luckysingh99

Very good point. That is a definite issue, that to be honest I felt that I shouldn't mention, as I didn't want to offend anyone. But this is the fact,-It's the commitees in UK sending out a message. I haven't noticed this as much in US and Canada.But,the gurdwaras here are privately run and funded. Making such statements would not be effective for them, so they find no reason to. The percentages of ramgharias..etc....in terms of general sikh population are quite low compared to UK- so I suppose that makes a difference.

That's better mate ji.

WAHEGURU Something so simple, yet so powerful. Thanks for the above work in getting this information. The words 'ek onkar' and 'waheguru' are undescribable and will last for eternity Infact the whole completes Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji starts in the beginning with 'ek onkaar' and goes on all the way to explain this itself and 'waheguru' There is NO need for any other gurmantar

RebelSingh Ji Valeythia. I know very well that in england calling each other mate is a mark of respect. Something the americans don't undertsand here or other people in other parts of the world. I have travelled and lived all over mate!! I was born and raised there in UK, now i'm on the west pacific in North America and I fully undertsand your intention. BUT, it is more acceptable since we are on this forum to use names that we are all familiar with. In this sense as we are all supposed to be sikhs, then we should use Veerji,Bhenji or Paaji. or simply just the person's name with a 'Ji' on the end- like Rebel ji. So please accustom yourselves to doing this in a respectful manner and stop this gora talk of matey mate dude!!!!

You have a very strong point.This is an argument that most gurdwaras tried to use previously. I'm in North America now and have seen a huge variance in this matter across Canada and US. Back in UK, many years ago ,-ALL gurdwaras had chairs and tables, NOBODY sat on the floor. Apparently Akaal Takht got involved and made the requirement that all should sit on the floor. Now, the gurdwaras all started to deal with it differently. I noticed that in UK some gurdwaras had the langar hall on the same level as the 'bir' ie.not on a seperate floor. -These were the 1st to get rid of the tables, since you would be sitting on the floor inside, then walk out and sit on a chair while the Granth Sahib remains on the same level. It made sense for these gurdwaras to abolish the chairs and tables as this disrespect to Guruji. Then we had many Gurdwaras that had the langar hall below or on a separate floor below the 'birh'- these committees felt it was OK to carry on since the Granth Sahib was above- fair enough,no disrespect. NOTE- at this time there were not 2 options such as you either sat on floor or table as you wish. EVERYBODY sat on chairs n tables. Then there was the other gurdwaras like the original smethwick, that had langar hall in different building to Granth Sahib. These commitees felt it was ok to carry on as they were, as they were NOT offending Guru Ji in any way. A few years past like this, but people could not fully understand why the difference.Thus, sangat became too choosy over which Gurdwaras to have weddings and akhand paths etc....AND certain gurdwaras started becoming more popular. Then the gurdwaras finally ALL agreed with exception of a few that they will ABOLISH all chairs and tables except a few for elderly/disabled. This is how it has been ever since. Generally, now majority of the gurdwaras in the west do not have seating, In UK, US and Vancouver only a few have chairs/tables, like the one the person attended. That is NOT how they all are in Surrey or Vancouver. It varies across the board. In my opinion as long as everyone is equal and on the same level and there is no disrespect to the Granth Sahib, then it is fine by me wether chairs or floorr seating.

You knew it was wrong in the first place. You both got carried away with desire,you both lost control and dignity. For this both of you should feel the same guilt, but it should only be a problem between you both. Why the hell is her sister interfering ?? Does she have grounds to believe you are no good and you put her sister up to it ??? This is what you need to answer, if you lead her to it then you should blame yourself for manipulating her mind and body- and you should get up and apologise to her. If you love her, then you should let her sister know and apologise to her as well. All you have to say is that you are sorry she feels that way about you and then explain yourself. Only marry her if you want to, not cuz someone says. AND finally, control that thing between your legs, don't let it do the thinking- use your brain to think not your d*** As a sikh you should have had more control. A sikhs toughest goal is to have full control over MIND, you didn't even get that far and let your d*** take over !!! BTW. I dated many girls before I settled, but I always kept my hands where they belong, and therefore do not have any guilt whatsoever.

Good question, someone needs to speak up and clarify a little here. It would be interesting to know where all the funding comes from and how is it distributed. What is done with funding would also be of interest.

