Not2Cool2Argue

Wikipedia : "The Hmong (RPA: Hmoob/Moob, IPA: [m̥ɔ̃ŋ]), are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, andThailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity (苗族) in southern China. Hmong groups began a gradual southward migration in the 18th century due to political unrest and to find more arable land. A number of Hmong people fought against the communist Pathet Lao during the Laotian Civil War. Hmong people were singled out for retribution when the Pathet Lao took over the Laotian government in 1975, and tens of thousands fled to Thailand seeking political asylum. Thousands of these refugees have resettled in Western countries since the late 1970s, mostly the United States but also inAustralia, France, French Guiana, Canada, and South America. Others have been returned to Laos under United Nations-sponsoredrepatriation programs. Around 8,000 Hmong refugees remain in Thailand.[4] A lot of them settled in California.

puranmashi, is celebrated by those who go by the lunar calendar. Each cycle of the moon, from full to new, is half a month, so 2 cycles equal a month. And puranmashi marks the day of the full moon, and either the beginning/middle or end of a month.

Many lists and ingredients to avoid may be found on http://www.eatbibek.com/Animal_derived_ingredients' www.eatbibek.com also has recipes and names of products to avoid as well as ingredients.

Don't know anything about the picture. But I think that the country England was secretly for the South, but these individuals, as proactive said, for ideological or other reasons sided with the North. These individuals were not officially sent by the British government, i think they chose to come fight.

Sandwiches with veggie burgers just buy bread and vegetables Pasta=boil pasta, seperate saute onions, add broccli, carrots, and sauce then pasta Burritos-get vegetarian beans, and spanish rice from store. add cut onions,lettuce, tomatoes, jalapanos, Nachos-buy nacho chips, and cheese sauce and add same stuff as burritos (actually forget about the two listed above, my cousins from canada had no idea what nachos/burritos were) look up recipes for banana bread, (for pancakes and cake replace egg with yogurt ) And easiest to make is RICE. You can make Indian style, chinese, and can add any vegetables to it to make complete meal (look up palao)

Hey, that's my line! :omg:

How about this interpretation: Hukam is the set of rules that God set in which the universe runs. Which also says if u do bad karam u suffer/pay for it, and good deeds u get rewarded. Because of ur past life, some things will already by preordained: parents, siblings, wealth, etc. But u still have free will to do choose other things. So the more lives u live, the more karma u collect. It can become an unending cycle: to erase karm, u get a life as a poor person, then u create more karam in that life, which must be paid off in another life, then those choice u made created more karma.... Even thoughts can create karma, that's why it's imprtant to understand and live by the concept of hukam/bhana.

Say u accidently ate meat. A cookie had eggs and u didn't know. It's a lie, so it up to u......... But to the panj pyare tell the WHOLE truth..

