keeta so far. Tusi nitaniya de taan, niasriya de asre ho, tusi mainu nacheez nu huth de ke rakh lao. Meriyaan bhulaan bakhash diyo, mainu asra diyo te ik vadhiya sikh baNao. mainu himmat, samajh bakhsho ke main tuhadee bakhashee hoyee rehat nibha ska. mainu himmat diyo ke me amritvele uth ke nitnem kar sakaan. And then, start sleeping early (you may not fall asleep for a while, don't sit on computer, if you are still awake, rather pick up some book and start reading. If book vich dhiyan nahi lagda, start doing SUDUKU (it works, try it, it takes your mind off the things and gets you to think what number you need). You will shortly feel sleepy. And never ever forget Sohila Sahib. This time don't do the fast track one. Go on youtube and do the one with line to line translation. And set alarm about 8hrs after you went to bed (even if you didn't really sleep for 8 hrs), and get up with alarm. Take a colder side shower. and then sit do path, while you are feeling little cold. rest I would have to write later, as I have to go now. Babajee aap sahai hoNge. Don't worry.

vaise have anyone thought, that kid may have dressed for some performance like in gatka class or some other part he played in some sikh play. And mom thought, kid looked cute and took picture. I would. My kids put on their dad's dastar on their head sometimes and we do take pictures as they do look cute. We do plan to have our kids raised in sikhi saroop (babajee mehar karan), I won't mind them wearing bana or having farla either. Its like all of us, wear Kara. Thats also given by Guru Gobind Singh jee. And Kangha. and other kakkars. Now if someone puts them on without being amritdharee, it shouldn't be a problem as long as kids are concerned (because hopefully they won't be doing mis-presentation of SIKHI symbols on purpose, as I could hope that some adults may). If I stick to the example of KaRa only, is it problem wearing because Panj piyare didn't bless you with amrit yet?? I guess not. So even though I respect your sentiments, I would say "relax". Give a kid break. Just pray to babaji that one day this kid gets chosen for farla in a proper way.

Mohkam Veerji, First of all, when I click on the link, it says, It cannot open the page. Secondly, why don't you keep them all under same topic rather than creating new topics. Atleast, when things do work for me or others would be able to find them all under one topic. Just a humble suggestion.

Very very true.

Ms514, just that you know, I was writing my message the same time you were writing yours. So my comments were written before even your message appeared on my screen, but to Chakarvarti who mentioned about committees being corrupt etc. True that I cann't speak on behalf of all the committees and true that no one can label all the sevadars as being corrupt either. Some people do genuinely want to do sewa and other committee/sangat members don't let them peacefully. Sad but true. But anyways, the topic was about rummalas, so lets stay focused. I have nothing more to say as if I do, I might accidently get labeled as not being respectful to Guru Sahib. For me (which could be different than your views), there is piyar for Guru, when you sit and listen to Guru, follow Guru, do chaur sahib, serve its creation, speard the word of Guru as much as you understood yourself, and be the better begger, not the giver of expensive clothes etc. I have nothing of my own to give to Guru anyways. Whatever I have is given by Guru anyways. as Guru Sahib said, mere kol taan bas ik Guru dee ditee rasna hai, from which I can jap naam. Guru's given feet, which can walk towards Guru. Guru's given hands, which can do sewa as much as possible. Guru's given brain, which if Guru bhave taan, can understand the Guru's shabad and speard around. Guru's given Nitnem, that my rasna can recite. WHAT I HAVE TO OFFER TO GURU anyways?? Nothing, which I can say, belongs to me. qyrI dwiq quJY qy hovY ] thaeree dhaath thujhai thae hovai || You alone give Your gifts main kauN hundi aa, Guru nu expensive stuff bhet karn vaalee, te maaN mehsoos karn valee ke I gave such an expensive rumala sahib. NO, Guru rather keep me in gareebee avashtha. I feel much better there. and I have nothing more to argue about. Case closed on my side.

