imhosingh

Jeet kone do and Kali are fun. From the ones I've trained in. But there is no 'best' system. But the most important thing is that you practice plenty and become confident in the use of the skills you use. So it's a long term commitment, To get to that stage where it is automatic in any situation. Also good training should enable you to avoid situations, as the last thing you want to do is fight (unless necessary).

Unless you achieve your aim (win in other words) you'll be labelled a 'terrorist'. When your aims combine with those of other friendly nations you are called a 'rebel'. It is right and proper that we get as much information out as possible, but don't expect anything explosive, the British have things like the Official Secrets Act which keep confidential things away from the public. Also, the current crop of government MP's are a waste of space, especially the so called 'sikh' ones with names like 'Paul'. Tokens will serve themselves and their ambition before serving their people. I forgot to mention, unlike most of the other 'big' religions we are 'stateless' so on the international stage there is no-one to press our case (does any government listen to Amnesty etc unless it back up their own cause for war?). The Jews have Israel (and many insiders ingrained into Western Governments + financial/business institutions), the Muslims have cash rich/corrupt states to throw money at any cause to distract the masses from the tyranny of their own countries or to keep them in place. India is a hindu majority country, and it is highly unlikely that they would string up their own. Justice will not come through the courtroom in India (i've attended courts in India and to say they are shambolic is an understatement). Bringing this up will open a can of worms for many in power in the Punjab and the national government. Those who were involved in the events around 1984 will get justice via karma, but in this world and time little will be done, that is unless we play our own game and not that of the oppressors. In a world of States unless you have one you'll be ignored, so we join the ranks of the Tamils, Kurds and Tibetan Buddhists in seeking justice. So for that I can't blame the likes of the London 4 for what they did to Brar, when all else fails what is left. Mandela did the same when faced with a huge power structure, and ultimately the truth bore out. Sorry to sound a bit apathetic, but its a common trick from politico's to string things out with enquiries and the like as its the best way to defuse situations.

We should be realistic, if 1984 happened today, the British Government would support the Indian Government (Political Allies / Direct Investment coming from India into the UK i.e. the likes of TATA). If you don't believe me look at who Cameron and Co. cosied upto on their recent junkets to India. Sikhs in the UK whilst numerous are not as well mobilised as other groups such as Jews, Muslims so we have limited influence on politics/policy (marginal seats etc). In ~1984 Thatcher and Gandhi's government were close (not least for being the two leading females on the world stage), and the British would have supported the Indian state (especially in light of the cold war at the time and wanting to ensure that India retained the British way of doing things as opposed to the communist way). To believe that we will receive justice is 'naive' to say the least. The people in power in the Panjab are in power because they didn't rock the boat over the past 30 years (indeed many of them facilitated what happened to ease their way up the greasy pole). Likewise those in national power who benefited are now the ones that we expect justice from? Sorry, but we won't get justice from either the Indian or British State. We can do our duty to support those affected by 1984 and subsequent events. Sadly if we want true justice it will have to be achieved by not playing the game of those who carried out the injustices.

Friends come and go in life (maybe sounds a bit harsh), doing the right thing stays with you for life (not listening to that inner voice also stays with you for life).

Depends what is being Scanned. When I had mine done just lower body, As I couldn't take my kara off my arm was let dangling outside the machine and tape was applied to it (the kara to the arm so it wouldn't move). The magnetic field is really strong (my arm was at times pulled towards the machine even though it was outside), so no metal will be allowed within the machine (inside the dougnut). You maybe able to hold in your kirpan in your hand outside the machine but it'll be taped up (depends on the radiographer, mine was indian so realised about the 5k's). As others have mentioned its about being pragmatic in such circumstances. The MRI machines cost about a million pounds so expect the radiographer to be very careful with any metal items on you.

Funny how those who dish out 'black magic' type stuff tend to be the most miserable people you could ever wish to meet.

Having been through caring for my dad through a rare cancer, which sadly led to his passing (despite good responses early on), all i can say to you is do as instructed above. On a personal level, spend as much time as you can with your mother, do as much seva for her and others around her and look after yourself (emotionally and physically). Finally, if there are any things you want to say or raise with her do it now, as there might not be a tomorrow. I spent a great deal of time in and around hospitals in cancer units and cancer is one of those strange things that can turn unexpectedly for the better or worse, without much warning. So there is always hope. Have faith and realise that what happens is Waheguru's will.

With this going on its interesting to note that on some wedding cards of late that I have seen (non sikhs by birth - who are marrying a person from a 'sikh' family) are having the title Singh and Kaur added to their respective names. Overall what is happening now is taking the mickey, which IMHO is making the gurdwara's and our community look foolish. Until we have a universal enforcement of the decree people shouldn't add the Singh and Kaur to their name willynilly (as the goreh say).

As Tiger said its all in the mind. If black magic existed then most of the politicians in the world would have been dead long ago, with all the millions cursing them. You let it in and it becomes a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy. Have you noticed that those who believe/practice in such things tend to be of a miserable mindset? Perhaps if they realised the cure for their unhappiness was within them and not 'out there' then they'd be in a better place.