My story's not interesting, i was born into sikhi and now am struggling in it, so i'll post one of my favorite from searchsikhism.com: Singh Ji Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh I was born in UK, and have one elder brother. He always had kesh, and i was a mona. My father in 1987 kept his kesh, and a year later both my mother, who know started wearing a keski, and father both took amrit. Both have always kept good amrit velas, and it changed the atmosphere in the home. They were always ideal role models for us. When I was 11, I wanted to keep my kesh, but with no sangat of my age, I found it difficult. As I grew up, all my friends were into drinking, later smoking. None of this attracted me, and I only drank infrequently, and only small amounts. We used to go to gigs a lot, but always there were fights, between us and other groups of Punjabis, or Muslims. I was about 16 then. The last straw for me was when at one gig. I saw a lad, who I did not know, got jumped and beaten severely. All of his mates ran away. I felt sorry for him, so I hauled off the boys who were beating him up. His head was cut, and the bouncers put him out. He was lying there on the floor. I said to him I will take him to hospital, but he would not have it. So I took him home. All my mates said leave him, he is not our concern. But I took him by myself. After dropping him off, I went home on the tube. I looked down at my clothes; they were covered in his blood. I just thought, what is this rubbish, and what am I doing in these crowds. I never went to a gig again. A few months later, my father took me to my first youth programme in watford hall. Shivcharan Singh was doing a talk, which was good. Then a young lad came up to me and gave me a leaflet for Khalsa camp 1992. He was a mona, just like me, and he said come, it will be a laugh. So I signed up. The khalsa camp was excellent, it was the first time I had met young Sikhs. I met people from my town like Onkar and Hardip there for the first time. During the camp, on one day, during the lectures, a message came through. Apparently a really famous Singh in India had just become Shaheed. The Singh doing the lecture, who was in full bana, almost came to tears. The whole room went quiet. I did not have a clue what was going on. Then one singh said there will a rainsbhai tonight in memory. I did not know what a rainsbhai was, but the guy next to me told me it was his first as well, and they are meant to be really good. The rainsbhai was fantastic, we got there at 9, and the next thing I knew it was 6 in the morning. It was my first experience of keertan, and I got addicted. For the first time, I had felt such inner glow. After the camp, I went back to my friends. I never thought about keeping kesh, it just automatically happened. I just never shaved again. All my friends tried to stop me from keeping kesh. They would spend hours talking to me, telling me, I had everything they wanted. I had the clothes, the car, and all the girls they wanted were friendly with me. But I said, it always never meant anything to me. The girls would say to me, it’s just a phrase, we will get you back. None of them understood. That lifestyle is not what makes me happy inside. At weekends instead of going out with them, I was now going to keertan programmes wherever I could. After I had not been out with them a few weeks, they all started on me. Plus I was now wearing a small dastaar. They said I have to go out with them that weekend. After much pressure, I agreed. We went out, a large number of us. Tradition was after a night out, everyone went to this shop where they did chicken kebabs. We had done this for years. Sitting there surrounded by all my friends, watching them each chicken, for the first time, I felt a deep pain inside. The kind of pain, when you know something is wrong, or someone in front of you is swearing or doing ninda. "So I said to all of them, I think I will leave. I do not wish to spoil your pleasure, but I cannot sit and watch you eat meat. It hurts me. "That was the last time I ever went out with them. All of us are close even till today. We all went to the same uni, They wanted me to stay with them in their house. But I never wanted to impose my rules on them, so I commuted instead. We all had an understanding. They knew, whenever I was around, they could not smoke, drink, eat meat, swear, talk about girls or boys in wrong way, or do ninda. They knew I never said anything, I would just walk away, but they did it just to make stick around. I never left my friends; I just changed the way we interacted with each other. They knew never to ask me to go anywhere against Gursikhi. I now came across Bhai sahib jis autobiography. I always used to read, it was a passion of mine. I read a lot of books on sikhi. But this was revelation for me. I had never realized that this level of thinking, and caliber of Gursikh ever existed. It pushed my own perception of sikhi higher ten fold. Bhai sahib jeevan brought home to me how important a jeevan actually is, and not just ritualistically going to gurdwaras. Never had my mind contemplated going into sikhi so deeply before. I spent most of my time in sangat, especially jatha. In Uk, we have a youth scene, but I always found them hard to understand. I saw the same thing in them that I saw in elders generally. They all talked about not doing it, politics, backstabbing, powertrips, but did it anyway. Plus I was not into sikhi for that, just into it for keertan, my mun, sangat, and Panth. I saw many youth coming into sikhi going from pillar to post. One day in jatha, the next with a sant, the next with taksal, the next with feds, etc. I thought this was like in gurbani, what we say "patak the". Searching and going everywhere, yet obsessed by staying neutral. They all say we do not get into politics, we are neutral. I personally thought these neutral pople are more into politics that anyone else, otherwise how do they know what is neutral and what is not. I personally felt very lucky, that Maharaj gave me a path where I avoided all politics, double-mindedness, controversies, groups, etc. Guru Maharaj himself took me from day one to the source of Gurmat, Shabad guru, keertan and path. Never have I ever felt the need for anything else. I am truly content with bani. No sants, youth leaders, keertanis, jathedars, have ever attracted me, neither have I ever ran after anyone. Bani is my Guru, and all I ever needed. One day, a friend said to me, there is a amrit Sanchaar in Slough. Are you not going to take amrit. I had never even considered it, but after much thought, and reading Amrit ki Hai, by Bhai sahib, I thought now is the time. So I got prepared. On my interview first, the Panj asked me alot of questions to see if I was ready. A lot of youth at uni age were doing wrong things, and they wanted to be sure that i was strong in Gurmat. The Panj set me a condition, the once I got Naam, I would go to a Gursikhs house who lived near me everday for 3 months and do Amrit vela with him. I agreed. Outside the Amrit Sanchaar, Bhai Rama Singh ji came and sat with me. He smiled and said he was happy I was taking amrit. He was getting pesh, because he had just had his heart transplant. He spent alot of talking to me about Amrit, priceless thougths, and then said, the more bhagtee we do now, the more impact amrit will have on us. We sat there doing moolmantar. After many hours we were called in for amrit. bhai sahib said to me, when the Panj Pyare prepared amrit concentrate on the bowl, while listening to the bani. Do not move your eyes from it. So I did. It was very hypnotic. Amrit was a very powerful emotion for me. Things happen that I cannot describe, twice I fell unconscious. Such was the strong energy inside, but the complete peace in my mind. I felt sad, when I hear of youth, who tell me they went and took amrit from sants, and felt nothing. They did not know Gurmantar, and did not value Amrit. I felt so fortunate that maharaj gave me everything. I never had to search for it. The condition of the Panj was excellent. For 3 months or more, I did amrit vela with this Gursikh. He took me to spiritual heights I can never describe. Some days I felt lazy,and he would phone, encouraging me to come as soon as possible. It was only then after this period of abyass after amrit, that I realized how amazing Naam and how powerful it is. The youth around me used to tell me amazing stories about sikhs they had met. I had never met anyone. So one night I did ardas, Maharaj let me have darshan of all your choosen sikhs. Not to follow, because bani was everything, just out of interest. I had already met Bhai Rama Singh, a most amazing soul. Within weeks, I met bhai Jeevan Singh, Giani Nahar Singh, Bhai Raghbir Singh. I went to Canada, and met so many amazing souls, and also to India, in particular Delhi Smagam. The magnetism of naam in India is just profound. There are so many special jeevans in the Panth, it is just a shame, we spend most of lives with our eyes closed, and not realise their existence. For many years, everything was perfect. I was surrounded by sangat, keertan, and Naam. Even though we were always involved in panth, politics never affected me, because of this shield of naam. Praise was everywhere, and I felt invincible. Not out of haumai or pride, just because I always felt Guru jis hand on my head. Then suddenly, something happened which changed everything. I did not feel I had done anything wrong, just the circumstances and environment Guru Ji put me in, had changed. At first I felt deep depression, because I had never been away from sangat. But then I realized, this was just another test, a very hard one, something to overcome. Guru maharaj had showed me sikhi in a certain way, now i was been shown it in another. I realized how unimportant I am, and never to expect anything from anyone. Guru Tegh Bahadhur Ji bani said so much to me about what I was gong thougth. Bani was the only thing I had ever felt faith in, and it was always there for me. Maharaj walked me through that time. I learned more about Gurmat, my inner self, my failings through this than anything else. Now in hindsight, I am glad I went through that. It made my faith so much stronger. It took me nearer to what I wish to achieve and become. Maharaj is so amazing; one can do nothing but submit in front of him. Two years ago, I met a friend, a muslim who converted to fundamental islam, when I got into sikhi. He said he was surprised I was still into sikhi. I said why, and asked why he was not into islam anymore. He said "I went into Islam, because it was cause for me. Chechnya, Palestine, etc. Muslims being killed everywhere. After time it faded. The prayers are good but it faded." I replied "we have causes in sikhi as well. But sikhi was never a cause for me. It is a lifestyle. Sikhi is about becoming a better person. That is something that will take all of my lifetime to do. I am in it for life. One can never stop being a better person". Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