Well, I would have to speak up again. Don't label all the committees around the world. My husband happened to be the part of committee (actually treasurer). he is just finishing up his turn. He took this responsibililty to do the sewa. At times, he did get frustrated with it from people questioning the finances when they themselves don't even donate a penny. But I kept reminding him "just do sewa like your serving the GURU". Now that he is retiring from his sewa, he has mixed feelings of being happy to be done with it but at the same time not to be able to do committed sewa anymore. Well, I again remind him there are 100 more types of sewas available at GURUGhars to do. Anyways, I thought I should voice my opinion. I do request to the lot who think committees are corrupt to next time volunteer as one of the sevadars. By being the wife of the committee member, I heard lot of complaints from people. I have encouraged to all of them to step up and do what they dream the committee should do. You know in general, we are so good at complaining, whining, but when it comes to actually serve the committee responsibiltiy, we do shy away saying that my work, or house condition or the studies (or whatever else excuse we have) doesn't allow me to committ to do this sewa. People, either quit complaining or get in action. and btw, how did you relate the expensive rumala sahib with committees being corrupt ?? and who made the Gurudwaras social clubs anyways?? sadly, answer is us. IF all the readers out there, who are reading my this message, next time go to Gurudwara Sahib, make a resolution, only to do sewa and listen to keertan, didn't we just improve may be 10% of the problem in Gurudwaras (assuming that 10% of the population is reading SS forum). Don't gossip, don't ask how their dog is doing, how the business is doing, the friends wedding and her dress was fabulous, my trip to india was great and would share the pictures on flickr or facebook, whatever else you talk about.

Theek aa jee, as you wish. But i just hope that these premis do give a bread to a poor when a begger stands on their way to Golden temple. I wish all these premies found GOD in GOD's created animals being killed everyday on roads, beggers from whom we roll up windows of the vehicle, the birds being shot just for fun, the chickens killed just to satisfy taste buds. And those earned dollars/pounds/rupees sometime do come from marking up the prices so high to force the poor to pay for atta s/he needs to fulfill the needs of the little kids stomach. I wish we all believed in huk sach dee kamai. and wish we all poured our prem for Guru sahib in the form of vand chhakna and helping the helpless. Sometimes I do try to picture Bhagat pooran singh in comman man. unfortunately, rub ne virle hee banaye ne Bhagat Pooran Singh.

I do agree with the above poster to some extent. On one side, our Gurus taught us simplicity, on other side we would put on facny cloths and fancy Rumala Sahib for Guru Sahib. I am against both. I personally believe in simple cloths. And Same goes for Rumala Sahib, simple and doing the purpose. Even though I won't mind little bit decoration on my clothes and won't mind on Rumala sahib either. But, by seeing the pics you have put above and the price you put, I was like really?????????. I am sure, Babaji would be much much happier if I spend those 100pounds for Haiti victims. Atleast I would be healing the wounded and helping the needy. You probably came here to advertise your products. But sorry, humans read here and comment as well. Hope you are ready for it. Last time, I bought Rumala Sahib from a shop in Khanne, the guy told me they don't make much money by selling Rumalas. They sell them not for profit, but to satisfy the needs of the customers. It just covers their cost. I believe I bought them for 400 rupees each. Simple Rumala Sahib. Even though I won't mind a work done on a dress or suit or Rumala Sahib where I know i am feeding the poor by giving them ruzgar. But i would mind when I know the most of my money would stay in the pocket of the rich middle man, and poor who actually stitched, embroided gets the pennies. (Of course, while writing above last 2 lines, I am assuming things, but my assumtions are based on what I have seen happenning in general. But if something is not true out of above, I do appologise in advance).

I don't read it, so I don't know :-) readers can judge. I just voiced my opinion about being panthic or not.