I think the issue here is about confidence. If you are confident in who you are, then that will make you 'modern'. Modern is a moving goalpost and the thing about fashions is that they come and go. If you look at some of the recent examples of people who epitomise cool you'll see that they work out their own signature style, are truely comfortable and confident in it and don't change according to fashions/society (Steve Jobs, Tom Ford, Waris Ahluwalia etc...heck even Einstein) Confidence comes from being who you are and not what others expect you to be.

All this talk about food that is good for you or isn't good for you is a bit silly. As you go further on your path (I along with others I have known) have found that your diet will change. Once you get to a level where you are 'aware' of your body's needs then your tastes and requirements for food will change. For example, we are conditioned to eat 3 main meals a day. Then snack in between if we feel peckish. We do this even on days when we haven't done much. Surprisingly people start to get fat (more calories > energy expended = increase in fat stores). Once you are attuned to your body's requirements you can pretty much eat what you like, but from experience (personal and other people) you'll end up having a taste for the vegetarian diet more, eat less and only when your body requests it. Plus you'll be concious of what you are putting into your system and the ethics behind it. Genetically, we are pretty much monkeys and you hardly see a monkey eat a beefburger. But humans are different/successful as we are able to eat pretty much anything (hence why we we're confined to africa millions of years ago). The problems come when humans eat large amounts of meat, dairy, garbage food laced with E numbers and chems/residues over a period of time. Hence the troubles we see in the world i.e. diabetes, cancers and obesity. Its about moderation and listening to what your body needs.

Coming at this from neuroscience point of view assuming there isn't any.underlying psychological issue, I.would direct you to a book called the chimp paradox. Basically it details how your brain works. Feelings of paranoia is actually normal, it along with things like anger originate from older parts of the brain, i.e. the bit of the brain that tells you to.jump out of the way of a bus if you see one coming towards you, as opposed to your logical brain elements that would analyse the bus and take time to assess if there was a danger. The tough bit for your logical brain is that things like anger, lust and to a certain extent paranoia are 5 times stronger.in terms of grabbing your attention than the logical reasoning of your brain. things like paranoia, anger etc will always exist in your head, but over time with practice you can manage these things and see them for what they are....just creations of the mind. Personally when I have such thoughts firstly I become aware that I am having the thoughts, reassure myself that the thought is only temporary, it will pass like most thoughts. I just watch it and let it pass. If it lingers then I just have fun with the thought (i.e. Take a thought all the way to Armageddon or something similar, then the initial thought looks illogical). Don't beat yourself up over what your mind creates, it's just temporary and not part of the real you. If you have faith, then nothing can hurt you.

Caste is becoming less of an issue in the west, but is still strong in Panjab (just look at which groups of people do which jobs and the places of worship they go to). On a macro level its perpetuated and not challenged as it helps the 'divide and rule' activities towards the Sangat, also helps in terms of politics & power. On a personal/family level it just happens to feed into 'ego', making you feel above others. Until people follow the path, then these things will persist sadly.

the thing with conspiracy theories like this is that they assume some sort of perfect (or near perfect control system from government, big business, and all the other groups/players involved). Now having worked in big organisations both in the public and private sector I can confirm from my experience and those of many others that governments and big businesses are actually very inept. They are full of inept employees, broken systems, broken processes, internal politics etc. Within this kind of environment it would be very hard to orchestrate something that needs secrecy. The real question is why don't people get disciplined when things break down? For example, the Feds at any moment are monitoring 1000's of individuals both in the US and abroad. Despite what people think these types of organisations are always short of resources (people/equipment), and when a case like this happens, where is the accountability? You don't see the head of the Fed brought before a court for the failing of their organisation do you? Like it or not, the Feds will prioritise their resources on 'Islamist' terror plots because any such incident would have big effects on the politicians (masters of the fed, from funding/senior appointments). Instead of focusing on the government being behind such things, we should be asking what is the government doing with our tax money to ensure things like this don't happen and who/what is responsible for the failings that resulted in this guy Wade not being flagged up. If you want to see what these organisations are really like, i'd suggest a stint as a management/strategy consultant in these sectors and you'll see what its really like and the calibre of the people/systems involved. Also when inconsistencies are discovered afterwards most of the time it relates to people 'covering their behinds' because of their failings.

My initial thoughts on this go along with gsinghy. This is the way it was meant to be. The shame is that there is enough anger in a person to perpetrate such an act. There will always be crazy people and if it was not this group of people who died it would have been another, thats the sad reality of it. Standing out is part and parcel of being a Sikh (in good times and in harder times). However this should reaffirm our/your faith in waheguru, in that all that happens is by waheguru's hukum. I have been however blessed to have read/seen many accounts of 'non-sikhs' praising sikhs for being righteous and decent people. This would have come from their experiences of sikhs, So for me personally this incident has reaffirmed in me how important it is to be a 'ambassador' for sikhism in all that I do.