About the sanskrit topic: I've heard it was a code developed by the brahmin class to restrict knowledge only to there caste. There's a story: The wife of a pandit is nagging her husband and saying winter is coming, we have no cotton, we will freeze to death. The husband says he will work on it. Then a farmer comes and asks blessings/date for wedding of his daughter. The pandit hems and haws and says, "there is a greh, on ur daughter of the fire god, so no wedding should take place, however if u wrap ur daughter in cotton on her wedding day, she will be safe. Then give me the cotton to burn off the curse/greh. Farmer agrees, and day of wedding the barat comes with the groom's pandit. The pandit asks in , "Kia-hung kapaa-hung" or what is this cotton but adds a hung sound to every word, sort of like pig latin. And the pandit on the bride side says something to the effect of "stay quiet and half will be yours" in sanskrit "Chup-hung ta(n) Adhi-hung Hov-hung" But this could just be making fun of the hung sound in sanskrit. I mean huge granths were written in sanskrit, so it must be a real language with grammar. On the other hand, Brahmins really wanted to restrict the other castes from just learning the religious scriptures, so over time a complex code with grammar could've been invented. And I don't think sanskrit was ever a normal, spoken language. Only brahmins knew what it meant, but ordinary people spoke other languages. That's why the brahmins were needed for translation(katha)... However sanskrit is counted as an official ancient language from which many modern languages are derived, by the western world.