Panthic, that should have a meaning to an individual. The question should be "Am I panthic"? And if you can answer yes, see what makes you panthic. Do you connect people in general or break them apart? do you connect them to Guru's bani? Do you like to get out of your computer chair and actually do something to help the poor or community in general? Do you follow Ist Guru's commands of "naam jap, kir kar te vand chhuk" at all ? Do Guru Nanak and all the Guru's after Ist Guru seem like same roop (light) to you, just changing bodies? Do you believe in Guru Gobind Singh jee and all other gurus as much as you believe in Guru Nanak Dev jee? Do you follow your father (esp. Guru Gobind Singh jee) as much as you agree with what HE commanded us to do? Do you really see light of all 10 gurus in Sri Guru Granth Sahib jee?? Does reading what you reading gives peace to you and makes you want to apply in your daily life? Do you feel your life changed at all since you have been reading/listening Gurubani and in general about SIKHI? Do you agree with people reading more and more bani or you are looking for shortcuts as some tell you? and above all, do you feel like SIKHI principles should change with your lifestyle or are you willing to change yourself according to SIKHI principles? This is just few points to consider. So have your panthic or antipanthic test first. Choose the group you are standing in. I am writing above comments because mostly people I come in contact with (and I know majority is like that), they agree with so many things in sikhi and they wanna discuss about them. But when it comes to apply, they go like, oh my lifestyle doesn't allow this or that. Really check. is it your lifestyle or your monkey mind? Guru jee ne kiha hai, man jeete jag jeet. Most of our fights are between us and our mind. We don't really have much struggle with outside world. So we like to come on forums, discuss. We like to have glass of wine in hand and talk about what Guru Gobind singh jee did for SIKHS but when it comes to follow what Guru Gobind singh jee said, then we have our own arguments. Personally, my battle stops, when I say to myself, "Am I smarter than Guru Sahib to pick and choose", and I always get answer back "No, not at all". I get my answer right away. But most of us, don't. They really think they are smarter than Guru Sahib. or the ones who think they are good sikhs, they have argument saying,"yeah, I agree with Gurubani/Guru Sahib, but I don't do it, becasue I am not strong". Well, here you are again letting your monkey mind take over again. Monkey mind don't want to follow the word of Gurus, so says "I am weak" and you fall in the trap and for long long time, you are being Sahejdhari or you have your own notion to SIKHI. And then I have one more comment to make, today's youth is tomorrow's leaders. So don' t be yourself, what you don't like in leaders of today or other people we pick on. We have to be panthic ourselves first, only then we can think panthic and only listen and follow the crowd which is panthic and go deaf to groups who are not panthic. Every leader or parcharak does need followers. If we eliminate ourselves from the list of followers, we did do our part in decreasing the anti-panthic activities. Didn't we?? Just to mention, above comments are not written based on one single person (before you take it personally), but at the same time, I would want you to take it pesonally as thats the only way we feel the slap Gurbani gives us with every word, which we listen to and then just ignore, as we think it doesn't apply to us.

agreed, that if we read, understand Gurubani and try to live it according to what Gurbani says, almost all of our questions will be answered. There won't be much left to wonder that why this why that. Is it acceptable according to SIKHISm or not, is that guy right or wrong, who is panthic or not, am I right kissing a girl and what not, did I do kurehit etc etc. In todays world, we are lost, because we are lost in creator's creation only. We don't see the creator in the creation. We like to enjoy creation and we stop right at that. We don't understand our own life, our own routine, our own body or whatever we do every day. We do it as a routine without understanding why we do it. If we start looking deep, why and question to ourselves, we will find answers ourselves by looking within. BUT sad part is we don't. We like to run around in circles and have been doing almost all of our life and will continue until we get very old and then feel sorry about what we did in our previous life and regret that we cann't bring the lost time back. Oh well :-(

seems good idea. Some regular users hide under made up names and then start flaming topics, just to get others going. Note to those guys, when you know yourself its wrong, why do you need other people's opinion anyways. Some people love to just get attention and start something. Guys (cann't say gilrs, as I can say from girls behalf, that most of the girls won't do it, there may be exceptions though), if you really have some free time on hand, why not learn the meanings of Japuji Sahib today. Start one pauRi at at time. Listen to katha or read online from Srigranth.org (choose whatever teeka, hindi punjabi, english whatever you like). Anand Sahib is another simply composed very powerful bliss providing bani. Try that.