:biggrin2:

Well, actually the problem here in North America is no way like in the UK. We don't have a christian/sikh conversion issue like the musli/sikh conversion in UK. I know this too well as I was born and bred UK and moved to US then Canada 3 years ago. West london singh-- i'm not sure where you are getting your info from. But the scale that it happens in UK is extreme. Yes, there have been christian/sikh conversions going on here. But these numbers are miniscule to muslim/sikh conversions in UK I know back in UK, situation was real tough. Here it seems to be more talk...... If a single conversion makes sikh news in a city, soon it becomes talk for thousands and thousands of miles... from New York to LA, from Toronto to Vancouver.thats about 2.5 thousand miles!!! In UK it travels only 300miles from north to south. We also have to remember that in North America we have 5000 gora sikhs. Most of these are here due to conversion, the figures of sikhs converting to christians could never be that high. The problems that sikh youth face with muslim youth in UK is tremendous and shocking. Here we can't even call it a problem as numbers of pakistani muslims is a lot lower per punjabi sikhs.

This is very sad. again we are being mistaken. It seems that this is anti- muslim and once again thay have mistaken sikhs for muslims. It is still racist, there is no need for this. However, some parts of muslim community do not do themselves any favours by their actions. The sikhs that are suffering due to mistaken identity need to make a stand and make it clear that we are different, we are peoples people with peace and we oppose what the taliban and other fanatics do. We are totally against 9/11 and other suicide bombings. They need to realise and see that Sikhs are a class of their own and believe in all equal humanity and never think or claim to be above the rest. Gurfateh

Sat sri akaal Could anyone inform me why I hear the anand sahib paath very often with the 1st five pauris and the last 40th one. Thereby missing out from number 6 to 39. Why was it done like this?? is it not wise to just not bother with the paath rather than cutting it short? If I started doing the japji like this if time was short surely this would be deemed not correct??

Dalbirsingh Ji There is no reason to be that aggressive and accusative. Being humble is a quality that we all have to focus on. Nimrata or humility is a virtue that is heavily mentioned in the Guru granth sahib. We all , even in times of rage should try and be forgiving and humble. It takes alot of effort and time for someone to gain almost complete humility. Living the gurmat way and adhering to the teachings in the bani helps us to achieve this along with conquering our Ego. With regards to the original question about a person with cut hair. Know someone with cut hair still has the right to call themself a follower of sikhi but not as much as someone baptised (amritdhari), who is living in the image of the khalsa and hence Guru Gobind Singh. However that amrithdhari or infact anyone NEVER gains the status to judge anyone. Only God is the TRUE JUDGE. Now, tell me who is most likely to become one with God. 1) A baptised Sikh (amrithdhari) who is running a gossip column in a newspaper and continuosly making jokes and dabbs at others. -In effect he does hurt these guys feelings even though they may have done something outrageous to be mocked at. 2) A learning Sikh who is not baptised and still has cut hair, eats meat but this person at heart- never ever trys to mock,insult, mickey take anyone as he doesn't wish to hurt anyones feelings. He works below the guy running the gossip column. The Sikh in (1) above also makes jokes and jibes at this guy who he feels is beneath him as he has no kesh. Like I say we don't have any right to judge, but it seems that if the world came to an end at once and both guys died, I reckon the one with the cut hair is going to stand a better chance of being ONE with GOD. Gurfateh

If someone tells you to do 5 paaths or 100 then there is never any wrong in doing them. It can be regarded as being ritualistic in the sense that doing x amount of prayers and then your ardaas will be heard. A certain persons 1 single japji sahib compared to anothers 100 paath might have a lot more love and dhyan to God compared to the one who did 100 but that persons dhyan was on his day to day business throughout the paaths. You begin to see that the numbers do not actually matter. However, the rehat maryada does specify that an amrithdari does the specified nitnem, raehras etc..... This is a minimal requirement for all estabilished formally on the sikhi path. If we didn't have these specified paath everyday then one could hold just no sikhi lifestyle except for the bana and diet. It gives us a guide and having a requirement foresees that we all meet requirements to be equally addressed as Sikhs. Saying this if someone does give you hope by specifying x number of paath to do. Then it is nice to devote that x amount of time to Guruji in the belief that our prayers will be heard. What i'm trying to say in short is if we truly believe and have faith that my x amount of prayers will be heard say for eg. 5 japji sahibs then thats good that we know deep inside that 4 is not enough. It's all down to what we individually believe in.. Gurfateh

I am a firm believer that 'everything happens for a reason' All the people we meet and interact with 'by coincidence' ! are there to give us a chance to balance our karma. For eg. I might be walking across a parking lot after saying or interacting negatively towards a friend. I come across a homeless dude asking for a couple of dollars. Now, I have just a moment ago created some bad karma by arguing or bad mouthing a friend. I now have this negative karma weighing me down, the weight will stay there unless I do good.-The homeless guy is giving me the opportunity to fix this by helping him in the sense of a couple of dollars from my pocket. If I do this.then I can cancel my bad karma just created by myself. Or I could not bother with the hobo and ignore him-give him nothing,-this inturn is going to cause more negativity on my behalf. This is how the whole universe works, the world carries on spiinning because everything is balanced.