No, everyone had a positive response when the Muslims were allowed to pray in gurudwara.... So I think even our ppl will understand if they had to go to a mosque, church, or hindu templd to offer condolences, but i think there might be trouble if the person had to bow down, or stand in prayer or receive blessings(prasaad). So I think all religions, including Sikhs, should not invite nonbelievers into religious place, but maybe to neutral places: candle light vigils, funeral homes.

There is a book written on this "Tega Singh" by Master Tara Singh. in the introduction he says it is based on a true story. A young boy joins the cavalry(Korh-Charre) in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army. Then comes the famous last stand with Shaam Singh Attari, then an emotional part when the British force all Sikh soldiers to hand in their talwaars/kirpaans. Tega Singh is disgusted and go through with and runs away to become an outlaw and eventually a daku. He meets other ex Sikh soldiers as daku's. Tara Singh wrote this book to preserve the personal stories of the elders in his village. I think it was written during the British Raj. If Sikhs had the best horses, and were the best horseriders, why would their cavalry be the worst?

Yes, Amarinder Singh is a descendant of the Maharaja Patiala's but Badal isn't. And yes, the Maharaja of Patiala did have a treaty with the British: it was that if Maharaja Ranjit Singh attacked Maharaja Patiala then the British would help the Pataila, and if the British attacked Ranjit Singh, the Patiala's king would not interfere. The treaty was a warning to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, not to try to assimilate Patiala to his kingdom, as Maharaja Ranjit Singh was trying to make one, united Sikh Kingdom under him. He defeated many Sikh misls and Sikh rajas to do this. However all the Sikhs, including Maharaja Ranjit and Maharaja Patiala would unite to fight Abdali and other such invaders. They should've united against the British, but well both wanted to be kings.

There's lots: http://www.gurukhoj.com/ = lots of english Sikhi books, and ships free worldwide, http://www.vidhia.com/ = downloadable pdf versions, mostly in english http://www.ikatha.com/ = audio books in english and punjabi, downloadable or listen online.... Other websites(not free): http://jsks.biz/Books-Buy-Online/bhai-vir-singh-books'>http://jsks.biz/Books-Buy-Online/bhai-vir-singh-books or http://jsks.biz/Books-Buy-Online http://www.flipkart.com/search-book?dd=0&query=bhai+vir+singh I would recommend Se kinehiya, Autobiography of Bhai Randhir Singh, and books by Bhai Veer Singh and Bhai Raghbir Singh Also Bhai Rama's In Search of The True Guru

(hopefully this was before the Wisconsin incident):

And that's why Sikhi is so unique/cool..... why do what other ppl would do???

and if the flow of conversation is an argument about who's stupider and wronger in the grammatical use of the word 'the'???

I've actually gone to Sikhi camps with a half Punjabi half Black girl. The dad married black person to become pakka, then remarried with punjabi, so she had half-sisters. It was cool seeing a black person speak punjabi. But I felt sad for her, cause being half-n-half is so hard and i would personally hate it. Cause u can't hate who u are, and don't fit in completely....

There will be one tommorrow August 18, 2012 at Guru Nanak Prakash in Fresno, CA, USA.

I think this is related: My cousin was taught in her philosphy/religious studies calss that Scientists did studies on saints that claimed they had reached brahmgyan (I think in India), and their brain scans revealed a similar brain activity as when a person is on drugs....

But the facts don't hold up. You say Guru Gobind Singh Ji was part of the Suryavansh but only "Temporal LIneage not Spiritual" Well then the khalsa's spiritual father is Guru Gobind Singh Ji, so how can his temortal lineage apply to us?

I do 0 extra jap ji sahib....

There are many more shabads against Devi/Devtay in the Dasam Granth as well.

Sounds like depression. Get inspired i.e sangat, trip