Just wanted to voice my opinion that please convey my thankyou to the admins of STTM. We love this site and throughout Gurudwaras I have seen people using it while shabad keertan is playing. I personally love to read shabad and its translations while I am singing with the Ragi Jatha. Sangat vich baith ke shabad keertan vich vee jiada dhiyaan lagda, as now I understand better the meaning and understand whats ragi jatha singing anyways. So big thank you to the admins for keeping up with it.

Thank you for your suggestion veerji. But the problem I have is "TIME". It takes time to type it in punjabi. The way usually I create homework for kids is that I type in Gurmukhi in MSWord and then print it out and scan it. Save it as pdf document on my desktop and then send as an attachment to all the parents. I have to do that way, as all parents don't have proper fonts. (I know they can download if they want to, but I just dont wanna hear excuse that they couldn't see HOMEWORK properly). And to write short stories in GURMUKHI would consume lot of time. I will and kids will really appreciate if someone out there has access to short sikh history stories and then create pdf document which I can save and send as an attachment to parents one page at a time for one week homework. Or if someone is looking for making difference to help out kids or already have material available, please do contact me. It will be really appreciated.

Basically, I am looking little stories ranging from few lines to few paragraphs. It doesn't have to be story. I could be just few sentenses written in punjabi like this (for beginner readers) Main SIKH haan. Main das guruaan nu manda haan. Guru Nanak dev jee ne kiha "naam jap, kirt karo te vand chakko". Kangha, KaRa, Kes, Kirpan te kachhaihira panj kakkar han. Char Sahibzadiya de naa inj han.......... So above is example of few lines. But they we can have few lines in a paragraph saying. Guru naanak dev jee, sikhan de pahile Guru han. Unna daa janam ................... nu hoyiya. Una da janam asthan ................. hai. Una de mata jee da naaaa....... te pita jee da naa ................... hai. and then little more. If someone actually has a background in building curriculum etc. and know how to frequently type in Gurmukhi and do have time on hand. We can together create a curriculum starting from beginning to higher levels. I take 4-5yr old kids classes too. I pick 5 letters and then come up with few words starting with those letters, like ooRa, ooTh, or ooloo. Aira amb, anaar etc. and then ask them few colors if they know those in punjabi. and then few numbers and few fruits. Because little kids loose focus if you stay on one thing for long, so keep going through different things fast. Another teacher with me, tries to create games for them to play. Well, I don't really have that much time on my hand to be creative so much. Thats why approaching cyber sangat, if there is already built up curriculum, some kind of structured material available already which khalsa school can buy at reasonable prices and distribute to kids and follow that book, booklet every sunday we meet and have homework based on only that. The little older kids I teach they range from 8-10 year olds. They almost know all the matras and all the letters. They are practicing reading sentences and writing words. I havn't asked them to write sentenses yet. But I want to start them on that now. The higher classses follow books like short stories e.g. ik loombree see, turi jandee see te raste vich khadde vich dig payee......... Its good story to learn a lesson from. But I rather have kids reading about Guru nanak dev jee, jadon chhote see taan uoh apne sathiyaa naal baith kee iddan khelde see.............. So thats the idea. Anyone could help, that will be great. There are books available out there in English or punjabi, they have to made to fit to small kids. I think its something what our khalsa schools need. If they already exit, please point me in that direction.

Dear Cyber Sangat, I am teaching Punjabi at local khalsa school. I asked the organizer to look for books which include sikh history (sakhis) in punjabi which we can use to follow once kids have already learned basic paintee and matras. He made a trip to india and said he couldn't find any progressively harder and harder books for kids starting from 3-4 lines stories to few pages stories. We do have sikh history books but in English which we use for sikh history class, taught in English. He said books just have big stories not small big font story books which will fit to the 5yr to 10yr old kids. I need to find some curriculum which we can follow in our school esp. for punjabi learning. Small books teaching them about sikh history while learning punjabi at the same time. If any of you, ever taught, or was student or somehow know what your local school follows and can be any help, provide hints etc., please do contribute to this topic or send me a PM. Thank you, Gur fateh jee.

Totally my own views, not effected by any jathebandi or group. I think, Panthic person or jathebandi is who/which connects you to Guru dee bani, follows, reads, understands it as well. Does Nitnem and follows SIKH Rehat (now you will ask what sikh Rehat, as there are many created by all jathebandis ??). The Gianyis or pandits of today, who make you go round and round, and talk and talk, but have not taken amrit, don't keep kesh, dont care about the bajjar kurehits, and are not having nimrta, filled with anger, ready to spew venom on you, change the jethebandiya keeping an eye on maya they get, are anti-panthic. I do not listen to people who claim to have knowledge of SIKHI,but don't put it to practice. In my eyes they are pandits only. If the bani you read didn't give you humility so far, and you are lost in finding right and wrong still, you are anti-panthic too (btw, not directed at the poster, I mean average reader, including myself). If reading one shabad of Gurbani, doesn't give you feeling to read more and understand it, what are you learning anyways?? If you read, understand and don't follow what Gurbani says, what do you think what part of you makes you panthic??

Vaise I don't see a conflict. A human's prayer starts with begging for materilistic things in life, but a gursikh's prayer continues with asking the oneness with GOD. Giving him/her the santokh (which means being happy in whats already given to us). Now, its upto you to stop at the stage of being human only and keep asking about materilistic things or you wanna progress to the stage of being GURSIKH, where disciple says that God, if you give me Sukh, I pray to you, but if you give me Dukh I still pray to you. (guys/gals, help me out to pull out the shabad, where we say sukh den taan tujhe araadhee, dukh vich vee tujhe dhiyaaniyee, I think once again, I am not putting the words in right manner, so having hard time finding in sikhitothemax). dukh sukh sabh sam kar jana (error??, not the exact line, I am having hard time with my memory to get words in right order). Here is one I found though. duiK suiK ipAwry quDu iDAweI ] dhukh sukh piaarae thudhh dhhiaaee || In suffering and in comfort, I meditate on You, O Beloved. and another one tera bhana meetha lage har naam padarath nanak mange. Read Gurbani, you will find out that there is nothing better to ask from GOD than Naam simran, living in rememberance of waheguru all the time. bakee sabh padarath naam de naal ape hee aa jande ne. Oh taan rab binaa kise qualification de deyee janda. So why not ask for the best. Why settle for the less??

Let me be little more clearer if you think others were not clear enough for you. You meet a girl, you get impressed by her beauty/intellect/cuteness/sincerety or whatever it is. So now you just think about that girl, practically almost all the time. You are in a chakkarview of first getting her to go on date with you or whatever. Your thoughts circle around her, how to make her yours. Did you through all this time, think about, rabb jee I will stay where you will keep me, rab jee, I will follow your order, stay in your bhana. Rab jee, main kuri bare sochda haan, par nitnem vele poora dhiyaan nitnem vich hee hai, not planning which movie you are going to see on friday night, and what drinks, and which restaurant you will take her to and would you have a chance today to kiss her and.................. So Where is Waheguru?? Is Waheguru taking over your thoughts or Kuri/Munda?? How many things you did to impress Waheguru as compared to things you do to impress Kuri or munda? I am happily married. Can tell you from experience, there is nothing to worry about. You have a girl/munda made for you, just wait for the right time for that. Dont' worry. Even if you don't try to find a girl or boy, person will come in your way one way or the other. Remember, rub jee is the director of this life show we are part of. Director knows when to introduce which actor or actress. Don't you worry. The film of our life will end with us being grandparens of buch of grandkids :-)) now who is the grandma or grandpa of our grandkids, Waheguru got it all planned out for us. Yeah, even our daughter/sons and daughter/son-in-laws are already chosen too. So do you feel its really neccessary to get in some unneccessary pangevaji with a girl or boy. I feel not. If it was me, I would devote most of my time to my studies and atleast dasvand of 24hrs to nam simran in one way or the other (reading banis, listening to keertan/katha, doing sewa at Gurughar, community service etc. etc. There is line in Gurbani, I don't know how it starts, so cann't find in SIKHITOTHEMAX (anyone remembers, please do post) "bhagatan de karj aap karda.............." It somehow means, that God himself takes care of the affairs of the devotees. Here is another relavant Shabad. This Shabad is by Guru Arjan Dev Ji in Raag Tilang on Pannaa 724 iqlµg mhlw 5 Gru 3 ] thila(n)g mehalaa 5 ghar 3 || Tilang, Fifth Mehla, Third House: imhrvwnu swihbu imhrvwnu ] miharavaan saahib miharavaan || Merciful, the Lord Master is Merciful. swihbu myrw imhrvwnu ] saahib maeraa miharavaan || My Lord Master is Merciful. jIA sgl kau dyie dwnu ] rhwau ] jeea sagal ko dhaee dhaan || rehaao || He gives His gifts to all beings. ||Pause|| qU kwhy folih pRwxIAw quDu rwKYgw isrjxhwru ] thoo kaahae ddolehi praaneeaa thudhh raakhaigaa sirajanehaar || Why do you waver, O mortal being? The Creator Lord Himself shall protect you. ijin pYdwieis qU kIAw soeI dyie AwDwru ]1] jin paidhaaeis thoo keeaa soee dhaee aadhhaar ||1|| He who created you, will also give you nourishment. ||1|| ijin aupweI mydnI soeI krdw swr ] jin oupaaee maedhanee soee karadhaa saar || The One who created the world, takes care of it. Git Git mwlku idlw kw scw prvdgwru ]2] ghatt ghatt maalak dhilaa kaa sachaa paravadhagaar ||2|| In each and every heart and mind, the Lord is the True Cherisher. ||2|| kudriq kIm n jwxIAY vfw vyprvwhu ] kudharath keem n jaaneeai vaddaa vaeparavaahu || His creative potency and His value cannot be known; He is the Great and carefree Lord. kir bMdy qU bMdgI ijcru Gt mih swhu ]3] kar ba(n)dhae thoo ba(n)dhagee jichar ghatt mehi saahu ||3|| O human being, meditate on the Lord, as long as there is breath in your body. ||3|| qU smrQu AkQu Agocru jIau ipMfu qyrI rwis ] thoo samarathh akathh agochar jeeo pi(n)dd thaeree raas || O God, You are all-powerful, inexpressible and imperceptible; my soul and body are Your capital. rhm qyrI suKu pwieAw sdw nwnk kI Ardwis ]4]3] reham thaeree sukh paaeiaa sadhaa naanak kee aradhaas ||4||3|| By Your Mercy, may I find peace; this is Nanak's lasting prayer. ||4||3|| So kar bande tu bangee, baakee waheguru jee te chhud de. kee paiNa mundiyaa kuRiya de chakkaran vich. Yes, if you find a kuri/munda, which brings you more closer to vaheguru, stay associated with him/her in the form of wanting to have Gursikh sangat, not to go watch movies and fool around. Did I make clear to you now?? I hope so.

Nothing to get confused about. If you accept good things in life, gladly, accept the bad ones gladly too. Otherwise, quit asking good as well. Just float with what comes on the plate for you naturally. Don't interefere by asking. Things will happen still, you will get food to eat, water to drink, clothes to put on, place to sleep and hopefully Gutka Sahib to recite bani from. Just stop asking yourself. Just pray one thing. "Waheguruji, I leave it to you. Let my boat of life float the way you want, I am no one to tell you how it is floated best, you yourself know the best and would do the best, let me just be able to accept whatever you do. Who am I to decide and direct you what to do and what not to do". Believe me, you won't be let shaken and finally sink. You will swim across. We are no one to decide whats best for us. Problem with us is that we think we can dictate Waheguru jee what to do next in our life. And thats exactly where we are wrong. We have no budhi/akal/wisdom to decide that and still we like to. How stupid (including me).

If you ask me, I don't know. If I tell you something, it would be guess or lie. I don't think anybody would have black and white answer for you. Thats the thing, we don't know the drama of life. Still we pretend to know a lot. The day we are born, its decided right that day, how many breaths we are going to take on this earth in this human form. All I know is that we should live it to the fullest what we got. We should be in resonance with God's will. By doing that we only cut the suffering in life for ourselves. We understand life better. Otherwise, we are eating, pooping, sleeping waking up and killing the precious time on this earth. Me guilty too. What time goes, never comes back. So we should make it as fruitful as possible. And nothing is better than reading bani, singing the hymns of GOD, doing community sewa, helping the needy. Being sweet to others seeing that they are the creation of that one GOD. If GOD is in us, GOD is in the person standing infront of us too. And so often we forget that. In this drama of life, all we usually see is me me and me. We should be earning our bread with hard work. Basically, what Guru Nanak said, nam japNa, kirat karni te vand chhakNa. I may be giving unasked for opinions, but just speaking my mind.

I realized I didnt' really answer your real question. The right answer would be "only GOD knows". We cann't. But if I have to guess from the tuchh budhi I have, then I think the state those bad people are living in, is another way of GOD making them go through hell. The thoughts, the conditions, the state of mind they have, thats all in itself a punishment. But if a same person on death row, started doing bhagati and naam japna, that same punishment became a blessing (now that s/he doesn't have to be bothered by running the life routine like we do and got plenty of time to do naam simran). So it depends. Person could be repaying the karma here or in next birth. There are people who live long lives but in very bad condition suffering. But also there are people who live long lives and have done nam simaran almost whole life. One is punishment, one is blessing. To conclude my comments, this lifetime, the state we live in (whatever it is), if it is lived while connected with that one vaheguru, the giver, the protector, then its blessing. But if we lived it in thinking that life is truth and death is false, We are truth and GOD is false, then same life is a part of hell we are living through. Hope I havn't offended anyone. These are just general findings of life, not targetted to any single person. Apply as much on myself as on any single reader out there.

If I understand anything about it, then its all karma. We do karm in our previous lives based on which we are chosen to do accordingly in this lifetime. There must be some good plan behind this. I know someone who recently lost a 22yr old only son to cancer. To parents, he is son, to society he is young person, to sister he is only brother and if he was married then dear husband to wife, if had kids then only father for kids. But to GOD, he is a soul sent to pay off his past karma. Now he has been chosen to leave this physical body here and move the soul to do whatever GOD decided to do next for him. So similarly, we are all souls. Yeah, we have woven a net of relationships here with friends, relatives and created a whole drama of earning money, building properties, buying flashy clothes and eating fancy foods etc. etc. But does it really all matter?? We are souls, given the best form (human) to get ourselves released out of this karmic/life cycle. Physical body is just a vessel/vehicle to get things done. Analogy is like current goes through cables. Current is the main thing, cables just carry it from one place to another. If current is dead, cables are good for nothing. So similarly, soul goes merges with GOD (if he did enough bhagati etc), but if not, then soul takes some another form (only god knows what, I cann't judge). I am sorry for your loss though. Hopefully, I made some sence to you and not made you feel even more sad. If you understand the whole play, it won't hit you that hard. This Shabad is by Bhagat Sheikh Fareed Ji in Salok Fareed Jee on Pannaa 1383 PrIdw drIAwvY kMn@Y bgulw bYTw kyl kry ] fareedhaa dhareeaavai ka(n)nhai bagulaa bait(h)aa kael karae || Fareed, the crane perches on the river bank, playing joyfully. kyl krydy hMJ no AicMqy bwj pey ] kael karaedhae ha(n)jh no achi(n)thae baaj peae || While it is playing, a hawk suddenly pounces on it. bwj pey iqsu rb dy kylW ivsrIAW ] baaj peae this rab dhae kaelaa(n) visareeaaa(n) || When the Hawk of God attacks, playful sport is forgotten. jo min iciq n cyqy sin so gwlI rb kIAW ]99] jo man chith n chaethae san so gaalee rab keeaaa(n) ||99|| God does what is not expected or even considered. ||99||